Isle of Dogs

« The lovely beach on Rajasaari, a.k.a. dog island. »

We skipped the Samba parade today and took Otava up to Rajasaari again instead. I've rarely seen a dog so happy as he is to run around like a crazed puppy and swim around in the water. I'm continually impressed by the dog parks in Helsinki and Rajasaari seems like one of the best kept secrets in town since there are never many dogs around when we visit. It's a rocky knob of an island with lots of trees, water and sand for dogs to play in freely off the leash. It's doggie nirvana. It sits just off the shore from the Prime Minister's home in Meilahti which likely prevents any development.

Otava certainly likes to swim, but we're going to have to work on his floating ball retrieval skills as he wades in like a water buffalo, drinks around it, sniffs and then wanders off while drinking more water in search of something more interesting. Perhaps we need to stuff some sausage into the floating kong ball to pique his curiosity. :)

I left work early on Friday in order to try some mämmijäätelö at the Häme regional fair in Senate Square. Many of the Finnish regions seem to offer these during the summertime and it's fun to try regional oddities. I am still pouting that we arrived too late for the mämmi ice cream and I'm thinking that I'll just have to make some myself. Otava got to try some of the boar pyttipannu since he caught a whiff of it while we were snaking our way around the stalls in search of ice cream and decided that he was going to park it in front of the pyttipannu stand until he was served. Oh, the ladies loved him and gave him a wee taste which sealed our fate of having to buy some and lure him away with it. At least he wasn't behaving like he does at the pet store where he walks along the treat aisle and just shoves his face into the bin of stuff he likes the most. :)

One disappointment was being with a friend who wanted to take some pictures of some cute ceramic pots in the Häme market. I was busy holding Otava, who was interested in heading towards the food section, and couldn't quite believe that the vendor started giving her an incredibly hard time about 'using the pictures against her' or some really wacky justification for being viciously rude instead of saying 'please, no pictures.' It didn't occur to me until we were walking home that it was very likely because the friend isn't white and I thought about going back without Otava to see if I would get the same treatment if I tried to take pictures of her cute, but unoriginal, pottery though I wasn't sure how I'd respond if the vendor were to smile and offer to show me other items while I was taking a few pictures. It's always the little things that get under your skin and fester.