Finland in the Fall

I've said it before,
but I will say it again,
I love Finland !

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The roof of the manor house catches the last rays of the sun.

 

Several reasons.  It's a beautiful country, but also because the people are friendly.  I go there to work, our headquarters is there, but having worked with several of the folks for a number of years now, I go there with the knowledge that I will seeing and working with close friends. (and usually, if I am traveling there with partners from the USA, those are frequently close friends as well, so all the better).

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Lots of trees, lawns, beautiful.

I didn't have time for any photo expeditions this time, just had to take advantage of any opportunities that popped up.  Well fortunately, on Wednesday evening, we were treated to a group dinner at a place called Katisten Kartano. 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Pretty nice lobby for a "Cow House" !

There are a number of such places around Finland.  Like Katisten Kartano, they are usually large former farms or dairy plantations, typically with large Manor Houses and out-buildings. But these days, many of them have been converted to places where businesses can have meetings, or host dinners. 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 Stone walls all around, and many barns built with similar large stones.

 

 
There are several meeting facilities at Katisten Kartano, and the Manor House is set up with several dining rooms, with seating from around 100, to smaller rooms set for a half-dozen or a dozen guests.   

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Sitting area in front of the "Cow House".

Also in Finland, they take the cows indoors in the winter (not into the house dummy, I mean into a large barn).  KK has a former 200-cow stall and milking barn that has been converted to hotel rooms, so there's a place to stay if you are having several days of meetings. 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Several types of out buildings available.

If you are not familiar with Finland, the Sauna is a big deal there.  Being from Texas, sitting in a steamy room at 160 deg F (70 deg C) seems a little too much like every summer afternoon in Houston, as you are just getting into the car. 



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Several small sitting areas.

 



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The small room for the 8 of us. 

 

 

If you travel to Finland in the winter time, you can see right away why Finns (and other Scandinavians) put such a high priority on getting warm (so much so, that they keep doing it even in warm weather).  But I am not so keen on it, so I took the opportunity to walk around and take a few photos before it got dark.

After the sauna, we all went up to the Manor House for dinner.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 One of several sitting rooms.

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Small dining room off to the side.  A nice place for breakfast,

especially if looking out over a meter-deep snow.

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Several smaller dining rooms...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The large main dining room looks to seat about 8 dozen.

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Windows are those locally-made, rolled panes,

with waves and imperfections.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

An old lock on one of the out-buildings.

So, if you happen to be in Finland, check out one of the many manor houses.  Cool places, year round.  Go for a sauna, a few drinks and a fantastic, multi-course, multi-wine, gourmet dinner.  I've had a couple, so far, Katisten Kartano was best !

Y'all take care,
-Mark W. Laughlin

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Katisten Kartano
Katistentie 91  

13210 Hämeenlinna, Finland  

Tel:  +358-03-656-8200  
E-Mail:  katistenkartano@katistenkartano.fi  

Website:  www.katistenkartano.fi  

 

.

 

Cool Bug(s) !!

Well, I just saw something I had never seen before, though I've been here in Houston all my life.

It’s Labor Day 2014, a holiday, but I was on a brief conference call, trying to keep the ball rolling business-wise, to get a project completed by the end of this week.  I was home, at my “kitchen-table-office”, and glanced over toward the rear windows. 

 

The sun was at a nice angle, about 10:00am, and I saw something smaller than a bird, but bigger than most bugs flay past.  Thinking it might be a humming bird, I stepped over to look. 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

We have a rather unusual bug here that we call a Cicada (not sure if that’s correct…).  I do know that they live underground from the time they hatch, for fourteen years.  They dig around, and then in their 14^th summer, they dig their way up to the surface, and out. 

 

They are large, with a heavy body, fully one half inch wide and about an inch and a half long (about 13 x 38mm).  Once up into the air, they find a tree or other vertical surface, climb up a few feet, and then go through their metamorphosis.  They split the skin of their heavy exoskeleton, and make their way out of this “ugly” “digging suit”, crawl out and spread their 2 inch (50mm) nearly transparent wings, to let them dry.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

When ready, they fly up into the trees and start their next phase, which is mostly singing and mating.  But, all is not harmony and light, you see the cicada has at least one enemy.  It is a wasp, a large heavy bodied wasp, that, on the wing mind you, will intercept a flying cicada, stinging it to death, in mid-air, dropping it instantly to the ground.  In all my years, I have seen this only once, a few years ago, just by chance, because I was looking in just the right direction at just the right time.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Well today, the object I saw flying past the window was one of those wasps, carrying a dead cicada.  He was losing altitude, as the cicada was heavy.  They landed near the base of a large pine tree, just a few feet outside the window, very nicely lit by the sun.  I grabbed my camera from my briefcase and quickly shot two photos before the wasp hustled up the tree and out of site.  It just took a few seconds, and I was back on the call before they missed me.

Take a look at a couple of links:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/cicada/

http://www.stonybrook.edu/ehs/pest/cicada-killers.shtml

Y’all have a nice Labor Day !

-Mark