First up on our Summer Northern European Tour Wisconsin Time Machine Style was a stop in Finland.
David was "in charge," meaning he was the leader as well as the photographer. (Though Greg and I did our fair share of "leading," and I did steal the camera once or twice.)
Welcome to Finland!
Or, more accurately, the Wisconsin farm of Finnish immigrants.
Here is the home. Isn't it picturesque?
Do you notice the lack of asphalt/concrete/gravel/brick paths? The museums strive to maintain the rural atmosphere of the farms. It's wonderful.
Do you see the smoke rising from the chimney? There was a woman inside, tending the fire in the stove and cooking an authentic dish. (I don't know what it was because David decreed that we couldn't spend much time in the house.)
According to David, animals are much more exciting than kitchens. So we checked out the barn. I don't have pictures to show it, but one thing that Greg and I both noticed right away was the quality and care of construction. No cold winter drafts would sneak through those walls!
Out behind the barn was a calf. He was born on David's birthday.
Some chickens were also spotted.
Another feature I noticed on the farm were the number of small buildings. Instead of one huge multi-purpose barn, there were various small buildings, each with a very specific purpose: milking barn, tool shed, work shop, feed storage building, etc.
David liked the tools.
He was especially interested in the wooden shovel.
I was so excited about this last building, I could hardly contain myself. Look at the next two pictures and see if you can guess what it is...
Rocks. Notice the water bucket and ladle.
Benches.
Any guesses?
A sauna!
I was so excited to see a real Finnish sauna that I stole the camera from my tearful six-year-old (who refused to take a picture of the outside no matter how I begged) so I could take a quick picture of it.
Apparently up in Northern Wisconsin (where the Finns settled), everybody's grandma and grandpa has a sauna out back, which is why there was an entire Larry Meiller show dedicated to the topic, which is why I suddenly know a dozen facts about saunas. I won't share all dozen with you. But I will say that the sauna was (is) an everyday part of family life. Women commonly gave birth in the sauna, which was a clean, warm environment. When Finnish immigrants settled here, often the first building they would construct was their sauna. If need be they would live in the sauna building for months as they built their home. Many a Finnish family passed their first Wisconsin winter in the protective environment of their sauna.
Perhaps the most important thing I should tell you about saunas is that you do not pronounce it "sonna." The "au" doesn't make a "short o" sound. It's more of an "ow" sound like in "wow." Or a "short o" followed by a "long u." Like saw-oooo-na. Sort of. Anyway, I guess if you want to drive native Northern Wisconsinites nutty, walk around Iron county saying, "Sonna! Sonna! Sonna!"
Enough about saw-oooooooo-nas.
One more important picture.
No problems guessing what that is.
Thank you, David, for showing us a little of the Finnish Area.
Mary is up next with "Denmark."
P.S. Besides being able to identify it on a map--oh, and list off a few fact about saunas--pretty much all I know about Finland is that babies take their naps outside, a practice my friend Brooke embraces. So anytime I think about Finland, I want to bundle up a baby to put out on the back deck.
P.P.S. Also, I once saw the women's Finnish hockey team play at the Olympics. That's how I remember what the flag looks like.
I believe they lost to the Canadians.
