Despite my grumpiness about the spring and rain… summer is coming.
Day 65: The Little Flower Who Could
Category: Outdoors
Day 63: Finnish Spring
Is there anything more over-romatisized than spring? Maybe Paris. Or worse: spring in Paris.
Maybe in warmer climates spring bursts in to flower the moment winter ends, bringing sunshine, birdsong and love. But not in Finland.
After 6 months under snow, there is not a lot colour in Finnish nature in early spring. The frozen ground needs time to thaw before anything green dares to show up. It’s wet and brown. It is a challenge to find much beauty anywhere.
Those warm, sunny moments can be glorious, though. Finns peel off their winter jackets and run out with the first signs of milder weather – enthusiastic for light and already waiting for summer to begin.
In other words, the best thing about Finnish spring is its proximity to summer.
Day 62: Trip Around The Neighborhood
Our house is in a nice suburb just next to the seashore and several small forests. Therefore, there are nice walking, cycling, and adventuring routes all around us.
Now it just needs to stop raining.
Day 50: Catkins
Appearance of willow catkins (pajunkissa) is a sure sign of spring – although the whole reason the catkins have “fur” is to protect the flowers from the cold.
In Finland, there is a tradition of collecting willow branches before Palm Sunday, decorating them and having kids go around the neighborhood to exchange the branches for candiy. It’s a Finnish version of “trick-or-treating”.
Or, actually, you should say that trick-or-treat is American-style virpominen. After all, the Finnish tradition has been around for hundreds of years.
Day 48: Early Signs of Spring
It’s been several weeks of above 0°C temperatures, and the snow is gone – except for the random piles covered in sand and pebbles that typically only melt at around midsummer (or at least it feels that way) and the sea ice. Plenty of ice left.
The sun was shining brightly and the neighborhood forest felt like spring. It is still early in the year and the nature seems unsure whether it can trust the warmth. There are no early flowers or green shoots in the trees yet. The first shoots of grass are rising from the forest moss.
Day 44: Bad Mood Weather
In Southern Finland, there is no weather worse than +2°C and rain. My foreign friends think I’m nuts when I say I’d take -25°C any day over +2°C.
You can enjoy the beautiful crispness of -25°C if you wear the right gear. But nothing improves +2°C and rain. It is miserable, depressing, gloomy, and, because it is Finland, most often dark.
I think my opinion has only gained credibility now that my South African-born-and-bred husband has started to agree with me.
Day 40: Light in the dark
Days are getting longer with spring, but even that does not help, when your workday extends to late evening. Luckily, our winter lights are still in on.
Day 25: Cloudy, with a Change of Wine
There is just something so picturesque about the wine farms, even when the weather is not perfect. My fingers itch whenever I get near one.
Stuart and the girls are generally pretty patient with my photography, but even they had enough for this trip. Stuart packed me in a car and sent me to Constancia Wine route as we were living in the neighbourhood. He and the girls stayed at the house swimming and relaxing.
As I was driving myself, I ended up drinking more coke than wine – but I got my photos.
Day 23: Cape Winelands and impossible-to-spell Franschhoek
I love proper breakfast. Whenever I find the time, I cook different dishes even just for myself. I adore eggs in all forms, sauces, mushrooms, avo, bacon, salmon, yogurt, jams… you name it. Funnily enough, breakfast is the only meal Stuart does not cook. And rarely eats.
But there was no need to twist his arm to get him to enjoy a great breakfast in Franschhoek. The market was even on, so we spent a good few hours around town before taking a scenic drive to Vredenheim Wine Estate to meet the whole wider family for lunch.
A day of beauty and decadence.
And yes, despite visiting Franschhoek at least 15 times over the years, I still need to check the spelling every time…
Vredenheim has a park for big cats. These white tigers were not getting along…
Day 21: Bo-Kaap
I love bright colors. It’s one of the reasons traditional Afrikan fabrics appeal to me. Why would you ever wear beige if you could wear orange, turquoise and purple? Simultaneously. But I am also pretty self-concious, so I (too) often settle for safer choices.
This contradiction is what started my love affair with large earrings. You can be bold, but in a sort-of-safe way – like jumping off a cliff only halfway.
In photography, there is no need for safe choices. That’s why there are few better places to wonder around that the vibrant, bold Malay neighborhood of Bo-Kaap.
Blue Moment 