'Staying Alive By Not Staying Still'
My Russian artist friend Kirilll Stefanov *(yes, three lll’s at the end of his first name) was perusing his online portfolio of art works when he serendipitously discovered a sketch that he didn’t recognize right away.
It was the impromptu work (above) that I’m so proud to own!
Thin ice was crusting along the shoreline of the Kemijoki, the river running through the city of Rovaniemi.
Beyond the shore the river was freezing but flowing freely through the Arctic Circle city, the capital of the Lapland region of Finland, said to be the true home of Santa Claus.
It was evening and, though not yet 7, had been dark for several hours in the absence of the waning Autumn sun of the earth’s far north.
Snow clouds occluded whatever celestial light might have broken through, though city lights on the opposite shore from a nearby change house penetrated the darkness.
What a great night for a swim!
I knew it was coming. My Finnish friend Minna had warned me.
I arrived in Rovaniemi two days earlier and she was already inviting me to perhaps the most challenging counter yet to my normal, warm climate comfort-zone ways of travel.