Finnish song from Ursula Under

I recently finished reading Ursula Under, a swirling novel which delves deep into the ancestry of a little girl trapped in a well. It's very fanciful, with stories about ancient China, a Swedish Queen and more. Most interesting are the episodes about Finnish migration to Michigan.

A short Finnish song sung by one character caught my eye...

"Life is as hard as the icy rock under the turf, and we slip on it sometimes, and then we get up to find life is as hard as the icy rock under the turf, and we slip on it sometimes, and then we get up..." and she sings it until she is laughing right through her tears."

Happy Christmas!

It's Christmas, and I'm in Ireland. Happy Christmas to one and all.

Mama Sweden map, by Joel

I am still continuing to ask European people to draw maps of their country. The latest candidate was Joel, a good friend from Sweden who has since moved back there.

Here's his drawing, emphasising Sweden, his motherland.

See all the drawings of Europe's country's maps here - or the stories of how I collected them here