Showing posts with label sisu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sisu. Show all posts
Monday, November 11, 2013
Kiln gods
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Uff Da times three?!?
People say bad things come in threes.
This morning our washing machine stopped draining.
This afternoon the garage door cable snapped and the spring flew across the garage. Thankfully, no one was in the garage when it happened - and remarkably none of the pots I had drying got hit.
I'm not sure what the third thing is going to be. I'm tempted to break something, because I need to fire up my kiln soon - and I really don't want that to go down too.
Fortunately Sisu Bill fixes most everything that breaks around here. Here he is troubleshooting the washing machine (again). I came upon this scene and couldn't resist snapping a picture. The umbrella cracks me up.
This morning our washing machine stopped draining.
This afternoon the garage door cable snapped and the spring flew across the garage. Thankfully, no one was in the garage when it happened - and remarkably none of the pots I had drying got hit.
I'm not sure what the third thing is going to be. I'm tempted to break something, because I need to fire up my kiln soon - and I really don't want that to go down too.
Fortunately Sisu Bill fixes most everything that breaks around here. Here he is troubleshooting the washing machine (again). I came upon this scene and couldn't resist snapping a picture. The umbrella cracks me up.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Uff Da!
Uff Da! My daughter has decided this is her new phrase. I told her that it would make her Grandma Ruth smile to hear her utter Uff Da*.
Recently I traveled home with my eldest sister, Liz, to help our mom out with the 35th Anniversary Party for her Crazy Ladies Bridge Club. (THAT is another story in and of itself.) During our visit we decided to help Mom clean out our older brother’s old bedroom so that she could use it for an office. My parents had their house built back in 1968, so after all these years she’s finally getting a space to spread out all her projects. It’s about time.
My mom is a notorious pack rat. She’s not an out of control hoarder like those people on cable, but she saves things. A lot of things. Sometimes she saves things because they are valuable. Mostly she saves things because they have a sentimental value associated with them. We joke that she’s saved things so long that they are now worth keeping because they are so OLD!
My mom takes great pride when she pulls out some long forgotten treasure for a special occasion. My brothers, sisters and I have benefited from many of these stashes of stuff over the years. We all give her a hard time about it, but down deep we are all likely grateful that she hasn’t taken the opposite path and pitched all of our childhood paraphernalia.
During the push to purge – well, rather re-organize as no purging was the rule - we discovered many treasures and a bit of trash – and a lot of in between. Liz and I travelled home with a few things that Mom was able to part with and pass on. One of the things I brought back with me was an hand carved “Uff Da” sign that my mom had bought years ago when she organized the Gregerson Family Reunion – a large gathering of the descendants of the seven Gregerson brothers who’d emigrated from Norway many generations ago.
Mom seemed a little perplexed that I would want the Uff Da sign. The puzzled look on her face seemed to reflect her thought about where in the world I would put that in my house! I quickly explained to her that I planned on putting the sign in my pottery studio. Yes, that made more sense to her now.
Uff Da is a perfect sentiment to what often happens in my studio. I hung the sign over my kiln.
My handy hubby is full of his Finnish Sisu**. He has a "SISU" sticker on his tool box that screams out this eerily real ancestor-like trait of his – sisu. He is one of those guys who doesn’t give up – has an inner strength to persevere. True sisu.
So why can’t I be full of Uff Da!!?! Ahh, I like the way that sounds - full of Uff Da.
************************************************************************************
*Uff Da - international exclamations that can express joy, frustration, bewilderment, etc. It is an analogue of such words in other languages as "oy vey" or "carumba." In Norway, Charlie Brown says, "Uff Da!" instead of "Good grief!"
**SISU- a uniquely Finnish quality; the word used to typify the Finnish spirit; a concept that is at the heart of how all Finns view themselves; a certain feature or value considered by Finns to be typically Finnish - endurance, resilience, tenacity, determination, perseverance - an inner reserve of diligence, capacity, the ability to face head-on and always overcome - craziness: the recklessness that inspires a person to take on something in the face of incredible odds - bravery, empowerment, inner strength
Recently I traveled home with my eldest sister, Liz, to help our mom out with the 35th Anniversary Party for her Crazy Ladies Bridge Club. (THAT is another story in and of itself.) During our visit we decided to help Mom clean out our older brother’s old bedroom so that she could use it for an office. My parents had their house built back in 1968, so after all these years she’s finally getting a space to spread out all her projects. It’s about time.
My mom is a notorious pack rat. She’s not an out of control hoarder like those people on cable, but she saves things. A lot of things. Sometimes she saves things because they are valuable. Mostly she saves things because they have a sentimental value associated with them. We joke that she’s saved things so long that they are now worth keeping because they are so OLD!
My mom takes great pride when she pulls out some long forgotten treasure for a special occasion. My brothers, sisters and I have benefited from many of these stashes of stuff over the years. We all give her a hard time about it, but down deep we are all likely grateful that she hasn’t taken the opposite path and pitched all of our childhood paraphernalia.
During the push to purge – well, rather re-organize as no purging was the rule - we discovered many treasures and a bit of trash – and a lot of in between. Liz and I travelled home with a few things that Mom was able to part with and pass on. One of the things I brought back with me was an hand carved “Uff Da” sign that my mom had bought years ago when she organized the Gregerson Family Reunion – a large gathering of the descendants of the seven Gregerson brothers who’d emigrated from Norway many generations ago.
Mom seemed a little perplexed that I would want the Uff Da sign. The puzzled look on her face seemed to reflect her thought about where in the world I would put that in my house! I quickly explained to her that I planned on putting the sign in my pottery studio. Yes, that made more sense to her now.
Uff Da is a perfect sentiment to what often happens in my studio. I hung the sign over my kiln.
My handy hubby is full of his Finnish Sisu**. He has a "SISU" sticker on his tool box that screams out this eerily real ancestor-like trait of his – sisu. He is one of those guys who doesn’t give up – has an inner strength to persevere. True sisu.
So why can’t I be full of Uff Da!!?! Ahh, I like the way that sounds - full of Uff Da.
************************************************************************************
*Uff Da - international exclamations that can express joy, frustration, bewilderment, etc. It is an analogue of such words in other languages as "oy vey" or "carumba." In Norway, Charlie Brown says, "Uff Da!" instead of "Good grief!"
**SISU- a uniquely Finnish quality; the word used to typify the Finnish spirit; a concept that is at the heart of how all Finns view themselves; a certain feature or value considered by Finns to be typically Finnish - endurance, resilience, tenacity, determination, perseverance - an inner reserve of diligence, capacity, the ability to face head-on and always overcome - craziness: the recklessness that inspires a person to take on something in the face of incredible odds - bravery, empowerment, inner strength
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