The main difference this year compared to other years is the silence that surrounds our mökki. Actually this is not correct. There is a noise and is is the one of the wind. But that’s it. No others. This is particularly evident at the sunset, the twilight which lasts until about ten in the evening. This is the sauna time. So when walking to the sauna to the lake shore. I look at the still water which is like a mirror when there is no wind. So clear is the image of the clouds reflected in the water that it is difficult to distinguish what is up and what is down. I stand there enjoying the cool air of the early Finnish autumn and there is not a sound. Something is missing. Was is like this last year? We were here in July. Oh yes. Last year the birds where singing also at night (or the clear Scandinavian night). This year it is end of Augusta and most of them if not all have already flown away to migrate south.

It is a nice time of the year to be here. There is night. No mosquitoes. The air is fresh and cool. The birch trees have brushes of yellow on the highest branches. The rest is still green but will soon give away to the intense yellow of autumn birch trees while the leave on the top top will fly away blow away by the northern winds.