Following the light

In the past five or six years I got more and more interested in the natural world. I started my journey thanks to Clare Walker Leslie and her beautiful guides to nature journaling and observation. Since then, I kept many nature journals and nature studies, and when we moved here in Finland my interest was especially drawn to how the light (or the lack of it ) impact the natural life, and which are the signs that the outdoors gives us to hint snow, or rain or especially low temperatures. So far I learnt a lot, but so much it is still out there to observe and understand. In the last couple of weeks Finland experienced very low temperatures, friday was the coldest day for us, with -29 here in the south. The amazing side of these freezing days is that usually they are bright and sunny with clear blue sky. So one day I had some fun litterally following the sun during the day, taking pictures every once in a while from the same window. If you wonder why all this excitement about the sun, here some facts: at the solstice, one month ago, the sun was rising at 9:23 and setting at 15:07 ( we had 5 hours and 44 minutes of daylight ), today the sun has risen at 8:49 and the sun will set at 16:10 so 7 hours and 22 minutes of daylight, almost two hours more in less than a month. This has a terrific impact on every living being's life. Birds wake up earlier, and humans wake up easier and feel less tired and in general the energy level increase so much. Life begins anew somehow. But here my four more significant pictures, showing the path of our star.

  Taken at 1:10 pm

 Taken at 1:30 pm

 Taken at 2:51pm

Taken at 3:42 pm

The Creation is amazing, the nature is such a great gift and teacher. If we could only live in armony with it, and with each other, our world would be such a beautiful place to be.

Have a great week !

Happy Solstice !

So here we are. The darker moment of the year is here, but this mean that the light is about to come back. In two days the hours of daylight will be longer and longer. I love this moment of the year, as it reminds me that in life we have darkness and light, and even if darkness can be scaring and depressing and sad, it is the prelude to light. A light much more sweeter and bright just because of the previous darkness.
I took these pictures of the sky at 15:00 (3 pm ) just when the sun was about to set. In few months at 3 am we will have much more light than this.
  I love the Creation we're living in.

 Happy solstice to everybody !

Today's details:

Sunrise at 9:23

Sunst at 15:07

Daylight: 5h44min

Morning frost

This is a very strange season. Somehow out of pace. Calendar says december, Christmas, winter solstice, but the sky whisper maybe autumn... we still have mostly plus temperatures and rain. The annoying grey foggy rain you'd expect from an autumn day. Almost everybody I meet ( ok not so many people since my life here is quite secluded ) is desperately waiting for snow and we make no exception. After the glorious one-day-of-snow it all melted away and it has been dark and muddy ever since. So, few mornings ago, once the light finally made its appearence and showed the world, I was very happy to notice the thin layer of glittering white cover the reality and I had to grab my camera and capture some of that beauty.

Few details from today:

sunrise at 9:21

sunset at 15:06

hours of light : 5 hours 45 minutes

Have a lovely weekend !

The dark side of the earth

At the moment my adoptive country belongs to the dark side of the earth. Even if I live on the south, several hundred kilometres from the Arctic Circle ( where the sun never rise above the horizon in this half of the year and never sets in the next half ), the differences light-wise between summer and winter are truly dramatic. If during the summer months we enjoy countless hours of direct sunlight and we never experience the night ( the only down side : no stars ) in this period at 16:00 is already pitch dark and in the morning before 9:00 the light is so dim. The official sunrise is at 8:47 and the sunset is at 15:27, giving us 6 hours and 40 minutes of daylight ( and it's going to get shorter until the solstice ). So in this period light, or the lack of it, it's something really important to everybody living at these latitudes. Houses and towns start glowing of many white lights, most of them on the windowsill or hanging over the windows or on the front porch. Candles are lit in many gardens and on the tables and sunny days and snow (which brings a great deal of light ) are celebrates with cheers and smiles and gratefulness. This makes me think that today for my American friends is Thanksgiving, the '' giving thanks'' day. What a beautiful tradition my friends. Let me borrow this celebration for a moment . I'm so very grateful for the four seasons we enjoy every year, because each of them makes us appreciate different aspects of the glorious creation we live in. And at the moment I'm especially thankful for the gift of light in all its magical, poetical and joyous aspects.

A sunny snowy day is worth a celebration in this season.

 

My neighbour's garden. Magical.

 

A few of the lights on our windows

Feelings and flowers ...

It's a strange and weird period for me. I have so many mixed feelings everyday and sometime it's quite hard to cope with them. So many horrible things are happening in this world. Anger and violence and carelessness. My growing children ( how long will i dare to call them still children ? ) noticing and asking why and pondering and becoming the grown ups of tomorrow and i'm so afraid for the terrible example we are giving them. I try to pass them a message of peace, of love, of faith and joy, but it gets harder and harder and i feel so lonley in the task. I feel like everywhere anger has become the 'new joy'. Like everybody is looking for the right reason to let it all out ... but where 'all' comes from ? Are my own children growing such a 'all' themselves and one day they will let it out ? And in the middle of these thoughts my own lonliness stabs me with its sharp pain. It has been almost four year since we moved here and I don't have not even a friend. Nobody to talk with. No number in my phone ( beside close family ) to call. I keep telling me that if we've been lead here there must be a reason, but .... if there was a reason not to move here and we simply weren't listening ? What a hard moment. Yesterday as every sunday evening I was listening to my doughter radio program and when it finished my husband started playing italian music. I started to sing along and all of a sudden I remembered of so many nights spent chatting and laughing and singing old songs with friends... and the pain was back ... where is my village ? Where is my tribe ? .... Ah sorry for this rant, but it has been sitting heavily on my heart for a long time now ... but still I try to focus on good, and do good and be good and set a good example for my younger loved ones ... so here I am facing the sun and smiling at it and snapping few shots in the garden, finally showing us that spring is coming. Hopefully spring will come in my heart too...

Total Eclipse

Yesterday our 'astronomical week' has come to its glorious end. Actually I never planned this as astronomical week, but as unschooler I love letting life teaching us the right lessons at the right time.
So when tuesday we had the chance to admire the northern lights for the first time and in our own yard, questions started flowing almost no-stop and when I told my children that in the same week they could have the chance to see also an eclipse they were just eager to know more and more. And so we spent basically all the week learning about the solar system, the motion of the earth and of the other planets, the reason why the eclipse was happening and the northern lights were happening. Then on thursday we got ready for the big event prapring some homemade tool to watch the sun without any risk for our vision. We took that black film that you put on the glasses of the car and folded it 3 or 4 times and then we laminated it.
Friday morning we headed outside in the garden and waited, even if it was very cold and windy. But it sure was worth. I already experienced an eclipse, in Rome, in the summer of 1999, few weeks pregnant with my oldest doughter, with morning sicknesses in full swing. 16 years went by and there I was, in Finland, with my 5 children. It got me quite emotional and I told this story again and again while admiring what was happening above us. As 16 years ago, at some point the birds became quiet, and the light was dim. This time I had my Nikon and I tried to take few pics, but none of them showed what was happening, probably you need the right filter otherwise the sunlight it's so strong that the camera keep capturing the roundness of the sun even if the eye can clearly see the black spot becoming bigger and bigger and covering up all the sun. But here few pictures...

Have you enjoyed the eclipse ?

It's a kind of magic ....

After three days of snow the world looks much better. I can't stop  looking outside and grabbing the camera for just one more shot and finding excuses to get out for a moment to enjoy the outdoor. This is our fourth winter here in Finland and I can't still get used to the magic that happens with the snow. I love nature, I love God's creation, I love to be a part of it. Never a dull moment when living in awe and gratitude.

( And yes, of course I know that bad things do exist and yes, I have my share of problems and concerns and why not anger, but I want and I need to focus on the good )

And now few pictures from today.

Crocheted snow flakes in the entrance 

Outside in the garden. I still can't believe something can be so beautiful.

... country road take me home ...

And the sun decided to come out at some point. Glittering and shining and glowing are just few of the words that started popping on my mind at this sight.

 And such a huge gratefulness for all this.

Let the sunshine in

'Let the sunshine in' has been 'my quote' for many years on the web, way before I was aware of blogs, way before facebook was even invented. I stole it from my favourite musical 'Hair'. I love the musical and the song is incredible, but I think that my love for the quote reside in the fact that this older lady in my childhood used to call me Sunshine, Raggio di sole. I used to love her so, and now I realize how much she loved me. I think not even my husband in 23 years together ever called me in such loving way, not even my own mother. I think she could see beyond me and understand how bound to the natural world I am, and how important the light and sun is for me. I am litterally drawn to the light. I can spend hours just looking the sky trying to record all the colours and shadows that the light creates. But back to the point. Yesterday and tonight we had heavy snowfalls, but this morning the sky was blue and the sun was shining and the temperature incredibly rised above 0 ( we reached +4 in the sun ). So the ice and the snow started melting from the trees and bushes and the sunlight, which is still quite low on the horizon in this month, was hitting the drops directly. Well I had to take the camera and go outside to capture some of that beauty. It has been breathtaking. Outside the sound of the drops falling in the snow and the birds singing were the only sounds, along with the click of my camera. The wonders of the north. I thank God for such gifts. Here some pics I took in those magical moments.

... Let the sunshine in...

Love&Light

When my little one was about to arrive we bought for him a little bed, you know the usual 'fenced' ones, even if i already thought to co-sleep with him. Well the little bed has been just an additional closet for the last 2 years and half. Then few weeks ago he started asking about this odd and messy piece of furniture near mom and dad's bed and we told him it was his own bed that he could use whenever he wanted. So to sweetly encourage him my handy husband modified the little bed to be more suitable for the needs of a indipendent young boy. He took away one of the sides and lowered the bed at about 30cm from the floor so that Jimmy could go in and out at his own will. Jimmy seemed quite excited but he never even wanted to try to sit over it. Well no problem for us, we are enjoying our co-sleeping journey and we are ready and willing to give hime all the time he needs for this big stap ahead. Today we went in the nearby town in a departement store and as usual Jimmy was overly fascinated and attracted by Christmas lights. he asked us to buy a strand of colourful ( and unexpensive) led lights.We agreed and he came home proudly holding in his hand the box with the lights. When we arrived home he asked daddy to help him putting the lights around his bed. When we switched on the lights he Ohoooed with his blue eyes wide open and declared ' Now I can sleep in my bed' and laid in there under the blanket. It has been such a sweet moment. Well, no he is not sleeping in there now, but I can see a big step ahead in his journey and the just the way I wished it to happen, at his pace, in sweetness and acceptance.

 Jimmy for the first time in his bed

 We had to take away all the store bought dolls and teddy bears because james is afraid of them, he only likes this woolen dolls I make for him and loves them dearly

Wonderful isn't it ?

Just out from a fairy tale.