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…
The Royal Symphony
Some memories do not fade with time. Instead, they settle more deeply within us, waiting quietly until life gives them new meaning. One such memory for me is an evening at the Sydney Opera House, where Peter and I had the privilege of listening to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra perform Pictures at an Exhibition under…
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…
Blue and White
I was eleven when my family left Finland and migrated to Australia. At that age, I could not possibly grasp the full weight of what was happening. To me, the biggest wonder was that I was about to fly on an aeroplane for the very first time. There was excitement in that, the kind only…
Time Travelling
I caught myself daydreaming today, though it felt like much more than that. In my mind, I had travelled back to the happy days of my childhood, back to my grandma’s house, back to everything that felt safe and warm and deeply loved. The Finnish word mummi has never simply meant grandmother to me. In…
Winter of Discontent
Lately I have found myself living in a season I would never have chosen, yet one I seem unable to hurry through. It has come quietly, almost unnoticed at first, and then all at once it was simply there, settling over my days, my thoughts, my body, and my spirit. The phrase “winter of discontent”…
Christmas 1939
Written by Jaana M. H. JokinenTold by my father, Matti Samuli30th November 1939, Helsinki, Finland “All aboard!” The conductor’s booming cry drew my mother to her feet. “The train is leaving, let’s go!” I clapped my hands in delight. I could hardly contain my excitement. Though I was barely four years old, I had already…
Dancing Lights in the Sky
I come from the country of the midnight sun, from a land of crystal-blue lakes and endless forests, where the air feels so clean it seems to wash over not only the skin, but the soul. I come from a place where wild berries and mushrooms grow freely, where reindeer move quietly through the landscape,…
Sunrise Sunset
Is your favourite season spring — the time of rebirth, daffodils and new beginnings?Or do you prefer summer fields laden with golden flowers, humming bees darting through warm air? Perhaps you are like me and love the shorter, cooler days of autumn, when the trees put on their final, breathtaking display of colour.And yet… isn’t…
Apples of Gold 