Baltic Sea & Henry

Have you ever been to a place that intrigued you so much that you couldn’t stop looking? That you wanted to take in every moment because it would never be the same again?

After having to completely change our summer travel plans (but that’s another story), we ended up in Latvia for our vacation. While much of Europe was still sweating from a huge heat wave, Latvia was pleasant and cool. After a few days in Riga, we moved to a beach house about an hour outside of the city for the rest of our stay.

It was a special place, directly on the beach, with a back porch facing the Baltic Sea.

I have never seen an ocean like this. So quiet and peaceful. Hardly a wave.

Looking from the back porch through the willow and pine trees to the beach created a totally different kind of view of any holiday beach I’ve ever known.

I sat outside for hours, watching, and like a little child, whenever I discovered a change in the sea or in the sky, I called out to my husband: Look, look!

We saw swans, a few times. One morning, sitting inside next to the warmth of the fireplace, we saw a huge flock of birds flying past. They kept coming, easily a hundred birds, like a big convoy in the sky.

Our new friend Henry checked in on us regularly, always happy and excited to get attention. He hung out with us, let me pet his head, and as a return favour, he got my white pants dirty. What do you think, is he just admiring the view, or is he about to dash off to the beach and chase after some swans?

For six days, I looked out to the Baltic Sea. I can remember hardly any other place in the world that brought me so much joy and happiness, so I wanted to remember it. I wanted to mix all these beautiful moments together.

I wrote down into my diary: “Sometimes we need some grey sky to make everything look pastel and adorable.”

Grey sky, blue sky – it doesn’t matter, we just need to find a way to allow ourselves to be in the moment and find happiness.

Something a bit old, but the ideas are still new