‘When the mosquitos win’

The mozzies are dreadful/

in Finland in summer./

So big they  mess with your head,/

make you feel insane,/

make you run for any form/

of cover./

Or relief.

‘Evening walk in Haukijärvi’

The late evening light/

Encourages a walk/

Through the unknown crops/

Down towards to silver lake.

‘In the green room, in Finland’

Surfing in Finland? Are you crazy?

But it’s amazing what you may find if you look hard enough.

[Using birch loops created by Josephine A. Garibaldi and Paul Zmolek at Arteles Creative Center, Finland]

(Click on the images for larger viewing).

‘The abandoned ice hockey rink (in summer)’

Abandoned and/or disused recreational facilities have a deep melancholy. Their usage long since passed, the screams and shouts have long ago faded and they often stand in lonely remembrance of good times and lives that have now disappeared, or at least changed forever, moved on.

Amusement parks with their fading rides, cracked fibreglass animals suspended in slow decline; boarded up boardwalks, ice cream shops shuttered forever against the bloody sea wind;  old sporting amenities, the arena of minor legendary feats remembered by maybe only one person on earth, their paint peeling and with weeds now ruling the roost.

One such of the latter is an old ice hockey rink near Hämeenkyrö in Finland, in the grounds of what used to be a school, and which is now the Arteles Arts Center. A further tone of poignancy is provided by the fact that, in summer, an abandoned ice hockey rink seems even more redundant.

Some images of that… (Click on images for larger versions)

‘I Will Always Go Seeking Water’ (even in Finland)

My desire to find a body of water in which to immerse myself – or just to simply look at – is one of the strongest I have.

Even whilst in rural Finland, many miles from the sea, I still feel the urge to find water. Of some description.

‘Empty Bars’: a traveller’s lament

Seeing as though I have returned to Finland, here is another reprise of something I did here last year.

Empty Bars…

Finland revisited – ‘The Last Tim Tam’

I am heading back to Finland in a few hours’ time – and here’s hoping it is warmer than when I was last there in February last year. It was minus 25, so ANYTHING will be an improvement. This is a video that captures the sense that I was far far away from home…

‘Ode to a cup of tea’, reprise

Reprising a work from a year or so ago, because winter has come to Sydney and we all need to warm up right now.

‘Founders and Survivors’ – new track

A project pulled together by Mick Thomas, in conjunction with his brother Steve, ‘Founders and Survivors’ looks at the history of Convict settlement in Tasmania. An amazing project in text on the web and in song on record/online, it seeks to trace the stories of convicts who came to Tasmania and who survived to have families whose descendants went on to form an integral part of Tasmanian society.

Mick asked me to pen something for the project, giving me the case of one Beni Griffiths (pictured) to take on in a bid to create something out of his story. That I did, and Mick and I ended up ‘co-writing’ what I feel is a top little tune, with key vocals from Alannah Russack throughout.

Called ‘Can you see across the sea’, it can be heard here …

http://www.founders-storylines.com/accessible/index.php/storyline/id/startingwithmurder/songline

Enjoy!

Oncoming trucks

Oncoming trucks – the truest view of an Australian desert drive