HELENA-REET ENNET

Helena-Reet: A big trip to Finland coming up next week! Searching for extremeness and ultimate luxury

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Already next week, on the 20th of October, I will start an extraordinary trip with my kids. We are going on a trip that dares to undertake very few experienced grownup travelers. Namely, I practically have a plan to take the way around Finland by car, while myself being the only driver and my two companions will be my daughters (12-year-old Estella Elisheva and 10-year-old Ivanka Shoshana).

Ivanka Shoshana is autistic – according to the papers with a profound disability. Uh, it sounds awful, because she is actually a very smart and lovely girl, but still travelling with her is something way different from travelling with a normal child. However, on this point I have never “given her mercy” – she had gone along with all my extremes, I take my kids everywhere and I can say that the progress compared to many other children with the same diagnosis is amazing. Of course, it depends on the child, but the environment and direction (by setting an example) also have a high impact. Ivanka is in form four subsistence learning class. I am convinced that thanks to the teachers’ and specialists’ (and my) efforts her development has been so rapid that maybe she could even enter the first grade in a normal school, though in a small class and keep up with other students, in other words, to go through the simplified curriculum. In the big picture, it does not matter if she is in the first or the fourth grade, the outcome is more important.



2x Ivanka Shoshana

There is about a week until our trip and our travel anxiety is growing. As I have just got started with the cosmetics brand named Elisheva & Shoshana (it is a part of E&S brand that I created for my daughters several years ago aiming to do something altogether), I have had less time than usual to pre-prepare our trip. I hope to get many experiences – we would like to see as many sights as possible, the ones that are so to say in “uncomfortable”, out-of-the-way places, that people usually do not visit. I will leave out Kuusamo from my initial trip route and I will replace it with the following trajectory: Kivitaipale, Narkaus, Portimo, Tolja, Ranua, Kuha, Asmunti, Pudasjärvi, Hirvaskoski, Ervasti, Auho, Puolanka, Leipivaara, Paljakka, Ristijärvi, Paltamo, Jormua and Kajaani. Tomorrow I will continue my research… Old towns and city centers are fascinating and we will visit them for sure, but the places that so to say an ordinary tourist does not see on a daily basis are also very interesting – I have always liked to experience and reflect something that all the newspapers/blogs do not write about and that all the tourism websites do not promote. Something unique, something special – something that one cannot experience every day. The experiences – even a special tree, landscape… or a local resident or his/her undertaking. I would like to fit some extreme luxury into our trip as well – something royal, almost lavish and pleasing to one’s eye or senses. If you think that it is easy to find such pearls, you are wrong. Type in “Luxury in Finland”, “Luxury in Lapland”, “Luxury in Tampere”, “Luxury in Rovaniemi”, “Luxury in Kuopio” or some other similar search phrase into Google… Google does not offer anything useful besides some a bit more expensive hotels, that actually do not provide the luxury I am thinking of at the moment. However, there is enough such luxury in Finland that seven-star hotels decorated with gold and ornaments, crowded with handmaids do not offer – surrounding virgin forests, clean and untouched nature, beautiful lakes, northern lights and a lot of genuine and ancient culture. Nature is definitely the luxury of Finland; it is actually the greatest value of all Nordic countries. I wish people could appreciate it more! My experience says that you get the greatest luxury if you can imagine up unto yourself exactly what you expect from your trip and just order it. It is possible to buy and book everything, even the things you do not have on the “programme”. You need some fantasy, this is what people usually lack of. It is the most difficult to come to a conclusion what you want. Heh…


Please, send me some hints, if you have any good suggestions what we should visit during our trip! The biggest stopping points are Tampere, Vaasa, Oulu, Levi, Rovaniemi, Kajaani, Kuopio and Jyväskylä. Do not be afraid to come up with your ideas – I am interested in EVERYTHING THAT IS EXCITING, really!

Right now, I will start reading the book named “Lotte from Gadgetville” by Andrus Kivirähk to Ivanka. Have a nice evening!

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Helena-Reet: Amazon England seeks to cooperate with Elisheva & Shoshana brand!

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – For the past few weeks my time has in a concentrated manner been spent on the active development of Elisheva & Shoshana cosmetics brand. The recipes for cosmetics products that for half a year have been tested and have been work in progress are now taking shape and form. It is time that the ideas visualized in my mind’s eye obtain an actual physical form – the first products are ready and now awaiting the labels and packages.

For me the entire production process has been super fun and without stress – I have been doing something that I really like. This in my case is most important – I only choose to do the things and get involved in the activities that interest me and give pleasure. This is called freedom. Oftentimes I have been asked how my business is so successful, how it can be possible that with a team a lot smaller in percentage it is possible to accomplish that much. It is not a big secret actually – that ALL these people that are in cooperation with me, are professionals – such people who are fond of what they do unfailingly. Since life is so short and I do not feel like lowering my head before anybody then I only communicate with people who do their thing with all their heart and with passion. People involved in this undertaking love the work and the challenge. Of course there are exceptions and I do not agree with the claim that there is always and fully only success accompanying my endeavors. Through the years there have actually been quite a few shortcomings. Yet this can not change the baseline – I have only been involved in undertakings that nurture the soul – in this way I have always won, not lost. I have grown as a person and have not lost the lesson. You cannot lose if you do something that is close to the heart.

Journalism has been the greatest passion in my life – I am proud of my accomplishments in this field. I know that there are not so many people able to say that they are managing a six-language online media channel as well as printing press, are represented in 17 countries and have in social media the monopoly in Scandinavian journalism landscape. This has been my contribution in the Northern media landscape.

Now I wish to set new challenges – I want to launch a care cosmetics series, created in the first place to a Northern person. Everyone has heard the frase “Scandinavian welfare model” – but what exactly does it mean? It means that the thinking is on the individuals’ level – action is taken to put the individual and their living environment first. The thinking context is the future, not the present. The entire life-business-production line must be green and sustainable.

Elisheva & Shoshana (E&S) first handmade products have briefly been advertised in Instagram and Facebook and just two small stories have been posted in NordenBladet (my blog is published in four languages – Estonian, Finnish, Swedish, English) and now I was startled again – I sometimes forget that even though we are roughly a company that can be described as “desk in bedroom” rather than 7000 staff members in office – then our grasp reader- and coverage wize exceeds that of many national newspapers. Thus at first I was full of juvenile joy when Amazon.co.uk wished to cooperate with me. Amazon! Amazon, com, Inc (earlier also known as Cadabra, Inc) is after Alibaba Group the second largest web store sales-wize. I really admire the founder, 54-year-old Jeffrey Preston Bezos. One must be talented, determined an industrious to build a company that will make you the world’s leading millionaire. Mystically gifted! And now when such calibre company seeks to collaborate with a small Scandinavian brand – there nothing else to do than be happy and thankful! 🙂

Once an close acquaintance called and said: “You have written yourself in history, you do really cool things but why would you ask people their opinion about your labels? Are you so undecided that you cannot think for yourself? Why would you place yourself in such awkward situation.” I was surprised about this call – the question is not whether i can make up my mind, on the contrary – I find it nice to hear and consider the thoughts of the readers that have been following me online for 10+ years – I trust these people, they are dear to me. Certainly I can decide for myself I surely I will always make the final decision myself, but I guess the secret of a great product is cooperation. Just the personal touch, personal contact, genuine passion, affection and being there with heart and soul will bring you closer to the goal. Something that has been done with the heart cannot turn awry and will always bring closer the best “success algorithms”. At least my experience tells me that.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BoOPSWOH1Xh/?taken-by=elishevashoshana

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn_SxVJHkCB/?taken-by=elishevashoshana

Helena-Reet: Elisheva & Shoshana product design – producing soap, labels, recipes

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – The entire last week I have been actively involved in the product design of our cosmetics brand Elisheva & Shoshana – I have been furnishing the website (ElishevaShoshana.com), producing soap and designing the etiquettes, also I have been concluding the documents so that everything would be in line with the National Health Board and the requirements of the European Union. There has been quite a lot of work and engagement with it.

I am rather glad that we live in the countryside – unpolluted nature and clean environment is something that can be valued more and more in the hasty lives that we lead. Also in the process of brand design I aim to bring country life and the power of unpolluted nature closer to people. The more we connect to nature the more there is happiness and contentment in our mind. Every single article of soap, shampoo and bath foam that has been produced from pure ingredients, contributes to this welfare-chain. The healthier and more natural our choices, the more our bodies and minds thrive.

The process of preparing splendid soap is time-consuming. Already in springtime we were growing, gathering and collecting from our own home fields as well as from the clean forests of Estonia herbs, leaves, roots, stems, inflorescences, we dried them for herbal tea as well as for the ingredients of cosmetics – as natural dye and fragrance ingredients. Most of the ingredients that go in our soap can hit our mouths – I have been trying to work on the recipes with our pharmacists taking into account that whenever a cosmetics or treatment product can be dyed, decorated, scented naturally than that is how we will perform it. The smell of coffee or the creamy mocha shade stems from coffee, the yellow tone comes from the native dandelions, etc. Every product is handmade – prepared carefully one after another with own hands, machinery is not involved in the production and naturally we do not test our products on animals. Currently we have refined three magnificent recipes for soap and three wonderful bath salts – product design process proceeds with shower gels, shampoos and body lotions. Besides developing the recipes, testing and preparing the products one must consider that soap must still ripen after preparation in order to attain the optimal pH level and to give best results upon use. Therefore, molded today, lain to dry tomorrow, the soap matures to be packed and consumed during the period of two months.

A significant proportion of the production process comprises the look – for years we have had and used the logo, yet the labels for bottles, jars, boxes are still undergoing styling and this actually is an important part of the working process – I do want everything to look just stunning and to represent our products just as they deserve to be represented. Thus a lot of weight lies in the right packaging and wrapping, the right design. I would wish to use in packaging only the materials that can be recycled – cardboard, PET, etc. Yesterday I have designed the etiquette samples for Coffee-Argan oil soap… what is your opinion on what is the best solution – what should be added/ lost/ modified? 🙂 I fully design the packaging myself (I am quite so excited about the process!!), then I send the samples to the artist and further to print. All of you who have good ideas on what-how could be done in a cool way, what packaging you would like and in what kind of wrapping of the products would urge you to purchase them — drop me a line! For all the good ideas or hints that find a way into our product design the authors of the ides will receive a prize of beautiful and valuable SPA-set gift!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn_SxVJHkCB/?taken-by=elishevashoshana

https://www.instagram.com/p/BoPZ1zKnOyi/?taken-by=elishevashoshana

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https://www.instagram.com/p/BoHCFxLHYyP/?taken-by=elishevashoshana

Helena-Reet: Elisheva & Shoshana launches premier products of nature friendly cosmetics to the market!

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Finally I can share this splendid news with you – we are launching Elisheva & Shoshana (E&S) cosmetic products! When creating this brand already back in 2013 I had in mind doing something in favor of the good (spare the animals and the nature, live economically, consume what is natural and of quality) as well as doing something with my darling daughters – Estella Elisheva and Ivanka Shoshana. I wished for us to have so to say “our project” together.

For some years we simply produced content for the blog elishevashoshana.wordpress.com and cooperated with various enterprises. Then we began to produce for the nearest and dearest and for our acquaintances quality handmade articles of knitted tissue. Now coming soon for sale are the first products of cosmetics. The prime products to be launched for sale in the pharmacies, eco-shops, (natural) cosmetics stores and our resellers are the care and treatment products – high quality and with purest of the pure ingredients, various soaps, bathing salt and SPA-products – most of the products are suitable for people with sensitive skin and with allergies, also for babies and expecting mothers. The recipes for E&S products have been composed by leading experts – in close collaboration with pharmacists, chemists and doctors, and the products are prepared by hand to maintain the quality and the spirit of each and every product. All the products have abundantly absorbed resources of devoted preliminary work, research, time and loving care. Whichever product is picked, I would be happy to use it myself and on my children!

Product design stage is complete, the prime samples are there (without lables, though). Currently I am working on the architecture of the homepage (see elishevashoshana.com) and building the product register (barcodes, certificates, and then lables). It has been for so long that I have striven for running my own natural cosmetics line! Therefore it is super exciting to be taking the first steps today!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn-zU19nT0R/?taken-by=elishevashoshana

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn_Wb6WH7OG/?taken-by=elishevashoshana

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https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ3g5IyAqIs/?taken-by=elishevashoshana

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn_U6sdna6s/?taken-by=elishevashoshana

Helena-Reet: Commencing a vlog stream together with Estella Elisheva! VIEW the first vlog and read about how the video was completed!

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Yesterday with Estella Elisheva (12) we got the idea to begin doing vlog posts. After all, we are planning to go on a 3500km road trip to Finland towards the end of October (read about it HERE), and we would wish to prepare a few mini movies about the journey. As for ourselves, we have been following various YouTubers and have decided to give it a try in Youtube ourselves. So for the first time I took some videos with my photo camera (using Canon EOS 600D) and uploaded them. Soon we were facing the question – how can one edit the video to assemble it into a narrative – never done a similar thing before.

For quite a while I was searching for a program to use and decided to use Movavi Video Suite. It is a fee-based program and cost 69 EUR. By the way, visiting the page at different times the site displays a new price every time… Anyway. Having purchased the video program, I looked at it as if it were a wonder of the world. Didn’t understand a thing. After browsing YouTube and viewing a tutorial, I decided to get started. And quite as a surprise everything went rather smoothly. Not yet am I so skilled that I could use special effects, and cropping the video to the suitable size also still need practicing, but for the first try I managed quite well, I think. A major problem actually, I guess, is the fact that my camera has very narrow zoom, and also I yet haven’t got a tripod – this beautifully illustrates how my hand is shaking… iccc. So, as a result we have this nice little homemade video 😀

It is really cool how we actually already learned during the first vlog – during the filming as well as during the assemble.. Next time we are already smarter in a few aspects and more long-sighted. My dream is to learn filming at a level that allows to use the green screen and add special effects. Should anybody know a super fine instruction course about it or agrees to “shed light on this world”, please drop me an email! Further on, for Estella Elisheva this is going to be a proper stage training – there is nothing above that than seeing oneself from the other side of the screen. Should she for example wish to start giving lectures or speak in front of a large auditorium, then compiling these videos would develop that skill largely. I am rather convinced that once we get as far as the 30th vlog post and then look back at this first vlog, we would laugh at how rough it started out. However, a beginning of something is always difficult – one must not be scared of that. When I was younger, I often did that – never were willing to upload anything or come out with anything unless it were at its perfection, but seeking perfection in everything might bring along the situation when many great projects remain undisclosed. So my recommendation for my child is that we learn by doing and we must not be excessively critical towards ourselves.

Anyway, I do hope that you might like this vlog! Please add comments (below this video or directly to me on FB), what it is that you would most of all like to see Estella Elisheva upload the vlogs about!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4F8WbMDxWU&feature=youtu.be

Helena-Reet: Planning an extensive road trip with children to Finland – 3500km from Helsinki to Northern Finland, along the Swedish border to the Norwegian border and through inland back again

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Yesterday I started planning a major road trip – office tour + vacation. Last year the OHMYGOSSIP sites joined the Scandinavian media group NordenBladet – a lot of changes took place in the company internally as well as online as well as de jure. The initially 3-month “moving” of the web and the offices have for various reasons been lagging until this day – the Finnish and Swedish NordenBladet page is yet not open as of today (we are assuming to still open them within the coming six months).

NordenBladet had 4 offices in Sweden, 3 offices in Finland and one in Norway – since last year all these have been closed up, yet many of them still accommodate stuff belonging to NordenBladet and so I am “drawing conclusions” until the present day. Temporarily NordenBladet HQ is the office in Tallinn, Estonia (more precisely the right side of my bedroom with the desk 😀 ), the accounting is in Scandinavia and the meetings are held over the internet, in hotel lobby bars or in exceptional cases in the offices that we partly still maintain up until the beginning of 2019. Not yet have I decided the location of the new offices – one will probably be in Finland (currently I am contemplating Vantaa), the other in Sweden (apparently in Kalmar county).  Now towards the end of October I am planning to go on an extensive road trip in Finland – I am determined to gather a lot of ideas there and then after the trip it is perhaps easier to decide the pace for future action.

Now back to the road trip… The exact route is yet to be finalised, but roughly the journey will be the following:

Helsinki -> Klaukkala -> Nurmijärvi -> Hyvinkää -> Riihimäki -> Tervokoski -> Hämeenlinna -> Parola -> Iittala -> Akaa -> Viiala -> Lempäälä -> Kulju -> Tampere -> Ylojärvi -> Rokkakoski -> Kalalahti -> Hämeenkyrö -> Kyröskoski -> Kolkko -> Kilvakkala -> Hallia -> Mansoniemi -> Riitiala -> Parkano -> Koskue -> Jalasjärvi -> Jokipii -> Luopa -> Myllysalo -> Tuiskula -> Panttila -> Jouppila -> Koskenkorva -> Jakkula -> Laihia -> Helsingby -> Runsor -> Vaasa -> Korsholm -> Kvevlax ->Maxmo -> Bertby -> Oravais -> Pedersöre -> Lepplax -> Kronoby -> Kokkola -> Sannanranta -> Ruotsalo -> Marinkainen -> Himanka -> Rahja -> Kalajoki -> Vasankari -> Yppäri -> Pyhäjoki -> Parhalahti -> Raahe -> Revonlahti -> Liminka -> Tupos -> Kempele -> Oulu -> Haukipudas -> Halosenniemi -> Ojakylä -> Olhava -> Nyby -> Kuivaniemi -> Simo -> Maksniemi -> Kemi -> Sotisaari -> Keminmaa -> Kaakamo -> Vallolansaari -> Rutosaari -> Kukkola -> Aapajoki -> Karungi -> Kankaanranta -> Ylitornio -> Pello -> Oranki -> Sieppijärvi -> Kolari -> Kihlanki -> Muonio -> Sonkamuotka -> Palojoensuu -> Hetta -> Näkkälä -> Muonia -> Särkijärvi -> Levi -> Sirkka -> Kittilä -> Kaukonen -> Lohiniva -> Molkojoki -> Meltaus -> Marraskoski -> Sinettä -> Rovaniemi -> Paavalniemi -> Someroharju -> Vaatunki -> Oikarainen -> Vanttauskoski -> Juotasniemi -> Autti -> Posio -> Kumpuvaara -> Kuusamo -> Poussu -> Irni -> Peranka -> Piispajärvi -> Kantokoski -> Suomussalmi -> Hyrynsalmi -> Seitenoikea -> Ristijärvi -> Jormua -> Kuluntalahti -> Kajaani -> Sukeva -> Sonkakoski -> Soinlahti -> Iisalmi -> Kirma -> Nerkoo -> Lapinlahti -> Mäntylahti -> Alapitkä -> Pöljä -> Siilinjärvi -> Toivala -> Sorsasalo -> Kuopio -> Suonenjoki -> Hankasalmen asema -> Kanavuori -> Jyväskylä -> Toivakka -> Leivonmäki -> Joutsa -> Hartola -> Heinola -> Vierumäki -> Lahti -> Pennala -> Orimattila -> Mallusjoki -> Pukkila -> Askola -> Porvoo -> Reitti -> Kulloo -> Söderkulla -> Fazerila -> Helsinki

During the tour I will collaborate with several tourism agencies and premium hotel groups. Some of the deals and visits are already fixed, for some I am still seeking funding. Currently I am doing the preparations – searching what is where and which places I would like to see and visit. According to the present schedule I am intending to cover 3000-3500km within ca 8 days. Possibly the travel will turn out to be longer. There will be a lot of fascinating destinations to be visited, also besides the hundreds of daily kilometres in the vehicle I am planning to furnish the trip with some luxury (a cosy retaurant or a relaxing SPA), and plenty of sightseeings, history, museums, culture and photoshoot sessions embracing the entire journey in picture and video. Certainly I will take with my my children – 12-year-old Estella Elisheva and 10-year-old Ivanka Shoshana. It is promising to be a fiercely cool, thriling and memorable journey, wild and luxurious simultaneously!

Helena-Reet: Scandinavian theme parks – with children in Astrid Lindgren’s world in Vimmerby, Sweden + BIG GALLERY!

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Apparently in Scandinavia there is not a single child who wouldn’t know the Swedish children’s author Astrid Lindgren’s* main character from the book “Pippi Longstocking” – the wealthy, naughty, strong and kind-hearted Pippi. For many a kid in the northern countries this girl with two red braids has brought an abundance of splendid emotions to their childhood. I recall how much I enjoyed the Pippi character as a child and just how my own children got the Pippi thrill a few years back.

In Sweden, going by car from Stockholm through Linköping 350 km along E4 road heading South (ca 4 hours driving) or from Göteborg along road 40 via Jönköping heading East (ca 3 hours driving) there’s Vimmerby where back in 1981 initially under the name Sagobyn the “Astrid Lindgren World” was open (address: Fabriksgatan 59840, Vimmerby / home page astridlindgrensvarld.se) – an actual fairy tale land that continues to fascinate children as well as their parents. An ideal place to visit with the entire family! It is an exciting theme park open from May to August where you can meet lots of well-known characters from Astrid Lindgren’s book for children.

The theme park with the Swedish name “Astrid Lindgren’s Värld” (with a more common name “Pippi Longstocking Värld”) is situated on a 180 000 square metre territory and there you can find everything – a cinema, theatric spectacles, a large fairy tale town full of doll houses, cafes, shops, playing grounds, a museum, a mini zoo, etc. The park offers employment to more than 50 actors depicting various characters from the book. it is possible to stroke Pippi’s horse and step inside her great yellow “Villa Villekulla” or Villekulla Cottage. Many times a day plays are performed in Swedish language.

I like to travel with children – be it then a children-centered travel or my own business travel. When possible I always take my children along. Ivanka Shoshana (10) who has been diagnosed with autism has as a result of my continuous effort grown to be very brave. Despite the fact that usually a child with autism is very tough to be travelling with (you will never know when the tantrums occur and when they would lay down screaming so that there is nothing else to do than take the child in your arms and quickly flee from the scornful icy glances of people around you), travelling actually has been a factor that has helped broaden her horizon and has facilitated her socialisation. Today I am able to take her along with a light heart – the embarrassing moments are less, next to none. Oooh, but what happened in Pippi-land. Estella Elisheva (during the trip 9 years of age), who is usually a super obediant child and who has from birth been very easy to raise, dashed off to one direction, driven from excitement and joy of discovering the place, and Ivanka Shoshana (during the travel 7 years of age) dashed to the opposite direction – but I can fully understand the children. The entire theme park was just amazing that even a grown person will be overwhelmed! And of course we could not leave without clothing from head to toe into Pippi brand garments.

I add a few photos from that journey (summer 2015).
























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Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren (14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002) was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for children’s book series featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil i Lönneberga, Karlsson-on-the-Roof, and the Six Bullerby Children (Children of Noisy Village in the US), as well as the children’s fantasy novels Mio, My Son, Ronia the Robber’s Daughter, and The Brothers Lionheart. In January 2017, she was calculated to be the world’s 18th most translated author, and the fourth most-translated children’s writer after Enid Blyton, H. C. Andersen and the Brothers Grimm. Lindgren has so far sold roughly 165 million books worldwide.

Biography
Astrid Lindgren grew up in Näs, near Vimmerby, Småland, Sweden, and many of her books are based on her family and childhood memories and landscapes.

Lindgren was the daughter of Samuel August Ericsson and Hanna Jonsson. She had two sisters, Stina and Ingegerd, and a brother, Gunnar Ericsson, who eventually became a member of the Swedish parliament.

Upon finishing school, Lindgren took a job with a local newspaper in Vimmerby. She had a relationship with the chief editor, who was married and a father, and who eventually proposed marriage in 1926 after she became pregnant. She declined and moved to the capital city of Stockholm, learning to become a typist and stenographer (she would later write most of her drafts in stenography). In due time, she gave birth to her son, Lars, in Copenhagen and left him in the care of a foster family.

Although poorly paid, she saved whatever she could and traveled as often as possible to Copenhagen to be with Lars, often just over a weekend, spending most of her time on the train back and forth. Eventually, she managed to bring Lars home, leaving him in the care of her parents until she could afford to raise him in Stockholm.

In 1932 she married her employer, Sture Lindgren (1898–1952), who left his wife for her. Three years later, in 1934, Lindgren gave birth to her second child, Karin, who would become a translator. The character Pippi Longstocking was invented for her daughter to amuse her while she was ill in bed. Lindgren later related that Karin had suddenly said to her, “Tell me a story about Pippi Longstocking,” and the tale was created in response to that request.

The family moved in 1941 to an apartment on Dalagatan, with a view over Vasaparken, where Lindgren remained until her death on 28 January 2002 at the age of 94, having already become blind.

Astrid Lindgren died in her home in central Stockholm. Her funeral took place in the Storkyrkan (Great Church) in Gamla stan. Among those attending were King Carl XVI Gustaf with Queen Silvia and others of the royal family, and Prime Minister Göran Persson. The ceremony was described as “the closest you can get to a state funeral.”

Career
Lindgren worked as a journalist and secretary before becoming a full-time author. She served as a secretary for the 1933 Swedish Summer Grand Prix.

In 1944 Lindgren won second prize in a competition held by Rabén & Sjögren, a new publishing house, with the novel Britt-Marie lättar sitt hjärta (Britt-Marie Unburdens Her Heart). A year later she won first prize in the same competition with the chapter book Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstocking), which had been rejected by Bonniers. (Rabén & Sjögren published it with illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman, the latter’s debut in Sweden.) Since then it has become one of the most beloved children’s books in the world and has been translated into 60 languages. While Lindgren almost immediately became a much appreciated writer, the irreverent attitude towards adult authority that is a distinguishing characteristic of many of her characters has occasionally drawn the ire of some conservatives.

The women’s magazine Damernas Värld sent Lindgren to the United States in 1948 to write short essays. Upon arrival she is said to have been upset by the discrimination against black Americans. A few years later she published the book Kati in America, a collection of short essays inspired by the trip.

In 1956, the inaugural year of the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, the German-language edition of Mio, min Mio (Mio, My Son) won the Children’s book award.(Sixteen books written by Astrid Lindgren made the Children’s Book and Picture Book longlist, 1956–1975, but only Mio, My Son won a prize in its category.)

In 1958 Lindgren received the second Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Rasmus på luffen (Rasmus and the Vagabond), a 1956 novel developed from her screenplay and filmed in 1955. The biennial International Board on Books for Young People, now considered the highest lifetime recognition available to creators of children’s books, soon came to be called the Little Nobel Prize. Prior to 1962 the Board cited a single book published during the preceding two years.

On her 90th birthday, she was pronounced International Swede of the Year 1997 by Swedes in the World (SVIV – Svenskar i Världen), an association for Swedes living abroad.

In its entry on Scandinavian fantasy, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy named Lindgren the foremost Swedish contributor to modern children’s fantasy. Its entry on Lindgren summed up her work in glowing terms: “Her niche in children’s fantasy remains both secure and exalted. Her stories and images can never be forgotten.

Translations
By 2012 Astrid Lindgren’s books had been translated into 95 different languages and language variants. Further, the first chapter of Ronja the Robber’s Daughter has been translated into Latin. Up until 1997 a total of 3,000 editions of her books had been issued internationally, and globally her books had sold a total of 150 million copies. Many of her books have been translated into English by the translator Joan Tate.

 

Helena-Reet: Wonderful day filled with inspiration and positive emotions with Jon and Janni Olsson Deler

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Do you sometimes feel that you need extra inspiration, new kind of emotions, something different. As for myself, I find inspiration mostly in blogs-vlogs. Oftentimes I surf the web, from one blog to another (or from vlog to vlog), yet finding something inspiring is not that easy. Today I have been browsing the sites from various Swedish bloggers and stumbled upon the blog from Janni Olsson Deler, and from there on to her husband Jon’s vlog – what an amazing couple of bloggers! Their way of vlogging – simply super cool! Love it so much!

It is curious that I have not noticed their blogs earlier, since I often read various Swedish blogs. By the way, for those who love blogs, Sweden has very many super great bloggers! I am fond of blogs-vlogs that are quality-based – where you can see devotion, enthusiasm and effort – quality photos, a coherent narrative, etc. Now, today I would bring out these two blogs.

Jon’s and Janni’s blogs (see: jonolssondeler.com and janniolssondeler.com) are steeped in POSITIVITY! I immediately liked the pages – I like “Yes” people – the positively minded folks who see the bright side of life, not the troubles. Who live a full life and yet can apprecite the little things in it, are supportive and loving towards each other, also somewhat vane and able to find pleasure in living. Besides, it won’t go unnoticed when people have hobbies. You can usually perceive if things are done with passion or just for the sake of it – the posts reveal that there is the person’s soul in the thing – new cameras are tested, there is dialogue with the fans, people open up, give out their energy – not to mention active and healthy lifestyle that both practice.

I have spent the entire day today in the company of Jon and Janni Olsson Deler – I just couldn’t stop. At the moment it feels as if we were long time friends. I even brought my laptop to the treadmill, to keep viewing Jon’s vlogs.. Hehe.. I did a lot of sports as a result – time was flying. Thank you for the cool vlog posts! You are most positive and inspiring!

Today’s blog will be concluded by Jon’s idea, I quote: “When you think it’s enough, double it!” A word of wisdom that well suits every situation. Sunny hugs to all!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXLFSBLACm0/?taken-by=jonolsson1

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlV5hp9gGzP/?taken-by=jonolsson1

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkkwblzgEJJ/?taken-by=jonolsson1

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmkwafWnT-D/?taken-by=jannid

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlyTWh-n4nm/?taken-by=jannid

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi2RmTEna5y/?taken-by=jannid

Photo: Jon ja Janni Olsson Delér (YouTube)

Helena-Reet: Two-day journey to Setomaa and Southern Estonia + interesting accommodation, football and witchcraft – EXCTING ROUTE! (VOL 2)

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – I continue the two-day Setomaa and Southern Estonia blog (read the first part HERE). In the travel blog I was last describing Saatse – a tiny town near the Russian border. It was already past five o’clock and the only village shop was already closed. This got us rather anxious since we knew that there might not be any other places on the way where we might get food, yet we wanted to buy the food and drinks for the evening. We drove to Saatse village square up to the museum but those, too, had already been closed. It was rather weird though that also in the gardens, in the entire village we didn’t meet anybody, not a single soul!

The village was very small – there was the village square, museum, tiny shop, a church and a cemetery. The latter we needn’t have visited by the end of the day with my younger daughter Ivanka Shoshana (10), especially since none of our relatives have been buried there, the visit annoyed her. Just lately we had been to a funeral, also we had visited the cemeteries in Viljandi – there might have been just a little too much of the death topic – Ivanka is still young and cannot completely grasp it. The visit slightly got her out of balance and I regretted it afterwards. Yet I also know that I cannot raise her in a “pink bubble”, despite her being an autist I wish her to see and to experience everything as much as possibe just the way regular kids do. Life is as it is and death is a part of life.

Saatse done, we suddenly realized we already wished to stay somewhere for the night and to peacefully spend the evening – we had been dashing around for quite a while already. However, since were so to say “behind the tree” and passing small settlements, there had for long miles been nothing really – not a shop, not a house, to say nothing about accommodation. We were already slightly in despair and had already had enough of driving the car towards the evening. Then suddenly we were in Koidula border crossing point on Estonian-Latvian border. We dashed on – the only aim was to find a shop and accommodation. In spite of the exhaustion the emotions were high and we had enjoyed the visit to Setomaa – I got more interested in Setomaa when we visited Tallinn tourism fair “Tourest 2018” with my daughter Estella Elisheva for a story for NordenBladet about tourism objects in Estonia (see more pictures HERE), we met many nice people and representatives of village societies. One name that immediately comes to mind is Elin Priks (in the picture on the right) – a spirited nice woman who is working to develop tourism in Setomaa – she told many interesting stories about Setomaa, and later in Facebook invited to visit Setomaa. Such warm introductions won’t go unnoticed! 🙂

And it didn’t take long until in the middle of nowhere there was Orava A&O food shop and a few kilometres further hidden in the wood there was Väike-Orava recreation centre (Orava village, Põlva county). We called the cell number written on the street sign near the road and booked a room. In ten minutes the hostess and host of the centre arrived and handed us the keys – we were the only guests on a large picturesque territory. We lit a fire in the fireplace and settled on the first floor to watch TV and enjoy the supper – just at the time when Football World Championship was on and England was playing against Columbia (3 July).

Often when I speak about accommodation options in Estonia with NordenBladet staff in Sweden, Norway or Finland, they would listen to me as if my story were “a tale about wonderland”. And Estonia really is a wonderland! At times it is sad, since many of the people living here lack money, yet mostly it is joyous – nowhere else is there such beautiful nature and sincere people that in the countryside in Estonia. I could go on praising them forever! I have travelled a lot in the Nordic countries, been in the countryside, talked to people, listened to their worries and sympathized with their achievements – travelling like this you see a completely different world, with completely different thoughts, different worries and different joys.

Our accommodation cost 25 EUR for three people – we had a two-floor private house and ca 10000-15000+ m2 well-groomed garden around the house. There was no particular luxury, yet everything was neat and clean and PRIVATE! We were thinking to ourselves that merely mowing the lawn in this place takes so much time and care, to say nothing about the cleaning of the sauna, the house, etc. It was a very good price, the place was private, a good change! Very suitable for those who wish to get away from the urban noise. Since we didn’t have cash with us, we even got such a deal that we could leave the money in Orava shop in the morning – this is how the good people in Southern Estonia trust their guests! No passport copies, no annoying procedures. Most heart-warming!






We watched the football game. There were two World Championship games and the two quarter finalists were concluded. Sweden subordinated Switzerland 1:0 and England, after the 1:1 normal and extra time subordinated Columbia 4:3 in the penalty series! The last one we predicted. To be exact, we spelled it – haha… but I won’t tell this today. Myself as well as my sisters have strong sensitive power and spell power and these are especially visible when we are together or do something together. Sometimes it is nice and sometimes it can be quite scary, as weird as it may seem (even if we don’t want that), we see and can change the future, on many occasions can read people’s mind, control energies, see the aura. Sometimes it scares me, sometimes I try to ignore it, sometimes I just take it as one part of my life.

Around ten p.m. I put Ivanka Shoshana to bed and when she was asleep – we chatted with my sister for hours…

In the morning when we had left the money for the night to Orava shop, we headed towards Võru. Stomachs empty, we soon found a cozy small cafe. I guess it was named “Muffin cafe” if I remember it right. The cafe was OK, but it seems Võru is not a nice place – I mostly mean the city centre. No looks, no use. Usually small places are beautiful and with character – but Võru, for me, says nothing. Yet the surroundings – Haanja, Rõuge etc.. are among the most beautiful places in Estonia!





From Võru we headed towards Otepää and Pühajärve.

Otepää is again a wonderful place. Otepää is a place for active life around the year – with snow it is named the Winter capital city, in summertime the town attracts you with hillside forest paths and lake orbits.

Opportunities for an active holiday in the best known winter sports centre in the Baltics and Nordic countries are limitless. There are tracks for cross country skiiers, downhill skiers, skiboarders, motorcar racers, sledging friends and hikers. We stretched our feet, Ivanka was playing for a while, my sister brought her son from the sports camp and then we drove through Tartu everyone to their own home. Nice! Road trips are my favourites lately – they won’t take a lot of time and are a nice change for the working day.

In September-October there is a longer visit ahead to NordenBladet offices and a journey in Finland – I want to take both Estella Elisheva (12) and Ivanka Shoshana (10) along with me. But this all will follow in the forthcoming blogs! Hugs to everyone and I wish you a nice continuation of the beautiful month of August!













Photos: NordenBladet (Helena-Reet Ennet)

Helena-Reet: Two-day trip to Setomaa and Southern Estonia + twice a slight digression to Russia – EXCITING ROUTE!

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – This summer we have been doing plenty of short road trips across Estonia (see the blog about Central Estonia and Southern Estonia on the route Tallinn – Rapla – Türi – Imavere – Tartu – Tõravere – Elva – Nõo – Rõngu – Koruste – Pikasilla – Suislepa – Tarvastu – Mustla – Holstre – Paistu – Viljandi – Suure-Jaani – Lahmuse – Vändra – Järvakandi – Kehtna – Saku HERE and Northwest Estonian blog, where I visited Tallinn – Ääsmäe – Laitse – Riisipere – Turba – Risti – Palivere – Taebla – Linnamäe – Sutlepa – Pürksi – Österby – Hosby – Riguldi – Nõva – Vihterpalu – Hatu – Pae – Harju-Risti – Padise – Rummu – Vasalemma – Keila – Saue – Tallinn HERE).

Now in this blog I’m gonna take you to Setomaa! Estella Elisheva (12) had a violin camp in Värska and thus I gathered that taking my child to the camp might actually be accommodated into a splendid little Setomaa sightseeing tour. Like always we started off from Saku on the outskirts of Tallinn where we have a lovely home – I am so happy that I can raise my kids in this peaceful, safe and picturesque environment. When driving I like to take the smaller and still roads – therefore I headed from Kajamaa to Viljandi road and from there through Rapla and Türi to Kabala village in South-Järvamaa. In Kabala we did the first stop and took pictures of Kabala manor house and the local A&O shop. A tiny sweet Estonian village, whenever I drive through it, I get a good feeling. Although I actually like the sea view, I must truly be an inland person at heart. All the lengthy fields, thick forests, hills and valleys are very close to the heart.

Kabala manor (with the name Cabbal in Pilistvere pastorate books) was a manor in Pilistvere parish, Viljandimaa. Nowadays the manor territory greatly overlaps with Türi municiplaity in Järva county. In the year 1905 Kabala was housing the manor owners self protection headquarters. Since the year 1923 the main building of the manor houses Kabala school, later on a kindergarten also followed. Historically the heart of the manor was tunneled by Türi-Viljandi road (today it is Türi-Arkma road), now as a result of straightening the road runs its course a few hundred meters to the West.




From Kabala we headed to Imavere where we stumbled upon a really nice sight – namely there was Sassi ostrich farm on our way! Children were very excited to see the ostriches. The fields and meadows around the farm were neat and nicely maintained – as would great Estonian folks do. A few kilometers from Sassi farm there is Imavere Knight’s Manor – I have written about it in depth HERE, but since I didn’t take photos that time then I post these now! When driving to Tartu or Southern Estonia I especially like taking this road – although passing the village houses the journey is more time consuming, but at the same time it is great to have a look around. Even though Imavere manor is halfway to ruins, left without care and the newly built part of the edifice is plainly horrible, the surroundings of the manor are private and beautiful. Not like many other manors in Estonia it has plenty of land around – fields and forest – before the neighbour can start peeping into your window. It would make a wonderful location to found a SPA or a hotel complex.




 

From Imavere we headed through Adavere to Tartu where my elder sister accompanied us in the car. The plan was to take Estella Elisheva to the Värska camp and then me, Ivanka Shoshana and Maris would go further on to an adventure in Setomaa and Southern Estonia. The road from Tartu to Värska is rather dull – perhaps this is because we had to be there on time and we didn’t take a good look on the signs by the road leading to various sightseeings nearby. The mood was elevated, however, so we sang in the car and were making jokes so that the eyes nearly ached from laughter. In Põlva we took photos from the Karl Kikas monument (a memorial).

For those who are not that familiar with the Estonian history of music: Kikas (born on 4 November 1914, lived in Põlva district, Valgjärve collective farm) was a legendary accordion player. Kikas is considered to be the second most influencial figures in Estonian accordion playing culture after the musical instrument inventor August Teppo. With his innovative and fascinating style of playing the instrument he made the accordion, initially known only in the Southern part of the country, well known all around Estonia.


It didn’t take long before we arrived at Lobotka village – the bus stop was so cool that I took a photo of it. By the way, the “Ancient Lights’ Night” with the main message of joining the nations around the Baltic Sea for a productive collaboration, celebrates its 25th anniversary on August 25th – as usual, along with musicians playing as well as enjoying the local cuisine. All around Estonia there are thousands of bonfires lit, and so it was also in Lobotka harbour on the banks of Värska Bay. The bonfires are lit once a year to remind people of the historical signalling lights. At the times of the Vikings this used to be a practical necessity, nowadays it conveys positive ideas and positive messages.

So why would I bring out The Ancient Lights Night in connection to Lobotka village? For that we would need to know a few background details about the village.There are 75 people living in the village and the territory of the village is roughly 500 hectars. Lobotka village people organized the first Village Day in 1998 with financial support from Värska rural municipality government. The Village Day was attended by former and current village people, all in all more than a hundred people. The village society was created in 1999 in order to divide the duties and responsibilities regarding the events organised in the village. In cooperation with Värska municipality a new setting for the village square was found. The big village swing was built together and the square was taken care of. The first event ever to take place on this little square that had been fought for so ardently, was “Ancient Lights’ Night”. It is really great that even in the more distant places in Estonia the old traditions and the culture is kept alive, showing that there can be life outside the capital city! I like it!









Once we had taken Estella Elisheva to the camp we thought we might look around a bit in Värska. From earlier times I had heard a great deal about Värska Sanatorium – once this had been a really popular destination. We decided to check it out with our own eyes. We didn’t have to go very close to see that there was nothing that popular left from those times.- it was just a memory of earlier times. The sanatorium badly needs a renovation – even better to be pulled down completely and the starting from scratch. In the current sanatorium I personally would become even more sick – the beautiful pine tree forests and then suddenly this horrific stagnation period crap. So ugly that I even didn’t wish to take a photo. However, a slightly better impression was made by Värska Water Park. For once I even thought we might stay overnight there, but no — I had intended to go to the extreme and visit some strange unfamiliar place. That was the right decision!

Further on we decided to visit Saatse – I wanted to see with my own eyes what are the events there and how does the South-Eastern town in Estonia that is the closest to Russia, look like. It can be reached only when one crosses the border twice. On the way there was Üüklubi (an alphabetical joke), the advertising sign of which amused us a lot (in Estonian mainland the discotheque is ordinarily called Ööklubi) and the Setomaa Farm Museum, there in the courtyard we also had a meal. We didn’t understand much from what we read in the menu, it seemed as if we were abroad – Seto language is so different from the Estonian language. For example, suulliim means cold soup… I also dug into the newspaper on the cafeteria’s table, and that, too, seemed much like Chinese language. Some parts of it I certainly understood, but it was really weird to read. Like another Estonia. While in Võru they have just a minor dialect – instead of warm (soe) they say hot (lämmi), and a few other examples – then in Setomaa it is rather a different language. Surely it would be possible to get used to it, but as someone coming from the capital it does seem strange.

The food was delicious and service was delightful, the prices were suitable, yet slightly higher than near Võrtsjärv in Mustla or not far from Võru in Rõuge, however still a great deal cheaper than in Tallinn. The menu that stood out from the ordinary ones as well as the names of the dishes in Seto language gave a good impression and wouldn’t be forgotten easily.

















Seto Museum was open on July 17 1998. In Seto Farmhouse Museum one can have a look at farm house architecture from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. The exposition accommodates a half closed courtyard, a dwelling house, a storehouse for clothing, a granary, a storeroom for food, a stable and a hay barn, a working area, several shelters, smoke sauna, a pottery workshop, a blacksmith’s workshop, a barn and a teahouse (dinner on the farmyard). Most of the buildings are original, from Northern Setomaa. The branch of the Farmhouse Museum is located Saatse, founded by the local schoolmaster Viktor Veeber and open since 1974. From May 2004 the unique teahouse (tsäimaja) stands there.

After the meal we headed toward Saatse. It was somewhat frightening to drive via Russia twice. There was nothing we could do, but I thought to myself – is it really so difficult to build the new road (gravel road) with a slight bend, and why would i have to read – whiled driving to a small Estonian village – that soon you will be trespassing the Russian territory and therefore stopping the vehicle and walking outside is prohibited. Before Saatse there was even a police patrol asking us where we were going. So that’s where we answered: “We are discovering Estonia!” 🙂










Saatse (in Seto language Satserina; also Satserinna, Satseri, Korki and Gorki are used) is a village in Võru County, Setomaa municipality. The village hosts a middle school, a folk house, Saatse Great Martyr Paraskeeva Church, a cemetary and a border crossing point. Saatse postal office was closed in 2007. Saatse Orthodox Church is a memorial building. It has been consecrated in the honour of the Great Martyr Praskeeva. The stone church was erected in 1801 near the earlier wooden church. In 1839 a wooden belfry was added that in turn was substituted by a new belfry in 1884. The history of the school dates back to 1895 when it was open as a parish school in Linnaste village. From there it was soon shifted to Saatse and was there changed into a national elementary school in 1918. In Saatse cemetary one can find a few historical stone crosses. Close to the village in Samarina there is a museum of local history – the Saatse Seto Museum. Saatse-Petseri Road passes through Vassili (Solovski) village and within the area is joined by Saatse-Pattina Road and Saatse-Perdaku Road. Near the village on Värska-Ulitina Road between Sesniki and Lutepää there the so-called Saatse boot where the road continues through the Russian territory for an entire 1 kilometer.

To be continued…

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