just wanna find an empty road

Today I'm dreaming of: taking off in the car, going north to Kalajoki with the sandy dunes, staying in a pretty cabin, eating croissants with wine, exploring cold beaches and miles of blue sky, being free.

Dreaming of anywhere but here.

coltsfoot thoughts

Coltsfoot by the roadside, warm breeze on bare skin. Someone goes by on a bicycle with wheels that do that ticking noise my first real, grown-up bike did when I was eleven and life was glorious. 

My mother, walking very slowly with her walking aid on the first warm day of spring, tells me how her mother wanted her to have an office job but that she would have married a farmer if only he had owned horses.

mud and vintage cognac

Weekend trip in a time of restrictions and partial lockdowns: a trip to another city to hang out in an apartment with friends, play quiz games and drink vintage cognac.

We don't see much of the city this time, just IKEA and the supermarket and the back streets where we fetch a take-away meal. With restaurants and cafés on lockdown, the city has a sad dreariness about it. So we leave its dusty, empty streets and seek out the landscapes around it.

We are in the land of a thousand lakes, good for a hill walk along with lake views and a chilly, exhilarating motorcycle ride. The air still has a bite to it and smells of melting snow. Our walk takes us on paths that are half ice, half mud. The weak warmth of the sun on our pale faces make us giggle like girls and take silly pictures.

There is mud on my boots, a dreaminess in my mind and a slight sense of intoxication. I'm doing what I love best: exploring new landscapes with friends.

welcome every migrant bird

What I do in April: throw open the balcony doors to a turquoise evening, chilly with the fragrance of melting ice, euphoric with the promise of spring and adventure. I listen as seagulls announce their return from warmer climes and music spills out from warmly-lit windows.

I savour the bright colours of Easter, the strangeness of traditions like April Fool's Day and Easter witches, the mind-blowing message of Easter itself. I drink coffee in the sun while watching the ice melt into the sea. I plan for a delicious birthday cake and welcome every migrant bird that returns.

I let my weariness melt in the warmth of the sun.

colour your world

An online conference, sweeping through the whole world in 24 hours. Starting in Sydney, ending in my lonely living room. 

Women of all ages, beauty and words of comfort. Beautiful daughters, tender and divine and eternal, poets and prophets, radiant ones marked by redeeming grace, warriors. Chatting, singing, praying, loving.

I sink into a world of colour and comfort and find a new spark inside me. God hems me in, behind and before, and lays his hand on me. I can go forward in grace.