My old harmonium

I saw the picture in a Facebook fleemarket group. A white coloured harmonium, with the text "Simplify" painted in the front it. The original colour is of the instrument is dark brown. 

People give away a lot of things they don´t need. And you can find things you need from these groups for free.

Did I need a harmonium? Not as far as I know. 

For some unknown reason I told, that I will come and pick it up. The harmonium was pretty heavy, so it was a little project to get it home. 

I love stories. And every old item has a story. The owner of the harmonium had passed away, and the house where it was had new owners. It looks like nobody has been playing it for a long time.

Well, here it is now. In the corner next to my electric piano.

I had to find out where it comes from. The label says "Halonen ja kumpp, Jyväskylä".

Some history

The harmonium has been made in Brother´s Halonen reed organ (harmonium) factory in Jyväskylä. The factory was built in 1910. The building is designed by the other founder of the factory, Antti Halonen. His brother, Aapeli Halonen was the harmonium builder. Aapeli Halonen lived upstairs in the building with his family, leading the factory until his death 1928. His son, Seppo continued with the work. Harmonium production ended in 1960s.

Aapeli Halonen also made picture frames for his brother, painter Pekka Halonen

The musicians (for example Oskar Merikanto and P.J. Hannikainen) liked the sound of the harmoniums from Brother´s Halonen. 

There is nowadays a restaurant in the old building, Restaurant Harmooni

Maybe a place to visit next time in Jyväskylä.

What the past year has taught me

Looking back, there are things that have changed. The pandemic has challenged all of us in many ways.

Over a year ago I started working from home. No travelling to work, or very much not anywhere. It wasn´t that hard first, I guess. When one week followed the other it became a bit harder. 

Any lessons learned?

• Routines are very important to keep going and get anything done. To keep on doing the same things in the morning. Waking up nearly the same time every morning. In our family it means before 6 am on weekdays.
• Setting small goals every day.
  I need to do this. Even if it's only 2 or 3 things. This helps me get things done. 
  Otherwise they would pile up very quickly and make me stressed.
  The little things take you forward step by step, towards bigger things.
• Finding the right time every day to do certain things, take breaks and to stay focused when needed.
• Learning something new all the time is important to keep me going. The past year has taught me to try new things and find information, to keep trying and searching.
• Leading myself better.
• Finding happiness in simple things. 
• Reminding myself to stay hopeful.
• To not stress. I had to keep on telling me this for example when my dad was in hospital, and due to Covid there was no chance to visit him. There are certainly things we can´t control, and just do the things we can.

It's easy to make lists. The very much harder thing is to keep on doing something you have planned. It takes a lot of self-discipline.

It sounds so easy to make a list and follow it.

Well, it might be some days. 

What have you learned in the past year?

Have a great week!

"Happiness is where we find it, but very rarely where we seek it." - J. Petit Senn