We all have opinions, whether we recognise them or voice them. They are there from the day of our birth. Some things we like, some things we don’t. Our opinions can be based on facts or feelings, but they are still opinions: our personal take on what those (perceived) facts or feelings mean.

Which is why it was a day for the history books, when I found myself in such a relaxed state during our summer holiday that I was unable to come up with a single opinion on anything.

My mind just decided to take a break. Not even the sunset (which was beautiful in hindsight) could move me to have an opinion. It was almost startling.

There we sat at our cosy dinner table, my partner in life and I, watching the sun set over “our” lake. We had bought, prepared and eaten early potatoes, all sorts of vegetables, and muikku (a.k.a. vendace, a species of freshwater whitefish); all straight from nearby farms and lakes. We had topped our meal off with delicious, just-picked strawberries. We were well-fed and well-rested.There was no need to think or speak. We just cherished the moment with our minds blank in the best possible way.

The war in Ukraine, climate change, Finland’s entry into Nato, the latest coronavirus news, the rising inflation numbers and interest rates, the promise of a cold winter with insufficient heating due to gas supply issues, recession speculations, rise of populism, not to mention the never-ending power struggle between the superpowers – nothing – not a single opinion on any of these was forthcoming.

Moments like this are as fleeting as butterfly stops. I hope you have had a chance to enjoy a few of them amidst all that is going on in the world.

Reality has a tendency to catch up with you, whether you wish it or not. My favourite newspaper made sure of that. It provided me with an in depth article on all the crises looming in the horizon. The list seemed endless: debt crisis, housing market crisis, commodity crisis (including but not limited to energy crisis), Euro-crisis, China- crisis (political and financial), and a recession for the history books. All of this on top of the war in Ukraine.

Reality even invaded our balcony as we returned to Helsinki from our holiday refuge. Instead of butterflies, we could count helicopters on the deck of USS Kearsage, a 257 m (843 ft) long, nuclear powered Wasp-class amphibious assault ship that slowly slipped past us into the port of Helsinki.

Talking about wasps: I sent one of the photos above to a friend. His answering text said it all: “Not half as scary as Nancy Pelosi”.

To a political outsider Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan looked like she was stirring up a hornet´s nest that might just create the butterfly effect that puts us en route to chaos. There is a time and place for everything. The whys of this particular trip remain obscure.

Pelosi has had an impressive career. Does she really need to top her CV with “Started World War III”? To paraphrase an old saying : With friends like this, who needs enemies to feel unsafe.

To continue with sayings: Life truly is like a box of chocolates. Over and over again you bite into something sugar/chocolate-coated without really knowing what you will find inside. My first taste of Nato tells me that I will probably not love it, but I will still keep it on the menu to ensure that I get enough sustenance to survive.

Chocolates come in many forms. Often the surprises they offer are delightful. While Pelosi was traipsing around Taiwan, we went to Fiskars; a picturesque village in Southern Finland known for combining design, art and architecture in a unique and inspiring way.

Pelosi and reality were once again forgotten, when we browsed the exhibition “U-joints: Knots&Knits”. U-joints is an ongoing research project and exhibition series by Andrea Caputo and Anniina Koivu. The exhibitions examine the functional and aesthetic relevance of this crucial design component.

Knots and Knits is the fourth chapter of the project. The exhibition was a piece of art in itself as well as in its details. It gave the viewer a new perspective on design.

I leave you with this thought: We may have managed to tie our world in knots, but hope still remains that we can continue to knit something beautiful out of it. Just look at all the ingenious things we have designed so far.