Today is the final day of our local farmer’s market. It is a pleasant outing and I go almost every week to purchase fresh produce. I will miss it. Many of the vendors had crates of apples. The apples are beautiful and abundant this year. I was delighted to find…
Northern Finland is above the Artic Circle. During the summer, the sun never sets, skimming the horizon at night. The growing season is short, but the hours of sunlight are long. Wild flowers and berries flourish. My husband and I visited Finland during the summer and experienced the amazing hours…
As I spend time gardening, I am thankful for the wonderful variety of plants and bushes that God has provided for our enjoyment and nourishment. My love of berries might be due to my Finnish heritage. So many different kinds of berries grow in Finland, wild and cultivated. The strawberries…
Raspberries and blueberries are in season. The raspberries in my yard have abundant berries. They are so good with ice cream! They are also good with a Finnish oven pancake (Pannukakku). Here is a recipe for this slightly sweetened pancake. Ingredients: Preheat oven to 400°. Beat eggs in a large…
When I was growing up, we usually had cardamom in the house—a spice necessary for a Finnish coffee bread, nisu. On special occasions my mother made nisu, and eventually I learned to make it. Cardamom grows only in tropical and subtropical zones. It is curious that it is a popular spice in…
When my grandmother was nineteen years old, she came across the ocean by boat. She made her way to Upper Michigan by train. Two of her brothers had settled there. She left behind her mother, father, sisters and brothers whom she never saw again. She didn’t forget them. She wrote…
The trip to Finland in 2017 had several purposes. We were meeting some relatives for the first time at a family reunion in northern Finland. After the reunion my husband I traveled south by train. When we arrived in Vaasa (western coast of Finland) we rented a car. The midwife…
The leaves are changing color, flames of red and gold. The fall roses are still blooming in northern Michigan. God has inscribed color and beauty on earth. The design of the earth and its seasons, the design of all creatures, the design of the human body comes from God, our…
At the beginning of the twentieth century my grandmother immigrated to a mining town in Upper Michigan, from Finland. She married a copper miner in the Copper Country. Long after my grandmother passed away I learned about the miner’s strike and a disaster that killed 73 people, most of them…
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 God’s amazing design is before us in the birth of Jesus. Jesus did not enter our world as an…