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30 marraskuuta 2019

State of Mind - Helsinki 1939-1945



The Winter War began exactly 80 years ago, on November 30, 1939. To commemorate this tragic day, I visited with family the Hakasalmi Villa's exhibition State of Mind - Helsinki 1939-1945. The exhibition was impressive with text posters, films and large photo enlargements that illuminated the everyday life in the shadows of bombing. Already on the first day of the war, Helsinki was bombed, along with 15 other locations, and nearly a hundred were killed. Fortunately, bad weather disrupted the bombing and evacuations could be started. Of the 250,000 inhabitants of Helsinki, only about 65,000 remained in the city.


This is the Helsinki University and their furniture on the street.


The exhibition focuses on how life was like in the shadows of bombing and how the evacuations affected moods. I had never known anything about the Secret State of Mind Intelligence, which had recruited thousands of ordinary citizens to report moods, rumors, and dissent in the workplace, in town and on public transport. The information was passed on to the military commanders to provide a picture of the civilian mindset that affected the combat capabilities of the frontline soldiers.

The State of Mind Intelligence office was located in the center of the city and disguised as 
New Correspondence Association. The office employed about a dozen people in 1942 and 
there were over 2,500 registered agents'. Part of the archive was burned in the autumn of 1944.
The material that could be preserved has been deposited in the National Archives.


On the label it reads Finlands barn - Children of Finland.


One quarter of all war children were from Helsinki. The metropolitan area sent
20,000 children to Sweden and Denmark during the war years. 
Children's train departed from Helsinki railway station twice a week. 
The Arcturus, which evacuated children, always carried five hundred children at a time
from Turku to Stockholm.



The most valuable were taken from Helsinki to the provinces and even to Sweden:
children, women, the elderly, treasures of science and art, and public sculptures.






Helsinki got really empty. Especially after the bombings, people crowded at the bus 
and train station and paid an overcharge for a taxi ride. It is estimated that in 1944 from 
February to March alone 102,000 - 120,000 people departed. 


The exhibition is designed and curated by author Anna Kortelainen.
The combination of works of art, photographs, objects and mindset quotes 
acts as a barometer of contradictory feelings, moments of joy, suspicion, fear and defiance.


My text is based on the exhibition's text posters, Hakasalmi villa’s exhibition info and Wikipedia.



LIFE IN TRENCHES
This war-time song was very popular among the Finnish front-line soldiers during the wartime. Film material on this video is taken from the Finnish classic movie Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier, 1955) by Edvin Laine. The story is about the Continuation War (1941-1944) between Finland and the Soviet Union as told from the viewpoint of ordinary Finnish soldiers.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#all seasons   #der natur donnerstag   #digitalart dienstag   #foto-tunes   #gartenglück    
#image-in-ing   #makrotex   #mosaic monday   #my corner of the world   
#saturday’s critters   # t in die neue woche   #the weekend roundup   #tuesday’s treasures
#uudet värikollaasit   #wandering camera   #willy-nilly   #watw 

The Weekend Roundup V


Starts with V & my favourite:
The Vehicle for Various people: Volkswagen Beetle, 
the nickname in Finnish is Kupla = Bubble.


 Starts with V:
Vivid ”Volare" on Verbascum nigrum


Starts with V:
Venetian masks from my Vacation in Florence


Tom’s choice Vertical



⭐️⭐️⭐️

#all seasons   #der natur donnerstag   #digitalart dienstag   #foto-tunes   #gartenglück    
#image-in-ing   #makrotex   #mosaic monday   #my corner of the world   
#saturday’s critters   # t in die neue woche   #the weekend roundup   #tuesday’s treasures
#uudet värikollaasit   #wandering camera   #willy-nilly   #watw 

29 marraskuuta 2019

Friday Bliss #64 - Christmas is Sneaking



Christmas is already all over. Last week I visited two garden centers and Koiramäen pajutalli
that is a charming present shop located in an old environment.
The northern part of Finland got new snow, here the ground is still bare.
The positive side is that it is not slippery when doing my daily Nordic Walkings.


This puff plum pastry is very typical pastry during Christmas time in Finland.
They are usually star-shaped and we call them JOULUTORTTU, delicious with coffee or even glögg.


At Koiramäen pajutalli’s stall there were even two Christmas pigs snoaring!
The smell was not nice, I can tell you :)) But kids love them.



This big amaryllis pot looked fabulous at a garden center. Maybe it is at its best
at this stage. I am not sure if the flowers have enough space to open.


My white Christmas cactus is ridiculously small :))


This was a nostalgic photography book showing how Finland was in the 1950s.
A tip for the Finnish Santas!


A bunch of book bloggers were invited to YLE, Finnish Broadcasting Company.
Yle has a poetry award called Dancing Bear and we were the ones who read  the nominees
and blogged about them. I am in the back row, in the middle.


❤︎❤︎❤︎
Wishing beautiful First Advent & a good spirit for your Christmas preparations!!


The link is open
FROM FRIDAY 7 AM TILL THE NEXT TUESDAY 4 PM
Helsinki time

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

28 marraskuuta 2019

My November in Collage


November was a more quiet month for me. A bit of flu and fatigue. I posted about 
Viapori Kekri Feast and a lot of miscellaneous stuff.
I have walked almost every day and made some serious cleaning for Christmas.
Home is now ready for Christmas and so am I!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#all seasons   #der natur donnerstag   #digitalart dienstag   #foto-tunes   #gartenglück    
#image-in-ing   #makrotex   #mosaic monday   #my corner of the world   
#saturday’s critters   # t in die neue woche   #the weekend roundup   #tuesday’s treasures
#uudet värikollaasit   #wandering camera   #willy-nilly   #watw 

26 marraskuuta 2019

Digital Art Dienstag




First Advent is next weekend, so a bit Christmas, too.



 My original - a leaf of Zamioculcas

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#all seasons #der natur donnerstag #digitalart dienstag #foto-tunes #gartenglück 
#image-in-ing #makrotex #mosaic monday #my corner of the world 
#saturday’s critters # t in die neue woche #the weekend roundup #tuesday’s treasures
#uudet värikollaasit #wandering camera #willy-nilly #watw 

24 marraskuuta 2019

Rain Clouds and Sun Rays - Järvenpää Art Museum


Akseli Gallen-Kallela - Towers of Clouds 1904


Rain Clouds and Sun Rays - Artists' Skies was an exhibition curated by Finnish meteorologist Seija Paasonen. I visited this exhibition in September at Järvenpää Art Museum.   The works were mainly from the Golden Era of Finnish painting in the late 1800s and early 1900s including among others Albert Edelfelt, Fanny Churberg, Pekka Halonen, Eero Järnefelt and Venny Soldan-Brofeldt. Unfortunately the paintings lose their enchantment due to the yellowing lights of the space.

This exhibition was wonderful. The paintings were grouped on the basis of the weather phenomenon or season: summer, winter, sunset, storm etc. The space had low ceilings and the lighting highlighted beautifully the golden frames. I loved the poetry lines on the wall.


Fanny Churberg


Viggo Pedersen


Markus Collin


Hanna Rönnberg


Aukusti Uotila

"The skies in the paintings are frozen in time, but they can be brought to life to reveal past and future weather. Many paintings – whether they show the sky or not – give some kind of signal or sensation about the weather. A grey curtain of clouds on the horizon creates the sense of impending rain. The cold air of a clear winter morning pinches your cheeks. Bending treetops evoke the sound of the hum of the wind. The scent of mouldering plants hangs in the air in a foggy autumn landscape. When waves hit the rocks on the seashore, you can taste the salt in the seawater." - Museum’s site




Albert Edelfelt



Akseli Gallen-Kallela

"Weather in all its many and greatly varying forms, surrounds us everywhere, all over the world. The world of paintings also depicts weather, fascinating skies and clouds. Some of the painted skies follow the laws of meteorology, while others are imaginary or intended for something completely different than meteorological study. Despite this, they can be studied with original ideas, and the clouds can even be named according to the International Cloud Atlas.” - Museum’s site


Aukusti Uotila


One of my favorites was this compact lake landscape by Eero Järnefelt.

HERE & HERE for more great photos!


Photo: Yle

Singing in The Rain - Gene Kelly



⭐️⭐️⭐️

#all seasons   #der natur donnerstag   #digitalart dienstag   #foto-tunes   #gartenglück    
#image-in-ing   #makrotex   #mosaic monday   #my corner of the world   
#saturday’s critters   # t in die neue woche   #the weekend roundup   #tuesday’s treasures
#uudet värikollaasit   #wandering camera   #willy-nilly   #watw