Sunday, June 3

After breakfast we finished off the weekend gardening and Irma finished the mowing. I collected a large bag full of stinging nettles, which proved a slow and painful task, until I began to develop a technique. The technique mainly consisted of ignoring the stinging.

After I had cleaned the mower and put it away we sat on the terrace thinking about our future plans: both short term plans about holidays and longer term plans about where to live at different points in the year.

I collect the dishes from the summer kitchen and pause to photograph it. It has gone from looking like an odd new addition to the place to feeling like it has always stood there.

We will get the 16:30 ferry which everyone on the island seems to want to get. We will manage to squeeze onto the first run. When we get home we will find Naa in the garden. She and Sampo have spent the day weeding for us. He has gone home but she has stayed to finish the work and see us. We will eat and then Irma will drive her home.

After this I will begin preparing the nettles for soup-making. This will involve pulling the better, younger leaves off the stalks and loading them into a saucepan. I will answer the question: do nettles still sting four or five hours after picking? Yes they do.