bike

On Tuesday I built myself up mentally to go shopping. 4 km [each way] by bicycle is not very daunting when the whole route is flat as a pancake. Fifteen centimeters of snow changes that. So does -25º C/-13º F temperatures. I unlocked my bike, assuming that as long as I kept moving, I would generate enough heat to evade frostbite. I listened to the sensible part of my brain and checked my front tire. Could use a little air. I retrieved the pump, removed my gloves for dexterity, and fiddled with the valve for a bit. I succeeded in draining the entire tire before I finally figured out how to pump the air in. At this point I had also lost feeling in my fingers, so I reached for my gloves to discover they had frozen stiff. After sitting in the bicycle basket for five minutes.

I decided I was not going to the shops and wheeled the bike inside. I took an hour or so to raise my core temperature and warm up my cold-burned extremities. I resolved not to waste my mental efforts to get out of the house, and gathered my laundry. It is only 400 meters to the Nelimarkka-Museo, but even inside layers of wool and 100% traceable duck down, my eyes and nose had dribbled out most of the moisture in my head by the time I made it over there. Once I had said hello to the modest museum staff, I loaded the cryptic washing machine and selected the "normal" cycle. This was supposed to take roughly one hour.

DIE WEIßE HÖLLE VON ...Alajärvi

I went upstairs to the kahvila [cafe] to sketch for a while. A group of workmen [doing something in the museum basement] came in, partook of copious amounts of coffee, and spoke in trills and booms about what my limited comprehension of Finnish identified as mostly numbers. I ended up running the machine cycle twice by accident, and so it was after sundown when my laundry was finally clean. Luckily I came away with some decent sketches.

Happiest with this one of Tuesday's sketches

On Wednesday it was snowing, but the temperature was dancing just above 0º fahrenheit by midday. No way I was letting the weather conquer me this time. With my bike inflated and a belly full of feta and basil omelette, I headed out. A hundred meters down the road, my muscles reminded me that I do not ride a bike regularly. I skidded twice, nearly went into a ditch, dismounted and resigned to my fate. I was too far from home to bring the bike back, and I might need the basket for extra cargo. I pushed the beast the remaining four kilometers along the bicycle and pedestrian paths, for which I was grateful given the traffic, and that the snow was becoming blinding. I tried to ride a few more times, but the 15 centimeters already on the ground was building fast and made it impossible.

Near the junction of the main road and Vanhatie, which leads to Pekkolantie, where I live

At last I saw the big sign for Alajärvi liikekeskus [business center], including the blessed S-Market. I crossed the busy road, found a place to lock my bike, shook the snow from my crevices and clutched my shopping list. Conscious of the waning daylight, I spent a tight twenty minutes gathering supplies. A few staples, lots of spies, a bunch of candy, and two samples of Finnish beer barely fit in my backpack. It was moderately embarrassing to pack it all up as others rushed past. Necessity took over, and I did not bother with self-pity as I headed back out into the white. The walk back was uneventful and exhausting.

My Bruins won last night, so of course I had to get Karhu

Now I am back inside, sipping tea and sampling candy. My art is coming along, and now that my cupboards are less bare, I will be devoting more time to my real reason for being here. For those interested in my candy selections, I recommend the Fazer blue for chocolate lovers, the Pantteri mix for fruit gum devotees, and the Sisu for people who like black licorice and ammonium chloride with sysi [charcoal] flavor. Decadent.

Arranged my candy on the heart duvet because candy warms my heart