Suomen suvi on kaunis. Mutta lyhyt.*

I came back home today after three days in the countryside. The first night was spent with Dominante in Huosiaissaari, near Punkaharju. The next day, we had a concert in Punkaharju, from where Sanna and her mother picked me up to go to their mökki in Sulkava. It was a pretty spontaneous and successful detour and I really enjoyed it. I spent two nights there - mostly sleeping- and we also made a short tour on the bicycles and visited the Marimekko shop in Sulkava's centre.

Today, I came by bus from Juva - the drive took four and a half hours, which gave me a great chance to get on with Anna Karenina. I'm very grateful for being able to read in a bus since not everyone can do it. In between reading, I listened to music on my iPod. Recent favourites on my playlists include Finnish popular music like Scandinavian Music Group's "Ota minusta puolet" and "Ylpeä sydän" as well as Egotrippi's "Posteljooni" and "Matkustaja" on the pop side. On the classical front, nothing beats simple but moving Finnish choir songs composed precisely for the summer, with Leevi Madetoja's "Onnelliset", composed to Aleksis Kivi's text (which by now has achieved a downright mythical status) about a blissful summer morning,scoring high right now (how did it take me so long to find this song?)

On the computer, I've been glued to airliners.net, searching for pictures of airplanes I've been on with the help of the registers of the aircraft I have in my files. In exactly two months I'm leaving for Graz, so I should start making some sort of a logistical plan of how to organise the tidying, the recycling and selling, and the packing. Before that, however, Mikko and I are flying to Ireland next Monday, so there's some planning to do in that sector as well.

* "Finland's summer is beautiful. But short." Last sentence of Väinö Linna's Finnish classic "Täällä Pohjantähden alla" ("Under the Nortern Star")

Outside Sulkava. Note plastic duck.