When the sun is setting, between dusk and darkness, there is a moment when the light turns blue. And the world stops for a heartbeat.
We woke up to the first morning frost today. The ground was covered in a very thin white veil – gone as soon as the sun touched it.
The weather forecast predicts a return to +10C and rain for the rest of the week.
Again, one of those moments when you cannot help but wonder why did we decided to move to Finland, of all places.
Unlike in much of the world, public swimming pools in Finland are excellent. They are affordable anyway, but as a type 1 diabetic, I can get an annual pass for next to nothing.
Great value for money!
For several years, we have been taking the girls swimming (they swim, I supervise), but only recently I have discovered the entirely different world that exists in the same swimming pool between 6 and 7 am.
There are surprisingly many people there, but it’s a strangely quiet. No children yelling, no announcements, hardly any conversation. Everyone seems absorbed in their own rhythm. It’s almost meditative.
It’s just the serious swimmers.
And me.
It’s the school holidays this week. Mummi invited the girls to Tampere for a few days. Several people from the office are also on holiday.
So, despite full days at the office, it feels almost like a holiday.
When I was a small child, our summer cottage (with no electricity or inside plumbing) was not suitable winter use. We would come for a day (or more) in autumn to rake the leaves and close everything up for winter.
I mostly remember having hot chocolate and sandwitches in the sauna steps with my brother, while the adults did… whatever adults do in these situations. We would spend the night at my grandmother’s house in a nearby town.
Now we can stay overnight and cook proper meals in a warm kitchen.
The girls spend time on the shore, doing many of the same things I did with my brother.
Unfortunately, I am now the adult doing whatever adults do…
Luckily, that is not too much.
Our family tradition of celebrating Halloween at the summer cottage started somewhat by accident. It is the right time of the year for some autumn maintenance and gardening. A few years ago, our work weekend happened to fall on Halloween, so we turned it into a celebration.
So now, even though we were several weeks early (calendar juggling is a reality even within the family), there is no reason small enough for a celebration.
Halloween is definitely not a Finnish tradition, and has only caught on here in the last 10 years or so. When I was a kid, it was as distant as Carnival in Brazil. You had heard of it, but it had nothing to do with you.
So, I still find it hard to believe my kids will grow up carving pumpkins every year.
I picked up two family Bibles from my uncle today to deliver to my mum.
They are no light reading. The older of the two was printed in 1849 (177 years!) and weighs around 8 kg. It is impressive that it has remained in the family for so long.
I also find the written Finnish in the Bible fascinating. I can understand about 80% of it – and much of that is because I can guess the words from context, or already know the passage. But a lot has changed in less than200 years.
That’s a weighty piece of history.
I am extremely lucky that Stuart enjoys cooking. Even more so because he has taken over almost all the cooking during the busy work weeks.
However, sometimes (but never during those busy work weeks) I miss cooking.
As with any skill, your “touch” gets rusty when you don’t use it. I used to instinctively know how to season and flavor a dish. Now I need to measure everything and trust the recipe. Which – to be honest – typically tastes fine. But feels different.
I keep promising myself I will get back to it.
One day.
Even though it happens every year, it is still a shock to the system how quickly the days get shorter in the autumn. All of a sudden, it is dark when you go to work, and dark when you get home. And it’ll only get worse from here.
It says something about how extreme the change is that, in Finland, the winter blues (or kaamosväsymys) typically start in the autumn, rather than in the dead of winter.
Combine that with the usual (predictable) chaos of life – most intense preparations for peak season at work, the girls’ schoolwork and hobbies – and it is no wonder one feels a bit weary.
But a few sunny, brilliantly colored days do wonders.
Some time back I saw an interesting post about photographing frozen flowers. With some cut sunflowers on their last legs, I decided to throw them in a freezer and give it a try.
Cool idea,with a somewhat lazy execution. Next time, I will need more considered arrangement and better lighting. Trying to take the photos during a break between meetings – just because the sun happened to be shining – only added to the string of poor choices.
But – I think – worth trying again.
Ruska, in Finnish, is the word for the time in autumn when the leaves change color. It encompasses the colors, the season and the particular affection Finns have for the phenomenon (or, at least, for the few beautiful, sunny days we typically get at this time of the year.
In our household, the season is more typically marked by going through all the “midseason wear” the girls need between summer and winter. And buying six pairs of waterproof gloves to replace the ones lost during sping.
