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 !

Sunrise

Only few days until the solstice. I'm litterally in love with the magic and mystic that happens during the solstices. The shorter and the longer days in the year. The sun making a leap from darkness to light and vice versa. Of course the winter solstice is the most exciting, after so much darkness, knowing that finally the light is about to shine again it is so comforting. No wonder Jesus was born around this period. He is so comforting too.
This morning I took a picture outside around noon. The sun is under the top of the trees at the horizon. It not even arrives at west to set, so short its path nowadays.

Today's details:

Sunrise at  9:17 am

Sunset at 15:06 pm

daylight 5 hours 49 minutes

Have a nice week !

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

Many hands make the work lighter

A couple of days ago we've been delivered 4 cubics of wood. Yesterday there was a terrible wind so my husband was the only one brave enough to venture outside and put some of it in the old barn outside ( not a barn anymore nowadays-unfortunately-just a huge multi-purpose storage room ). But today we woke up with a blue sky, shining sun and +5 degree !!! So when my husband said he was going out to put inside some of the wood we happily decided to skip any attempt to academic work or read aloud and headed out with him. It was 4 of us at beginning, me. hubby, Gaia and Jimmy. Later also Leo joined us. It was a pure pleasure. Working in the sun, the noise of the drops falling from the roofs as the snow was melting, some chit-chatting among us and the sight of the youngest of the family catching up with the meaning of 'family' itself, living together, working together, sharing and caring with and for each other. What an incredible joy for this mama heart to see her children helping with the task of daily living in this old house all together, including the little one and showing him the right direction, either metaphorically and in the reality. A truly joyful morning.

 

p.s. There's no picture of Leo because he doesn't like to be photographed ( unfortunately )

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.

Nature Journal

A new entry in my nature journal. Tonight we had a very heavy snowfall that lasted until this morning with big and fluffy flake gently falling down. While I was having breakfast I felt the urge to draw the beauty of my neighbours' garden. I'm happy i did because now we're in the middle of a wind storm with rain and all the snow it's alrady gone ....

I have added a new page in my blog where I'm going to collect all my watercolors, either from my nature journal and from other illustrations I make. You might like to have a look :)

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...

Baking with Jimmy

Today we woke up in the snow wonderland. It has been snowing all night, with strong wind. So after lunch we all headed out for some outdoor fun. Jimmy enjoy a lot to be pulled in Seba's Stiga sledge and it's always a problem to bring him back home ( or I should say drag him back home). So Milla and I started walking back and forth in our street pulling him. The first time we passed in front of the house he declared ' Not inside mom, lt's walk for a little while more '. So we walked back and forth two more times. At the third he called me ' Mom, let's go back home for a while now .. I'm frozen ' eheheh so veeeery sweet.
But of course inside we went, and to warm up I thought that it could be a good idea baking something. As usual James is eager to help me...

 Woderful, the world covered in a soft blanket

He is such clever and sweet helper, learning everyday something new, but mostly learning the meaning of being a family : togetherness.

So after a couple of hours we had several goodies ...

Shortbread cookies (before and after cooking )

And two loaves of bread, one of normal shape one braided ( my first attempt, it turned out well in my opinion )

This time I cooked the bread at a lower temperature for longer time (180C for 50 minutes ) and the result was a super soft bread with a delicate crispy crust .

Delicious !

Have a nice week !!!