Friday, April 24

levity




I've given up my resistance: spring is here, already whispering about the coming summer (I've even seen a chaffinch, which, according to a Finnish rhyme, tells you there's only half a month to summer), and I'm going to enjoy the spring as much as I can. For the past week the skies have been high and blue, and today, when I stepped out to a beautiful, warm spring morning, I felt light. Weightless. I felt the kind of levity I don't remember feeling in the past year, when the day before you stretches out full of possibilities; when there's a new season waiting around the corner, and you hope and know it's going to be a good one; a feeling of peace.
I'm going to carry that feeling with me.






Today's five senses from Helsinki

seeing - a friend I haven't seen in almost a year - she's always so full of life, and I adore it; flowers on the street outside the florist's; people sitting in the sun drinking coffee

tasting - delicious tandori salmon; beer, which tasted surprisingly good

smelling - fresh spring air; sea

hearing - my friend's tales about Tanzania; screeching of the rails when a tram turns

touching - my hair, it always feels so funny after a trip to hairdresser's, so I keep touching it; colourful flower pots in a shop

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of a chaffinch! It looks a bit like a combination of our bluebird, which has a blue head and rust on the front, and an oriole, which has black and white striped wings. Our harbinger of Spring here in Wisconsin is the robin, which makes its way north in mid-March. I guess we have a poem of sorts in the form of a silly song: "When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin along. There'll be no more sobbin' when he starts singin' his ol' sweet song." I'm not sure if that refers to the return of Spring, or just some general onset of euphoria and optimism. Anyway, I enjoyed learning about your Spring bird!

Anonymous said...

Well, that should be "bobbin'" with an apostrophe, since it's a contraction of "bobbing," as "sobbin'" is a contraction of "sobbing." Bobbin is a sewing term, of course. Time for bed here in the central US!

Henriikka said...

I've already seen a white wagtail, which means summer is just around the corner! On Sunday morning I went for a walk and there it was, happily wagging its tail and reminding me of so many summers with my grandparents - at our summer house there always were these cute birds as neighbours. :)

Enjoy the lightness! I can almost feel it from your pictures..