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Continue reading →: Around KuopioOn Friday I stayed in Siilinjärvi, near to its golf course, with forest trails and frisbee golf also, but it was quiet, as the afternoon had brought drizzly rain. It was about half an hour’s drive south to Kuopio from here. I was headed for Kuopio as I had tentatively…
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Continue reading →: Tiilikkajärvi National ParkI’ve just had an enjoyable week in Tiilikkajärvi National Park which is about an hour and a half north east of Kuopio, in the region of Northern Savonia, or north Savo as it is known, it would be referred to as Central Finland. It is one of the more recent…
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Continue reading →: Suspicion by Seichō Matsumoto
translated from the Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood – originally published in Japanese in 1982, this is a new translation Many writers base their novel around an actual case, and then go on to develop the story and characters, and so give it their own take.. asking perhaps “What if this…
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Continue reading →: We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson
American Literature – published 1962 Second time round by audiobooks during dog walks.. read splendidly by Bernadette Dunn. One of my all time favourite reads, and let me quote, one of the novel’s first reviews which is completely applicable.. John K. Sherman in The Minneapolis Star Tribune, October 14, 1962..…
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Continue reading →: A wet weekend around KajaaniAfter an excellent midweek at Rokua I headed further east, towards Russia, though not that far. On Friday it was enough to stop at Paltamo. There was a supermarket to stock up at, and another golf course that claims to be the best in Finland; more realistic is the best…
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Continue reading →: Not So Barren or Uncultivated: British Travellers in Finland 1760-1830 by Tony Lurcock
British Literature – nonfiction – published 2010 I’m currently on my fourth trip to the country, this time for a few months, so was keen to read this, and Lurcock’s other two books. This is a great anthology of writing from Lurcock, who brings together the writings of 20 intrepid…
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Continue reading →: Rokua National ParkRokua National Park was founded in 1956 to protect the natural-state lichen heaths and unusual geologic features of the area. Rokua is one of the oldest national parks in Finland, the first were established in 1938. More were founded in 1956. Rokua is located at the southern end of a…
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Continue reading →: Ada by Mark Haber
American Literature – published July 2026 I’m new to Mark Haber, and on the strength of this I will be seeking out more of his books. I was assured that he writes with wry humour, usually succinct historical fiction featuring flawed male narrators. That certainly is the case here. Gerard…
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Continue reading →: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
What to do with Friday evenings in the rugby offseason, a question that bothered me until I stumbled back across some of the old Hammer House of Horror movies from the late 1960s and early 70s. I watched most of these in the 1970s in my teen years. These days…
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Continue reading →: The North Bothnian coast around OuluI had two nights at the marina at Alaranka, which is a suburb of the small town of Ii, pronounced simply as a long ‘eee..’. It was a river marina, on the Iijoki river, and it was a relatively warm, humid and wet couple of days. Though mosquitoes flew about,…
To live more widely
supera superiora sequi
SafeReturnDoubtful is my alias. Rua is my fox red labrador pup, born 14 Feb 2026 and learning fast..
Where is Rua?
I was so much older then…
Quote of the Week
Alice asked the Cheshire Cat, who was sitting in a tree, ‘What road do I take?’ The cat asked, ‘Where do you want to go?’ ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered. ‘Then,’ said the cat, ‘it really doesn’t matter, does it?’
Lewis Carroll
