Thursday, March 27, 2008

SNOWCORE


Snowstorm has happened. Again. Strong wind, snowflakes falling down like fine powdered sugar would be pured from the sky, or flour. It started during the night already, that wind spinning snow in the air, and then the storm continued through the whole yesterday. Even this morning it was still snowing. Sunshine and snow altogether; similar to April showers. And yes, April will approach us soon.

I am not sure if this is totally common Finnish spring; I was reading in Helsinki and, well, Turku flowers had already started to pop out. However, we
still have real winter. Loads of snow. Piles. Hardcore. Snowcore.

Now I understand a bit better Finnish joy and craziness which occur when Juhannus, Midsummer, is celebrated. We wait so long to see the proper daylight. We wait so long for the winter to disappear, for the snow to melt, for the ice to be gone with the snow, thus making our paths less slippery. We wait so long to enjoy mild breeze rustling in birch woods again; green, so green woods. We wait long for the ecstasy of summer music festivals. We wait long to kiss in the midnight sun. We wait long for mosquitoes to inhabit swamps and lake-shores, we wait long for
mosquitoes to invade our sweaty skin. We wait long for the awakening of those jolly moose-flies on behalf of which we would cover our heads carefully when enjoying our hikes within deep Finnish forests. Well, at first, we have to hike through frosty darkness to get a sense of life and love again.

All in all, it is a long waiting for the summer. But when it happens, and I have seen summer happening in Finland, it appears in all its glory.

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