Barbeque Time!

A typical small portion at a Finnish barbeque.

Finnish pork sausage and potato salad.

I can't believe there's still some snow lying about over here.

I know it's Finland, but it's almost May!

Nevermind, it's not going to stop this years barbeque kick-off! I'm looking forward to my first barbeque of the 2010 season this weekend.

Well, I tell a lie, it's actually my second.

My first BBQ took place last February, but it was a snow barbeque, so it doesn't really count.

Believe me it's a totally different experience.

Here's some photos to prove it.

I remember it being -13 degrees celsius that afternoon, apparently warm enough for some Finns to go outside for a barbeque!

Honestly, they're crazy!!

As it was just too cold for me to take my gloves off, I left all the grilling to my friends.

I found a fun and easy way to warm myself up while checking out the nearby slopes. Extreme sports here I come!!

(If the owner of the sledge in this photo is reading this, I'm very sorry!)

Well, hopefully that troublesome volcano in Iceland will calm down a bit and our weather can get back to some normality. I'm hoping that the sun will burst out this weekend with a massive heatwave here in Finland.

I'm going to get my Kabanossi sausages out and have a few cold cans of beer in the blistering sunshine. I might even put my shorts on!

'Got to be optimistic!!

And I got a nice surprise last week at the shops when I saw that my favorite Finnish beer is now available in a one litre can. (I'd love to see 'em shotgun this baby!)

Madeby Me!

Some of my paintings are now on sale at this Finnish website called Madeby.

I hope to put some more paintings on this site in the near future, as well as some low-priced quality prints.

Click here to take a quick look.

Facebook Funnies!

The Shamrock Experiment: 20 Days too late!

The Great Finnish Shamrock Experiment:

6 April 2010, - The Survivors!

Well, I finally got around to my final blogpost on my now infamous Shamrock Experiment. It's been 20 days since Saint Patrick's Day, the date I was expecting my little green friends to be ready.

They were badly treated in the beginning by myself not having the correct soil for them to grow in.

But they persevered through thick and thin like proper Irish soldiers. They battled through unsteady and often very cold temperatures. And then there was the presence of my menacing Finnish cat. Some of the shamrocks suffered badly at the paws of my curious feline friend. Call it growing pains, or even casualties of war.

........... They will not be forgotten!

The snow has finally started to melt here now in Finland. Spring is knocking at our door. And we are all looking forward to some warm sunshine and hopefully a great summer. These little shamrocks have brought a little bit of colour to a house surrounded by a lot of snow over the past few days. I hope they keep growing for as long as they can. Here's a few photos of those brave shamrocks who survived the experiment.

And finally a song in honour of those who didn't make it.

Here's 'Danny Boy' from The Leprechaun Brothers!

Beckham set for Turku move after Posh gets her drinks mixed up!!

We all know about footballer David Beckham's recent visit to Turku in Finland for surgery on a tendon injury.

And we have found out that the operation tended by top Finnish surgeon Sakari Orava was a complete success.

We also know that he has been invited back to Turku next year when the city celebrates being European Capital of Culture. More of which you can read here.

But what we don't know is that David has been spending more time than expected back here in Finland.

And here's the reason why.....

It appears that Victoria Beckham recently signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with the Turku football team TPS to advertise their jerseys.

Yes, it's true!

Apparently there was a misunderstanding during an important phonecall before completing the contracts. Instead of signing a deal with softdrink giants Pepsi, 'Posh Spice' actually signed up to Tepsi (TPS football club’s nickname). Lawyers present are expecting her to keep to the arrangement as signed.

Meanwhile, after hearing of this little mix-up, David Beckham has shown that he may very well stay in Turku for a short period of time while his wife fulfills her 2-year contract. He laughed at the soft drink company's involvement, remembering a funny tv commercial he made for them a while back. He said there was another football club with black and white stripes involved on that occasion too. Here's the advert he was talking about.

Having seen the funny side of the situation, Becks has shown a fresh interest in Posh's new employers. So much was his interest, that he was captured yesterday in this photo here by some local tabloid newspaper at Tepsi’s training ground in Turku.

Will we see Becks swap his Milan stripes for the new Tepsi stripes?

Only time can tell!

And just how much money did Tepsi football club tempt Posh Spice with?

To find out just click here!!!