Posts tagged “summer cottages

Steam Dark, Steam Light, Mushrooms, Night

Posted on 23 February 2015

The air was beginning to shimmer a warm golden grey as we pulled up to the summer home in Hämeenlinna. It sits by a lake, of course. Between the house and the lake are apple trees and a sauna. The light wrapped us, holding on a little longer, and then it departed. By this hour, dinner had been made, and we ate. And then, flashlights in hand, we walked down to the sauna and disrobed.     The changing room exuded the familiar sauna smell of wood, birch, damp. I stacked my clothes in a little pile. The lack of electricity emboldened me somewhat: we were girls and guys together. Despite being no sauna newbie, this was fresh to me. I had been camping…

Ode to Finland

Posted on 12 June 2014

Finland is the one country I constantly miss. There are many, many other places that I would like to return to and explore more, but Finland feels like coming home. I step out of the bus at the train station coming from Helsinki-Vantaa airport and the crisp air envelopes me like a sheer blanket of buzzing joy. Six visits later, and I’ve never tired of this country. Just being there makes me happy. I couldn’t exactly tell you why. Surely it’s a combination of things—wonderful friends, beautiful places, fun music—that blend together perfectly. But I don’t know if that’s all. Finland, to me, seems as nice as you can get yet with a certain rough edge to keep it interesting. But, I suppose it…