Moments in Bornholm
In these autoethnographic notes I mentioned that I felt somewhat alienated from the summer house where I was staying. It belongs to my partner's mother. There is something about summer houses that makes me feel sad. Fellow humans use them only a few weeks a year. Oftentimes these houses are well-built and suitable for living all year round. When a house remains empty for such a long time, I believe it degrades. There is no one to let fresh air in, to repair the damage. When you open a summer house after many months of not being there, there is often dust, mould, dead insects. Even damaged pipes. The bedding and towels feel damp. The spices don't feel as fresh anymore. When I was young, I used to stay in my stepfather's summer house. It was also used only a couple of months a year. I would get allergic reactions there and would never feel attached to that place. It felt uncomfortable and not lived-in.
Oftentimes, it feels that summer houses are built as status symbols rather than humble shelters/homes that enable one to connect with nature. It means they are often perhaps too big for the purpose. In the summer house where we were staying, the living room and the kitchen area were warm and dry because of the wood burner, but the bedroom and the bathroom felt damp and cold. On the second night, I decided to sleep in the living room area. A small cabin would have been much easier to look after.
The area around the house is not used to grow any food, and that also made me feel sad. So much food could be grown there. Bornholm gets more sunshine than any other area in Denmark.
Something that I liked in the summer house were posters of fresh and sea water fish. I also like the location. The house is just by the sea, and I could be present with non-humans. The sea, the stones, seaweed, pine trees. I was inspired by stacked stones I saw on the beach, and I collected some stones and was stacking them in the bedroom where I was staying.
I was going to bring some of the stones home to Copenhagen to use them as decorations, but then I decided to return them to nature. Here at home I have one stone that I brought with me from Sweden. I felt that one is enough.
In Bornholm, we ate very simple food. Salads and pasta. In a store, I found this pasta that is made in Bornholm by a couple-owned business. They also grow the wheat that is used to make the pasta. Unfortunately it was wrapped in plastic. So it was a compromise, a local product packaged in a less than ideal packaging. I felt that it is easier to find more sustainable food in Copenhagen than in Bornholm, but perhaps if I lived there, I would find alternatives to shopping in a supermarket.