Puerto/Puerta

Photos ⎮ kuvat:   Katja K. #tenerife #puertodesantiago

"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." - Alexander Graham Bell

Love, Katja K.

Love Your Home!

The horseshoe and animal figures painted gold were a gift from Tofu & Talli, the text from Rita.

"Introduce it to your friends. Don't keep your wonderful (or on-the-way-to-wonderful) home under wraps. Sharing it with friends, neighbors, and family can inspire you to keep it cleaner, make improvements more often, and simply enjoy it more." – Apartment Therapy. Complete + Happy Home (Potter Style 2015)

See the globe? It used to sit on my mom's desk when she was a teenager. –  My home is a collection of found or received things, and the vintage Ikea sofa is one of the few bought objects!

Expecting holiday guests...

Photos ⎮ kuvat: Katja K. (The entryway chair in the small image is a flea market find, the cushion from Tallinn's Telliskivi.)

ENG I've been so grateful to spend some time at home these holidays, curled up on the sofa, reading books, after having spread my grandparents' old oriental carpet on the floor for warmth. – Which ones of the below "8 ways to love your home so it loves you back", by Apartment Therapy, have you done these holidays? I've done them all, lucky me...

"1 Treat it right. If you see something that needs attention around the house – a leaky dishwasher, a loose piece of trim – take care of it ASAP. Letting things go in the short term almost always exacerbates the original issue, costing you more money and time in the long run.
2 Buy it flowers. Picking up an inexpensive bunch of flowers (or cutting some from the yard) on a regular basis is a staple of Apartment Therapy's January Cure, our annual guide to starting your year off right. It's a small thing that goes a long way. Colorful blooms can serve as a visual reminder throughout the week that your home – and you! – are worth treating well.
3 Eat delicious meals together. Whether solo, with family, or for guests, cooking at home is always worth it. Each time you prepare a meal, the benefits increase: your cooking skills sharpen; your kitchen gets more streamlined, because you refine its organization as you use it; and, of course, you get to eat really good home-cooked food.
4 Serenade it. Turn up music and belt out a few favorites the next time you're in chores mode; it's way more fun. You can even use the music as a motivator; challenge yourself to finish washing the kitchen floor before the next song starts. You'll clean more energetically and end up happier.
5 Appreciate its uniqueness. No home is perfect. It's the quirks that give it character and charm. Taking time to turn a challenging spot (a dark entryway, a supersmall bedroom) into an eye-catching design moment is one of the more satisfying projects you can take on – and doing so will make you love your space even more.
6 Don't crowd it. Be diligent in letting go of the things that you don't need. Your home should be more than a place to store your stuff. Leaving some room to grow is essential to being comfortable in your place, long-term.
7 Don't skimp on the time spent together. It's easy to prioritize the time you spend outside your home: working, socializing, exercising. But carving out time on a regular basis to spend an evening in – cooking a meal, taking a long bath – creates a necessary home-life balance. Plus, you'll hit the ground running the next day.
8 Introduce it to your friends. Don't keep your wonderful (or on-the-way-to-wonderful) home under wraps. Sharing it with friends, neighbors, and family can inspire you to keep it cleaner, make improvements more often, and simply enjoy it more." – Apartment Therapy. Complete + Happy Home (Potter Style 2015)

Books on happy homes – guess which one I found under the Christmas tree?

           

If you're into Apartment Therapy: Apartment Therapy. Complete + Happy Home (Potter Style, 2015), if you're into DIY on a budget: A Beautiful Mess. Happy Handmade Home (Potter Style, 2014) – I've already mentioned it here – , and if you're into the Finnish style: Cozy Publishing's Happy Homes series – I've already mentioned Happy Homes. Hideaways (2017) here! 

FIN Olen ollut kiitollinen voidessani viettää aikaa myös kotona lomien aikana, käpertyä sohvalle ja lukea kirjoja, levitettyäni isovanhempieni vanhan itämaisen maton lattialle lämpöä tuomaan. – Mitkä yllä luetelluista, Apartment Therapyn kirjasta löytämistäni "kahdeksasta tavasta rakastaa kotiasi niin se rakastaa sinua" sinä olet tehnyt lomallasi? Minä olen onnekseni ehtinyt tekemään kaikki...

Love (my recycled home), Katja K.

"Joulu & koulu, kiitos!"

Photos ⎮ kuvat: Katja K.

ENG Thanks for letting me spend Christmas at the Ilola Old School again this year, like last year! It's New Year's Eve, but I'm still listening to the Christmas carols we listened to – and remembering the details I had time to capture (leaving plenty of others for the Christmases to come)! "Everyday is Christmas"?

FIN Kiitos, että sain taas viettää joulua Ilolan vanhalla koululla tänä vuonna, kuten viime vuonna! Uusi vuosi on ovella, mutta kuuntelen vieläkin jouluna soineita levyjä – ja muistelen yksityiskohtia, joita minulla oli aikaa ikuistaa (niin että niitä jäi vielä tulevillekin jouluille)! "Oispa joulu ainainen"?

Local produce.

The best ever "joulutorttu", Finnish Christmas pastry?

Christmas laurels.

I just love the accidental – and artistic – compositions that come and go in families with children. (See here for Darth Vader happily mingling with other objects on the sideboard at my other sister's house.) Hygge!

Love (Xmas details), Katja K.

Blueberry twig wreath.

Tel Aviv: Street & Food

Photos ⎮ kuvat: Katja K. 

ENG After beach, I took to the colorful streets of Tel Aviv, with an Amos Oz book as my guide – and I loved the delicious details & second hand everywhere, especially in the bohemian Old Jaffa flea market district. (You've got to see what somebody did to the toaster that stopped working! Scroll down!)

FIN Rannalla oltuani suuntasin Tel Avivin värikkäille kaduille, oppaanani Amos Ozin romaani – ja näin herkullisia (kierrätys)yksityiskohtia kaikkialla, etenkin vanhan Jaffan boheemilla kirpputorialueella. (Sinun on pakko nähdä mitä joku keksi tehdä leivänpaahtimella, joka lakkasi  toimimasta! Siirry alas!)

Mitzim, Sheinkin St 54.

Albert, Bat Ami St 7.

Abouelafia Bakery's (Yefet St 7) stuffed pita bread. The bakery's said to produce pastry and peace, with employees wearing t-shirts that read in Hebrew "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies” coincident to fighting.

These two pictures – the above lamp and the skis below – reminded me of Finland, despite the exotic surroundings.

Love (me two times), Katja K.

Tel Aviv: Postel

 

Photos ⎮ kuvat: Katja K. 

ENG "Shared vegetables", a text on the side of a bowl, was the first thing I saw when I entered Postel (Ha-Do'ar St 10) and its communal kitchen and I knew I liked it. Art was everywhere.

At a stone's throw from the Mediterranean Sea, Postel opened its doors in November 2016, and this is what I knew of it before the trip: "It is neither a hostel nor an Airbnb. It’s the best of both, it’s The Postel... a Bauhaus-styled archive of the central post office transformed into a vintage and alternative accommodation place with spacious lounge areas and individually styled private rooms... a cool base by the beach, ancient Jaffa and the bohemian flea market district."

FIN "Shared vegetables", teksti kulhon sivulta, oli ensimmäinen asia, jonka huomasin Postelissa (Ha-Do'ar St 10) ja sen yhteisessä keittiössä, kun astuin sisään ja tiesin pitäväni siitä. Taide oli kaikkialla. – Postel avasi ovensa marraskuussa 2016 kivenheiton päässä Välimerestä, ja ennen matkaa olin lukenut siitä seuraavaa: "Postel ei ole hostelli eikä Airbnb, se on yhdistelmä molempien parhaista puolista... pääpostitoimiston Bauhaus-tyyppinen arkisto, joka on muutettu vaihtoehtoiseksi vintage-majoituspaikaksi, jossa on tilavia lounge-alueita ja yksilöllisesti sisustettuja huoneita... viehättävä tukikohta vanhan Jaffan rannalla, boheemin kirpputorialueen kupeessa."

NAME YOUR FOOD 

USE A TAPE 

I tried, but the cassette didn't stick to the fridge.

Love (re:constructions), Katja K.

The travel journal – a gift from an Estonian friend called Marge – that I was carrying was a perfect fit with the room.

Tel Aviv: Israel Blues

Photos ⎮ kuvat: Katja K. 

ENG I've got the Israel blues a month after my trip – and 20 years after my first trip to the Holy Land. Here are some blue & grey shots from the Tel Aviv and Old Jaffa streets, like reflections of the omnipresent sea with its changing hues... and not even one image of the Mediterranean!

FIN Minulla on ikävä Israeliin, kun matkastani on kulunut kuukausi ja ensimmäisestä matkastani Pyhään maahan on 20 vuotta. Tässä on joitain sinisiä ja harmaita kuvia Tel Avivin ja vanhan Jaffan kaduilta, kuin heijastuksia kaikkialla läsnä olevasta merestä muuttuvine sävyineen... eikä kuvan kuvaa Välimerestä!

Goldman's Court (Nahum Goldmann St 6).

Kiosk Est 1920 – 1920 קיוסק מאז (Lilienblum St 3). – See the espresso cups in all the colors of the rainbow? 

And see the "nazar" (from Arabic ‏نظر‎, meaning sight, surveillance, attention, and other related concepts), an eye-shaped amulet believed to protect against the evil eye, in the above picture? Somebody was waiting for a passer-by?

"He remembered what Renoir had said when they told him that Gauguin had gone to Tahiti to paint. 'Why does he have to spend so much money to go so far away to paint when one paints so well here at the Batignolles?' It was better in French, 'quand on peint si bien aux Batignolles.' 

(Hemingway: "Islands in the Stream", 1970)

Love (adventures), Katja K.