Sauna

Meet Mirva:



(ain't she a cutie?)

She's our sauna stove; a good and faithful sauna stove. She's in the sauna, a wooden sweat room in the central part of the cabin. And she's hot....



(The average temperature, but we like it hotter)

... Literally.

Mirva's always hungry; she must feed and therefore eats a lot,



(birch wood is her favorite)

but always manages to keep the pot belly off. She's still the same stocky stove she was 30 years ago.

Unfortunately Mirva's a messy eater (and we're clumsy feeders), and sitting on the wooden benches sweating makes it stinky, so we have to clean the sauna up every couple of weeks with pine soap and water. Spencer likes to have a water fight afterwards:



On top of Mirva are rocks capable of withstanding high temperatures, which we throw water onto, creating a wave of steam. Sit through several waves until you can't handle it anymore and run to the lake to cool off with a dip and swim:



(going out about 150 meters or so - very unusual due to this year's hot hot summer)

During the winter, some Finns roll in snow instead.



(just about to throw some water on the rocks)