Our roots help explain who we are. 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……
Tag: heritage
Everyday Moments
Sometimes the way we see the world helps others rediscover the beauty they have stopped noticing. 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…
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
Contentment begins when we stop measuring a good life by the world’s expectations. 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…
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 