During our last visit to Finland, I had the privilege of staying in my late mother-in-law’s childhood home, in a small village in the Finnish countryside. These days, that ancestral homestead belongs to one of the cousins, Hannu. The moment I stepped across its threshold, it felt as though the whole earth had paused for…
Author: Jaana M. H. Jokinen
I’m a proud mother of four grown children and a very grateful nanna to four beautiful grandchildren. My heart is happiest around a table — baking, cooking, and gathering people together for long, laughter-filled dinners.
I find joy in the simple things: a good book, a quiet walk, tracing family roots through genealogy. But what truly stirs my soul is nature, reflective writing, Nordic-inspired living, and the gentle beauty of Christmas and autumn.
Born in Helsinki, Finland, and raised in Melbourne, Australia, I carry both homelands in my heart.
Road Closed
On rainy summer days, my mum used to send us children up into the attic. As an adult, I understand why. Ours was only a small cottage, and when rain kept us indoors, we children must have made the walls ring with our noise, our energy, our endless movement. Sending us upstairs must have brought…
Harvest Time
I grew up in Helsinki, Finland, in what felt like a very typical Finnish way, with both a winter home and a summer home. When the end of May arrived, our family of six would leave the city behind and move to our summer cottage, where we stayed until autumn crept in and school began…
Keep Calm
Have you ever carried a fear so private, so difficult to name, that even whispering it to yourself feels dangerous? The kind of fear that seems to gather strength the moment it is acknowledged, as though giving it words might somehow invite it closer? And so you tuck it away, deep in the hidden chambers…
Kintsugi
Kintsugi is a 15th-century Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. The word comes from kin, meaning gold, and tsugi, meaning joinery — to join with gold. The more I think about it, the more deeply it speaks to me, because it feels like so much more than an art form. It feels like…
This Moment
I rose before the sun this morning and slipped out the door while the world was still half asleep. The birds were already awake, singing their bright hopeful songs into the dawn, sounding far more cheerful than I felt inside. Mum was having surgery today, and I was going to spend the day with dad,…
A Few Words
If I were asked to name one thing that lies at the heart of Finnish people, I think I would say this: Finns place great value on words. That is something I have carried with me all my life, perhaps without even realising it fully when I was younger. There is something in Finnish nature…
Life Defining Moments
There are some moments in life that do not simply live in our memory. They mark us. They sear themselves into us so deeply that no amount of time can soften their edges. Years may pass, whole seasons of life may come and go, and still those moments remain startlingly near, as if they happened…
Dandelion Puffballs
Have you ever gone for a walk with a small child and held their little hand in yours as they skip along beside you? Their fingers curl trustingly around your own, while their happy chatter rises and falls like birdsong — one thought tumbling into another, one question giving way to the next, their mind…
His Eye is on the Sparrow
During winter this year, Peter and I wandered into a little corner café in the middle of the city. I took the table by the window while he went to order, and for a few quiet moments I sat alone, watching Melbourne through the glass. Outside, the last of the autumn leaves were still clinging…
Apples of Gold 