Have you ever received news that leaves you wandering through the day in a daze, your mind so full and heavy with thoughts that, no matter how much you want to be productive, you simply cannot gather yourself to do anything? Today is one of those days for me. This morning, I woke to unexpected…
Category: Finland
White Christmas
I have only ever had one white Christmas as an adult, and it was truly magical. My family and I were living in a small country town in eastern Finland, just 60 kilometres from the Russian border, called Savitaipale. This is where my paternal grandfather’s side of the family is from. The town is very…
Homesickness
I was struck by a feeling of homesickness this afternoon. Most of the time, I move through my life without feeling it too sharply, but every now and then it comes over me with such force that it stops me in my tracks. Being Finnish-Australian, I try to weave small threads of Finland into my…
Light Mind
Being originally from Finland, yet living in Australia, I have often been asked what a Finnish sense of humour is like. If you are Finnish, you would understand immediately just how difficult that is to explain. Customs can be explained. Beliefs can be described. But humour is something far more elusive. It lives between the…
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…
Outside Finns
There is a word in Finland for people like me, for people like us — those of us who were born there, but live somewhere else in the world. We are called ulkosuomalaiset. Ulko means outside. Suomalaiset means Finns. We are the outside Finns. Even in the word itself there is something that moves me….
Karelian Weddings
My son is getting married the day after tomorrow. Our family is living in that tender space just before a wedding, where joy, excitement and nervous butterflies all seem to breathe side by side. There is laughter, last-minute preparations, quiet emotion, and that sense that something beautiful is almost here. And what a joy it…
Baking with Grandma
There are certain smells that do far more than drift through a house. They open doors to the past. They loosen memories that have been sitting quietly in the heart for years. For me, the smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls, rich with butter and cardamom, does exactly that. It carries me straight back to…
The Magic Word
To an English-speaking ear, Finnish can sound a little blunt. The words do not always arrive wrapped in softness. They are not dressed up or sweetened unnecessarily. Finns tend to say what they mean and mean what they say. There is a plainness to it, a spareness, a certain unvarnished honesty. To some, it can…
I Found It!
When my brother and I were children, we loved playing hot and cold. One of us would hide some small object, and the other would become the hunter, searching, guessing, listening for clues. The closer the hunter came, the louder and more excited the cries would be: “hotter… hotter…” until at last came the triumphant…
Apples of Gold 