Colorsplash

White rose/ valkoinen ruusu

Friday afternoon, I'm walking on the street of Mosta. Sun is shining and it's warm but breeze cools the air down. I'm not in a hurry and I don't need to be looking at the time. Feels almost like the time has stopped. A wonderful moment which I can enjoy by myself.

I'm looking around me and I see many beautiful things which would look great in a photo. I love taking photos but not in a way that I would buy all the very expensive tools to do it but because I enjoy doing it with my mobile camera. It travels with me always so it's easy to take a photo whenever I see something beautiful, something I can't leave behind me without keeping a memory.

Yesterday this thing that caught my eye were flowering plants. I work with plants and their colour, shape and texture inspire me. Some of them are lighter coloured than others, some have thorns, their leaves and flowers have different shapes. Even by seeing part of a plant usually also only from the leaf or flower it is possible to recognise the plant.

In my opinion plants and flowers in all the colours represent life. For example if bouquet of flowers is put to the table it instantly makes the space look more cozy. Same with adding an 
indoor plant to the room or even a fruit tree to the garden outside.

Below are these photos I took yesterday, I hope you enjoy their colorful beauty. //

On perjantai iltapäivä ja kävelen Mostan kadulla. Aurinko paistaa ja ilma on lämmin mutta tuulen vire viilentää. Ei ole kiire mihinkään, eikä tarvitse mennä kellon mukaan, melkein kuin aika pysähtyisi. Ihana hetki jonka saan viettää itsekseni.

Katselen ympärilleni ja näen kaikkea kaunista joita voisi ikuistaa kuviin. Rakastan valokuvausta, en sillä tavalla että hankkisin kaikki hienot ja kalliit laitteet, vaan  kännykällä omaksi ilokseni. Se kulkee aina mukanani, joten saan räpsäistyä kuvan kun näen jotain kaunista. Jotain jota en voi ohittaa kuvaamatta ja joka jättää jäljen ihanien muistojeni arkistoon.

Tällä kertaa tämä kaunis asia oli kukkivat kasvit. Työskentelen kasvien kanssa joka päivä ja niiden värit muoto ja tekstuuri inspiroivat minua. Jotkut ovat vaaleamman sävyisiä kuin toiset, toisissa taas on piikkejä, eri muotoisia lehtiä, villainen tai vahainen pinta, kukan väri ja muoto.. Näkemällä palan kasvin oksaa tai usein myös kukasta tai vain lehdestä on mahdollista tunnistaa mikä kasvi on kyseessä.

Mielestäni kasvit ja niiden eri värit kukissa ja lehdissä edustavat elämää. Esimerkiksi jos asettaa kimpun kukkia pöydälle, tila näyttää heti kodikkaammalta ja elävämmältä. Samoin vihreä huonekasvi sisällä tai vaikkapa hedelmäpuu ulkona.

Alta löytyy eilisen kuvasaldo. Toivottavasti viihdyt otosteni parissa. //







Close up of Bougainvillea flower/ ihmeköynnöksen kukinto

Bougaivillea/ ihmeköynnös

Orange Hibiscus/ oranssi kiinanruusu



Red Hibiscus/ punainen kiinanruusu

Jasmine/ Jasmiini

Plumbago




Many thanks for visiting my post!/
Kiitos että piipahdit lukemaan!

See you soon/
Kuulemisiin

♡ Annastiina

A morning by the seaside

A MORNING BY THE SEASIDE

Last weekend was a longer weekend, due to Malta's independence day. Having Monday off every now and then is a great way to relax in the middle of weekly routines.
I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Cirkewwa

 A place in the North. Last Monday we visited place called Cirkewwa located to the North of Malta. It was a windy and sunny day, waves of the sea were hitting the rock walls, water splashing over them. Even though sea is powerful and strong, one can feel its rage, it has calming effect in me. 

Absolutely beautiful place.

Mellieha

We stopped to enjoy the beautiful day to Mellieha for a lunch. This town is probably best known for the large and very popular sand beaches.

Colourful drinks are instant lift for mood :)

I appreciate your visit,

Yours,

Annastiina

Tour around Tallinn

Arrival to the city

Värien tanssia!

Entering to the old part of Tallinn

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

St. Nicholas church

View over Tallinn

Moe 1886 Icebar

To these glasses no need for ice cubes to cool down the drink!

Tallinn

Right about month ago, on the last days of our summer vacation we did a visit to the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. From Helsinki it is very easy to get there in just few hours by ferry. We had time to enjoy the city from Saturday to Sunday afternoon, which was a great way to end to our two week holiday in Finland. 

Even though we saw huge part of the city centre in only 24 hours, we would have loved to spend more time there.

Weather was on our side and we had great sunny and warm over night stay.

We walked many kilometers, saw many places and enjoyed what this slavic city had to offer. We stayed in a nice small hotel right next to the port. Walk from the hotel to the old city was not very long but just to try it out we hired a bicycle taxi which took us to the hotel in few minutes, as drivers mostly young students. It was fun way to experience the city also.

Besides this and the old part of the city the most memorable 30 minutes were a visit in a local Icebar. It was decorated like any usual bar but the difference was that everything was made of ice. According to wikipedia they have used almost 19 tons of ice in the interior. Outside air temperature was around +25 degrees Celsius and going in to the bar it was -6! We got warm capes to wear but open toe sandals and bare hands were not so happy about it.

I hope that you have enjoyed this small tour around Tallinn with us.

Thank you for reading!

Always, 

Annastiina

Malta & Finland

Living abroad, far away from my home country, family and friends is not always easy. 

I do go back to Finland few times a year and spend most of my holidays there, still I feel sometimes it is not enough. There are so many important persons back in Finland and I would love to be there for them and spend time with them more. 
But the problem is I feel same here in Malta. I have got to meet and know so many beautiful souls here, who have welcomed me with open arms and I can proudly say that I now have two home countries. Actually it is wrong to call this a problem, I think it's more a blessing to have families in two countries.

In the past five years I have grown my roots here to this tiny island in the Mediterranean.

Below here I will present to you some things I love in both of my home countries.

Love for Malta:

Great places and views, beautiful churches and countryside. Malta is very small country but it has a lot to offer. And the best part is that it only takes about an hour to drive from North to South. Its small size makes it easy to access everywhere in no time (excluding traffic hours and public happenings). Despite its small size it is very highly populated, more than 400.000 people. 
This Mediterranean island has a lot of historical tales to tell and old ancient places to see.
I have fallen inlove with Maltese seaside and clear turquoise waters, sunny days and warm weather, village feasts and fireworks. Mediterranean food is also must to mention. 

Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta

Mdina

Below The Capital Valletta

Love for Finland:

Finland as part of Northern Europe is very different from Malta. Its four seasons, thousands of lakes and never ending forrests. Finland has over 5 million population and is surrounded by neighbour countries. In Finland I love nature and fresh air, open space and silent countryside. Great food, cold winters and snow are missed very often in the heat of Mediterranean summer.

Tammerkoski river in Tampere

View over lake Pyhäjärvi from tower of Pyynikki in Tampere

Finnish fish caught fresh from the lake and blueberry pie from hand picked berries from the forest

View from the plane in December over the capital Helsinki

Wintery road in December

Backyard (or backforest:) of my childhood home in August

// Thank you for reading, I would love to hear what you think about this post!

All the photos are taken by me. //

 Annastiina