Harvest Time

Here's another picture of Tampere, the little park in the middle of the city, on the banks of the Southern lake. I think I'll probably start yet another entry after this one with Finland pictures because Miikka still hasn't sent me his, and if I remember correctly there were a few very good ones among those! Today, I chose this picture for its evening atmosphere, because that to me seems to go with golden fields and harvest and everything Lughnasad stands for.

I believe this is going to be a relatively short entry. I'm finding it hard to write about Lughnasad. Now I'm a very open and sharing person - as you know - but what happened to me during my Lughnasad ritual last year was so private, such a deeply touching, awesome and awe-inspiring experience, that I simply cannot talk about it because even putting it into words seems to diminish the sheer scope of what happened. Basically, Lugh reached out to me and touched me in a profound way. This moment during my ritual has influenced my entire life since and many decisions I've made. I never thought I was the kind of person to choose a "personal deity", but it seems like the choice has been made for me. I am deeply indebted and in absolute awe of Lugh, and He is a central point of my worship these days.

And now we had the sabbat that's celebrated in his honour! I was online and gaming that day, and then Miikka had to go away for several hours which was the perfect occasion for me to do my "thing". Again, there's going to be no description of it here but I was filled with joy, gratefulness, and life. Instead of giving the ritual description I'll once again say something about Lughnasad in general. Those of you who are pagan have heard this before, of course!

Lughnasad, also called Lammas in some parts, is the feast of the "first harvest", the corn harvest. In most parts this is the time when the wheat and rye are cut down in the fields, and the fields turn from high swaying "forests" to a few stalks that are left, and stubbles otherwise. It is often written that Lugh is a sun god but that's NOT true according to the old mythology. He is a god of the corn and the harvest, as well as being the god "of all skills" as the legend has it. Lugh is an important figure in Irish mythology, and if you'd like to learn more about him, I recommend to read The Second Battle of Mag Tuired (even though this particular translation isn't very good - but heck, it's online and it's free).

Lughnasad to me also marks the end of the long days, the bright evenings, the soft light that doesn't fade until around ten thirty in this area and later in places like Finland. The days will now visibly shorten right up to the equinox in six weeks' time, and then of course the night will reign and be longer than the days. My favourite time of the year is drawing to an end, but there's also harvest, in the real as well as the figuartive sense. I think a lot about what I have sown and grown over the past season. It's a bit weird - what I have sown was my new job, but what it's grown into is yet another job! Life isn't always very predictable but I do believe it tends to turn out for the best, in the end.

This is the time to give thanks for the first harvest, to eat bread and blackberry pie, to drink wine or mead, and to count one's blessings. I always love to read harvest stories during this time of the year. And instead of giving you details of how I feel about this time, I'd like to invite you to listen to a song which is, apart from being a beautiful and sensual love song in the way of raising goosebumps all over my arms and bringing tears to my eyes, about country life and the harvest. This version is by Ralph McTell who wrote the song, but he originally wrote it for Fairport Convention and it's their version that I came to know first. However, Ralph sings it beautifully so here goes: The girl from the hiring fair. There's a link underneath the video to the Fairport Convention version and a very evocative film accompanying the song as well.

It's the time to drink wine in the evenings and look out over the sunset; a time to take a rest after the first harvest and before the second; a time to be content and grateful. I am absolutely brim-full of all of these emotions these days, and if nothing else I hope I could bring that across in this entry. Go and take a walk through fields, if there's any near you. Breathe in this unique smell of just-harvested. Find a stalk with ears of corn on it lying on the ground - there are always ones the harvest machines miss. Take it home and put it up as decoration. You can even make a corn dolly out of several stalks. It can be simple, with cords tied to where the neck should be and to separate arms and legs from the body. Oh gods, I love this! The only thing I regret about living in Ireland is that I miss the corn fields that were ever-present in Austria. Here I have to drive for a while to find one. Well, of course I'm being compensated by many others of nature's attractions!

Have a blessed harvest.

Holiday Journal

One thing that almost pains me is the fact that I regularly DIDN'T have the camera ready when we came across the most beautiful sights. Now the thing is, I'd forgotten my own camera at home and so Andreas and Karola had been absolutely lovely and lent me theirs (I'm going to wrap it up well and send it back to them by post tomorrow). I was very careful not to damage the camera, and so I left it in the hotel when we went to the adventure park - unfortunately that was also the day when we had tea in the revolving restaurant atop the highest tower in the Nordic countries, and a breathtaking view on Tampere and the sunny, deep blue lakes surrounding it. The same happened when I took a tourist bus tour on my last day... and when we were driving through the country... So the pictures I can show don't come anywhere near - seriously, nowhere NEAR - the country's real beauty. As well, the horrible Barbarian still hasn't sent his own pictures (he took a few from the tower, for example) so I can't show you those either!

Once again, I thought I'll tell you about the trip in the form of a short diary of each day. You already know what I did on Tuesday evening so I'll start with Wednesday.

Wednesday

A lazy start to a true holiday. I sit in my hotel-room bed blogging and writing postcards, then take my time to get ready. Just after lunchtime, Miikka arrives. It's sooo good to finally hug my favourite Barbarian in person!

We decide to take a stroll around town and set out on foot, which turns out to be a mistake because the walk into town along a main road isn't very pleasant and further tortures my blistered feet. We manage to take a good look around anyway and visit the Spy Museum where Miikka cracks the code to a safe and I pour over James-Bond-like gadgets. We end up having tea in a cafe-on-a-boat on the market pier South of the centre:

Later on we visit the ten-thirty viewing of Harry Potter 6, taking a bus this time, and it's great to walk in the sunshine at that hour. I adore the light, I really do! The movie is a lot better than I expected it to be, I'm impressed. Falling into bed, I get another night of blissful uninterrupted sleep.

Thursday

It's regression day - we're turning into excited ten-year-olds and visit the Särkänniemi Adventure Park. It is situated on a peninsula jutting out into the North lake, and the view alone is worth a visit. We spend all day going on rollercoaster rides and wildwater rafts (getting thoroughly soaked in the process, of course), eating ice cream and candyfloss, and being outrageously happy. The sun is still shining and temperatures are in the mid-20es, just right. Bliss!

When we can hardly walk anymore, we visit the restaurant atop the Näsinneula Tower. It revolves 360 degrees in one hour, and I spontaneously decide that this is going to be my holiday luxury, so we have tea (and champagne!) in the unbelievably expensive restaurant. Two bites of nothing and one drink each cost us 40 Euro, but it was absolutely worth it. I never saw a more stunningly beautiful view, over the deep-blue lakes and dark-green trees, with Tampere occupying a seemingly small space in between. I didn't have my camera but I will never, ever forget this view in the sunshine.

Friday

We're making our own road movie! Well, at least we've decided to rent a car for the weekend and drive out into the wide (and rather large) country, in the general direction of Miikka's home towards the West coast. But first we're catching a still dry and mostly sunny morning with a ferry trip to Viikinsaari picnic island, about 20 minutes from Tampere by boat. It's a beautiful, green place, and I befriend a couple of ducks, mad bird lady that I am.

Then just as it's beginning to rain, we get our car and drive off. What follows is an afternoon with more glimpses of gorgeous lakes than I can count, and beautiful wild forests with purple-ish blossoms in the grass (I don't know the name of that plant in English). In the evening we're looking for a cheap log cabin but everywhere seems to be booked so we end up staying in Miikka's place. He lives by yet another gorgeous lake, one of the most beautiful of the lot, and I'm more than a little green with envy!

Saturday

It's still raining, but we don't care since we have a car, and so we drive to the West Coast. On the way, we stop at a pagan centre situated beautifully in the middle of the forest. Nobody was home, unfortunately, but we looked around the area for a while, which had an amazing energy about it.

The day passed far too quickly. I ate "breadcheese" with cloudberries and declared that I never wanted to eat anything else again in my life. Then it was time to set Miikka down at his home and drive back to Tampere on my own. I had a great trip with some of the most beautiful sights yet, but I was a little sad to be alone again, and because the end of my holiday was definitely drawing near...

Sunday

I only left in the evening, but the entire day was overshadowed by the feeling of wanting to do and see so much more whilst having to leave so soon. I visited the mineral museum and spent over an hour in the small Lenin museum, which was like a history lesson. I'd had no idea how much Lenin had to do with the independence of Finland in 1917, that he had lived there for several years. There were a few original letters exhibited, handwritten by Lenin in exile, some of them in German - perfect, academic German at that. It certainly taught me a lot about a piece of history I'd been completely unaware of.

Then I took a sightseeing tour by bus. It was small and personal, only me and a Norwegian couple, and our guide was a middle-aged local woman who told us not only the official information but also personal anecdotes which brought the place to life for us. I ended up chatting to her after the tour was over and once again marvelled at the friendliness and helpfulness of those Finns. I didn't find people reserved at all, everyone went out of their way to help me in various situations, and I was left thoroughly charmed and in love with the country as a whole!

So in other words, I think I'll be back! It probably won't be before the next year, but I'm determined to see more, experience more, and hug the Barbarian more! Watch this space. I hated to leave but was very glad to see my budgies again, who are as cute and chirpy as always and make me smile. I'm enjoying a last week at home before my new job starts. Things are well!

First Impressions

 

I'm here! And although I haven't seen much yet, I love it already. I had a busy day of travelling yesterday, the airport "Frankfurt" Hahn is in reality over 100 km away from Frankfurt and I had to travel by train and bus to get there. Luckily, at the bus station I met a lovely Finnish woman and her very cute little daughter and so had company for the entire trip. They even ended up giving me a lift to the hotel when Tiina's mum picked her up from the airport. It's all I needed to get into a real holiday mood!

The flight was amazing too, the sky being mostly cloudless yesterday I had a great view from my window seat. We flew in over the South-West of Finland where there are thousands of little islands off the coast. It was breathtaking! I tried to take pictures but it wouldn't work unfortunately. Then we reached the coast and the picture reversed: instead of the sea with lots of islands dotted into it, I saw land with a lot of lakes. And trees, trees everywhere, just as I had imagined it. We landed in Tampere on what seemed to be a runway in the middle of the forest, and in bright sunshine. I fell in love straightaway.

In the hotel, I unpacked quickly and then set out to explore. I'm a good 1 1/2 km away from the city center so I had to walk for a bit but I didn't mind. Everything is spacious here, I like that, and there's a lot of green in the middle of the city even. The picture is a bit of the river banks in the city, by the way! I was quite impressed when I came across the first dozen signposts for pedestrians - these signs are everywhere, not just the occasional one pointing out a scenic walk or bicycle path. Trust those practical Finns to come up with something like that! In the city, I quickly found a health-food store and a large shopping centre where I bought band-aids for my feet - a wise decision because my bare feet were soon raw in my summer shoes - and a little snack for the evening. Then I wandered along the river, up to the central market square with the beautiful theatre, and back.

On the walk back to the hotel, I took a detour through a park to say hello to nature here. I found beautiful friendly trees, a peaceful lakeside, and lots of green grass where ducks were sunning themselves:

It's a very special place, I could feel myself relaxing into complete holiday mode. It was about half past eight, and the evening sun was glittering on the lake, its light filtered through green leaves of the trees by the shore. In short, it was pagan heaven!

My hotel room is great, it's got everything including cutlery and crockery, a fridge, and a microwave. I won't have to go out to eat all the time which is great news! I slept like a log, and amazingly without earplugs, it was so quiet. Today I'm going sightseeing, maybe even to the spy museum, and in the afternoon I'm meeting Miikka who's coming to Tampere on the train. Can't wait to hug the horrible Barbarian! I don't know what we're going to do yet, but I think there's a good chance that we'll spend most or all of tomorrow in the adventure park and go on all the rides ten times like little children. Tomorrow and part of Friday are supposed to be sunny, after that it could rain a lot, so we might as well make the best of the good weather while we have it. Saturday might be the time for a bus tour and visiting museums and galleries - no sunshine required for that.

I guess I'll blog again when I'm back, with more pictures! Have a lovely summer week, everyone.

Like A Rolling Stone...

 

Here's another rainbow I photographed from my window. As you can see, it had an oddly "flat" curve which I think means that it was further away, over the water. In any case, it was beautiful! It's also a little symbolic of the weather we've been having lately, after a few weeks of uncharacteristic sunshine the weather has become very Irish again: showers alternating with bright blue skies, and temperatures below 20 degrees. Ah well.

I have great news, huge news in fact. It might come as a bit of a shock and I admit I have been worried for a while, but as it turns out the best possible outcome has materialised - as it invariably does, you may notice. Well, I've got a new job, again! Much as I loved my software company, I just wasn't happy and so had been putting out feelers for a while. With everyone talking about the credit crunch, I felt guilty for not being more grateful to have a job, but the truth is I felt like a failure professionally for the first time in my life, and the company recognised this and gave me the nudge I needed - they let me go.

They were extremely nice and fair to me and will pay me for another month, which they wouldn't have to do since I'm still on probation and could be let go on two week's notice. As in most sales jobs, I was asked to stop working straightaway and so I'm now on paid leave, hurrah! The reason why I'm so happy is that I had been in touch with a great woman I much admire for a while, the owner of a recruitment company in Dublin, who "ticks" a lot like me and took the credit crunch and downward turn of her formerly flourishing business as an opportunity rather than a catastrophy, and turned her whole business around. They are now a specialised, unique company that focus on recruiting multilingual staff for call centres all over the world. It's still a new business but it's already booming and they have so much work they need someone else quickly.

I went in for a few talks, loved what I heard, and apparently left an equally good impression because I was offered the role and have gladly accepted it! I'm very happy and relieved, because feeling incompetent and unsuccessful is NOT something I'm used to. It might sound a little conceited, but I've always been good at what I've done, in my previous jobs I've often exceeded expectations and got the most glowing reviews so yes, I might be a bit spoilt on that front. But I also think, I spend so much of my time at work, it might as well do me good and be worth my while! With this new job, I just know I'll be good at it, it's right up my aisle. I'm sorry to leave a great company but there weren't any other jobs available there and the role I was in didn't suit me, period. There's a German saying that goes, "better an end with unpleasantness than unpleasantness without end!"

I'm glad I didn't give a toss on what it would look like on my CV and went with what I FEEL is the right thing. It might sound crazy: I've traded 15 minutes easy drive to work for a 1-hour-plus commute on the train, a high basic for a moderate one, and regulated working hours for, well, all hours, but I'm relieved and happy. I think the reason is that when you do something you love, it doesn't feel like work and it fuels you with energy instead of sapping it away. I'm not one to lose the work-life balance so I'm not worried about that either. In other words, all is well.

So now I can breathe deep, enjoy some time at home with my budgies, and go crazy with happiness at the thought of my holiday. I will have to keep watching my finances for a month or two, but frankly, I'm very used to this by now. And since I know I'll be successful in this new job, the commission will come rolling in soon, and I'll be waltzing into the black figures before the end of this year, just watch me!

I guess I've once again used the waning moon to cleanse myself and get rid of what doesn't serve me. And by the time it comes up to full moon again, I'll be starting my new job. But first I'll go and see my family as well as Andreas and Karola, and then go on to see lakes and trees and a beautiful city, and get to hug Miikka! I'm washing clothes like mad, going for haircuts and whatnot, and have arranged for my budgie sitter Claire to look after the cutest while I'm gone.

In fact, Claire came dropping by yesterday evening, and we had the most lovely chat. Apart from the fact that we both love animals, we have a lot in common otherwise too, like a relaxed attitude to life and a strong desire for freedom. What she does is quite amazing: she got out of the corporate rat-race and is doing simple jobs like cleaning and looking after other people's animals while their folks are on holiday, and she's making a decent living off it. I have to admit, I had considered a similar possibility: part-time work and teaching German, but to be honest, I have financial commitments to see through first, like paying back my loan, paying off my car, and getting my accounts sorted out. So for the next few years at least it's going to be nine-to-five for me, but then I'll definitely review the situation. And that hobbit house is still on the agenda! In fact, I showed Claire the website and she loved it. I really hope I'll get to see more of her, it'll be great to have a friend here in Dun Laoghaire!

And with that, I'll close for today. I'll have to go into town and get my online check-in sorted, which involves printing out the boarding passes. I don't have a printer at home and seeing as I can't just do it at work anymore, I'll have to go to our local hotel and get it done there. And while I'm about it, I'll take a walk along the pier before the next shower sets in. Life is good, still and again!

Travel Fever

 

The days are hectic, and that's my only if somewhat lame excuse for not blogging much at the moment. Certain weekend days and evenings at home are blissful quiet times, even if "quiet" is a relative term with two happy and exuberantly alive budgies around! They are my sunshine, my steady influx of happiness and reminder how simple life really is. Just look at them up on the curtain, comfortable and still keeping an eye on the scary human. They'd been kissing a second before I took the picture, but then turned to watch me and the suspicious camera instead. Typical!

As a welcome contrast to work, there seems to be no end to the summer parties. On Friday, we had an end-of-the-quarter BBQ in the back garden of a fashionable bar in town, and this Saturday one of my colleages is going to throw a housewarming party at his new place in Bray, which is just two train stations away from mine so of course I'll go. My money is still slipping through my fingers and I hope there'll be a bit left for my holiday! Which brings us on to the big subject, of course.

Actually, I'm not only looking forward to Finland but also to the weekend in Germany. It'll be great to see my entire family again for my dad's 80th birthday bash! All my siblings, nieces, and nephews will be there plus a few cousins as well. I hope I'll get a chance to talk to them all, especially since I'll be arriving late. I could only take off the week afterwards and so I'll have to fly in on Saturday, the day of the party. But my siblings are going to stay for the rest of the weekend so I'm sure I'll see more of them on Sunday. Sunday evening then I'm going to visit Andreas and Karola - as yet I have no idea how I'll get there but if all else fails, I can always take the train.

And then, in exactly two weeks time from today, I'll get on a plane to Tampere! There's not much time these days that I don't spend either thinking of or preparing the trip. All my planning will probably go out of the window the minute I arrive but it's fun to do and keeps me busy in the periods when I'm not, well, otherwise busy with work or so. And come on, it's half the fun! As well, there are "practical" preparations like getting my hair cut on Thursday after work, which is necessary anyway and will make me feel slightly less broom-like again for a while. Next week, I'll dye my hair as well. Tomorrow I'll start the big washing and ironing of stuff I need to take, like the dress for the birthday party and "onion-layer" clothes for every possible weather in Finland in July. By rights it should be quite warm but I want to be prepared even if there are chilly evenings and nights.

Speaking of nights... it's those that I look forward to the most. Breezy nights full of soft light, the kind of light I can't get enough of! It's the kind of light we in Ireland get for about two hours every evening from about mid May to mid July. In fact, I'm looking out at that light in the sky right now. Of course, the slight drawback is that it never seems to get dark and so it's a bit of a challenge for a working person to go to bed on time! Thankfully, in Finland I won't have to worry about getting up early. I'll simply keep my current sleeping rhythm, it'll work perfectly with the two hours time differenc - instead of eleven, I'll go to bed around one at night and sleep until nine.

As long as I'm still at home, I'll just have to learn some discipline. I've been very unreasonable the past few days, and then yesterday, when I was being good and logging off from chat with Miikka at around nine, I promply remembered that it was the eve of the full moon, and so I waited until night came 1 1/1 hours later and had a small ritual. It was lovely, but so much for my early night!

I'm really making use of my quieter evenings these days, by reading or just thinking. And I'm also finally working on my "happy life" article, the one I've been planning for ages. I hope I'll have it done before my holiday, it would be difficult to get back into it afterwards. I'm also planning a ritual-music guide with links to YouTube or similar; I mention music so much in my ritual descriptions, and indeed it plays such a large role in my ritual work, that I thought a few samples can't hurt.

And now my eyes are almost closing by themselves... Not even the tantalising light from outside can keep me awake today, methinks. Good night, everyone... sweet dreams!