A night in the woods

For a long time, I'm talking about decades, I've had a wish to go to one of our old barns in a field further away in the woods, sleep there and check out the animals. Yesterday I suddenly decided it was time! I have been painting like crazy for the past days, trying to get everything ready until D comes back from his long stay with his dad. I feel a bit guilty, I didn't have much time for him before the stay, it's hard being a full-time mum and trying to renovate, cook etc etc at the same time. I guess renovation always gets on the nerves, whenever you do that.

Anyway, we've had a real heatwave for the past days - I'm talking about temperatures close to + 30, so I've actually just been happy to be inside. Our house is cool in the summer (and cold in the winter :) and I didn't feel like going to the seaside alone. I'm hoping the weather holds for a few days still so I can take D to a proper beach! Yesterday, when I finally finished the painting, I headed to the woods at 7.30 at night. A bit too late, but better than not at all.

First stop was a sandpit, where I made a new friend :). After a quick dip I continued to the field within the woods.












When I was young I used to make hay with my dad and uncle here. We also got hay by tractor in the winter, it was a bit of an adventure, since it's about 9 kilometers from our house. Have to dig out those photos at another time. Now I just wanted to get away from the smell of paint in the house and finally get a bit of me-time. At home I just saw everything that needed to be done - and besides, I had also painted my bed, so I would've had to sleep in another room anyway. Please click twice on the collage - that way you get it enlarged.
At the fields I immediately saw two young moose, running towards me, probably trying to get away from the million of mosquitoes around. I was lucky to be able to creep a bit closer in the cover of some trees - but unfortunately I'd need a bigger objective to get better photos at a distance. I hadn't packed very well, so I had to take two turns to the car to get everything, and on the way back the second time I also snapped photos of grass and flowers when I suddenly felt someone watching - another moose! It really must've wondered what kind of strange creature this is :)! Again I tried to take photos, but it was too far away. Even if I walked to the car and then back, it just stood there watching. I think it was quite a big one.

Then it was time for my humble abode :). I suspect some of you will be shocked to see a person voluntarily wanting to kip in a derelict barn! I had brought a tiny little tent, in case the mosquitos would be really bad, but since I had sprayed on a lot of repellent, I decided to just sleep on the hay left at the bottom of the barn (I had brought a sleepingbag etc). That evening I didn't see anymore big animals (there was a swallow's nest up in the ceiling...) and tried to go to sleep. Not the best nights I've ever had....even if the mosquitoes weren't biting, they kept "zzzzzz-ing", you know the irritating sound..? Then there was a cuckoo calling all through the night :( etc etc. And around 4.30 am I got up with the rest of the birds. I had forgotten my phone in the car and was too tired to walk through the high grass a third time, so I didn't know the time while in the barn.
While sipping my coffee (terrible photo, but I like the colours :) - it became a bit cold during the night) I heard cranes calling far away - and suddenly the answer came, just outside my barn!! I was glad I was already awake, otherwise I would've gotten frightened, it was a really loud sound that close. I crept quickly up and got my camera. If you enlarge (clicking it once, then once again) you will see a crane and its baby almost in the middle. Not a good photo (again), but I was fascinated to see the small ones!). It turned out I had forgotten to change to the better lens in my hurry, if I had, I wouldn't have had any problems getting nice close-ups. The big crane came as close as about 20 meters from where I was standing! My problems with getting control of the art of photography continues :(. Still, the experience was awesome!



There were no moose this morning, so pretty soon I packed up, dragged all the stuff to the car and finished with another dip (at 6 am - hasn't happened before!!) before getting home.