It will be more beautiful in the summer

17th April 2012

I love the natural beauty here in South Ostrobothnia. The skies at dusk are particularly spectacular - they have the tendency to take your breath away while murmuring a quiet curse.

When the British Isles were basking in summer-like temperatures a couple of weeks ago, we had almost two weeks of thaw that partly melted the snow covering most of the ground around here. This was followed by mild weather in Finnish terms of intermittent snowfall during the nights and a little snowfall during the days. Two nights ago, we had a heavy snowfall and I woke up to a white blanket covering all the hard work the sun had put in over the previous fortnight. By late afternoon yesterday, this had mostly melted despite temperatures not getting up to much more than 5 degrees.

At the beginning of the thaw, the fields round about here were like huge lakes. The old barns, abandoned now that they are no longer required to store hay during the winter months, lay like lost boats out at sea. Dilapidated like the Japanese ghost ship washed out to sea and sunk by explosives off the Californian coast a year after the tsunami.

Hay nowadays is cut and rolled up like they are back home but the machines that cut the hay also wrap them in white sheets of plastic which means they can be left out in the snow and remain preserved during the winter months. A shame really as the old barns are prettier than the large white plastic discs that dominate parts of the fields around here.

Our playground had also become waterlogged and the older kids in the pre-school had dug channels in the grit around the swings creating a Las Vegas-like scenery of miniature canals and islands. There doesn't seem to be much drainage but I suppose that would be futile as the ground is permanently frozen for around five months of the year.

I told Outi that I was sad to see the thaw as the countryside and forests are so pretty covered in snow. Like most Fins, she is looking forward to the end of winter and told me it is even more beautiful in the summer. I have had my doubts about this as the gradual thaw has exposed dirty verges and dank rotten vegetation. It's prettier when all this is under cover.

Following a day of light snowfall, this morning we were greeted by a blanket of fog which slowly dissolved during the day. At 5 degrees this afternoon, I was so hot pushing Samuli on the swing, I had to take my hat and coat off. This is no normal swing session. The higher it is, the more Samuli likes it. When most kids would be screaming to stop, Samuli, shouts, "Ei pikku vauhtia; faster". Pikku being the diminutive and vauhtia meaning speed, this translates as, "Not so slow; faster!".

This evening, I moved the bench in front of the school which is always in the shade. I carried it around to the the back under our windows overlooking a grassy field and the setting sun.

The snow has only been gone a few days, but little yellow flowers are already sprouting up through the grass and we have been infested by ants. I left my windows open and a fly appeared with a couple of moths. Life is blossoming all around us.

I sat on my newly positioned bench at half eight with the temperature at 4 degrees in a long sleeved T-shirt drinking a cold coffee and smoking a cigarette while watching the setting sun. The air was perfectly still and a column of smoke from my discarded cigarette rose straight up into the air. The sun sets 45 degrees further along the horizon compared to just over a month ago.

I've started to believe that the summer here could in fact be prettier than the winter and I am looking forward to it. I have a bicycle now and I mean to do some exploring.