UPDATE: After writing this, actually stuck my head out, picked up child from kindergarten, walked around. Very nice -- and even some tender green leaves. It's been warmer than last year.
I'm homesick for the other continent this time of year. These are, as far as I'm concerned, the worst times to be outdoors in Estonia. Much of the open low country is still waterlogged, to say nothing of riverside trails. The trees are bare. The cities are dusty and drab. Until recently, there was so much sand in the air that sometimes, when the yellowish wind blows by an example of socialist architecture just right, Tallinn looks like an African provincial city on the edge of the sahel.
Despite the sun beating down day after day since Monday, early spring drags on and on in Estonia. Like a primitive worrying that the sun won't rise tomorrow, this time of year always seems like touch and go for me, that this might be the year that spring doesn't take root at all -- that seedlings will go into shock from the sudden sunlight. Then add the realization that in less than two months, the days will start getting shorter.
Like flora, cafes around Tallinn seem to operate entirely by the sun, not temperature or calendar. They're quick to enter vegetative growth. Overnight, the outdoor tables come out, and people sit down and start vegetating, even though the mercury may still read 8 or 9 degrees C. If only plants were the same way.
At our Estonian sets of parents and in-laws, it is possible to enjoy temperatures of up to 20-- their backyards and the silikaat and white siding of neighbouring houses seem to catch and concentrate the sun.
Still, for me, this is a time to be anywhere else -- in the south of Europe, or skiing in Sapmi.
Last year in May I took a bicycle ride to Aegviidu and there was still nothing on the trees. Aegviidu is a little bit of an energy centre, but it was a gruelling trip against a headwind and a dun landscape past limestone quarries.
The willow shoots are developing little woody buds, but nothing feline or furry yet.
In Virginia, the air would have long been full of redbud, dogwood, and azalea and oak pollen, or at the least, the smell of last year's unraked oak, tulip poplar and maple leaves matted around the old home place. A breeze coming off of the lake.
I did get a whiff, running past the Metsakalmistu the other day, of pine sap roasting in the sun, but it only made me think of 7000 ft lodgepole forest in the West and I longed to be climbing higher into the Christmas-tree fragrance of the high country, which of course is hard to do here.
I must say the sea looks inviting around Tallinn. The biggest visual perk to life in the capital has shaken off its sludgy green grey colour, and in the light it is dark blue like the sky through a polarizing filter, with crisp contours.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Don't forget you also get to look forward to being attacked by thousands of põdrakärbsed in the forest this summer.
They like to congregate in my hair. Good reason to keep my head shaved I suppose.
This is the time in one of the better places to live in the US. Although the report was several years ago it still is and has been reported since in other publications. The redbud is in full bloom, has been for a week or more, as are the dogwoods and azaleas.The Dogwood Festival is going on now with the parade this Saturday. Temperatures are nearing 80, and we have already enjoyed the outdoor eateries. Redbud flowering signifies the time to head to the streams in pursuit of bass or trout.
Living in Virginia. Lovin it. Thanks for alleviating my itch for Eestimaa with this writing. I know all too well what you mean.
Less pretty girls here, sure. But as a family man, I can consider it a plus. ;-)
Always try to oblige with a scratch. You know where to go for the full treatment.
Where in Virginia? Ridge and Valley, Piedmont or Tidewater?
P: Yep. If you ever need to be reminded of how good you have it in late April, consider a visit here.
The rolling hills on Virginia are beckoning. Look, I came THAT close to putting a $12,000 Harley on my credit card the other day. It is THAT beautiful here right now. You just want to LIVE and you are thankful that you have a privilegde to be alive.
Upperville, Middleburg ... the Horse Country.... You know what I am talking about, man!
If you live in Loudoun County, you should have no problem making that Harley a reality along with some vintage touring cars perhaps :)
Just remember to keep it green and that if to D.C. you commute, you pollute.
Regarding spring in Virginia - it is lovely, yes. But it does get hot too fast sometimes, almost scorching the tender spring flowers. One day it's spring and then the next day it's summer already. The area just a bit north of Rome is much like Virginia - many of the same plants and wildflowers there, including redbud.
But for Estonia - you have to look closely to find the first wildflowers - a great delight to see the first snowdrops, then the blue hepatica (sinililled), which seem like the first "real" spring flowers to me. Others follow in fairly rapid succession, many of them blanketing the ground under trees and bushes and in parks and old fashioned gardens. I love the great swaths of blue or yellow or white that appear. They last for some time, certainly more than a week, even two. You can also see the grass getting greener by the day. And the birds! Incredible singing by hundreds of them at this season, for instance in places like Kadriorg park. The trees and bushes are simply full of them, especially early in the morning when it is just getting light out (now around 5 or so.)Spring really exists here in Estonia - it is not just a brief jumping off place for summer.
Nice exposition on springtime in Estonia,but having spent 3 springtimes in Denmark, I wouldn't trade the subleties for the flamboyance of weeks and weeks of outrageous beauty in VA. Yes, August has some hot sticky days, but to my taste mostly perfect summer days in June, July and September. Wouldn't trade being able to dine alfesco or sit on the porch nearly six months of the year. And, oh, those short, dark dreary winter days in N. Europe!
Post a Comment