Today I look at myself and have to smile. It looks like I’m turning into this land.
When we arrived 10 weeks ago, in a winter storm and with snow piled high along the roads, we stopped at a second-hand shop and got ourselves some well-maintained warm winter gear – snow pants and a thick puffed jacket. It was perfect as it turned out to be a very cold first week with temperatures going down to -25 °C while the dog still wanted his daily walks.
The days passed by, and as we got more adjusted to the place, the fabric covering my body also adjusted. Or was it my mind?
I had been wearing wool t-shirts for a couple of years already. But when I look at myself now I see wool long sleeves and long johns, wool socks, and wool trousers. A wool sweater or wool vest on top. Covered all up by a heavy wool anorak and a wool hat.
Wool everything.
At first, especially the anorak and trousers felt heavy and clumsy, compared with the tech fabrics I was so used to from decades of winter holidays.
Yet, the more I wore them, the more comfortable they felt. I felt more comfortable. The more I felt.
It’s wool from all sorts of different places.
My base layers are from my trip to New Zealand seven years ago, paired with socks from a North American trip.
My mid layers are quite European. A Scottish sweater my mom got me, a shirt from Austrian wool, and extra layers from a Swedish company that produces here with wool from South America.
My outer layers, shedding of water and snow, were made by a small family-run company in Sweden.
When summer comes, some of the wool will give way to linen from France and cotton from Portugal – and probably more places around the world.
I’m wearing a mosaic of interactions between landscapes, animals, and people.
Thinking about this gives me a strange feeling of belonging to the here and now. Makes me want to get to know even more about the land and people where I am.
We are a collage of different landscapes from different continents every day. A chance to stop, connect, and feel at home.
Disclaimer: I wrote these lines sitting in the kitchen in my red polyester swim trunks. Someho,w I love them. They make me happy.
