Contrasts

Saturday  this week

Saturday last week

Returning home from sunny Florida I was met with winter.

We had a beautiful flight over a winter landscape when returning to Oslo, with the evening sun setting and coloring the mountains in light pink hues.

And I was happy to come home.

This morning it was -18C/ 0F.

I was slightly less happy to be home.

Watch out

....over there guys, because on Thursday I am leaving for Orlando, US!

It will be the first time for me to visit USA, so it will be exciting.

I am to attend a symposium related to the project I was working with in Paris, but will have a couple of days to have a look around too. 

(Any suggestions?)

The weather at home is not much to be happy about.

We have changed from summer time to winter time, so now it's dark when I come home from work and it's been raining too.

*sigh*

Weather forecast for tomorrow at home is:

but, in Orlando it's:

I can live with that.

Autumn

I am looking at my pictures in previous blog posts, and it seems so long ago...

Fame isn't quite that keen on taking a bath now.

The temperature drops below freezing point during the nights.

"You're sure? We are to cross? Just let me take a drink first....and maybe we should just turn around while we are at it?"

Nope.

It was two beautiful autumn days this weekend.

During the week too, but then I was sitting at the office, longing to get out and once I got home the sun was too low.

So I was a happy girl to get sunshine during the weekend too!

We had a lovely bareback hack, Fame and me, all by ourselves taking one of the roads that climbs up one of the mountain sides.

It was late afternoon, and the higher we got the more sunshine we had.

What are you doing up there?

Unfortunately much of the view over the valley on the way up is blocked by trees, but on some points there's a clearance. When you get up far enough you can see all the way down to the sea.

(My cell phone does not do justice to what we saw)

There is even a small resting place at one clearing for those who walk up by their own legs and don't cheat, like me.

Once up at the top I jumped off Fame, and walked beside her the way down though.

She wasn't all that happy with the servings. Where's the lush grass? 

Autumn is a beautiful period of the year.
All those wonderful colours, and the blue sky.

Last weekend, we were on Labour Camp.
Our Danish trainer Jimmi was here, and we had training sessions Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
I am afraid I am unable to share any pictures from the training session as my photographer refuses to accompany me to the indoor arena (*sigh*)

We had a dressage session on Friday.
Much of the tension that we struggled with a couple of months ago has been solved, and it's been so fun to work lately.
But if you solve one problem, it's time to take care of the next one!
We have to continue to work to improve Fame's strength, through more collected work.
I feel that the trot work has gotten better (which we struggled with earlier, hooray!) but that the canter needs more work. Half-pass in trot has improved, in canter we still struggle.
We played around a bit with some flying changes, and I need her up in form to improve them.
Jimmi was satisfied with the work though, and I was very happy with my horse.

On Saturday and Sunday we played show jumpers.
I find it great fun, and so does my horse - but unfortunately we don't get any regular training.
She was such a good girl though, enthusiastically attacking anything in front of her, and doing a good job of it too (in spite of the dimwit on top of her).
All in all it was a good weekend, with a lot of fun!

A kisss, anyone?

Childishly fun

I am 47.
I have been riding for 41 years.
And I still think it is superduperMEGA-FUN!
After returning home from the project in France, I am so happy to be back with the horses, and I get really disappointed if I miss out riding one day.
(OK,OK, when it was raining cats and dogs the other day, we took a day off)
Isn't it amazing?
I mean, after over 40 years. That it still makes you as excited as a 10 yo with pink brushes and a new riding helmet, waiting for the the riding school lesson to start, and hoping, hoping to get the favourite horse.
Except I get my favourite every time.
*smirk*
Fame is so fun to work with these days.
I am just like a 10 year-old.

Not Mr Nice Guy at all

Today's juicy piece....

I have to share something I read on  Claire's blog (thanks Claire!)

Sjef Janssen, the controversial trainer and husband to Anki van Grunsveen, has been sued in civil court regarding a horse sale, and found guilty:

"...because he [Janssen] had been unable to find a buyer at the price plaintiffs were asking, he would forgo his commission if plaintiffs accepted the $312,000 offer"

"Plaintiffs subsequently learned, without disclosure from defendant, that the buyer had actually paid defendant $480,000"
Read more

Oh-la-la Janssen.

Somehow this doesn't surprise me.

Congratulations

...to Anna and Fame who won Spiller's Cup today!
Anna is 16 and is riding Fame twice a week.
Spiller's Cup consists of two shows where one is show jumping and the other is dressage.
(Such a nice idea to have a cup that combines both, don't you think?)

I was cheering them on from the side of the arena with a nasty cold *croak, croak*
and was of course childishly proud of them both.

Paris, London...and finally, HOME!!!

My daughter on Charlie

After finishing the project in France, I just needed a breather from computers.
Kind of took a while.
Being outside with the horses is still very much more tempting than sitting inside, so  I guess my blogging will be a bit sporadic until the weather gets worse, lol!

So what's happened?
We finished the project in France end of July.
To try and compensate for the fact that I was sitting still all day into the evening, and then topped it up with a three course dinner (I suppose you can guess the result) my collegue Louise from UK and I started walking to the office, something that took beween 45 mns to an hour, one way.
It was uphill on the way home, so a pit-stop for a beer was needed (we did walk, didn't we???)
On our way we saw many things:

The French school children take the "pedibus" and walk to school.
This is a collection point (isn't it cute!)

In absence of Dupond and Dupont you can always call the Brunos

French real estate agents have a completely different approach to marketing than their Norwegian collegues....

On the last day, the whole project team was invited to dinner on one of the river Seine boats.
It was the perfect wrap-up as we went past all of Paris' monuments while the night closed in, enjoying a nice dinner and the company of each other for the last time.

Pont Alexandre III

Passing Notre-Dame

Yes, it is amazing. And the very image of Paris.

Paris is a wonderful city.
I hardly got home to unpack my things when my daughter suggested we should go on a trip to London.
So we did, for four days! It was so nice, she is 15 now - and we had such a good time.

She is an avid Agatha Christie fan, so we just had to go and see "The Mousetrap", the theatre show that has been running continously since 1952, written by Christie.
It was very good, both fun and with a good portion of suspense.
In the end, we had to give a solemn vow not to tell our friends who the murderer was. So, sorry guys!

My daughter in action

Kensington Palace (where princess Diana lived)

It is not only Peter Pan who lives in Kensington Gardens.
I believe Hansel and Gretel lives here too.

Seven Dials

Neal's Yard

Shop in Covent Garden

London is such a charming city, and I would love to make a reapeat trip next summer.
We had a relaxing stay; took two guided tours (London Tower and Jack the Ripper Walk) and apart from that just did some exploring, and enjoyed some nice food in London's many restaurants.
We spent some hours at Foyle's, the reknown book shop, and bought a book each.
That was all our shopping...

But the very best thing?
And the very best place to be?

Home.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Hey guys, where are you?
All dressed up and ready to party....

Me, me, me FIRST!!!! Yeeah!!!!
The girl is MINE!
Charlie is the first to arrive and is so happy to see Fame again....

...but not for long.
One girl on three boys can be difficult to divide.
And in the background the Boss (26) is slowly approaching.
Make Way, there.

Guess where the girl is.

Girls Smell Nice.

Now the girl is MINE!
Nessprinten is guarding Fame jealously. Too close and there's trouble.
Poor Charlie, he had looked forward to some scratching.

Before getting to the pasture, we took a detour.
No summer without a Beach Trip.
It was warm today, 26 centigrades, and I almost did not manage to get Fame out of the water.
She just loves a bath on a warm day. Me too.

To a girl, wearing correct shoes on every occation is Very Important.
(Trust me, I am spending half my life in Paris at the moment.
In France they take shoes AND beach life very seriously)

Savvy???

The summer in Scandinavia is not long, and it is so beautiful right now.
Those long, light summer nights.

And all those lovely wild flowers!
(Yes, they are very nice, says Fame.
Crunch, crunch)

Who needs Paris?

A whole summer of Grass Party. How much better can it get???
(OK. Will miss the beach.)
Fame says
"Have a Nice Summer Everyone"

Summer

Not much activity here these days, I am afraid.

Work, travel and good weather is keeping me away from the computer....but a small update?

One of the very best things in my horse-year is to let the horses out on summer pasture.

It feels so good to know that they for the upcoming weeks can eat all their heart desires of grass, romp around with the rest of the gang, and just be a Horse.

On Friday we let Charlie loose.

Fame should have joined him  but had somehow got a cut on the inside of her right hock, so she is on antibiotics and has to wait for a few days.

Charlie is thoroughly checked.

Aaah. You're you the same guy that was here last year?

Charlie prefers grazing to socializing.

OK guys, let's start walking!

Nessprinten (at the back) is still at 26 yo the Boss.

Me and Fame took a small walk to get the swelling down.

We splashed around in the creek (wonderful on a warm day), did some grassing on the way and fought flies and mosquitos.

We even saw a moose. Not so usual during summer time.

It was a male, his antlers had begun to grow. They lose them when winter comes, and for each year the antlers get bigger, to all hunter's delight.

It is so lovely outside now, all that lush green.

Fame's best friend, Fire-Bell, became a Mum this weekend.

Here the foal, Fire-Fly, is out for the very first time:

Isn't it amazing that they can manage to balance on those long, thin legs?

I have planned for a long time to write a post about turning/bending aids, but there has simply not been enough time. It will come though, and I would be happy for any contributions or comments on this. So think about it!

I wish you all a very good summer!

Siri/Zan-Day and Hjalmar/Tarzan