Winter swimming season started!

I opened my winter swimming season with my friend Elina today. The sauna was hot and the water was icy cold - we made 3 sauna-swimming rounds. Afterwards the feeling was really really good. We agreed that we'll be back in Halkoniemi with our families on Friday evening, then the smoke sauna will be heated up.

Health benefits:
* winter swimming contributes to better general well-being
* winter swimmers experience less stress and fatigue and more vigor.
* winter swimmers report to have a better memory function, better mood and feel more energetic, active and brisk.
* winter swimmers do not contract diseases as often as the general population.

I'm just a beginner with this hobby, but let's see how the coming winter will be like.

In the morning we had -12 C but then it started to snow and the temperature rose, so that in the evening it was only +1 C.

It was a busy day around our bird feeder! Birds I saw today:

* bullfinches (punatulkkuja)
* great tits (talitiaisija)
* a blue tit (sinitiainen)
* a willow tit (hömötiainen)
* sparrows (varpusia)
* greenfinches (viherpeippoja)
* goldfinches (tiklejä)
* a jaybird (närhi)
* a magpie (harakka)
* a blackbird (mustarastas)