The Opposite of Cold

I am halfway to completing a manuscript for my book with photographer Aaron Hautala about Finnish saunas, a journey that so far has taken us from Toimi to Wolf Lake in Minnesota, Bjurbäcken to Jyväskylä on the Nordic peninsulae, and back again via Kivi, Aksel and Misery Bay on Michigan's UP. We have had a few very good sweats, but fewer than I would have imagined. Hustling around on unfamiliar ground taking pictures and interviewing people is not always a path to relaxation and simplicity.

But I was able to spend the holidays in the north woods, and simplicity got its first boost when I took the boys out to harvest a fresh balsam near the driveway at sunset on Christmas Eve. During the weekend, we all, down to the last Kaia, enjoyed a prolonged sauna afternoon through a solstice sunset as the temperature eased back into single digits. I gained a thorough reminder that sauna is one of the few ways to unwind while defunking the stinky bottoms of your children. And to build leverage against an arctic front sprinting out of the northwest.

Still to come: Oulu, Wisconsin, Cook County, Minnesota and the frigid shores of Thunder Bay, home to Kangas Sauna and Hoito pancakes.