The last days of summer.

In Scandinavia, the summers are very short. The weather is a lottery and most Scandinavians leave the country for the Mediterranean during their holidays. No one wants to take the chance on being stuck at home while it pours outside. There is usually a heat wave arriving from the southeast, at one point during the summer months, and if the pressures around position themselves correctly, we can get two weeks filled with warm days and long cool white nights at the worse, or 4 weeks of "perfect" summer at the best. And the best happens only once every 3-4 years. There is one thing though that is always the same, when it comes to the Scandinavian summers. The white nights. When the nights are the shortest, the sun rises at 3:00 am and sets first almost at midnight. Sometimes, if I stay up late, I can watch the sunset and the sunrise at the same time. On average, there is about 10 hour light difference between winter and summer. So, you can imagine how dreadful the winters are. Well,the season of white nights ended about a month ago and already the days are about 4 h shorter. But this weekend the weather was beautiful. Although a very fresh easterly wind was blowing, my terrace is facing west and I could enjoy two wonderful, cool and fresh very late summer or early autumn days outside, doing some gardening and enjoying the last rays of the warm sun. In the evening, I watched a magnificent sunset, lit up my fireplace for the first time this season and enjoyed a glass of red vine, purchased earlier this summer in a small vineyard in Provance, with good friends. Life is only as good as one makes it.