Ever wonder where the expression Blood is thicker than water comes from? Or what it actually means? You might think that it means that family relationships and loyalties are the strongest and most important ones, keeping people closer together. Stronger than friendships or even love relationships - where although closeness and intimacy is tangible, no blood is shared. But actually the opposite is true. The Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb is a medieval proverb that means that bonds of friendship or love will always be stronger than bonds of family. Continue reading

This time in our series First Names First it is all about Paula! Here below is a chronological list of some of the women born with that name. Pick one and then follow the Wikipedia link to read about these women, and see what if anything they could contribute your life with. Give a couple of minutes of your life to this. Lives lived all have something to tell us – let them! Continue reading

A view from Hallgrimskirkja towards Skólavörðurstígur This is part in the article series Streets and Squares that provide some interesting background information on street signs around the world. A fun way to learn about the history and culture of the cities you visit or even live in! This time we go to Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, founded in 1785. We don’t find many eponymous streets in Reykjavik, at least not ones named after people. Continue reading

This month in “First Names First” it is all about Paul & Paula in the usual male and female posts respectively. The year in brackets indicates the year of birth. Why not follow one of those Wikipedia links to read about the person, and then see what if anything they could contribute your life with. Inspiration, passion, enlightenment, encouragement, empathy, etc. Or just thoughts for the day. Paul Revere* silversmith/industrialist/Patriot in the American Revolution – Boston, Massachusetts Bay, British America (1735) Continue reading

This time a little longer quotation, but one which describes so well its writer. Who might that be? “There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me." First of all, that is a masterful description of the star sign she was born under, Sagittarius. And the characteristics of which are seen in many of her novels. Continue reading

This time in Language Day we go through one word in daily use all over the world: grandmother! Let’s see the official (in bold) and the colloquial word (in italics) for these darlings in some of the countries in detail. Note that some languages make a distinction between maternal and paternal grandmothers (and grandfathers for that matter). The colloquial use given here are the most common ones. There may always be local and cultural variations. Continue reading

This time in “First Names First” it is all about Erika/Erica! A very international name as you can see in the list below. Why not follow one of those Wikipedia links to read about the person, and then see what if anything she could contribute your life with. Inspiration, passion, enlightenment, encouragement, empathy, etc. Or just thoughts for the day. Erika Lindström* teacher/missionary /writer – Sund, Åland, GD of Finland (1879) Continue reading

National Mall in Washington D,C. Photo credit: Matti Blume This time in Streets and Squares the capital of the United States of America, and the place that is all over the news this inauguration day: Washington D.C. Many of the streets in central Washington D.C. are state names, so we skip them as we are only looking for people here. We also look at the many parks of Washington D.C. And as always, clicking on the address links leads you to Google Maps, and clicking on the names usually to the person’s Wikipedia page. Continue reading

Another piece in our series First Names First! Pick one of the names that you see below. Then follow the Wikipedia link to read about that person, and to see what if anything he could contribute your life with. Inspiration, passion, enlightenment, encouragement, empathy, etc. Give a couple of minutes to this for lives lived have all something worthwhile to tell us. This time it is all about Erik! (Eric will have its own post) Continue reading

A polyglot myself, I luckily stumbled the other day upon a great new acquaintance as far as language sites go. An Italian polyglot by the name of Stefano whose knowledge and interest in my mother tongue Finnish truely impressed me. He has a YouTube site called linguaEpassione with lots of quality content, and more coming of course. Stefano’s thoughts about studying Finnish and the response from Finns to his avid interest in their small language reminded me of the response I got from my Greek teacher in Stockholm University. Continue reading

This time in our series First Names First it is all about Dorothy! Here below is a chronological list of some of the women born with that name. Pick one and then follow the Wikipedia link to read about these women, and see what if anything they could contribute your life with. Give a couple of minutes of your life to this. Lives lived all have something to tell us – let them! Continue reading

Time to have a city from South America here in Streets and Squares. Let’s have a look at Buenos Aires, the capital and the largest city of Argentina. As always, clicking on the addresses will open Google Maps for you, and clicking on the names will (usually) lead to the person’s Wikipedia page. AVENIDA JUAN B. JUSTO - Juan B. Justo (1865-1928) was a physician, journalist and socialist politician from Buenos Aires. Continue reading

douglas adams inspired “Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy” H2G2 Another piece in our series First Names First! This time about Douglas, sometimes shortened as Doug. Pick one of the names that you see below. Then follow the Wikipedia link to read about that person, and to see what if anything he or she could contribute your life with. Inspiration, passion, enlightenment, encouragement, empathy, etc. Give a couple of minutes to this for lives lived have all something worthwhile to tell us. Continue reading

Another great quote in our series Who Said That! A very current one these days with the ongoing idiosyncrasies of one Western politician, as opposed to those of a more accepted and honorable ways of behavior of one in a public office. Do you know who said this: “A statesman is he who thinks in the future generations, and a politician is he who thinks in the upcoming elections”. There are politicians from all layers of society, with different backgrounds and varying abilities to handle the affairs of state or community. Continue reading

In these times of COVID-19 when traveling is scarce for whatever reason and wherever we are, it’s great to have access to the simple pleasures of Google’s Street View. Walking down the streets, driving through areas, watching what we might find behind a corner - even if some maps do need some updating too. And planning perhaps some future trip. So let’s explore a bit. À la Language Day. Let’s see how the word map translates in different languages. Continue reading

Yet another piece in our series First Names First! This time about Jill! It is a short form of the name Jillian (Gillian), which in turn originates as a Middle English variant of Juliana, the feminine form of the name Julian. Below is a chronological list of some of the women born with that name. Pick one and then follow the Wikipedia link to read about these women, and see what if anything they could contribute your life with. Continue reading

We head in Streets & Squares this time to a slightly smaller city or shall we say town. Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. As always in Streets & Squares, clicking on the address links leads you to Google Maps, and clicking on the names to the person’s Wikipedia page. ANN STREET - Ann Edgar, wife of the portrait painter Henry Raeburn (1756-1823). Raeburn designed Ann Street, and named it after his wife. Continue reading

After a long while, let us have another piece in the article series Who Said That! We present a quotation, a few ideas around it, and finally the person behind it. There are so many good quotes by people throughout history that reflect the complexities of life that do not change a whole lot, no matter which era you live in. So, who said: “Life is the farce that everyone has to perform. Continue reading

In honor of the president-elect, let’s have this time in First Names First the name Joe! Often short for Joseph. Pick one of the names below, follow the Wikipedia link to read about the person, and then see what if anything he could contribute your life with. Inspiration, passion, enlightenment, encouragement, empathy, etc. Or just thoughts for the day. Give a couple of minutes of your life to this. Lives lived may all have something worthwhile to tell us – let them! Continue reading

This time in “First Names First” it is all about Jodie! It is a unisex given name, but here we deal with only the female side of it. Follow one of the Wikipedia links to read about the person, and then see what if anything she could contribute your life with. Inspiration, passion, enlightenment, encouragement, empathy, etc. Or just thoughts for the day. Jodie Evans* political activist/author/ documentary film producer – Las Vegas, NV USA (1954) Continue reading