Finding Petronella
A young woman, a 90-year-old Lappish legend, and the journey of a lifetime.
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In the the middle of a pond on my friend Ami’s gold claim in Lemmenjoki National Park, there is a floating armchair. The water, which may be warm during the summer, begins to drop down toward freezing come September. What, you may be asking, could possibly motivate me to sit naked with a local newspaper in my hands in a floating armchair in the middle of a freezing pond? There is only one thing. She is a… Read More
Saturday October 11, 2014 It is somewhere way deep down in the morning before the light, and I am awake. I am awake because I can’t figure out how to say goodbye. I came to Finland with the hope of being more than a tourist. I wanted to slow down and settle in, to stay long enough to allow the people and the place to sink into my skin. I have written about the major triumphs and pitfalls… Read More
“You are still here!” Tinnti the boat driver looked at me in mild surprise as I walked up to where he and a bunch of other men were seated on the bench at Kultahamina. “Of course.” “Where you been?” “Pihlajamäki.” “When you come back?” “Maybe next weekend to go fishing with Aki and Ami, and then in a few weeks I’ll go down south to hike Petronella’s longer route here over Morgam-Vibus. After… Read More
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves…do not seek the answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” -Ranier Maria Rilke If you wanted to take the direct route… Read More
Finding Petronella 