Geographically, Finland is not a part of Scandinavia. However, Scandinavia is a term generally used by outsiders to describe Denmark,...

Apparently, when Covid came, it made little difference to a Finnish bus queue. The Finns did the same as they always did and stayed two...

Reindeer Rides in Santa's Village in Lapland Would we or wouldn't we take a reindeer ride ? I felt like an American tourist down near the...

House of Santa Claus in Rovaniemi, Lapland In a sense, once we ring in the New Year, wherever we are in the world, we are inevitably...

Photo from https://www.myhelsinki.fi/places/helsinki-cathedral/ Happy St Patrick's Day, everyone! One of my favourite 'blessings' is: As...

Photo of Oodi, the Central Library of Helsinki, courtesy of the Oodi website I don’t want to give any oxygen to an unelected billionaire...

Address by President of the Republic of Finland Alexander Stubb at the Support Ukraine plenary session in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 24 February...

It’s hard to believe that it’s over 50 years ago since ABBA won the Eurovision with Waterloo in 1974. They may not be Finnish, but are...

As well as being the happiest people in the world, Finland has also taken the crown as the number one coffee-drinking nation per capita, ...

'Knife' by Salman Rushdie I was delighted to be invited to join the (English language) book club with the International Women’s Group in...

On His Deathbed by Edvard Munch The number of museums, exhibitions and cultural experiences that are available in Helsinki, and indeed...

On paper at least, there is no way the Finns should be declared as the happiest people in the world - and for the seventh year in a row....

I am lucky enough to be involved in a few wonderful writing groups. Our poetry writing group, FinyTribe (don't ask, it would need a...

Useful Tips for Descriptions and Emergencies I have been back and forth to Helsinki, the capital city of Finland, since my husband Seán...

Happy New Year to everyone, especially to my blog subscribers. By what date is it determined to be too late to offer this wish, I...

At this busy time of year, reading microfictions is a great way to get some 'literary nourishment' in short spurts. A microfiction is...

In recent months I was lucky enough to be introduced to the people and to the wonderful creative community space that is The Well in...

It's that time of year already and it's time to take a look at the Spring brochure for Adult Education in Knocklyon....

(This piece was originally published in 'InTouch' magazine, INTO , December 2013, but it is no longer available online in their archive....

(This microfiction of exactly 100 words was the Winner of the People's Prize in Retreat West in March 2022. The prompt that month was the...