TREAD LIGHTLY

First week of June.

A lightness of being,
 a summery feeling.

The heat subsided for a moment,

but even the darkest clouds radiate light.

I keep hoping for a proper thunderstorm,

but the skies are full of false warnings. 

Time for a holiday soon,

but first it's all about

tackling the remains of odd jobs

& laundry piles,

and jotting down little plans. 

A sense of rest

intensifies amid mundane chores,

wraps itself softly against the skin. 

Butterfly wings
quietly whisper an invitation to adventures. 

Kesäkuun ensimmäinen viikko.

Kevyt olo.

Kesäolo.

Helle taittui hetkellisesti,

mutta synkätkin pilvet säkenöivät valoa.

Turhaan saaanut odotella kunnon ukkosmyrskyä,

taivas täynnä vääriä hälytyksiä. 

Kohta lomalle,

mutta sitä ennen vielä hommien

& pyykkivuoren kuromista,

satunnaisia suunnitelmia muistivihkoon. 

Arkisia askareita,

joiden keskellä levon tunne tihenee,

kietoutuu hellästi ihon ympärille. 
Perhosen siivet kuiskuttavat hiljaa
kutsua seikkailuun. 

SUNDAY FEELIN'

a few days of just me & her in the house.

the hallway is almost as good 

for practicing the handstand

as the backyard. 

in the afternoon,

she went to a birthday party,

while I walked a little.

popped to the winter gardens (again, sorry :)).

this time, there was a choir singing

& small gatherings of people

sharing a flask of coffee

or bottle of bubbly

in a quiet nook here & there,

under the shadow of 

sprawling evergreens. 

Then to the National Museum

and the photography exhibition of Jaakko Heikkilä,

 whisking to a world of grand Venetian palazzos. 

we've been having friends over in the last few days,

both the small & grown-up kind.

in other words,

a Sunday with

plenty of leftovers in the kitchen.

I made this simple quiche yesterday,

served with a salad of 

melon, buffalo mozzarella & mint

& glass of chilled rosé, 

which created a rather succulent combo,

and finished off with

meringue nests, fresh berries, fruit,

& a dollop of créme fraiche.

but the winning combination

is food & friends,

no matter what the menu.

( often the simpler the better I think...)

some Sunday excerpts here.

and I wish you a lovely evening! 

x

WILDER MIND

I've dived straight into the heatwave,

good things filling the days.

 Mumford & Sons last weekend -

despite the gigantic arena,

the ambience was intimate & spirited at the same time.

They gave their all,

me & the throngs around joining in,

 body and soul.

We walked back home under the velvety sky

of what felt like the perfect summer's night,

only in May.
A sense of wild
running through the veins
in that moment.
Freedom.
Ever-present in the mind
even for someone
with a family, mortgage, deadlines,
a certain stability
that lacked at a younger age.
Now they complement one another.

Holiday plans shaping up,

Provence beckons around the corner,

a dream of many years. 

Paahteeseen on ollut helppo sukeltaa,

hyviä asioita mahtunut päiviin.

Mumford & Sons viime viikonloppuna -

vaikka jättimäisellä areenalla olikin,

oli tunnelma intiimi & railakas yhtä aikaa. 

Tyypit heittäytyivät täysillä,

minä ja muut mukana.

Kävelimme kotiin samettisessa kesäyössä,

vaikka virallisesti taitaa olla vielä kevät.
Tuli suorastaan vähän villi olo,
sillä tavalla kutkuttavasti.
Vapaus.
Se kulkee mukana aina,
pään sisällä,
oli sitten perhettä, asuntolainaa, dediksiä,
tiettyä vakautta,
jota ei nuorempana ollut.

Nyt ne täydentävät toisiaan.

Lomasuunnitelmat lyöty lukkoon,

nurkan takana Provence,

monen vuoden unelma. 

x

WINDFLOWER

on my 2nd cup of coffee already.

another morning of the spring light

tickling the eyelids.

this time of year is glorious,

but has a tendency 

to make you a little restless at the same time

- do you find the same? 

the earth awash with wood anemone

- or windflower,

as it is also known. 

i think over here it is often seen

as a sweet & tender 

encapsulation of spring,

but i rather love that notion of

"windflower",

the sense of wild

it evokes. 

a tender wildness,

that's exactly how spring seems to feel. 

x

FLOWER BOMB

this light that wakes you up in the morning,

tickles the eyelids 

and whispers "come & play" in the ear,

then lingers on until late evening.

a lightness that awakens

every cell in the body.

a flower bomb

that has exploded outside.

"you can cut all the flowers

but you cannot keep

s p r i n g

from coming."

- pablo neruda

FEATHERS & LINKS

wishing you a lovely Saturday 

with a couple of links -

you can pop over to the Vogue 100 exhibition

at the National Portrait Gallery in London

from the comforts of your own home here,

soulful images by Peter Lindbergh

of Mariacarla Boscono

for Vogue Italia March 2016 here.

HIGH spring summer 2016

shot by Carl Bengtsson here

★

CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON

A brief visit over here

in the middle

of a perfectly ordinary Wednesday

marked by intermittent

rain & shine.

I'm churning out words on the keyboard,

lots of words,

& when words begin to take over,

I have an urge to escape into images even for a brief moment.

I'm quite good at fluffing up a cumulus cloud

from a duvet,

but this guy is doing the real thing!

Pieni piipahdus tänne

aivan tavallisen keskiviikon lomassa,

jolloin vuoroin sataa ja paistaa.

Nakuttelen sanoja,

paljon sanoja,

& kun sanat tahtovat ottaa tekemisestä ylivallan

täytyy edes hetkellisesti paeta kuviin. 

Olen aika hyvä pöyhentämään täkistä kumpupilven,

mutta tässäpä ihminen, joka loihtii ihka oikeita!




x

TIME TRAVELLERS

we are the only visitors this afternoon.

the floorboards creak gently under the feet,

as we slowly wander

from room to room,

the air easy to breathe

in a house well-built.

timeless beauty in every nook.

we can't resist stooping over

the leafy geranium 

that basks in front of the sun-drenched window

to secretly rub its lemon-scented leaves 

between our fingertips.

flowerbeds still bare outside,

but all that life bubbling

under the black soil

- almost time to burst into splendour.

i don't feel pressurized 

after seeing picture-perfect homes

in interior magazines,

no need to have 

what everyone else has,

quite the opposite. 

 it's places like this

where inspiration fills me to the core.

on returning home, it hits

- frustration,

over all that clutter 

that seems to accumulate from nowhere

in this day & age. 

"come on, 

it's a museum for goodness sake",

says a little voice inside my head.

(i wonder what they considered "ugly"

in their homes in that day & age,

or did the concept even exist?) 

paikan ainoat vierailijat.

lattialaudat narahtavat lempeästi jalan alla,

tuoksupelargoniaa pakko hivellä 

salaa sormien välissä. 

ulkona vielä paljasta,

mutta mullan alla kuohuu

- aivan pian rävähtää. 

en kerää ahdistusta sisustuslehtien

täydellisistä kotikuvista,

mitään tarvetta 

ei ole haalia kaikkea sitä samaa,

mitä muilla,

päinvastoin. 

mutta tällaisessa paikassa intoudun

sydänjuuriani myöten.

kotiin palattua

 se vyöryy päälle

- ahdistus

kaikesta turhasta ja rujosta

nykypäivän rojusta.

"haloo, ei ehkä kannata verrata museoon",

sanoo sisäinen järjen ääni. 

(mitäköhän sata vuotta sitten

pidettiin kodeissa "rumana",

vai pidettiinkö mitään?) 

x

FRIDAY GLIMPSES

Friday is a good day

to finish work early

& trek across town

to visit my dear friend

& her precious baby girl. 

On the way,

picking up some weekend reading

from an alluring newish bookshop,

& a bouquet of Friday flowers

from the smiley ladies

at the corner florist's.

A chill in the air today,

but a sense of s p r i n g... 

or not even a sense,

 the real deal!

Wishing you a sweet weekend.

(p.s. all these were snapped

at my friend's tranquil home

above Helsinki rooftops.)

x

TUESDAY FRAGMENTS

Greetings from the block,

where the day has been about working hard,

coffee on the boil,

catching up with my mother-in-law,

whose face suddenly lit up our hallway,

the door swinging,

as the children flit between school, friends,

orchestra practice, the theatre,

music flooding the rooms. 

Terveisiä korttelista, 

jossa tänään paahdetaan hommia,

kahvi käy kuumana,

kestitään Englannin anoppia, 

joka tupsahti yhtäkkiä eteiseen,

ovi käy, kun lapset sinkoilevat

koulusta, kavereilta, 

orkesteriharjoituksiin, teatteriin,

musiikki tulvii.  

x

SIMPLE THINGS

i have a thing for those simple things,

perfection in imperfection,

soft, milky light

on an early Tuesday afternoon,

a moment of quiet

in between the humdrum.

somehow there's an awful lot

of strength right there. 

x