I am reading The Geography of Bliss. The author, Eric Wiener, visits ten countries and ruminates on the definition of happiness in those countries. Alas, he does not visit Finland.
I know what made me happy in Finland and I plan to ruminate on my Finnish happiness. But, right now I am happy because I have a beautiful new Mac glowing on my desk. I am up and blogging again. Thank you Apple and thank you Comcast. I can't wait to see my daughter's face when she comes home. I will lose control of the computer because playing with Photo Booth is her idea of happiness.
We all miss Finland, but we are getting in the swing of the Granite State life. The Concord city market is open again. It is only once a week and there is no potato Elvis, but I can buy Finnish "sweet bread". The Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) starts next week. There will be no shortage of spinach in this house. I am riding my bike as much as possible and have even tied a plastic bag over the seat in true Finnish fashion. There is nothing like pedaling through Concord in the rain while wearing a Marimekko raincoat. I have joined the rowing club and can pretend the Merrimack is the Aurajoki.
I meet friends for drinks or coffee and I am very happy if a little wistful for Finland. Market Basket cannot compare with Stockmans. In fact, Market Basket is in a class unto itself. (It's not called Dirty DeMoula's for nothing!)
Eric Weiner quotes a statement that a Polish citizen made about Americans:
"When Americans say it was great, I know it was good. When they say it was good, I know it was okay. When they say it was okay, I know it was bad."
Keeping that in mind I will say that Finland is fabulous. But New Hampshire is about as close as you can get to Finland on this side of the Atlantic: Granite, pine trees...catch a glimpse of the great state of New Hampshire here and plan your visit!
Megan,
ReplyDeleteI'm anxious to read that book - does he write about the Danes? They are supposedly the happiest people on earth (because of their low expectations, according to some) but I have another theory.
35+ years ago I worked at a "dirty Demoulas" (and we called it that then, too) - it may be dirty - but it has a much better selection of Mediterranean food than those other stores in C-town.