Autumn by the sea

This autumn has been quite different from that of last year. Now we’ve actually had some rain, which means we’ve finally managed to find some winter mushrooms here. They were abundant in our former neighbourhood and we’ve missed rambling in the forest picking them.

Once again, it’s proven rather fortunate we moved to the southwestern corner of the country. Despite the occasional rain and cloudy skies, the weather has been much better here than most everywhere else. We even had two lovely sunny October weekends enabling the venturesome Sunday sailors to continue the season.

The not-that-patient ones have stored their boats for winter weeks ago. It’s starting to be about time also for the rest as the nights have grown frosty. The ground turned white last night for the first time this fall.

Saturday surprise

Friday was depressing as ever, dark and grey with a drizzle. Saturday was from another world completely, sunny with a temperature verging on 20C.

We are venturing on overnighting at the cottage which has no heating. I have a feeling this will be one of the rare occasions I will manage to retire early.

On wildlife and more

This season, we’ve seen much less of the mute swans than last year. Although they’ve continued to appear in pairs we’ve seen none with any little ones. I have no idea whether our late spring might have had some sort of an effect on nesting or whether the lack of cygnets was a coincidence. Nevertheless, all the cranes we’ve spotted now have also been without offspring unlike last year when I took the two last photos below.

Other residents in the neighbourhood of the cottage include foxes and roe deer. The latter, although beautiful to look at, are losing their popularity because they act as hosts for ticks that may carry infectious diseases. For the bacterial one, Lyme disease also called Lyme borreliosis, there is no other definite prevention than avoiding tick attachment and the only cure is antibiotics.

We’ve had ourselves vaccinated against the viral one, tick-borne encephalitis or TBE, just in case because we spend a lot of time in the Turku archipelago where a risk exists. Today it is rather low but climate change is expected to increase these kinds of risks even in our secure corner of the world.

Already this very moment, we are evidencing the furious effects of climate change all around the globe. I find it unbelievable there are still people, let alone world leaders, who keep ignoring the expertise of the scientific community and deny the phenomenon. It is intolerable to see there are those who are wilfully contributing to turning many parts of this irreplaceable planet of ours uninhabitable. A spectacular sunset won’t give you much joy if you can’t bear the sight in daylight.

Cool summer

The summer that practically never was has been sweeping towards autumn for quite some time now. The only positive thing about the weather was that we got less rainfall than most of the country. I suppose we could take some consolation in knowing that.

Nevertheless, I’m not letting the season go just yet but must look back on the time spent at the cottage, especially the flowering, for no other reason than to remind myself there actually was some. I must also introduce the smallest of our summer guests, the two who stayed for weeks.

Please meet Unna, the housecat my daughter found at a cat rescue home to keep company to Sheena since her older Maine Coon passed away last autumn. Unna is young and playful and loves to sit on your lap, which is wonderful as our late Jack never did.

Despite the disappointing coolness I must admit even this summer had its moments. The days spent with family and friends were most memorable. We also attended some great events but more about that department later, I hope.