On Kaunis

Winding down our time here so let me add some parting remarks from Finland. Miia advised me that a surefire way to earn points among the Finns is to stare pentively toward the horizon, preferrably after a sauna, and say "kylla, luonto on kaunis," which means roughly 'nature sure is beautiful.' She added that the Finns could only love me because I am quiet, I love coffee, I love 'the environment', and I even enjoy most of their food. The language is still tripping on my clumsy tongue and I never really did use that phrase. By the time I got it memorized our period of intense socialization was largely over. Besides I've never liked being anyone's puppet parrot, even if it's for my own benefit.

The truth about Finnish Nature is that it really is beautiful, and is more than just "like Ontario with more lakes" as I put it in an earlier post. There have been several moments when god rammed this point home for me, like pedalling from the cottage to the library on Gandolf, my 1974 girlbike, to get my internet fix. The road is old country winding through infinity in no paticular hurry, kind of like my bike but contrary to my own nature - Miia claims life is long but I can't chance it, too much to do. But smack dab in that middle of no where I get smacked by everywhere, I mean the vastness of the cotton candy sky and the empty farmer's fields rolling like child's play. You could never consume all that and maybe the Finns realize that if you try it will be the one to consume you. This is what chicken little enviros and skeptics alike need to realize: nature is not at stake, humanity is. The lake seems to agree as it reflects the singing trees stretched before us with white cloud wisps telling us to enjoy this while it lasts because it's a short paddle to the far side and only slightly longer coming back. If god is humility than I must be a magnanimous pimple right now hiding in all that glory. Even the human constructed asphalt pathways cutting between two giant lakes tell us to look around slowly and suck it all in without leaving a mess behind. As dusk descends much earlier than before a sun-sized fullyellowmoon says breathe easy and there's nothing to panic about under its watch, it has all our loved ones in its sight. The road keeps winding down the same path Miia's nuclear family once took back when its parental units were instilling a sense of the infinite improbability of the lottery win that is life, at every turn revealing trees twisted in dark shadows dancing with the runaway forest floor and the hyper-lapping shore in a more than slight breeze kicking up the blood red reflection of the sun saying goodnight. All these images rush before us everywhere all the time and I think how North America must once have looked, about somebody sometime first laying eyes on Niagara sans casinos and wax museums and whatnot.

Kylla, Suomi on kaunis.