Look What I Found...

It's been one of the strangest winters in Finnish history. Even though there was a bit of snow and temperatures at one point went below minus twenty, any Finnish person will tell you that that's not enough to constitute a winter. We seemed to jump straight from autumn to spring with Christmas and a few cold weeks in between.

The sun in Somero this evening

Normally, by mid March, I am desperate for the snow to disappear and spring to arrive, but every year until now I have still had to wait for almost another two months.

This year though, everything is different. The ground has been visible for weeks, there is no snow anywhere in the south of Finland and temperatures today were plus seven. (Tropical for a Finnish March).

The birds have started coming back from their winters in the sun - and it really feels as though spring is in the air.

Not only that, but this evening the sun looked amazing, bigger than I think I have ever seen it.

It's been an unusual day in other ways too. This morning I found myself in the slightly surreal situation of giving a dance performance with my good friend Turo. Nothing obviously strange about that...except that it was at eleven in the morning and in the library. The last time I was in the library it was to read stories to toddlers in English. Today I was in the same place demonstrating the joys of dance.

Life never fails to be full of surprises. It can be exceedingly tough at times, but there are also days when the sun shines in March and you can suddenly find yourself dancing in the library...and surely those are the moments that are worth holding on to. Let's hope there are some more delicious surprises waiting round the corner. Have a sunny week wherever you are.