February this year has been going bakc and forth, some days a few degrees below zero and snowing, some days a few degrees above zero and raining. Sun hasn't shown itself to us too often at all this winter, and the gloom creeps on. Today, however, has been a sunny day for a change, and it immediatelly shows in my mood and energy to do things.
Today has been a sunny day, after a couple weeks of rain and thunder. Several times has it happened in the past days that I have left home for a walk with the dogs in full sunshine, with my sunglasses on, and gotten wet halfway through our walk. Sun casting shadows, hard rain falling on me and the dogs. True eeyore-moments... Not today, though :) Sun has been out for good all day. Then again, I haven't. We've been resting and taking it easy mostly, after a few rather eventful days and sleepless nights.
So, only some moderate dog walks today, in the sun. Enough to feel the warmth and cherish the light. And take a couple pics of a chokeberry tree and that hydrangea paniculata, that has turned almost completely pink now.
With our garden so shriveled up this year, the Seasons Diary has been more quiet this summer than it has ever been. Oh, well. Summer is still searing hot, even though it's nearly mid-August already. Next week should start the rainy cooler season, according to the forecasts. Cooler being day temperatures around 21-23C whereas they have been like 26-30 for weeks now. It is humid - 50-70% or so - making the still-moderate temperatures feel even hotter. Sweaty I would say.
The sea with its never stopping breeze is always a good choice when the going gets hot. A couple weeks ago we spent the weekend at our friends' island, and yesterday we drove down the Porkkala peninsula to enjoy the sunny Saturday.
We went for a longer evening walk yesterday around 8pm. The sun was still quite high over the treetops, but making the shadows long. We walked past some fields of already yellow rye and barley, and through a cut hey field to say hi to some horses down there by the Haltiala farm, and back home in the warm evening sun.
The moths have attacked a whole lot of trees again, making them look ghosty, even in the sunlight.
Yesterday I was sitting on our deck in the sun with my laptop, and noticed something green falling down like light rain. Birch pollen! I believe this to be a pretty bad birch pollen year... But birches are not the only trees blooming. This big maple in the neighbor's yard, right next to our driveway turned green overnight and is full of green flowers now!
It is almost May and the days here are long. The sun rose today at 5:23 and has been below the horizon only for about twenty minutes now, as it set at 21:16. It is still light outside. We were coming home from grocery stores at approximately eight pm and the sun was low but above the tree line, shining through some cool clouds.
I may have mentioned it before, but spring is official for me when the birches start turning green. Today they have :) Not all of them, depeding on their subspecies and exposure to sun and whatnot, but they have. And they are heavy with catkins too. Judging by that, we'll be having a harsh pollen year.
The forest behind our house is finally green. I have been waiting and waiting. The leaves have been inching and peeking and teasing, but today the forest was green, when we walked through with the dog.
Squirrels are dithcing their winter coats and turning brown, like the one that was running up and down th birch tree on the neighbor's yard until it stopped for a long while to sit on a branch and munch on something.
Our yard is looking nice with grass starting to grow, some scilla sibericas here and there and the crocuses, even though they are largely starting to wilt already. Last year we had one lone tulip at the edge of the yard, now it looks like we'll have a bunch!
Today, we had the first cery summery rain shower of the year. There didn't even seem to be clouds on top of us, but all of a sudden a windless rain shower hit our yard, in the middle of some grilling. It was over by the time we had eaten our dinner, and we went for a walk with the dog in the evening sun, that was making shining through some scattered clouds just above the treeline.
On my lunch break today, before the rains came, I went for a walk with the dog. The sky was overcast, the ground was soddy from previous rains and melted snow and ice, but we went walking around the footpaths. Many trees are pushing out their leaves now - rain and a bit warmer again does that - and these little blue flowers I don't recognize are popping up everywhere in the neighborhood [edit. they are scilla sibericas].
