November

Paul is in Namibia for a three-week stint, doing research and meeting up with friends and colleagues. We are so happy he got to go and we wish we could have gone with him, but unfortunately that was not possible. 

Meanwhile, I've been celebrating November in the most traditional way possible: by getting sick. On Friday evening I started feeling bad and it blew up over the night. This was no mild head cold. Last time I was this sick I had covid, which I might have had this time too. I didn't test. 

In Finland, covid booster vaccines and influenza shots are given to old people, very young people (flu shot) and people who are in other ways immunocompromised - asthma, heavily overweight and other illnesses. So we haven't gotten any of those shots this fall. People are encouraged to stay home if sick, which I did. Ilmari has so far not gotten sick. He is strong as an elephant or something. 

 Before I got sick I sent the above photo to Paul. November can be calming or depressing. But luckily the Christmas lights are starting to come out. Soon it will be Advent everywhere. 

The cloud cover has been constant for the past few weeks. Really. And darkness starts to come around 4 pm - it's pitch black by 4:45 pm. In December it will be earlier. 

At 4:30 pm from our window

 Yesterday I was already feeling well and the cough and runny nose had subsided, so I decided to go to see an exhibition on Gustav Klimt and Akseli Gallen-Kallela. I've been meaning to go, but was told it was so crowded it would make sense to wait awhile. Three friends wanted to go also, so we'd made a date and I was determined to keep it. It was so lovely to be outside! I bought a mask, which turned out to be a good thing - one of my friends had an eye procedure the next day and she is not supposed to get sick, because there's danger of inflammation. 

A reconstruction of a Klimt frieze 

 The Klimt paintings and graphics were lovely and I really like Gallen-Kallela, especially his symbolistic phase (most of his later career.) 

Let me just gush about friends for a moment. I miss my Ithaca friends, but I have been so happy to see my Helsinki friends here. We have actually made very few new friends, since there have been so many old friends to catch up with. Three of my friends plus I made a WhatsApp group where we plan for museum visits. Not very often, but occasionally. Two friends just promised to sing Christmas music with me (as soon as I can sing). My 50th birthday fit a select group of friends who I've been missing and we had so much fun. One of my friends lives here with her American husband and we will celebrate Thanksgiving with them once Paul gets home. 

I was 32 when I moved to the US. Those 32 years have given me friendships that have not disappeared in the 17 years I've been gone. It takes time to make deep friendships like that. Years. And those friends are the ones you can talk to about anything and they'll understand. Or you can laugh and there's no need to explain why.