Wonderful White Christmas

One moment I'm waking up when the warming sun is climbing up and gently tickling awake all of a sleepy Irish village. A few hours later I wake up again in the middle of a blizzard and total darkness. 

- No, I haven't started my first horror novel, this is a true story of the start of a wintery holiday trip to my far away Nordic childhood home. - Okay, it's not really so far away to be honest, but after the total of 17 hours on my bum in 2 planes and 2 coaches before making it to my destination in Eastern Finland it makes me want to colour the story a bit more exotic. And anyways, it's the land of the Santa, white winters (however not always guaranteed white Christmases), Northern Lights and also hot bright summer nights with lots of mosquito which all probably make it quite an exiting holiday destination for those who don't get a dose of them on the daily basis - including myself.

During my Christmas break I was lucky to see the most beautiful and inspiring features of the local winter weather

- the amazing frost art & perfectly shaped snow stars...

- the extremes; most of the time the mercury was down at - 24 C degrees, one day it suddenly climbed up to 0 C degrees, and in a few hours it dropped back down to - 20 C - the chilly conditions can certainly tire up even a thermometer ;-)

- the Christmas time midday sun

- the frosty trees

- and the dozen shades of cold

and find countless clues of the very lively yet extremely shy wild animals; squirrels, ermines, hares, foxes - not forgetting wearing my favourite hat!

Note the squirrel's countless footprints on the frosty wall. He had also built a cozy, ball-alike nest of straw inside this old barn.

...enjoy the warmth & colours of the bonfire and heating up the frostbitten cheeks & fingers in the twilight of the snowy forest and cook some delicious sausages above the glowing embers for lunch

- hypnotic flames

...struggle my way back home from the forest in the powdery snow and as following sense the sweet pain in my every muscle on the next day

and still on the way back to my other sweet home in the mild January winds of the Green Isle.