Birthdays and Bjarnes

The days have been a blur after getting back from Finland a few weeks ago and diving head first into fall activities.  Before anything else, two birthday celebrations are in order.  Jared turned 13 in September, our first teenager, and Sarah turned 39 in October.  The blog announcements are belated, but we didn't forget to celebrate either birthday.

Jared started off his birthday with a set of "13" pancakes.

Then he celebrated a party at Jump Street and ate a Colorado Rockies baseball cake with his buddies.  Jump Street is a cool indoor trampoline park where you can literally bounce off the walls.  We were also excited to have "Mamaw" Burgdorf with us in Colorado to celebrate Jared's birthday.

Up next was the beginning of Sarah's last year as a thirty-something.  We hear the 40's are wonderful compared to the 30's.  Any comments from the 40+ readers out there?  (smile)  And a set of birthday pancakes are not reserved for the kids--Sarah ate her pair of 3 & 9.

Happy Birthday Sarah and Jared!

Lastly on today's blog is a brief update from my Finland trip with David Thayer.  We had a terrific trip to the Nordic city of Helsinki for business and a little pleasure.  The stories from folks all over the world were amazing.  I've yet to get all of the pictures posted, so below are just a couple I'll highlight.

This first picture shows the Helsinki Cathedral behind David and me.  A local Finn said a wedding would take place every hour on the hour that Saturday.  A popular place!  The second picture is one of the old stone streets that took us to the open market in the third picture.  I brought Sarah and Morgan each back a handmade purse, Jared a wooden "Kuksa" mug handcarved in Lapland, and Braden a handcarved wooden egg to add to his rock and crystal egg collection.

Of Pipe and Tamp

One subject I haven't shared on the blog yet is my newfound interest in pipe smoking.  I've always had a curiosity about the fading art, and I have memories as a child around the "older" folks smoking their pipes.  I never found pleasure in cigarette or cigar smoke (though I enjoy the occasional Cuban), but the sweet smell of burning pipe tobacco was always a mysterious and pleasing aroma.

Over the summer, I decided to learn more about pipes and bought a couple cheap "beginner" pipes.  Long story short, I discovered the pleasure behind the mystery and took it up for what I'm sure will be a lifetime of a rewarding art...and yes, it is an art.  As a wand to the wizard in Harry Potter, a pipe definitely chooses it's smoker.  Choosing the wrong one will not only provide a bad smoke, but the pipe won't aesthetically fit its owner.  And once you decide to put out some cash for a decent quality briar, one that's going to stick with you for life, the choice becomes critical.

I had an interest in a certain handmade briar pipe made in Denmark by the late Bjarne Nielsen.  No two "Bjarne's" are alike, and the fact that no Bjarne will ever be produced again after his death in 2008 makes these pipes collectors' items.  Not that I'm now a pipe collector, but nevertheless I wanted a quality pipe with character.  Bjarne's can be found in many U.S. pipe and tobacco stores, but I purposely wanted to find one in Europe...if anything hoping it would cost less than in the U.S.

I located a Finnish pipe shop on the Internet before we left for Finland.  The shop is run by Mr. Markku Uotila, quite an interesting chap and very willing to talk about his life and love of pipes and photography.

After fumbling over a map and following street signs that weren't street signs at all, we managed to find the pipe shop located at "Toolonkatu 32".  And just my luck, Mr. Uotila had a few Bjarnes left in his inventory.  The cost in Euro turned out to be what it would cost in the U.S., but every time I smoke this one-of-a-kind pipe I'll be reminded of the trip to the old pipe shop in Helsinki--a moment of significance that can be passed down to my children and their children, whether they ever smoke the pipe or not.  Or maybe they'll sell it for five times the value someday.  (smile)

Mr. Uotila was kind enough to allow this photograph of my new pipe and one of his own personal favorites.

To close out this blog entry, here's my current collection of pipes.  From the picture below, starting clockwise from 12 o'clock:

- A cheaper "beginner" 1/2 bent Italian pipe (the first pipe I ever smoked)

- The crown jewel of my pipes, the handmade Bjarne 1/4 bent Apple

- My "Gandalf" pipe, a long-stem churchwarden Italian pipe

- Just arrived this week, a Missouri Meerschaum Great Dane corncob straight stem (made and shipped from the original factory in Washington, Missouri.  If it's not a Missouri Meerschaum, it's not a real corncob pipe.)

- Also came with the other corncob, a cheaper bent stem corncob.  This is known as my "fishing pipe".  In case it falls in the water while fly fishing a stream, I've only lost a few bucks.  There's something wholesome yet unrefined about smokin' a corncob in the wilderness.

- And middle center is one of my favorite tobacco blends from a local blender, known as "Hobbits Weed"--a gold and black cavendish laced with light cherry and vanilla.

That's all for this writing!  I'll put out another post once I get the entire Finland picture album uploaded.

Hyvasti!  (Goodbye!)

-brock