Monday, April 21

I got up first, after another long sleep, and had a shower. I let the cat out and watched it looking at something. I went to see what Sunshine was staring at and raced back inside for a camera.

I was looking at two frogs on top of each other motionless. Irma came out and photographed them; and an hour later photographed them again when they had climbed onto a frog statue.

After this we ate breakfast, and after that I continued to clean the windows. This time I did the porch, the shower-room, and the outside of the back windows. To complete this for today I also did the insides of Irma and my bedroom, leaving the insides of the girls’ rooms for next Sunday.

The weather was startlingly hot, so I went for a cycle ride and, perhaps inevitably, found myself heading for Puotila Beach, where I sat and waited for Auo. I suppose the obvious question is: did she come? The honest answer is: yes she did, as much as she ever will again. We sat on the bench we used to sit on and reran old conversations and I brought her up to date on some stuff that had happened since she died. We decided to cycle back past the little cafe and stop for ice-creams, and now I am taking some photos of the beach before leaving.

This is the lifesaving ring that we both used to photograph, trying to get interesting backgrounds into the hole.

I will get a Pingvini Popcorn for me and a Puffet Minttu for Auo and, when I have finished mine and get up to leave, the Puffet will still be lying unopened on the cafe table.

I will cycle past the road that leads up to Plantagen and go through the woods by the sea for fifteen or twenty minutes. We were still finding new places to explore last summer and, sure enough, I will manage to take a path we have never taken before and get nicely lost for a few minutes.

Sometimes, even now, cycling is much better than not cycling; but tests seem to show that cycling on my own through the woods is never going to be as much fun as cycling with Auo.

In the evening Naa will take Jekku for a walk, Irma will make some delicious spicy chicken pasta, and Irma and I will go for a short walk.