My Northern Home

 This writing will be in Finnish. I'm sorry for this and promise not to make it a habit. I was watching TV and there was famous people performing Christmas carols. One of them was Ave Maria by Arja Koriseva. She sang half of the song in Finnish and other half of it in original language. How the famous song sounded with Finnish translations and long "Aaave Maria", inspired me to write a Christmas poem called "Aave Maria". Here you go. Aave Maria Aave Maria Kulkee hiljaisin Askelin näkymättömin Huoneesta toiseen Kuin eilisen Kaiken muistaen Tuoksun neulasten Kiireettömyyden Riemun kiljahduksen Tulipesän lämpöisen Kylkeä koskettaa Kauan sitten sammuneen Sormet piipun lävistää Aave Maria Jatkaa kulkuaan Tuvan nurkkaan seisahtaa Hirsiä mustimpia Hiilloksen kirjomia Uskalla ei koskettaa Pienen pientä kynttilää Kuusen oksalle sovittaa Tuhannen tuikun lämpö korventaa Muttei enään Savun jo haihtuneen lailla Ilmaan katoaa

The weirdest thing happened to us. The day before everything was fine. More than fine. I felt myself invincible. I was climbing like a monkey. Sending road after road. I was riding the tide. What the day after brought us was... We both came sick. Like really sick. Midday after lunch. I felt awful and needed to go to bed. AK send me message from the work. "How are you? I'm not good." That night and the days to follow, we lied in our bed. Eyes closed, hand in hand, we waited for the pain to stop. Only help we could get, was that they tested us for covid-19. It wasn't covid. So bye-bye and try no manage by yourself. On those long hours, when we waited, will the painkillers stay inside long enough to start effecting and if so, will they work this time and for how long before the pain comes back. We still don't know what the disease was or where we got it. But it was definitely the worst we have ever went through. And there were moments when, I swear to gods, we were h...

Nuolikuru, Lapland The general powerlessness, which had been the theme for my autumn days, was again giving me "good" advices to just stay home and not see anybody. Or was it our government's voice? Sometimes I'm not sure anymore. Luckily for me I had promised to go for a day adventure to Nuolikuru canyon ( Arrow Canyon ) with my dear French Friend. We start to drive when it was still dark and arrived to the canyon just when the darkness start to give away for the daylight. The air was cold and I felt little bit chilly. The autumn weather had staid mild and there had not been proper frozen days yet. But the snow had finally come back after a month of absence. Hopefully for good this time. Everything looked so much more brighter and lighter with the snow. We both could feel our minds and bodies growing more lighter and relaxed the minute we entered to the forest. The pure joy of the fresh snow took us over. We climbed on the rocks, slide down the hill sides on our but...

I had some difficulties to decide how to write this story. And I'm still struggling to find the right words to describe the feelings I'm going through. After a long time I made a road trip to Savo . This beautiful lake side paradise of Finland , where I had spend almost two decades of my life. Experiencing the growing pains of the late childhood and beginning of the adulthood. Visiting there has always made me feel little bit uneasy, but the company of my friends  has made it always more easy. This time though, the power of already forgotten emotions took me as a surprise. I was truly exited about the trip. I made travel plans, reading the maps and finding information about cool nature locations. My plan was to drive smaller roads and stop by at interesting and new places. In reality, I was tired from driving, darkness was falling down way too quickly, car was nice and warm, the road was still long ahead of me and I would have liked to be there already. The more South I drove, ...

Peurakuru canyon ( Deer Canyon ) is a magical place. So I heard many years ago. It is located at Pyhätunturi fell area between the lesser peaks Peurakero and Laakakero. The most beautiful canyon of the region, they say, and far away from the touristic easy-access places. So it came a must-visit place for me. It turned out to be almost an impossible place to reach. It actually took me two years and three different adventure entourages to finally get there. So let's go back to the year 2018, when it all started. Our first attempt to visit Peurakuru was in April 2018. Our adventure entourage, me,Viking and Mr. Patzi, started from Luosto and the plan was to ski all the way to Pyhä. It was a three day adventure and on the third day we reached Peurakero peak. It was total whiteout. The clouds were hanging so low, we could not see two metres ahead of us. We didn't know where was up and down. Only whiteness. everywhere. The GPS showed us, the Peurakuru canyon would lay somewhere ahead....