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….
Category: Finland
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…
Bedtime Story
When I was a little girl, about six years old, living in Helsinki, one of my mother’s dearest friends came to our home for supper. Her name was Eila. She lived nearby and had known our family since before I was born. She belonged to that rare kind of friendship that seems to outlast the…
Timeless Treasures
When I was a little girl living in Finland, I had a friend who was woven deeply into the fabric of my childhood. Her name was Tiina. We lived only a few hundred metres from each other, and we were in the same class at school. Hardly a day seemed to pass without us together….
Wood-smoke and Cinnamon
Finland is beautiful in every season, but autumn has always felt the most personal to me. There is something about it that reaches past the eyes and settles deep in the heart. Summer does not simply end there. It seems to gather all its remaining beauty and leave in one final, breathtaking blaze. The forests…
Treasured Simplicity
Some places do not simply hold memories. They hold parts of us. That is how Finland feels to me. Not only as the country of my birth, but as a place where something deep within me still recognises itself. Even after all these years, even after a lifetime lived elsewhere, there are moments there that…
Everyday Moments
I have lived in Australia for most of my life now. As the years pass, I think we all grow used to the world around us. What once may have felt striking or new slowly becomes familiar, and familiarity has a quiet way of softening our attention. The everyday settles around us so completely that…
Apples of Gold 