Summer Magic

Taken at 9.30 p.m.

We're in a magical weather system at the moment and everyone who lives in Sweden is just loving every minute of it. I'm quite confident that people are cutting out of work in order to soak in the warm, beautiful, summer afternoon and evenings we are experiencing. It is so amazing to wake up to such beauty every day. And we've been able to take full advantage of the long, luxurious evening thanks to our lovely little Finnmaster.
When we've been able to, we've been dashing away from work, packing a picnic supper and heading out to the water. We've been exploring new waterways and enjoying dropping anchor to sleep a bit, read a bit, fish a bit, eat a bit. The freedom that we have to not worry about when it will get dark is so relaxing. We can easily be out on the water until well after 10.00 p.m. Twilight is falling about 11.30 and then for about 2 hours the sky hovers in an inky blue state before the sun pierces the horizon and begins to rise about 2.00 a.m. And the beauty of the way in which the high sun reflects off of both the water and the landscape is breathtaking. I love to sit and soak it in. I could sit on out on the water for hours and hours and never become bored. I really love to linger in our boat when the sun is emitting warmth and the wind is quiet and all is well in this far north Nordic land.

Pulling into our harbor. Those are hot air balloons in the distance.

Sunday night we have our all night guard duty at our harbor. In order to create better security, each member has to take a guard night at the boat yard. You show up at 11.30 p.m. Make sure all the gates are locked, take photographs of different points in the boat yard to ensure that you are actually walking around the yard and not just snoozing in the clubhouse, and go home at 6.00 a.m. It's actually great knowing that someone is sitting in the marina every single night of the summer keeping an eye on things. When the weather is good, I like doing it. Tanner runs around all night like an idiot. He's in and out of the water, chasing birds, creating havoc for all manner of water fowl that passes by. Doug likes to fish and I like to read, watch the night sky change into daylight and snooze. The forecast is good so I plan to document the changing night sky with photographs. Watching the sun come up at 2.00 a.m. is pretty fun. By 3.00 it'll be full blown daylight. Maybe we'll even take a swim. HA.
But...Today I did take my first swim in the Baltic. We puttered over to the place where we usually take Tanner swimming on a walk. We were actually within 3 kilometers of our house! We commented that the place we were swimming today was the place we were walking across on ice last winter.
It's not hard to figure out which I prefer! We had to travel through a very narrow canal in order to get over to this area. Once over there, we found it peaceful and beautiful. The water in this little area is a bit warmer as well and that's what made it easy to take my first plunge of the season. I was pleasantly surprised by how not freezing it was! I even stayed in awhile, paddled around with Tanner (he'll swim any time, any place, any temperature!) and just enjoyed the cool feeling of being in the water. I was even able to hang out in my swimsuit without freezing to death, that's how warm it was today! Truly, it's magical when we have "real" summer weather like this, especially for days in a row.
There are fewer simple pleasures in life than jumping off one's boat into chilly waters to cool off, hopping out and drying off while sipping a hot cup of coffee! It's just splendid.
Today we saw some very Swedish scenes. People crowded on waterside rocks soaking up the sun, old castles, beautiful wooden boats, gorgeous waterside houses, and the church that is just down the street from our house. All of this was visible from the friendly confines of our Finnmaster!
I know it seems strange that we get such a thrill out of mid-70 degree weather, but we spend so much of our year inside and in the dark that when the sun finally shines and emits warmth, we can enjoy it well into the night. It's just so nice to be warm without having piles of clothes on!

Anyway...the beauty of where we live never ceases to amaze me so I'm going to stop writing and just let you soak in the photographs. The forecast is good...I expect to be out on the water whenever I can be!Look at the looooooong shadow Tanner and I cast with the sun behind us at 9.00 p.m.
She's been a great find for us.