Just a little one

I can feel the masses at the library breathing down my neck so this will have to be quick. Nobody knows passive aggression better than the Finns, let me tell you.

Three a.m. and I'm fast asleep and into bed crawls Chris. Oh he's been writing away and loving it. The sound of the keyboard permeates the cottage. I can almost smell his excitement.

After many weeks of the nonstop family tour de force, we have returned to our forest haven. Hot saunas, cold lake, and the wind in the trees. Sometimes I don't bother with the radio or anything else, I just listen to the air, the fire in the stove heating the cottage, and, yes, Chris typing away.

I had my first radio interview this morning. They had sent me a general outline of what I would be asked. I spent time yesterday preparing my answers a bit. I didn't want to just be all over the map. Instead it was the interviewer who was all over the map and our discussion was, well, more or less idle chit chat. We'll see how the rest of the week turns out.

Two things that have interested me as of late: 1- what is the line between fairly warning someone or preparing them to think negatively? and 2- enjoying local news which includes new people in an area.

With respect to the former, I feel like well intentioned friends and relatives have meant to prepare me for some sort of negative experience by telling me about how terrible something will be. Like Russia being dangerous, the neighbour lady being a bit of a megalomaniac, like the art show being bad. I've been thinking about this because I wonder if in fact I would have found the neighbour lady so offensive or the art so bad if I hadn't been warned in advance. I would like to think that I will have a great time as we go into Russia.

And with respect to news, we've been following Finland's response to Israel attacking Lebanon and I feel frustrated and overwhelmed and totally unable to do much about it. But then the local radio, the same station that interviewed me, talks of the water levels being down in the area because of the very dry summer and how the local logging companies are having to rejig their loads as they float them down the lakes. For some reason I prefer the local news. I like to know that therre is a track meet or an arts festival or that the local airport has seen a 10% increase in business. Somehow this news seems more manageable and more, well, reachable. In the end, I can't do anything about the water levels either, but maybe if I really wanted, I could do something about the airplanes or support the art or whatever. Would I ever be the subject of national news? Hardly. But for the local radio, I'm subject enough to be interviewed for a week. I like this because I have no thoughts to being particularly important myself yet it's still fun to share ideas and stories and all the rest.

Hope everyone out there is well. I'm thinking of you all and excited whenever you post comments or email.

Much love, then. Miia