It's the last day in August,
And I'll be cleaning sawdust,
I'll be paddling fast,
Basking in summer's lapse,
Laughing in summer's lap,
The sun is in my grasp,
And fun - I'll run till legs stop,
Running and that is that.
First I'll be free and jolly,
Soon feeling melancholy,
Soon feeling that time is stealing,
Then seeing it's all a folly.
By golly this summer's been clover,
And still it is far from over,
The waves they sparkle bright,
Like the miles of white in Dover.
In my dreams I hover above all,
Euphoric and fly like a lover,
It's cold at night in my room,
As I snuggle under my covers.
Waking up always too early,
So lately I'm getting up late,
When everyone's always awake,
And the days jumped from good to great.
I don't know if a smile lights my face,
As I gaze over the lake,
I don't know if when we roast perch,
I really savor the taste,
I don't know if I'd like living here,
All days, and always.
But I know with this bliss that I'll miss it,
As soon as I am away.

I wonder, is this summer's last day.

The sunshine returned after days of shade,
I'm fine and furnished in ache of bathing,
The temperature's dropping it could use some saving,
I'm out sunning while the waves are shading,
In the future, paddling's what I've been doing lately,
I'm wide awake and greatly great through slightly,
Itchy in my throat, is it something I ate?
I whisper out a note, exclaim that I...
Might need to take it easy for a while. Hope not.
Hope it's not something that makes my throat a rope knot,
That makes me slight before my days of flight,
I dreamt a day then fell awake a night,
Thinking of how and what I'm gonna make my life,
These strays of light and trays of sight,
Heaping portions of gorgeous awesome take-aways
Suddenly I'm fully aware that I'ma make my days -
Great.

Who bothers to read my diary,
Who bothers to read my poems?
Life is full of fire, see,
Of fire and of omens.

I perspire and I tire,
The fire rises higher,
And you don't ever know when -
You'll end up just Snowden.

Trapped, as if by avalanche!
Trapped, inside your snow den.
Flicker on your lighter,
And let the world seem brighter

But as the walls of snow fall,
You'll find out it's Sky fall,
As you melt they grow taller -
Until you're in a high hall and holler.

Trapped, and the fire rises!
Trapped, and the fire burns!
Trapped, in a dire crisis!
You live and you learn, if you live -

If you will - your turn.

Time's unbiased. It's vengeful, it's frighting,
It's truant, it's stubborn, it's eyeless, it's blind,
It's youthful and spirited, fast and inciting,
It runs and leaps and it leaves me behind,
And it stares me down with a pervasive gaze,
The face of time - the time - in my face.
It stares me down with an arrogant glance,
As if to say "you think you have a chance, you little ant?"
It stares me down and continues the race
For me it is endless, for time it's a phase
So brief! A glance, a step, a beat.
In the face of time I see defeat.

Yet although I'm an ant, an ant without change,
And time is huge as a planet-like plant
I'll run - as though I've got ants in my pants,
I'll run and I'll jump and I'll laugh and I'll plan
Lay my life on the line and ravish my feet
With time I do find, what I have's pretty neat
A pebble, but a particle of dust, I may be!
But I'm free, and life is a rush - when you play with speed.

The weather these last two weeks has been chill. Real cool. Waters in the lake mysteriously crept down to around 11C, especially during the latter week, when clouds consumed the sky for four days straight and we ran out to relish the ressurection of Ra on the fifth day. Hellalooyeah! It hasn't rained that much, though. All rain's been much appreciated; time taken to rest and rejuvenate. Play games. Spend time inside. Typical early Autumn weather.

I've been in a melancholy mood lately, fretting on the change of setting that's bound to happen in a few days - I booked my flight for September the 2nd. I've done much (a summer summary's hopefully coming up shortly after I return... or else I'll probably never get around to it, like the last couple of years) but there's always more that's yet undone, that I wish I had time for. Or maybe had time for that I didn't use quite as efficiently as I could have. But like the wise people say, better live in the now and plan ahead. *paradox*

We're in Kalix for the day today, a rainy day, and will shortly after this post take a quick shopping tour searching for shorts and rainsuits and enjoy the second official (but probably more like fifth) schrimp sandwhich of the summer. We haven't been here as much as usual, which I suppose has been due to the mostly awesome weather - flaring sunshine and lake-willing waves of heat - that have both blessed and pestered us for the past month and a half. Compared to the usual; luxurious 'vacation' time I've enjoyed the past few years this one's been drastically shortened, a mere two months instead of three. That's a full third of free time sliced away (!), or ION: only 1/6th of the year compared to a previous 1/4th. Where did that /5 go? It doesn't really feel that much shorter though, tis mostly noticeable in what's been done and left undone.

So... what else's been going on? Swimming, packing, doing some much-needed sorting through the storage facility our attic has become over the year(s), bike-riding, hiding from sudden thunderclouds (the lightning's been nervously near our house a few times), eating; trying to get into a habit of jogging; playing my keyboard for the first time this summer; composing a very quick bad quality recording yesterday; chopping stuff; mowing grass; weeding; most of all: picking berries. We've filtered through all red and black current bushes in the past two weeks, taken a few tours of blueberry and lingonberry picking, along with every-other-daily ransons of rasperies and for a while also late strawberries. The strawberries are all done for now though, the current-bush-leafs are yellowing and the rasperries are taking longer to ripen. Most of our crops are being harvested, and we've waged war against the overwhelming armies of voles that are raiding our rows of potatoes, carrots and turnips. During the earlier phases of summer there weren't that many of them near our vegetables - we caught maybe one or two each day - but now the traps snap frequently at a pace of at least 5-10/day. A few wild hares have been nibbling away at our black currents, but they can't do any major damage. We've fenced in mostly all endagered crops. And I've taken some great pictures hare.

Otherwise hmm... fishing, painting (in short sessions on a few rare entirely-sunny days... August isn't the optimal time for this busieiness), writing maybe a bit more than usual - apart from the daily poems I'm still well overdue with onsite, and yesterday we made some pizza. Woot! It's been a good two weeks, and I'm now closing in on my final days up here in the nourishing Norths. Did I mention I booked my flight for the 2nd, September (in four days!!)? We didn't get much cloudberries at all in Kangos. We waded through a great many marshes, but barely scraped together enough for a couple of jars of jam. We picked some blueberries though, fished some; had a good time for the few days we were there, and then drove back. And here we've been. And here's last weeks. Next one'll be from Bro! Probabilitalily.

In the city it's a pity,
In the forest it's a bore,
In the nighttime it's a fight and
In he morning it's a chore

In the dusty moldy alcoves,
In the gritty ghouly house,
Like a mouse I quieten down,
And then I'm out.

I feel lost but not forgotten,
I feel shambled by my rock,
While I ramble like a Poppin,
A locked in on B trot

The world is full of hate so,
Loving's what I got.
And then I write a poem.
Or what.