Trip to Finland, 3

Ilpo and Merja's summer property is very, very pretty. I spent an afternoon with his father, Angervo, walking through the garden. Angervo told me the Finnish names of the flowers. Much of the time all we could do was giggle and shrug at each other, but it was fun. In Finland, in early July, this is what I saw blooming: daylilies, roses, California poppies, lupins, and strawberries. The peonies had buds but no flowers yet. I did not see ants on the peonies there the way we do in Maryland. There were lots of mosquitoes, just like people said there would be. We were okay though. Lots of Off! was used, roll-on for bare skin, spray for clothes. I liked walking around Tornio and seeing the light in the sky. I could imagine that a painter would really enjoy being that far north in the summertime, to try and catch the light. I could watch the river all day. The river was always different, and always at the end of the path through the grass.