Kate Renvall Designs

MY NORDIC GALLERY

                PART 2: IMAGES OF FINLAND

HELLO MARCH! 

Spring is in the air, no? Soon.

This is the time of year I dive into planning for the summer and my next trip home. It's been a couple of months since the last big wave of longing for the “Old Country” -Christmas gets me every time- and I imagine myself there while I wait for real-life plans to take effect.

My thoughts wander to summertime in the countryside. I'm riding my bike down the lane. My mind's eye shows me a dilapidated barn with its gray, crooked boards, some missing. Pieces of thatch are strewn about the roof's brown-green moss. A view of wavy golden wheat opens behind the barn.

Shift the eye and take in a sea of buttercups, visited by butterflies whose wings blend in.

Across the road lies a pristine lake and birch trees reflect their white bark and green foliage into the still water. On the side rests a dock, with boards the gray of the barn, the lake lapping against its legs. A wooden bucket sits on the edge, with fresh cuttings from the birches.

By the road stands a red milk platform, its trim offering a contrast of white. A silvery milk can smiles at the flowers brought from the meadow.

I peddle into the woods and the lane changes into a pine needle path. I step down to walk. On the ground dark greens and purplish blues hint of blueberry season. Cool boulders with their fern-covered hips invite to rest. My heart yearns for childhood games played in these miniature “rain forests”.

I walk my bike back to the road and hop on. Birches make their claim in the midst of pine and fir, lining the front of a yellow house.
Someone has rowed out and I can see the oars creasing the lake's surface from here. Fluffs of white clouds create whimsy on the water. Glorious summertime!

                                              
                                     Happy March, happy spring,
                                                       and the hope of summer! :)