Ylläsjärvi

At early June 2026 it has arrived the time start to slow down and land on holiday season mode. I work very hard and have found it best to start to slow down the control panel before the holiday. You can't always do it at work but playing "slow down" button on your free time does really great for your mental health and recovering & restorative holiday experience.

That's why I was happy to respond positive to the invitation to arrive to Talvenki cottage in Ylläsjärvi, Kolari.

It is a local family owned cottage where we had a family party to organize. That's why I spent there 3 days with my sister from Thursday to Saturday. We had fun and we visited also Särestöniemi.

Right next to Talvenki cottage is Kesänki cottage. They both are owned by a local family. These cottages and many other, also owned by local private persons, can be rent at Nettimökki. I have never used Nettimökki but it is Finnish option to find accommodation instead of worldwide know big operators for tourism industry. 

In Talvenki cottage I started to turn myself on slow mode for the holiday season by self-acupuncture, meditation, yin yoga, reading...

...cryptic crosswords (which I love but have far too little time to do).

Sometimes it is very difficult to slow down. It is easier there where is the silence and emptiness. Before the slow down mode can arrive, it needs you to put aside your smart phone and just be.

In Talvenki cottage is 2 bedrooms.

I had one just for Me & MySelf. I slept so well and a lot in there.

To be honest, I fell asleep several times on the sofa too while having my yin yoga sessions. But if you fall asleep it is what you need!

In Talvenki is modern electric sauna. Electric sauna means that it heats up by electric sauna heater which has the stones over it.

Instead of the electric sauna we used Talvenki's barrel sauna. Believe or not but this was my 1st time ever in a barrel sauna!!!

The barrel sauna in Talvenki has wood burning sauna stove. In my culture boys/men heat up the wood burning sauna stove. Girls and women can do it too if boys/men are not around. We had someone to heat it up for us. It is not something that's banned from female sex. It is rather something how males show care and respect for females. You warm up sauna for someone you care and want to provide hospitality and safety.

It is something like that when we had someone to roast sausages for us on the open fire in the rain with millions of mosquito. I really appreciated that. Instead of diamond rings I prefer this kind of action. 💙

We could have washed ourselves in the traditional way in the barrel sauna but decided to use modern facilities instead to make it faster and let other people to enjoy about the sauna too. You can read here more about how to behave in sauna if visiting Finland.

But hey, what for we arrived to Ylläsjärvi. What we did when we didn't have our "me-time" with my sister?

What we did when we didn't visit the local attractions? What was the family party we arrived to organize and participate? 

What for we had been working as a team also with people we did't know before in the past weeks in May 2026?

It was a baby shower!!!! I am 51 yrs old and it was my 1st ever baby shower. I've seen it on movies but never been in one until now! It is not our traditional cultural thing but of course I was in.

It all was gluten free because of the pregnant mom. It was a great idea to have it all gluten free so no one needs to worry and the pregnant mom could have it all like all the guests. Here is my GlutenFreeZone to find out more about serving gluten free. 

It was a small party and everyone participated. Everyone brought something and we put it all together. This beautiful and delicious gluten free cake was made by a talented young woman I had met never before.

I brought the candies because I knew what kind of they need to be. The ingredient lists can be very complicated even to coeliacs themselves. I helped to build up this watermelon baby carriage. I had never seen one, not to mention make one. But an artisan is always an artisan. We can create many things! 💪 At least then when we are given the instructions.

During the evening we re-decorated the watermelon baby carriage with rest of the fruits. It all was really fun, sweet and tasty.💛