The Importance of Sleeping

During the winter, I’ve gathered lots of books on my shelves. They are all unread and they have been waiting for the summer.
Now it is summer. I’ll take the books and pack them in my big bag and off I go for a few days.

Reading isn’t the only thing I’ll do. I’m going to take naps on the quay, sleep in the shades, float in the lake and tug myself into the blankets when the night becomes white and the divers start their cry on the lake.

And I’m going to chop wood. In between the sleeping.

See you after some days!

*****

You can look at my summer paradise in my Swedish blog.

Babel Fish

I installed a Babel Fish-tool into this blog today, so now it's possible to read this blog in other languages, too. If the translation is correct, I wouldn't know, but it looks fun:)

So, just scroll down, you'll find the translator on the right side of this blog.

My Old Hometown

Found a link in Mick's blog and had to try this slide show. Made a silent movie of my old hometown Turku.

Empty

Midsummer Night

Once upon time, way up north, far, far away, there was a land where fairies danced through the bright summer nights. Gracious was their dance, delicate the movements of their transparent limbs.

To the people of the north, the dance of the fairies looked like the flutter of butterflies and they didn’t hear the twitter when the fairies swirled over the meadows. Only children could here the silvery mirth echoing from the huge stones which surrounded the daffodil meadow.

However, children were not allowed to stay awake on those light summer nights and the fairies continued their dance without viewers. Nothing disturbed their peace, until one Midsummer Night, a tiny boy got lost and fell asleep under the daffodils. His parents were frantic and they looked for him all over the village, but the boy wasn’t found. They strolled along the riverside, but the crystal clear water didn’t reveal anything.

The lazy sun stayed high up in the sky, the evening mist started to rise from the river. The fairies woke up and started the preparations for their dance. They washed their long, golden hair with the water from the river and the drops glittered in the spectre of all colours as they dried their hair in the warmth of the midnight sun.

Some drops fell on the sleeping boy and he opened his eyes. He looked up and saw the fairies twirl around. He had never seen such beauty and he held his breath, afraid to disturb the waltz of the air. But such joy filled his heart, that he had to cry out loud.

The parents saw the butterflies flicker above the golden daffodils and they heard the voice of their son. They found him lying on his back and when his mother told him there was no need to cry anymore, the boy just smiled and didn’t say a word.

The fairies rose higher towards the midnight sun, letting the Midsummer Night magic from their silvery wings fall all over the northern land far, far away.

*******

Midsummer

Today

there is only music.

Susu Islands

Mick Mather has created Susu Islands in his Outer Dust Rings-blog, a Sci-Fi creation of an Imagined Planetary System. Go and have a look, and spend a nice day on the beach!

Dreams that come true

It’s funny that some dreams do come true. You think of a certain thing, say maybe when you’re a child. That it would be great to travel some day to Egypt, to see the ruins of ancient temples, see the mummies, the valley where the kings have found their peace. You dream of becoming an archaeologist and you see yourself wipe off the sand to reveal precious treasures.
You wonder how it would feel to walk on the same stones Tutankhamen once walked on, or how it would feel to sail along the Nile like Cleopatra.

But you’re a child and being a child means you don’t have the power to make dreams come true. You know that, you stop dreaming, and you concentrate on growing up. You want to forget the impossible and you go to school to get wise thoughts instead of dreams into your head.
Then, one day, you realize that you’ve grown up, you’ve become an adult and you can start to fulfil your dreams.

(because, really…you hadn’t forgotten your dreams, they were just put aside for some time, and although you didn’t become an archaeologist, you could always find other treasures…)

Sunday Activities

Made a new template for my photo blog.

And this blog, too.

My Childhood Scene

In the photo gallery of my homepages, you’ll find some manipulated photos from Turku, the town I was born in. With these photos I’ve travelled back to my childhood (I’m so old that life was black and white back then, no Technicolor yet -as you can see from the photos, ha-ha). Going back to my roots has borne some stories, which I’ve published in my Swedish blog. The stories are not necessarily documentation of my childhood. Some of them have got the inspiration from a real memory, but the story has turned into fiction.

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

SusuPetal in Swedish

has been born and it is here.

The Language of My Childhood

When I met HPY last week, she told me that one of the reasons she had started her blog. was to keep up with her Finnish. She has been living abroad for thirty years, now living in France.

From HPY I got the idea to start a new blog (yes, I know, it will be my fifth, not counting my homepages...addicted? Me?).

When I was a child, I spoke as fluently both Finnish and Swedish, my mother being of Finland’s Swede origin. When I grew older and left my childhood’s home, my Swedish became poorer and nowadays I’m afraid the language of my mother will vanish from me all together.

This is why I’ll start a new blog in Swedish. To keep up with the language of my childhood times, the source of my origin. I’ve written short stories, memories of days gone by. Some are pure fiction, some may have a hint of truth in them.

When the time is due, I’ll let you know the address of my new blog. I’m not in a hurry.

Thank you, HPY, it seems that the impossible keeps on turning into the possible.

Helsinki

I’ve been taking photos from different city parts and suburbs of Helsinki. The photos are to be seen in my Finnish photo blog and this slide show presents only a small slice of the photos I’ve taken.

Enjoy the trip around Helsinki.

I’ll be enjoying the country side and the pier for the weekend. See you!

Here I go again

The joy of summer has made me find once again the joy of writing. Ideas rush through my head, stories seem to write themselves. Thoughts just don’t occur to me, they make their way in a very persistent way and force me to make small –usually mental- notes what to write about. I feel the flood of inspiration throbbing through my veins, the heart beats enthusiastically and words chant in my mind.

The poems and the stories that come out, are not necessarily happy, they don’t hale the glory of the sun and warmth. I’m able to linger in dark shades even if the light is bright outside my window, that’s no problem for me. The most important thing is that I feel happiness in writing and that I do right now.

So, I must go on writing before the sun forces me to abandon my laptop and makes me lie down on the pier. You know –after that stretching out in the sun, there will be no hope of writing anything! Summer and laziness is a good combination, too!

Summertime

Summer is magic.
The magic of sun, colours and music.
The magic of being alive.

Seeing things you’ve never seen before,
things you thought you’d forgotten.

Simple, beautiful things:
the laughter of a child under the deep blue sky,
the taste of vanilla ice on your lips,
the dance of the Superman on the rope in the park nearby.

Summer. I welcome you again.