The Leaves are Falling

Autumn is upon us. I'm lighting candles, reading, and did I mention making Travel Plans?!

Yellow Leaves, Mariehamn | photo by Lisa Bolin

Hej!

Autumn has arrived here, in the archipelago. The street I live on is lined with huge linden trees that slowly turn yellow as September turns into October. There are reds, yellows, and orange colours all over the town and countryside. It’s quite lovely.

Days are slowly getting shorter too, and I feel winter creeping ever closer in a way I haven’t experienced since I moved here four years ago. I think this period of history we are living through will be referred to as ‘before’ and ‘after’. Before Covid-19 I was able to plan and go travelling. I could book a flight, knowing I would see my friends and family in a certain month of the year. Now, it’s a different feeling.

In my last post, I talked about dealing with uncertainty and perhaps this is what I’m feeling - except I can say with absolute certainty that Winter is Coming! So why am I feeling a little bit of dread?

The winter months here are dark. Maybe the sense of dread is because of that? By mid-December, my day is about 5 hours long, most of it grey because of cloud, or muted light because the sun is so very low in the sky. For some reason, this year I’m a little anxious about it.

So what am I doing about this feeling?

I am focusing on what makes the winter months lovely - candles, fairy lights, nights on the couch listening to music or watching great series.

I’ve got some nice events planned (because I actually can, living here - sorry Melbourne!). Events like a gathering of women who connected through a wedding we went to in May and enjoyed each other’s company so much we decided to have regular catch-ups. We’re going to see a band our friends play in. Our band has a gig booked for November. We’ve planned our first trip anywhere since December 2019, heading to Copenhagen and Germany in November (we’re both vaccinated now). My only family member in the Northern Hemisphere is coming to visit at the end of November.

All these things make the transition into darkness and winter a little more bearable.

It seems October is a little warmer than usual - it’s either that or my perimenopause! I have been seen walking the main street in a t-shirt this week. Although in my defence I saw a guy in shorts yesterday. So maybe it is warmer than usual.

For now, I’ll be enjoying the autumn, as leaves fall, temperatures fall, and I light a candle to stave off the darkness.

Until next time!

Lisa xx

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Some Other Things:

🦄 Seriously, if you haven’t signed up for Meat & Hair emails you need to! It’s like a soothing balm for your soles, a funny hat you try on in the secondhand shop, a weird smoothie combo you try that one time but go back for again and again, despite the strange looks you get when ordering it (and the purple moustache it leaves on your lip).

🧖🏼‍♀️ Did you know we built a sauna once? Yeah. And I wrote about it too. Apparently, it’s had 2800 views! Probably because it’s called How to Build a Sauna. Appropriate. I’m pretty sure that people Google that exact phrase and up pops my story. Except I basically tell them that unless they want to spend 100 hours building something they should pay someone else to do it! But check it out. It’s a very nice sauna!

🌳Are you having some anxiety about climate change? You’re not alone. This great website is a growing resource on what you can actually do about it. Founder & author, Paul Hawken, believes we can turn around the climate crisis in one generation. He provides hope in a landscape that can feel pretty desolate. But we can’t just ignore it or nothing will change. Check it out.

💰 Last year I donated funds through Indigogo to a group making a film called Trees. I’d read The Overstory by Richard Powers (it’s a wonderful book). You can check out their promo film here. Anyway, I recently got an email from the group saying they’d made their funding target (and some) and intended to add a bit more to the film via a group of tree lovers they’d found.

🍻Beer is life. Don’t contradict me. (And Lager doesn’t count - emojis need to have a stout option. Seriously) I recently drank something that wasn’t the fella’s homebrew. I highly recommend the Routa Imperial Stout by Tornion Panimo Brewery in Finland (if you can get it). I gave it a 4.25/5 on Untppd. Also, one of the best Brown Ales I’ve ever had: Brick Field Brown by The Five Points Brewing Company. Mmmmmm… hello

📚Wordslut. It’s a book by Amanda Montell. It’s so fabulous. Buy it. Borrow it. Read it. I want to be friends with her so we can talk words and feminism over a great meal. (And maybe she’ll be my best friend! A human can dream…)

📚 I’m also reading (still) The Body is Not An Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor. Also worth reading. But it will take time. So much to contemplate.

🖋 Want some light relief? I wrote this story…and I’m likin’ it! (from the archives).

Let me know what you’re reading, listening to, contemplating! Hit reply or make a comment below.