Photographer Meeri Koutaniemi embraces the cottage’s natural beauty and open-water swims: “The happiest moment is realizing the love around you”
Finnish photographer Meeri Koutaniemi loves both relaxing with husband, musician Sami at her own cottage and meeting her family members at the family cottage. Meeri’s cottage days are filled with swimming, board games, and happy moments.
As a cottage-goer...
I’m quite dreamy and timeless at the Karjalohja cottage. I enjoy not looking at the clock. I see the value in having free time simply to sit, think, and walk. The Karjalohja cottage is about winding down, whereas at the Kuusamo cottage it’s always social. We have a large family, and we spend time there together.
My favorite things to do at the cottage...
are anything involving play and fun. We play a lot of board games and outdoor games. Last summer, we held a summer Olympics in Kuusamo. It was so much fun that it will probably become a tradition. I also enjoy cooking and grilling with Sami or with my family.
In both places, I also row and swim. Swimming in natural waters is perhaps my favorite activity at the cottage. I swim several times a day. In winter, I make an ice hole for a quick dip.
At the cottage, we still need to improve...
almost everything. There’s never an end to chores at a cottage! The cabin and roof need painting, and the deck needs oiling. Next, we’re updating the outhouse, maybe to an incinerating toilet.
Sauna time at the cottage...
is the beginning and the end of everything. I always heat the sauna first and try to take one before I leave. It’s a liberating, ritual-like practice that grounds me. Stepping into the sauna helps me enter the cottage mindset. I like to spend a couple of hours in there and take quite intense steam.
At the cottage, I get to use my skill...
to lose myself in the moment and observe details. I follow the plants’ rhythm and take many photos of the cottage’s nearby nature. We like letting nature grow wild all around us, and it almost hides the entire cottage. I can notice small things in the midst of that wildness.
The happiest moment...
in Kuusamo is realizing the love and warmth around me, which you can never take for granted. You might notice it in a fleeting moment when everyone is busy in different corners: four people cooking in the kitchen, three children playing, someone having a social debate in another spot, a fourth group swimming, and a fifth person heating the sauna. Seeing all that for a moment as an onlooker creates a genuinely happy memory that gives me strength later.
The best things at the cottage
Morning routine: From bed to the lake.
Cottage attire: A nightgown that becomes lounge wear.
Device: A pressure washer and a leaf blower.
Plant: Madam's cup lichen.
Cottage food: Griddle-fried crêpes.
Sound: In Karjalohja, dragonflies, in Kuusamo, silence.
Tree: A crooked pine.
Landscape: The lake surface.
Evening pastime: Late-night games and conversations.
