Sunday, June 25

 

 

Yesterday we sat on the new terrace, in our pink chairs, drinking cider in the sun.

Last night, before we went to sleep, Irma went out to stand the chairs up so that they wouldn’t melt in the rain.

Today, when I get up, I photograph the hut, the terrace and the pink chairs standing at odd angles at the rear. I do this because the sun shines on the scene in a way that seems distinctly temporary. The terrace reminds me of the wooden sidewalks in front of saloons in old western movies, where old men with pipes would sit silently in rocking chairs. I feel that we should have a hitching post at the front.

After lunch we will decide to go to Tirmo because Irma wants to see the shop. We will wander around it and buy some peaches that look like doughnuts. Outside Tirmobaren, next to the shop, we will chat very briefly with Tia, Ville, Margit and Laksu who obviously have decided to adopt a more robust approach to midsummer drinking than we have.

On the ferry back we will see the Jätskiauto man in his van. Irma will climb in to tell him to wait for us at Sundö, and he will. By the time we arrive from the ferry he will have served Bernhard. We will buy the usual mini-pizzas and ice-creams to fill the freezer.

I will cut down some maple tree branches, for the second day running, and feed them to the three black sheep in the field next to us again. They will regard me as their friend and benefactor from that point and monitor my movements round the garden, in case they involve more maple leaves.

The weather will rise again and the wind will seem strong enough to blow down trees. In the end, though, it will only blow down branches. We will read and talk, and eat pasta and Maj-Britt’s fishcakes. The temperature will drop until we have to wear thick socks and cardigans. We will wonder whether the lack of summers over the last few years constitutes a swing of some cosmic pendulum or a new permanent reality. We contemplate the idea of moving to Portugal if the latter proves true.

Finally we will wander down to Eija-Stina’s bathroom to brush our teeth and then go to bed at 22:00. We will sleep for thirteen hours.