Catherine Bannister

The track platform inside the train station full of people awaiting the night train in Helsinki

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekIForInteriors

It’s been planned for a year, so… everyone has been quite lovely (and understanding)

Probably so! I had blueberry juice on the way here and it was so good (and I wondered how many blueberries it took for my small glass of juice!)

You are definitely along for the ride, GP!
(How’s SP?)

A little log cabin in the woods near the reindeer pastures with wide hanging eaves and about 18” of snow atop

Inside of the little cabin with a built in sleeping bunk covered with reindeer hides

IKR? Then we got to this reindeer herder’s cabin and I thought of him even more!

Isn’t he great? He walked right next to me the whole way 😊

Watch to the end so you can meet Jallu! (We bonded, even though I reflexively ducked every time those velvety antlers moved my direction!)

Frozen Lake Pyhäjärvi is a white expanse with dark hills on the far side and a mostly clear blue sky

Went for a walk along one of the many snow covered trails near Pyha-Luosto National Park in Finland.

Lunch today was reindeer soup (with carrots, potatoes and an unidentifiable yellow vegetable - maybe squash or another root veg but didn’t have much discernible taste) and yummy rye bread and butter and juice (cranberry?)

One of the many beautiful and sweet reindeer we met this afternoon. This lovely lady is mostly white with slender light brown antlers and huge black eyes. Her nose was so soft as she gently took the food from my hand!

Made it to the edge of Lapland and made some 🦌 friends

A screenshot of a map showing a blue dot (me) traveling north from a dotted line marking the Arctic Circle

Officially above the Arctic Circle!

A coffee mug against a train window - outside are tall snow covered trees and snow banks

Good morning, BSers!

Our very cosy quarters last night on the overnight train from Helsinki to Lapland

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekIForInteriors

Not a single one 😊

Lefse for breakfast

A tunnel through the thick fortress walls on the island of Suomenlinna, just off Helsinki

Some examples of beautiful glass birds by Toikka on display in the Helsinki museum of design

View from the ferry to Suomenlinna across the icy water, a cruise ship in front

More Helsinki. Look @sheena-mck.bsky.social I also was on a (frozen) ferry!

A statue of a very good doggo in the Helsinki airport, celebrating 50 years of customs dogs

A shiny chrome monument in a square in Helsinki of a shape of a person wearing pants and a hooded shirt, both of which are full of holes, standing atop an orb with round widows around its middle. This is national memorial for the Winters War

The Russian Orthodox cathedral in Helsinki is red brick with dramatic green roofs and a gold onion dome atop

The Helsinki Cathedral is the Lutheran version, more plain in white with a tall cupola and dome atop

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekHForHs
As promised: Helsinki!

A brightly colored striped hot air balloon floats low along the center of the Willamette River in Salem Oregon. Sorry for the graininess - this is a picture of a photo taken from my apartment in the 90s when I lived there

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekHForHs
Hot air balloon

My verdict on the TWA hotel at JFK: worth it if you have the time and like mid-century modern architecture and design. Not worth eating there, though; the food was sorta meh.

A vintage TWA travel poster for Chicago

A vintage TWA poster of tail of a Boeing 707 jet

A TWA poster of Washington DC thats says Fly TWA Jets

A vintage TWA poster for St Louis with the Arch

Alas I skipped the plane bar because I’d already had 2 glasses of wine (albeit over 3 hours) and was almost out of device juice. Maybe these cool vintage TWA travel posters will be a poor substitute?

A metallic blue Austin-Healey?

A retro luggage cart with three Samsonite style suitcases of deacending sizes in blue and yellow

The “food hall” side of the “terminal”

More of the terminal/hotel with the check in counters

There was also this guy inside (and the retro luggage trolley)

Agnes was always my favorite, too (in the movie)! I’m also noticing that for the movie they took a lot of lines from Rose and moved them over to Esther (which also makes sense)

From the book, “Meet Me in St Louis”: “Agnes threw herself back on the bed wearily. “Oh, Rose,” she said, “you're so stuck-up.”

@bcdreyer.social just got to it! And you’re right - the book is lovely. Just the right amount of deviation from the movie (or vice versa?). Agnes “killed“ the Waughops on Halloween, not Tootie? Perfect! 💕

Srlsy can’t wait for his 90th tour

In front of the terminal (now hotel) there are 2 classic cars: a chocolate 1964 Lincoln Continental and a baby blue 1974 VW Transporter van

The “lobby” of the TWA hotel at JFK is expansive and swoopy

There’s an old TWA plane parked outside in the bright sunshine (and rumor has it you can go in it after 4:00, which I just might do)

View of the terminal/lobby from the bar with the retro clock in the center of the ceiling

So I have an incredibly long layover this afternoon at JFK. (Not long enough to get into the city and back, alas) It’s rare I fly thru here, so I’ve come over to the old TWA terminal to hang out and have dinner. As a STL girl, I feel right at home! (There’s even the Saarinen wing 😊)

It was on a hike we took while in Sardinia - I think it was a national park or historic area but I don’t remember the name

A small shepherd’s hut, with a stacked stone base and a grey thatched roof in a cone shape with a large stone at the top to protect from a fire’s sparks and a beautiful curved wooden door with a small square, hinged (but closed) opening. The hut sits in a gravel and dirt clearing among green trees with a rocky hill in the background. In Sardinia.

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekHForHs
Hut

Finally got my hands on a copy of “The Correspondent” (Virginia Evans) and it is as wonderful as everyone has been telling me. 📚

Any furries? 🤣

The front of a greeting card with an intricately designed figure of a deer in browns with white flowers and green leaves within. From the back of the card: Iconic Quilling is a small business based in Minneapolis, MN and owned by Aaron and Anh. Their process starts with Anh creating colored pencil drawings and gluing rolled strips of paper over them. This is a process called Quilling that originated in Italy in the 1300's when artists would use the quill of a bird feather to wrap thin strips of paper into floral shapes. Anh then partners with her artist friend Nhu, based in their home of Ho Chi Minh City, to perfect the art, hire and train the talented women who create the cards. These artisans work from home to roll strips of paper by hand and glue them over Anh's unique designs. Hopefully these two businesses will bring color and joy to your life! Find us @ www.iconicquilling.com

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekHForHs
Handicraft

Feels like they should just change their name to the All Kinds of Music Hall of Fame. I love Luther but no way is he Rock & Roll.

I thought the same thing!

That is a great book. Still have it!