Dogged but slow...

..that's me, unlike the dog who is nippy and quick to learn. We can now clip claws, with Miss T's help, I can't do the left side because I can't work out how to hold her paws left handed, but I can do the right side (?). This is mostly due to a very kind and patient nurse at the animal hospital who took her time to win the dog's confidence and to show me how to do it.
The weather is weird... it poured with rain all Sunday night here, so walking to school on Monday morning was almost impossible. Every other step and Strawbs or I would slide down the very slippery slope, fortunately Miss T (or her boots) was made of sterner stuff and she just pulled us back up. Now the temperature is back down to minus 16 C and the ice isn't quite so lethal.

The Last Day of Christmas!

Thanks to good old King Canute we still have 20 days of Christmas here, so I'm not too late in wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :)
We spent the holidays quietly, but happily with a beautifully decorated tree ...

and wooden angels watching over us...

eating oranges...

watching an eerie 80% eclipse of the sun...

Cross-country skiing with the dog, she was never still long enough to get her in a shot...

Playing in the snow in spite of the extreme cold, at one stage it dropped to minus 36C (-32.8F)...

and sometimes managing to land face first :(

playing board games...
downhill skiing in town :)...

and avoiding Rudolph and friends on the roads.
I'll try and stay up to date from now on, after my long rest.

Staying safe

Please don't worry about the Granny. We're trying to take good care of her: boiling all her water (apparently we have the parasite, cryptosporidium in Europe's cleanest water) and only letting her out with a bodyguard and in the protection of one of Santa's elves. She has to spend a few hours in Stockholm on Tuesday, but we'll wrap her up in some of the cotton wool in the background first.
xxx

Jamtli jul marknad

I 'm here.

Half term

Last week was half-term, holiday here. The girls got the whole week off, and I was able to work from home Thursday and Friday, so we went out to the cottage for a few days. It was great to be able to let the dog off her lead. She loved the freedom. The only problem is she moves so fast it's difficult getting shots of her. Miss T. got the dog to stand still for a second on this shot, then she was off again, flying over stones, snow and ice, while we slipped and skidded. I even lost a welly at one stage, it got stuck between stones under the snow.


The hole in the ants nest in the background of this picture was probably made by a bear. There weren't many blue berries this year, so hopefully the local bears have filled up on ants instead.

Hamlet in a box!

For my birthday Miss T. has made me an amazing present. It's Hamlet in a box. When teaching Shakespeare I normally borrow the girls toys, Barbie dolls, Playmobil, Action Men etc and put on a small production of Hamlet. Now I don't have to hunt around any more for an appropriate toy to play Queen Gertrude or Polonius, I've got them all in a shoe box, each figure carefully crafted and placed in it's own labelled and lined box. The shoe box itself turns into a stage where the pieces can be moved around to create different scenes. She has even included details such as swords, a horse, a throne and a cup of poison. No wonder I haven't been allowed into her room for the last few weeks!



Thank you Toots! I love it and you!

From Four to Five

This is Nipa our new family member. She is 6 years old and comes from the far North. We had to travel several hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle to find her. She is a Nordic Spitz and the most easy going, gentle creature we could have wished for.

After our thousand mile long trek North in search of Nipa, we are catching up with life here at home and preparing for our trip back to the old country to say farewell to our Great Gran.

Back to school... a month ago!

Sorry everyone, there has been a lot going on here, but I'll keep trying to stay on top of it all and whatever happens I shall follow the advise of my Grand mama and keep smiling :):):) too.
And it's not all bad news either, we have a new family member. Introductions tomorrow, if I can fit it in. P.S. Happy Belated Birthday Pa! 26 again!!!

No ghosts allowed!

Travelling on a train a few years ago my youngest daughter asked me why ghosts were not allowed to use the toilet on the train. It took me a while to work it out, but as you can see she's quite right. According to the signs pasted to each toilet lid, ghosts are not allowed to relieve themselves on Swedish trains.

Haunted House?

As ghosts have been a favourite topic of discussion amongst our almost teenagers this summer we took them to visit a local haunted vicarage.

I am glad we didn't stay the night, I don't think we would have got a lot of sleep, it was the sort of house where every floorboard creaked before you even thought of putting a foot on it.


This young man hung from one of the bedroom walls and it is said he haunts the dreams of those who sleep there, or so I have heard from someone who has.


Waffle? Definitely, as the ones served with cloud berry jam and cream in this haunted house were delicious.

From the Stone Age into the 21st century

Holidaying at home we are finding there are plenty of places to keep us all entertained. These photos were taken at a new museum in town where the military history of the area is represented. There was lots of stuff to keep the kids happy and the MOTH took a trip down memory lane.

Touring: rock carvings and horses

Last week we went to see the 5 000 year old rock carvings beside the waterfall at Glosa. It's a place where you can well imagine the people of the Stone Age celebrating a successful hunt and taking their time to leave their mark.

We stopped on the way home for ice creams at Wangen ("a national center for education and development in Swedish trotting" :) We didn't see many horses, I think they must have been, like us, on their summer holidays.