Autumn is here. The leaves have fallen. The branches of the tree prepare for the winter. They overlook the lake shore. They resist the wind from the West.
I look at all this and feel the wind myself. This is where I am now. I am part of this evolving ecosystem and wonder at these autumn patterns.
There is a balance in these trees on the lakeside. They are in balance with the stones on the lake shore. The water in the lake. The birds that are migrating south.
For many years there was a small ferryboat (called lossi in Finnish) to link the two shores of the lake. On the east side there is still the red wooden house of the ferry master. Today it is owned by a family with three kids who is taking good care of it during the summer and holidays. This bridge is the last stretch of asphalt road before reaching the cottage. The metal pilar holding the bridge make sharp sounds when it gets colder. I like walking on this bridge and the view North and South, with the horizon touching the surface of the lake in the distance.
After watching the images from Washington and the storming of the Capitol, I do not know what to write.
What comes to my mind are the empty space, the frozen lake, the forest and nature I was in in the beginning of this week. Oblivious to the madness we are witnessing
I am not sure how many years ago exactly, but around years ago, someone decided that it was time for the old ferry to retire and to build this bridge instead. They brought and and gravel to the extend the road onto the lake and then started to build this bridge. When you walk across it you can still see the docking points of the small ferry. On the Eastern shore you can still see the old wooden house of the ferry pilot. A family had bought it and renovated and I saw the father and his three children jumping from the pier one late night last summer.
Now in winter the bridge stands upon the frozen water. The metal makes a sound now and then when the temperature lowers even further than today. It is -10C.
Yesterday. It was just four thirty in the aftwrnoon buy it was already dark. The sign on the road told us to turn left. We followed a forest road for about three kilometres. The snow on top of it was pressed by some cars that had passed by during the day. It made the surface smooth and not slippery. We passed few cottages with decorative LED light on but nobody inside. We reached the fireplace. It was cold. Maybe minus five or minus six. I put on the small pieces of wood I had cut at the cottage. Put under them some birch tree bark and lit the fire. In fifteen minutes we would have a late lunch or early dinner.
I took my camera for this trip. Even though I have been here many times before you never know.
The lights from inside the cottage gave a warm atmosphere. It was just about 5 pm and pitch dark. The temperature had dropped and the snow had turned more icy.
I never saw the cottage in this light.
I took my camera for this trip. Even though I have been here many times before you never know.
The lights from inside the cottage gave a warm atmosphere. It was just about 5 pm and pitch dark. The temperature had dropped and the snow had turned more icy.
I never saw the cottage in this light.
For many year I have been living in Southeast Asia. There were only two seasons then: wet season and dry season. Temperatures staying more or less the same.
I have been back with my family in Finland for more than three years now and I re-discovered the beauty if four seasons. My uncle used to ask me when I was living in Asia: don’t you miss the seasons? My answer was no, I did not. While living there I honestly did not miss them. I was living in Asia that meant usually two seasons, warm weather, the humidity of the tropics.
Now I am in Europe, in Finland. The summer is a bit short but I am back to the four seasons and how landscapes change four times a year.
This is what I was thinking, while walking in the footsteps of Katja on the frozen lake at out cottage.
I travelled to Eastern Finland for the beginning of the year. The forest is quite, silent. There is no wind. The snow stays on the branches of the trees. I can hear a woodpecker hitting the bark up on a tree nearby. The lake is frozen and the ice is covered by a layer of soft snow. Everything is still.
Happy new year to all of you.