Tanja @tanjaostman@dingdash.com

HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY! 🌹 The person in the picture is the Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin (35 yrs) - the youngest female PM in the world. (If she is a good politician or not is another question). Women got equal rights as men to vote in 1906. In 1980 we got the first female Minister of Defence, Elisabeth Rehn. Our first female President, Tarja Halonen, in 2000. There are many strong women in our country. The backside of the coin is that we have among the highest rates of domestic violence in all of Europe. We have been criticized by EU for that. I feel very safe in the streets, especially where I live on the countryside. I take evening walks alone. But there's sadly a lot of unsafety in homes....

I'm so surprised that my country Finland 🇫🇮 is no 1, since it's a cold country. We have a very short summer for growing crops. I think the reason for this high ranking is more about politics, than climate zones. We have endured several wars in the 1900s (lessons learned) and are neighboring Russia, which is not so trustworthy. Last spring Sweden was in contact with Finnnish companies because they needed more meat. We have a higher level of self-sustainability.

A wooden windmill in our village (Sundom, Vasa, Finland). Built in 1809 inspired by Dutch windmills.

Quotes of Neil Cole. I own a couple of his books, but these pictures are borrowed from #neilcole on IG.

My son has one week of winter break from school. My husband and I are taking some days off. Enjoying fresh air at our staycation. Today we went a 2 hours ride from home with my son's cousins.

Birches.

Sausage - the Finnish national vegetable. They say. 😀

A marina in the summer, an ice landscape in the winter. A beautiful sunset in the city of Vasa, Finland at 6 PM.

Did you know that about Bob Marley? I didn't.

A week ago. We still have snow on the ground, but it has melted from the trees.

I love nature! ❄️🌲 I am thankful to the Lord that live so close to nature, and only 2 kilometers from this small hill where I can ski downhill. And even closer to skiing tracks for cross-country. ⛷️

A great book. I've read it twice.

Just a joke.

And one more quote for today...

I found two great quotes of BROTHER YUN, whom some of you know. And two other quotes of Jon Zens on the same theme. (I shared some quotes yesterday as well).