This Reality Or That

Step inside a place where bunnies live in luxury and no one mentions current events.

Immerse yourself in simpler times…

We found a cafe and home decor shop that had been made to look like a farm. The place was ever so cute, with a comforting, green backyard speckled with chairs and tables here and there, all spread out taking advantage of the space. Little animals made of willow were playing peek-a-boo wherever you looked.

Some of the animals there were real live ones, too, like the bunnies that were enjoying an unusually chic lifestyle in their own French parlour. The henhouse had two or three large white hens, a swing, and a Provence-style old clock on the wall. Those hens were probably never late for anything.

And there was even a troll forest!

For once, the critic in my head was happy. Forever searching for a place where someone had used their imagination and let their creativity run wild and free, finally I had found it. At last, I approved!

I mean, they even had trolls!

We ventured onto a dark little trail that started slyly behind a large tree.

Someone had thought of everything: the trail had surprise activities for passers-by, mostly consisting of families with kids. Throw pine cones in baskets set at different levels and collect points! Play with an old-fashioned cash register (such a delightfully enormous old thing) and sell make-believe ice cream. The world is yours! Do want you want with it.

The trolls had woven a table to sit at and left a sign saying:

Pastry 3 TC
Cream Cake 10 TC

TC = Troll coins

If you sat there patiently, pastries just might’ve appeared from nowhere.

And inside the store itself, the beauty didn’t end. Purple row after purple row of lavender-scented soaps and candles, white rustic furniture, and earthy-colored cushions.

And… old-fashioned candy. Why yes, of course. It made sense.

Absorbed in studying the shelves, I lost myself. I don’t like candy but boy did I love looking at the ones they had there. Colorful nostalgia for times even before mine. Simply put, it was just so pretty.

Reality felt, for a brief moment, like an abstract concept.

All pictures are from Koiramäen Pajutalli, which I visited in July (in Helsinki). This is not a sponsored post! I just happened to like the place.