This morning, I received an email from Cousin Matti in Finland with a digital image of the report in the Savo regional newspaper about my visit to Finland during the last week in June.
The headline translates into “Enjoying a Visit to My Grandparents’ Birthplace.”
I wrote a basic article and sent it to Matti a couple weeks ago and he fine-tuned it and added photos, then submitted it to the newspaper, which is distributed in Vesanto, the village from which my paternal grandparents immigrated at the beginning of the 20th century.
The group photo shows me with several cousins at one of the visits planned for me by Cousin Matti.
If you are curious about the books I am posing with, here are some details: During a quick visit to a bookstore in Helskinki with Matti’s wife Paula, I purchased a copy of Väinö Linna (Unknown Soldiers) in Finnish for my brother Walfrid and a copy in English for myself. The book follows the fortunes of Finnish soldiers during World War II. It is one of Finland’s best-loved books. (NOTE: Walfrid does read Finnish, hence the Finnish language version for him.)
I will be working with Google Translate to convert the Finnish to English. Watch this space.
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