In which I have a perfect morning and discuss mostly food.

View from my seat of the Saari Manor House

This morning was one of those rare and perfect mornings in which I sit in the not-yet-hot sunshine, coffee in hand, and simply enjoy the fact of my life. Slight breeze, quiet hums of bees, children, birds. Nothing in particular to do. Time to listen and look and think. More coffee when I want it. Little notebook, pen and camera on the table. Happy to be with the kind people I've met here when the time comes, but for now, happy to be alone.

For lunch, and Geof and I ate beautiful Finnish strawberries (smaller and tastier than the American behemoths in our grocery stores), rye bread spread with buckthornberry jam and creamed herring with dill (but not at the same time).

This afternoon is a time for the poets to make presentations on their own work and to continue this morning's Geof-led discussion.

Vital Puolukka is only 15% Taysmehupitoisuus

Window view of Baltic Sea, Mietoinen, about 10:45 p.m.

Here I sit in Mietoinen, Finland just before midnight, and I can still look out my window and see blue sky and the pink of the setting sun. And it will start getting brighter again in about three hours.

My problem tonight is that while I now have internet access for the first time since Saturday, I'm without the stamina to catch up. So much has happened, and I'm tired.

For now, here's what a condensed version of what I've learned since Saturday:

• Blitzen tastes pretty good. So does Donder.
• 3:30 a.m. is a good time to document the rising sun
• The bottles in the liquor store on the M/S Star from Estonia to Helsinki make lots of noise once the ship starts moving
• It's hard to practice Finnish by reading street signs out loud in a fast-moving car
• If I want to steal something from a store, I have to do it really really quickly or really really slowly
• Gin (sort of) comes in cans
• I like Käki a little better than Koff
• Cloudberry really exists
  
• It's best to ask a native speaker to help determine the amount of sodium on a package of Finnish bouillon
• That I've now been to five Olympic sites
• There's a shortcut from the Linda Line terminal to the Old Town section of Taillin, Estonia, but it's not pretty
• That the waitresses in Estonia's Scotland Yard restaurant wear handcuffs, the toilets look like electric chairs, and there's a good wifi signal

Villa Kivi, Helskinki (about 3:30 a.m.)

Since the sun has finally set, I should probably go to sleep.