Warning: this is a skier-geek post, but it has everything to do with skiing in Finland, so if that's in your wheelhouse, read on. In one...

I was in my hotel room in Stamford, CT, right after the holidays, when I heard a news update about a strange sickness in Wuhan, China,...

Morning from my room in Vuokatti I wanted to get my very expensive Madshus skate ski boots here from Duluth. That's how it started. I...

We had a lot of Brio-style toys before Brio was probably common. They were art toys—abstractions of real things. I mostly remember cars...

You understand why I’ve been in dispose from blogging for a brief stretch here. I’ve had a few, lighter Finnish-centric topics clicking...

I turned 49 yesterday. Kind of an odd one. You have all these birthdays once you become an adult; 21, 30, 40, that kind of mean...

Surprise! Two-fer post today! The only real Finnish connection to this post is hockey. While Finland is the backdrop for the loose...

The template on my blog host page says at the top, “Add a Catchy Title.” No, this isn’t a post about male strip clubs in Finland. It’s...

America’s diversity of special, spectacular landscapes is really like no other country on earth. From the geysers of Yellowstone to to...

I just got done with my first bike ride in several days. The weather has been rainy and cold—deeply overcast and dark. The days off from...

Liiga is everywhere. We’re being bombarded with TV ads. I heard at least 6 ads on the radio in the commute to school and back this...

It’s easier to be smitten with anything cast in its best light. When all you’ve ever really known of a place is seen through rose-colored...

When you’re a new parent, you think of all the things that can harm your child, and most seem to hit you in the first 48 hours after the...

On a sunny, fall Sunday afternoon a few days ago, I sat with Taavi and Iita next to our bikes on Jyvaskyla’s harbor, working at my pear...

Flavors are a window into the soul of a culture. Curry and saffron on the Indian subcontinent. Ginger and garlic in China. Miso and...

Life. Living. The meaning of life. Elämä on Laiffii. I don’t think one can make a move with their family to another country mid-way...

At any point in life prior to marrying Mimmu, if you’d have told me some day I’d be extolling the wonders of rye bread, I’d have called...

Somewhere around Oulu it struck me. I was about to see where my family came from. The farm that is there was built in a hamlet called...

If you think you can live here without a squeegee, think again. Most Americans are familiar with the squeegee. We have one at home in...

Having a bike in Finland is to worry about it being stolen. This seems like an overstatement, but it isn’t. Finns, by and large, ride...