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Sunday Night Sauna

January 19th, 2015

One of the things we were excited about when we purchased this place in Maine was the wood fired sauna. We didn’t use it too much the first two years we lived here, but we’ve been firing it up every Sunday night. It has become one of our rituals.
Snow
It’s a sweet little building sitting down below the house, built by a Finnish guy many years ago. It’s big, we could have sauna parties if we wanted to, with a dozen or more people. We love that it’s wood fired, since we heat with wood it’s not much trouble to cuts/split/stack a little extra.
sauna 3
This summer the plan is to do a little maintenance on the sauna. The trim can use a coat of paint, we have leftover black from the barn that should look nice. The interior needs a really good scrubbing as well, it’s been neglected for far too many years.
sauna 2
If you’ve never used a sauna or haven’t read about it, here’s a great website full of information. I smiled when I came across this quote where Ilmari Kianto (1874-1970) describes a countrywoman’s facial transformation in his novel The Red Line: “There in the gentle löyly, the wrinkles on her face smoothed away, and the deep-blue shadows under her eyes gave way to a healthy colour. It was as if the heat had also melted away the darkness of her soul…”.
sauna 1
It’s such a great way to end a weekend and start the coming week. Saunas provide physical and metal relaxation, along with marking the start of a new week.  There really is no better way to kick off the week than with a sauna!

Do you have any weekend rituals?

3 Comments to “Sunday Night Sauna”
  1. Natalie on January 20, 2015 at 7:50 am

    That sounds delightful! I haven’t had the winter blahs yet, but that seems like something that would help keep them at bay!

    Reply to Natalie's comment

  2. Nebraska Dave on January 20, 2015 at 9:21 am

    Susy, a wood fired sauna in the woods? Why doesn’t that even remotely surprise me. I had a sauna in my house once. It was one that I owned before my current house. I didn’t really use it much and eventually it became a storage closet. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. For some odd reason I just don’t like to be pampered. I hope you and Brian enjoy your little sauna in the woods.

    Have a great wrinkle melting day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  3. Judy on February 13, 2015 at 9:40 pm

    I grew up in the Upper peninsula of Michigan with my first generation Finnish American family. Saturday night is the traditional Sauna night. Enjoy! It is a beautiful sauna.

    Reply to Judy's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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