We're continuing to be relatively snowless, but that's meant I could sweep some old leaves up earlier. Also I risked taking Punapippuri into the back yard without a leash - I am trying to get some Christmassy pictures for my photocard this year. But of course cats don't pose, so it's proving a challenge. And Punapippuri decided he wanted to go inside quickly as his furry paws were getting wet.
I have finally exchanged contracts on the Bristol flat, so all being well it will be finally sold on Friday. The hunt for a car begins then, and I also have thoughts about a new camera body in preparation for some photography trips next summer. I'm planning a visit to the UK too in early June (probably). I am not sure how I feel about that - I will be very glad to visit people and feel I have enough of a distance now from the UK and my old job not to feel too negative about going backfor a visit. When the money from the flat comes through I know that will be a big psychological transition: I lived in it 14 years and it is my last concrete connection to Bristol and my 'pastlife'.

Unfortunately these are the lights of Oulu city, not THE northern lights. I did get a brief glimpse (maybe) of some vague green lights in the north a couple of weeks ago, but by the time I'd got to my viewing point (on the southern side of this lake), it had clouded over. However, there is more solar activity than last year so I am pretty confident I'll get to see them this winter. I've several friends watching out for them - they've promised to text me if they see them. The tip off I did get came at 11pm on a Saturday so I raced off on my bike, with camera but without lights or gloves. Luckily there was no ice around but I felt a fool tearing down the cycle path on this mission to spot the aurora. And I was also pretty cold.
At the moment I'm running down into winter hibernation mode physically which is fine - except for when the alarm goes off in the middle of the night to get up for work - but mentally I'm very frustrated. The flat in Bristol is still not sold: I'd love to know how solicitors can get away with doing so little work and charging so much for the privilege. The place has been ready for the buyer (and the buyer has been ready for the place) for two months but our respective solicitors have held things up. It is truly impossible to explain such things to my colleagues here. I've also had niggling problems tying up loose ends with the illiterate, ineffective agents whom I trusted to rent out my flat. The departing tenants left me a plague of fleas from their cat which needed dealing with (they were not even allowed pets - but I do see the irony of being a mad cat woman myself and having tenants sneaking a cat into their home). If anyone in the Bristol area is thinking of renting out their flat and want to know which agent to avoid, I am more than happy to advise! So all in all I feel quite grizzly about things back in the UK.
Here life is going well although it would be good to have more snow. The local paper is threatening a 'black Christmas' (which I believe means less than 10cm of snow). This is a scary thought as the snow makes so much difference to the brightness of the sky. Global warming is certainly being commented on here a lot. Still, today we had a few flakes - but not enough to stop the local ice cream van from its rounds.

I've had a fairly successful week birding. Yesterday I went to Hailuoto. I did not join the twitchers wanting to spot the first Finnish American plover (amerikankurmitsa) which had stopped by, but was after laulujoutsen, the whooper swans. I was not quite sure where to go luckily there were enough flying around to guide me to some fields where a few (maybe a hundred) were resting.
Yet again, seeing a huge flock of flying birds was incredible. Especially as they are so shy and secretive when breeding, and now just gather and let humans come relatively close before taking objection.
I know I keep including shots of this view, but it is one of my favourite places on the planet. It felt bleak and barren, and in the distance were a few ducks and swans, but not much else. The swans were walking on ice, about 200m from the tower (the picture below was taken with my very budget telescopic zoom).
I had hope for a few crisp autumn blue skies but it has been cloudy, and hovering just above zero all week so remained quite damp. This hasn't made for good photography, but has been much better for driving.
I'm going mad with frustration over the sale of my flat in the UK. Having bought a place here and moved in within a month, it's really unbelievable that my flat has been empty with a buyer eager to move in since the start of September. But we are both at the beck and call of solicitors who seem to do absolutely nothing and get paid extortionate amounts for the privilege. I want to get a car as soon as I can, and need the money released for it. However at this rate it will be 2011 before that happens. Everyone keeps asking here why solicitors are involved in house sales in the UK. A bloody good question, as they seem to do absolutely nothing but without them the process cannot happen.

I am very glad to have reached the autumn break. I was thinking how quickly I have become acclimatised to a lighter workload, and how eagerly I counted down to this holiday. In the UK I would be twice as exhausted and irritable with my classes, and have had at least two days off sick in order to pace myself to get to the end of the shorter half-term. It's all relative, I guess. And still I believe nothing would ever entice me back there, even if I am currently hating getting out of the house for the 7am bus in the dark and drear of sleet and knowing it'll get worse.
However after sleet, we get snow and then suddenly the world is several magnitudes brighter. The view from the upstairs balcony is probably going to stay the same for 6 months (except whiter, and then in spring bluer skies) - just as well I like it! I have rearranged the furniture out there and found that birds can get through the cat netting so I hope to put seeds out for them without encouraging the squirrels which will upset the neighbours.
I am also cat-sitting again for three lovely tidy girls nearby. Their humans have found me a car to use while they are away so I have had my first drives on winter tyres. Thankfully the roads have just been wet, not icy as I still dread that induction. Especially as the car is an old (yes, old - possibly just at the takeover by VW) Skoda. Admittedly it put a smile on my face as without power steering and ABS it actually feels like proper driving again. So, fingers and paws are crossed here for warmish clearer weather so I can be brave enough to take a few trips out of Oulu.

I was really pleased to spot my first waxwings (tilhi) of the season on the way back from work yesterday. Last year it took me ages to find any, and I got no decent pictures so I am on a mission this time. Today I was out clearing my garden (which felt like butchery given the way the shrubs look now), and there were a few churring away in the trees - when of course the camera was inside. Well, maybe it just proves I don't take it everywhere with me.
After the waxwings yesterday I decided not to waste the opportunity of a beautiful autumn afternoon and went to the University Botanical Gardens.
I kept remembering the trips there with my friends from the UK in summer when everything was so green and I couldn't quite believe I could be in Oulu. Now it is still beautiful, but starker. This year I can really feel the 'sap falling' and the need to bed down for the winter.
I have been sorting through my photos - to clear my hard drive and also to start compiling the annual calendar for Christmas presents. I guess it's been quite a year and I must admit choosing just 12 pictures will be hard. Maybe a theme instead (water perhaps -I must have a couple of thousand shots of snow and ice and meltwater). Anyway, once all the hedges in the garden have been brutalised, that's tomorrow's job.

We've had several centimetres of snow, followed by a thaw, and then big autumn storms. And then the peace of clear skies and a windless lake. it feels to early to hide in the darkness when there are still times like this. However I have given up cycling in to work as the weather is very changeable. However I did get a couple of circuits done round one lake this afternoon. And some of the gulls are still there so autumn's not over yet.

Another beautiful morning yesterday. And just in case I have been showing bias, here is the view to the other side of the bridge- Stora Enso at sunrise....