On Monday 6th December Eve & I went to the Design Forum Christmas fair, where lots of small craft and design companies had stalls selling their products. Our friend Isabella Haas invited us to drop in on her at the Secco stall.

Secco stall at Design Forum

Here’s the Secco stall. Isabella is on the right.

Secco products at Design Forum

Here’s a closer look at Secco’s products. They’re all made from recycled materials; for instance the star-shaped necklace pendants are made from used tyre rubber, and the letter fridge magnets are old computer keyboard keys.

Secco ‘lisko’

My favourite Secco product is their lizard fridge magnet, part of their PC Beasts range, made from computer circuit board. This one is on our fridge at home; I have another on my whiteboard in my office at work.

Monday 6th December is Finland’s independence day, and a public holiday. So on Sunday 5th we went to Scott & Séverine’s for an extra-long board games event. Michael was keen to use the chance to play a very long game, whereas I just relished the chance to play more normal-length games.

Nautilus

Séverine playing Nautilus. This  was a rather fun game, exploring a reef by placing tiles to build a habitat and moving mini-subs.

Dune

Bas et al playing Dune. Including the time it took them to figure out the rules, the game took 10 hours!

Evo

Eve & Séverine playing Evo. Apart from always getting confused about the direction of the seasons’ effects, we always enjoy this game.

All in all the extra-long event was a great success. I suspect that some of those who played Dune will be joining the short-attention-span group next time though…

General Lee
Originally uploaded by Greygriffin.

This Reliant Robin has been painted in the style of the “General Lee” from the TV show “The Dukes of Hazzard”. It was parked in an appartment car park near our flat.

On Tuesday 29th November we had a board games evening at our place.

Cannes

Ukko & Sari playing Cannes. Eve said it started slowly, but became fun once they got familiar with the rules.

Vinci

Michael et al playing Vinci. The game took 3 hours.

Finstere Flure

Ukko makes his move in Finstere Flure. This game is one of our favourites, and always goes down well. Some time we should play with the advanced counters: teleporters etc.

Another game we played was Monkeys on the Moon. It was quite fun, though the theme wasn’t very strong. I’d play it again, but I wouldn’t suggest it myself.

Christmas cake
Originally uploaded by Greygriffin.

I baked the Christmas cake a couple of weeks ago. It’s 25cm (10″) in diameter, so plenty for everyone. I wrapped it in foil in an airtight container until I added the marzipan and icing.

Leaving it late
Originally uploaded by Greygriffin.

In Helsinki you need to take your small boats out of the water for the winter, or they’ll be crushed by the ice. These people left it a bit late, and had to push aside the ice to make it out to their winter storage yard.

Car covered in snow
Originally uploaded by Greygriffin.

A car outside Eve’s father’s place. Her mother’s car was even more embedded in snow, and I had to dig it out with only a brush. Luckily for me it was Eve who was doing the driving, as we got caught in a heavy snowstorm on the motorway.

Trees covered in snow
Originally uploaded by Greygriffin.

In Eve’s father’s inner courtyard, the trees were prettily covered in snow.

Terhi, Kata & Antti

Occult cultist, a.k.a. me

Mina Harker, a.k.a. Eve

Finger food

Antti & Kata threw a late Halloween Christmas party – lots of great food and good company. Eve & I enjoyed dressing up in our fancy dress costumes.

Snow swirling in courtyard
Originally uploaded by Greygriffin.

A few weeks ago it snowed heavily, about a foot of snow in a few hours. This is the view of the snow swirling in our appartment block’s courtyard.