NORTHERN SUMMER

Summer in North, first in the waves of Norwegian and Barents Sea, then hiking the fells. Around lakes, deeper in the fjords. Calm waves, many bonfires, wrapped in many layers, with wide smiles, even with big puddles inside shoes. Whales, crowberries, cloudberries, eagles and crows. Mist that covers the fell tops.

THE SAME, SO DIFFERENT

It is a windy and a rainy morning, quite mild air. Melodies of drumming on window sills. Days are getting so short and when the clouds hug, they seem even shorter.

Lingering in a few weeks back when frosty air covered everything in glimmer. How the day was so pastel and when the night turned on its lights, the landscape became so huge. 

Two photos from the same place, same day. Oh how small we are and how beautiful our planet Earth is.

Star shines and fresh winds!


(The second photo is taken by my brother.) 

AN ISLAND, A LIGHTHOUSE, ROOTS

Night train towards the North. A bus and a ferry to the landscapes of mist and rain. A small trip to see where my grandfather's mother was born. The thick clouds disappearing from the island, the sun tickling, wind calming down. Beautiful music festival just by the lighthouse. Sunset by the beach listening to the waves.

Middle of the island a village with kind people, good food, tiny piglet and a goat that became a mother for an orphan calf. Light violet harebell meadows everywhere. Sunshine on shoulders, a birch branch to keep the insects away.

Traditional houses painted with Falu red, flea markets and the scent of bent-in-the-wind Scots pines in sunshine.

Afternoon walk in the warm sea.

With a friend. With sun tan.

Evening walk.

Sunset and the songs of seagulls and terns. The horizon disappearing.

Sleeping next to the lighthouse and dreaming of the times when my grandfather's mother lived here. Maybe now I understand why I dream of islands and the blinking towers.

Summer trips with never setting sun.

Greetings from the island!

And warm and sunny July to you!

SUNSET WAVES

Summer nights. Thunder storms and the scent of rain on dry asphalt. More sunny and warm days. Train trips, dear friends, sailing boats, parks, cafés by the sea, sunsets. Gazing the sun to rise above the city lights.

A few rain drops today make the summer to scent more magical. Birch trees.

Sweet Tuesday greetings!

PURPLE, EMERALD GREEN

Evening bicycle trips in sunset. Emerald green forests and meadows everywhere. The shadows that happen only during summer sunset times. The bunnies and their very tiny bunnies.

Sunsets with friends. Rendezvous of a hedgehog and a cat. Tunes played by a cello. Friends that bake. Trombones.

The scent of the lilacs everywhere. Everything so rain-fresh.

After many very warm days, the thunder came. The thunder also went away just in time. An outdoor rendezvous in a ballet show. Sunset view from the balcony. The sunset city towers.

Parsley, thyme, mint, pea sprouts, coriander, dill, basilica, rosmarin. My herb balcony garden. A few pink pelargoniums too.

Summer nights that are filled with so much light.

Good night, sleep tight!

NORTHERN LIGHTS

Last night, after sauna, wrapping back to warm woollen clothes. Outside wild bright green fires were dancing on the night sky. The Northern Lights. Revontulet, fires of the fox. Old beliefs say that a fox is wiping the snow with its tail in the sky.

Monday, mánudagur, Moon Day. Beautiful sunny days. Beautiful Moonlit nights.

Have a sweet calm new week!


(The second and third photos are crops of photos by S. in Iceland a long time ago.)

ONE FOREST STORY

One day the one that whistled in a tree, early in the morning, was found behind a window in the afternoon.

Forest walk, tummies full of berries after a cold dip in a lake. Sun shined and the moss looked warm and soft. Pillows, I saw, and mattresses, sofas and armchairs. Handfuls of berries to reach, to drink and eat. There would be everything. Dense pine branches as a roof, the hill to see the first sun rays and wave good bye to the last disappearing ones.

Trumpet orchestra of the forest hummed a slow windy song all around. 

Trees, small and tall. Some smaller, but denser ones were tickling curiosity forming a nice beginning of a path. The blue sky would not be visible under those branches.

A tree to hang your beard into. Or a tree to borrow a beard from to dress up for a royal forest dinner.

The waves rushed to the shore, the clouds to the left. Crackling fire was waiting inside with a blueberry pie. Turning bike and bicycling back home on a sunny autumn forest road. Pebbles making a nice rhyme under tires.

Warm cloudy morning greetings!

ON AN ADVENTURE

An easy way to travel is to look up to the sky. To see the clouds chasing each others, to see the stars to blink even they are stone and gas up in the space, far away. To see airplanes flying and the flapping wings of birds. Dragonflies, so many these days, with their glimmering bronze wings in the sun. Lost balloons and a yellow leaf of this autumn whirling in the wind.

Two photos through my windows of these yellow autumn days, one photo (detail) of a painting Adventure on A Windy Day, available at BSDA.

Warm golden moments, happy September!

THESE SUMMER NIGHTS

Warm summer nights to be spent in parks, in harbors, bicycling home before the thunder arrives. Stopping to swim on the way.


More thunder in the air, still sunny. Time enough for one more swim.


Soft shadowed Sunday greetings.