finland

I was living and working in southern France, near Perpignan, near the beautiful Pyrenees, on a little piece of land. Only nature surrounding me.
My days were spent doing yoga, digging in the garden, picking wild herbs, cycling around the countryside, writing, trying to learn a bit of french (i learned more norwegian than french, which is not a bad thing as such)
, and enjoying the Sun every day as it was greeting me in the mornings and setting upon my little shed in the evenings.

My hosts, Eva and Marco, were wonderful people and amazing artists, giving me lots of inspiration and sharing their stories. They have cycled in Africa and walked with a mule in Ecuador - of course with their instruments and scetchbooks. And I got a new friend of a very young age; Tamino the baby, with whom I got along extremely well and for the first time of my life thought that babies aren't that strange after all. I had loads of fun with this little person, discovering my inner child and getting amazed by little wonders of the world as to him everything was new and delightful.

My home was surrounded by apricot and almond trees, mountains and hills, and my only neighbors were animals. Snakes, wild boars, foxes and hawks were among the wildest encounters I made. Also wild rosemary, thyme and peppermint were growing all over.
After these weeks in the paradise I have returned to Finland, where everything else is gray apart from traffic signs. I know the sun will be here sooner or later, and luckily I have restored some of the southerm sun inside me. And that sun I'm taking with me where ever I go.


I arrived in Finland on a Thursday evening with a bag full of dried herbs, wet and dirty clothes, and a bird made out and old kettle and a bunch of scrap metal.

I'm thinking about Russia. It's a long journey and a part of me wants stability more than that. Something I haven't really had for years - a home, a time when no constant arranging of the future is needed. And at the same time I am running, away from something, towards something, does it really make a difference?

Inspiring days are back anyway, that's what matters the most right now. Re-discovering the creative side of myself, remembering how one can completely ignore the normality of space and time and flow freely through images, expressions, and the mind...

There is a great thunderstorm outside. Safe in my parents' living room I watch the lightnings cutting through the dark blue sky as my thoughts are flashing back to the field in Ähtäri after a long day of fence building. Legs brown and bruised all over, hair wet and hands dirty, we ran, inhaling the whole range of life in a single breath.