Written by Jaana Jokinen, told by my maternal grandmother Hilja Maria 13th March 1913 in Joroinen, Finland It was a cold, early spring day in Northern Savonia, in the Eastern part of Finland, where my family lived. Joroinen is often called the “Paris of the Savonia” because in the 1700s the noblemen mainly spoke French….
Author: Apples of Gold
I'm a mother of four adult children and also nanna to four grandchildren. I love baking, cooking and hosting dinner parties. My hobbies include reading, walking, and genealogy but I am especially passionate about nature and Inspirational Creative Writing! I was born in Helsinki Finland, but migrated to Melbourne Australia as a child.
My four blogs include creative writing blog at www.applesofgold.blog
an Australian travel blog at www.downunderroadtrip.blog
a Christmas blog at www.insidejaanaschristmashome.blog
and a food blog at www.finnishfoodiefromdownunder.blog
I would love you to visit all four!
Light Mind
Being originally from Finland, but living in Australia, I have often been asked what a Finnish sense of humour is like. If you are a Finn, you would understand just how challenging it is to explain it! Customs and beliefs are easy to explain but a sense of humour is not. A lot has been…
Interlude
This year I have found myself in circumstances, I wouldn’t wish on anybody. Yet, it’s those situations that have taught me a great deal, given me pause and caused me to stop and think. Earlier in the year I was hospitalised after contracting Covid. There are a couple of ways to look at the same…
A Dying Art
Disney’s Belle is one of the best fictional bookworms around. When the Beast gives Belle her very own key to his magnificent library, cream-coloured double doors open to showcase paintings, a writing desk, a spectacular fireplace, spiral staircases, floor rugs, and some reading chairs on the colourful ceramic floor. But most importantly, the walls are…
Escape
The tougher life gets, the more I tend to daydream of escaping. The dictionary tells me the definition of escape is: “to get free from something”. We press the key on our computer keyboards which allows us to leave our current screen. We interrupt a process by pressing the “esc” key. I wish it was…
Rustic Wisdom
During our last visit to Finland, I had the honour of staying at my late mother-in-law’s childhood home, in a small village, in the Finnish countryside. These days this ancestral homestead belongs to one of the cousins, Hannu. When I stepped inside the old country house, it felt like the earth had paused to take…
Road Closed
On a rainy summer’s day, my mum used to send us children to the attic. As an adult I now understand why. Ours was a small cottage, and we must have added considerably to the indoor noise levels. We climbed the steep narrow staircase, one of us followed by the other, all the way up….
Harvest Time
I grew up in Helsinki Finland. We were a typical Finnish family, having a winter and a summer home. When the end of May arrived, our family of six moved to our summer cottage where we lived until autumn time and school went back again, after the long summer holidays. My childhood summers were devoured…
Kintsugi
Kintsugi is a 15th-Century Japanese practise of repairing broken pottery and transforming it into a new work of art with gold. The name of the technique comes from the words “kin” (golden) and “tsugi” (joinery), which translates to “golden repair”, “mended with gold” or “to join with gold”. There is a powerful message behind Kintsugi….
Apples of Gold 