remembering Lapland

I go up the hill to see if I can see the sunset.  It must happen somewhere.
But as the sun hits the horizon, it does not sink, yet travels along the horizon for a little while, until moving higher in the sky.  It is mid summer in Lapland.  The fire-weed is growing rampant, as are buttercups and bluebells.

rainbow (nearly double) just past midnight

part of that rainbow is my blogging avatar

 Berries just waiting to bud.  Come later in the summer, the cloudberry will arrive.  A tiny jewel in Lapland. There is a cloudberry liqueur, I can no longer remember its name, fancy that.  It was tasty, but nothing I'd go for again.  I love the words though... cloudberry. Ah, Lakka, I think it was called. And a pretty berry it is, too.


Long winter and snows make for a feast of mosquitoes come summer.  I am usually a magnet for them, but they didn't bother me so much while I was there.  Lucky me.
The sun was strong and it lasted oh so long, forever in fact, and sometimes it got the better of me.  I did have a bit of heat sickness which was very unpleasant.  You just don't realize how long you are staying out in the sun, and I did it from morning till late night, usually.  I would stay on the back deck, reading, and sunning, and contemplating life.

 Later, I would share my time with my companion out there, until quite late.

The best part of Finnish life must be the requisite inclusion of a sauna in the house.  Frequent saunas are wonderfully cleansing for mind body and spirit, I believe.  And afterwards it's not unusual for a Finnish man to want to make love, so that's a plus.

after sauna

I ate reindeer while I was there... somewhat gamier than venison.  It was so so.  Didn't eat bear... I wouldn't have gone for that.

Russia is just an hour or so away from where I was, in Rovaniemi.  Didn't bother going there, though.  Although I wouldn't have minded, just to say I'd been.
When it wasn't raining, which it did a lot, to my delight, the sky would be oh so blue, and dotted with puffy clouds.

  And there were doggies, too, who were the most faithful of companions, I love them so.

62/365 dogs

I had a dog named Sandy when I was a kid.  She was part Golden Retriever, most likey, and part collie maybe.  She found my family while we were walking through the woods, on our way back from a doll-maker's shop.  My parents warned "be careful", but is soon became obvious this dog was very friendly.  I was seven years old, and loved her immediately.  She would not leave our side. We went back to the efficiency cabin my parents were renting, and she came along inside.  She jumped up on the bed, and lay her head on the pillow, and sighed a deep sigh.
We didn't know holw old she was, maybe 2 years, and my parents question around to see if anyone owned her, but came up with nothing.
Not wanting to bring a dog home, really,  my parents left her at the motel grounds, and took us kids to the Catskill Game Farm, to distract us from leaving the dog.  On our way back home, we had to pass the motel again, and my mother said "If she's there, we'll take her home."
And there she was, waiting for us, on the step in front of the unit we'd rented.
"Come on, girl, come on!"
In the car she jumped, and blessed our home for the next ten years.



*A free-write is a type of automatic writing, where you just go with your stream of consciousness non-stop. There's no thought to spelling or grammar, and no editing of words. Supposedly this opens the mind up to greater creativity. They can be 5, 10 or 20 minutes long. Suggestions for freewrites are always welcome. Visit Evie, with whom I freewrite, at the space between colors.

a lapland kind of day

It is only when the night comes that this day will stop being like Rovaniemi. Otherwise it's much like a Lapland day, late in May, with a changing and nearly never-darkening sky, and the feel of rain lingering on the air.

Much of my time there was spent sitting on the back terrace, reading the sky. It was a most delightful spot. I contemplated the soul connection between two people, and learned how important it is to relate on a soul level, and understand where someone is coming from in their own soul. But I understood this too late in my time spent there, and was unable to maintain a union with the man I went to be with.
I remember being on that terrace.. with him or without... but always with the faithful dogs, who understood me on a soul level; of this I am sure. My little saviours, two male Chinese Cresteds, who led me into the woods, where I dreamed, and often wandered without dreaming... just being... me and the wood and the dogs.
It was a fine moment in time.

rest in peace

My sister's dog, Sandy, had to go to The Rainbow Bridge today.  May he rest in peace.  He was such a good dog, and a good friend.  We will always miss him, and someday we'll all cross that bridge together.  {{{{Sandy}}}}

the dog, the moon, and mercury

When I woke up yesterday, I had good intentions for a productive day, and it certainly didn't turn out that way. The morning seemed much sweeter than the rest of the day. I had ideas rolling around in my head, and was eager to start some new projects. It's best to start immediately when you have that feeling, otherwise who knows what will drag you into inertia. For me, it was the news of my sister's old dog, Sandy, who has been doing very poorly over the past couple of weeks. Yesterday, after much testing, we found out that he has an aggressive cancer in his body, and he doesn't have much time left. He is 13, and has been the very best of companions for my sister, and vice versa. Now she has to make the decision of exactly when to put him down. She doesn't want him to live with any pain, of course, and I think the decision will have to be sooner than later. The vet gave him maybe two months to live. Poor Sandy. He lived a really good and loving life, though, and my sister can be thankful that she gave that to him. She will miss him forever, though. Its been true love from the start.

On other notes, today is the day that Mercury finally goes direct again. It has been retrograde for I don't know how long now, but it certainly hasn't been a time for new ventures or smooth communications. Things should start looking up in that aspect. Yesterday Hunter's Moon, coinciding with today's direct Mercury, may be just the shake up that is needed.

I really thought the photo card reader would arrive in the mail yesterday, but no luck on that. Today I need to go to my mom's... So it will probably come when I'm not here, and I'll come home to one of those little yellow slips on the door, telling me it's at the post office. Well, we'll see.

It's a bit chilly this morning, but it's going to warm up to the 70's today.

Both cats are here in the living room with me. Morrison, here a little over 3 weeks now, is finally starting to feel a bit at home. It's nice to see.

There's no coffee in the house (God help me!), otherwise I'd have been off making it before coming here. I'll go make a cup of tea now, though.