The time has come, the walrus said. . .

. . . to buy a winter coat. And a hat, a scarf, a pair of gloves, and some boots.

This morning, on my five-minute bike ride to the bus stop, with the wind blowing off the sea and into my face, I realized it was time. The sea, for those of you who don’t have your atlases handy, is the Gulf of Bothnia, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Baltic. This corner of the world, when the Swedes were in charge, was known as Northern Ostrobothnia.

I didn’t bring any winter clothes with me because they would have taken up so much room. I will, of course, get my new duds at Stockmann, the Center of the Ouluniverse. I’ll figure out how to schlep them home later.

As a bonus today, here’s a little something our Survival Finnish teacher taught us. She was trying to show us that Finnish words are long because of the way suffixes pile up.

Kirja = book
Kirjasto = library
Kirjastoi = libraries
Kirjastoissa = in libraries
Kirjastoissamme = in our libraries
Kirjastoissammekin = also in our libraries

Näkemiin!