Cabin fever

After the long day in Helsinki, I decided to run away from the city and stay at my parents' summer cottage for a few days. I was really happy that I finally decided to go as I don't think it's possible to relax so completely at home. Not for me, anyways. The first evening was a bit difficult as I felt like I didn't have enough things to do but the two days after that I was just happy to stare at the lake and observe animal activity. I guess you could call that mindfulness practice. Well, it wasn't all I did. I did also read, swim, go to sauna a few times, carry quite a lot of firewood to the shed and watch the world championship games with my father. No fever was included despite the misleading title.

The book I was reading appeared to be very good. It was Ville Kivimäki's Murtuneet mielet ("Broken Minds") which is based on his PhD study Battled Nerves: Finnish Soldiers' War Experience, Trauma, and Military Psychiatry, 1941–44. The name tells everything. The understanding of trauma and mental health problems was very different during the II WW but another huge reason to leave people untreated was discipline. It would've been too easy, they said, to pretend that one's nerves have failed and thus get away from the battle. This is one of the history books that I think could be labeled as horror. I also asked my father some questions about people he has known who had been to the war and he told me that for example his uncle had been shaky and scared for the rest of his life after returning from war. Things have changed, of course, in 70 years but I still can't help thinking how the people escaping the wars of today are managing and how the governments of rich countries appear to consider themselves entitled to decide if those people should be helped or not.

This is the book.

We had some swan friends visiting.

The bees were very busy.

Who doesn't love sunsets?