Fjessom: 1st Canadian blog post - about my animals back in Scandinavia

Disclaimer: To avoid having to choose between writing in Swedish and Norwegian, I'll just go for English for a while from now.

(Very infrequent blogging going on here.. Bear with me. Better late than never?)

Ember
I just bought a horse. August 26th I left Gothenburg for Halifax, Canada, to stay here for four months as an exchange student, and the day before I left I bought Ember. She is a wonderful little creature, a one year old mare bred by my friend Lobelia Barker (who also made my tattoo). Ember's father is the fairy tale-like cremello Spanish horse Levante, and the mother is the beautiful and very talented coldblooded trotter Haiwa. Ember is palomino coloured - golden with silver coloured mane and tail - but she changes in colour from quite pale to almost red, so it will be exciting to see how she will be when she grows up. She seems social, intelligent, calm and absolutely charming. While I am in Canada, and probably for some months after that as well, she will continue to live with her friends and family at Lobelia's place. That is about 1-2 hours by bus from where I live in Gothenburg, so I can visit Ember often when I get back there. The next few years will be filled with me and Ember getting to know each other, a lot of playing around and going for walks and her getting to know my dear Otto, and eventually some ground work - there is no stress in reaching the riding-part of her education, it will come when we are both ready. And imagine - we will hopefully be together until I am around 50-55 years old! Wow...

Thanks to Linda for the second photo and to Lobelia for the third and fourth! More pictures of Ember here.

Levante and Ember in march, 2013


When I was considering to buy her. (How can anyone resist someone like her?)

The day Lobelia and I signed the paper.

Barbie
Just to make it very clear, I have not forgotten "my" absolutely fantastic Barbie, and I still plan to be a lot with her in the future too! For those who don't know: She's my "fôrhest"/"medryttarehäst" (?) in Oslo. I've had the joy of knowing her since 2007, and depending on where I've been studying I've been riding her more or less frequently since then. It was with her I learned to ride according to the Academic Art of Riding (akademisk ridkonst/ridekunst), and I've learned so much from her. For some years I used to be with her 3-4 times a week. The past two years when I've been living in Gothenburg I've almost not had time, but I try to visit her as often as I can (which is always way too seldom). It always feels like coming home when I am with her. We had some wonderful days together in august before I left, and I miss her very much!

Thanks to Henrik for taking the photos.

Coming home from a ride.

Otto
Before I left I had to leave Otto with my sister Inger. They both know each other very well and I'm quite sure he'll have (and is already having) a wonderful time there. But still - the feeling of leaving him is horrible! There are so many small things that keep reminding me of him, and I miss him enormously. There is no-one who reacts when I get up from my chair, or when I put on my shoes, or when I move at all, no-one who follows me around and sniffs on everything when I'm walking in the forest or barks when I'm swimming in the lakes. Strange. Flexibility and all that is nice, but I know now that for me it's not worth it - the little extra planning I have to do to get home to him and take him with me to places and the flexibility I loose is made up a thousand times and more by the everyday feeling of happiness he gives. Just so you know. Haha, I have to find a dog here that I can walk sometimes - I'm having dog abstinences...

Thanks to Louise for the first, second and fourth photo.