My Colleague Kristiina
To us she was simply 'Tiina'. She was an old and dear person, fond of singing and full of humour. It was never dull with her. I always remember her kindly.
When a nursery was established at the Türi forestry district, she was one of its first workers. In those days planting was done using a string with a small piece of cloth tied at every ten centimetres. The string was fastened to stakes so that the rows of seedlings would be straight. Looking back now, it is almost funny to think how basic everything was.
Later we did the work with a machine, five rows at a time. But Tiina did not like machine planting. The little plants she set by hand stood in straight rows across the field like soldiers — a pleasure to look at.
One spring Tiina came to the field to inspect the work from the previous autumn and was very unhappy. The spring weather had lifted and heaved the seedlings so that they leaned over. The head forester happened to pass by, and she thought he would start scolding her: 'Old woman, what have you made of this place?'
By now the spruces that stood in her straight rows have long since been taken away to grow in the forest or have disappeared, and she herself has passed into eternity.