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

Reckless riding

In my late teens, I vowed together with my best friends that we would never be square, boring adults.
Volvo, kids, the whole package. It sounded so absolutely Not Fun.
We would stay young.
I even remember something about wearing skin skirts (this was in the beginning of the happy 80ies) but at 47 with sagging knees and cellulites I don't find it such a good idea as I thought at the age of 18.

But maybe my 18 yo self would have approved of me Monday.

I have missed riding Fame being away so much, and as she had her vaccine she had the weekend off from work.
(Grumble, grumble)
This week I would stay at home though.
When Monday came I had planned to do some dressage training, but the weather had been lovely lately and the outdoor arenas were dry and very dusty, and it was warm.
Hmmm.

Instead I found my hackamore, jumped on bareback and headed out in the forest.
The evening was lovely, and Fame kept tossing her head and jogging.
Had I been a horse I would have been tossing my head too.
We felt GOOOD.

After splashing around a bit in the creek, we settled for the long and winding gravel road up the slopes of Grøttum, several kilometers steadily climb up one of the mountains.

Sometimes I get these wonderful moments of togetherness with my horse, and this was one of those occations.
I was just so very happy to be on my horse again, enjoying the scenery and the wonderful summer evening, and I could feel that my horse was just as happy as me.
I guess we both felt a little bit crazy.

And when we came to the start of the slope, I just gave her the reins, and let her go.
She started out in a normal canter, but soon the joy of being alive, feeling powerful and strong, made her take off.
And here I was, a middle-aged, grey-haired (un)responsible Mum clinging on my horse bareback and going at full speed so fast that it made my eyes water, and I had this itsybitsy feeling in my stomach about "will she stop?".
And it was wonderful.

And of course she stopped.
She's  a dressage horse, isn't she?
We just forget ourselves sometimes.

(To be frank, even dressage horses get tired after running at full tilt uphill for a long period of time. Hahem.)

Paris

Paris.
The city of all cities.
And my place to work for most of the week until mid of July.

I have found the most wonderful place to stay.
Our office in Paris is located northwest of the city center, in Nanterre. (Some 15 minutes with the metro.)
Last week I stayed in a hotel in Nanterre which was not the most charming experience.
Heavy traffic outside the window, and a vintage wall-to-wall carpet.

As a result my collegue Louise from UK and myself surfed the net and found this wonderful little place.
Les jardines de Camille.
It is situated between Paris and Nanterre, in Suresnes.

It is a lovely restaurant and a chambres d'hôtes, i.e the propriator has some rooms for rent.
So Louise and me got fresh, newly decorated rooms (without a wall to wall carpet) with exit to a small terrace.
And the best, the view:

You can see the Eiffel Tower much clearer in reality, my cellphone does not make justice to the view.

Here you can see La Défense, Paris new business area.
And the food.....*sigh*

Duck carpaccio.
Heaven.

View from the window.

And eating the breakfast in the morning sun; coffee and fresh baked croissants, and the Eiffel Tower just ahead of me.
(Might even be worth being away from home for a while?)

On Thursday we went downtown Paris for a dinner,everyone in the project.
The trees were full of lovely blue flowers. Amazing.

We went to Graindorge, a small Belgian restaurant not far from the Arc de Triomphe.

Again, wonderful food. 

And I brought something home:

I thought it would be hectic to take on this project, and it has been, perhaps even more than I thought.

It is very interesting though.

Well at home, we arranged a dressage show today.

I had to work at the arrangement, so no start for me.
But Anna, who is a year older than my daughter and rides Fame twice a week started Fame and won her class.

So did my daughter and Charlie.

So I was both a proud Mum and a proud horse owner today!

Anna and Fame

These are a few of my favourite things...

.

To bury my head in the fur of a sleeping cat.
Feel the amazing softness, and the clean, warm fragance of cat.
Hear the purr.

To hack out with my daughter.
Share a laugh, often about our funny horses.
Canter alongside each other, and feel the togetherness both of us, and our horses.
Enjoy the nature, and the beauty in small and large things.

My horse.
Her eyes.
Her soft nicker.


To sit on the entrance stairs with a cup of coffee, enjoying the last rays of sun and the fresh air after spending the day in the office.
Small things.
Important things.


How about you?

Hannover

Coming down to Hannover, Germany I was met with sun and summer temperatures.
We had some lovely flowers right outside the hotel.


As we were sitting indoors working long days, I started the mornings with a walk in the small park just outside the hotel.
There was a flock of rabbits living there, and they were all out having their breakfast when I was having my morning walk. 
I just love watching those white tails bobbing away when they were keeping a safe distance to me.
There were some very cute youngsters among them too.

One of the evenings I met my friend Anne, who is living in Hannover.
We had a dinner outside in the lovely warm evning, and talked mostly horse - I had a very good time!
In Germany it is Spargelzeit now, aspargus season, something that I took advantage of:

Thursday evening all participants in the project team were transported by bus to a small village outside Hannover.
We were invited into an old restaurant ( building dated 1606) to a medival dinner.

After a short intro from our host, the first meal was served:

The potatoes were just poured out on the middle of the table from some large baskets carried around, lol!
Kind of a rustic way to serve...but as you see all was in the same setting; we had a wooden plate, a knife and a wood spoon.
So it was just to dig in.
Potatoes were served with sour cream and bacon in bowls to be shared with people around you.

We had some very nice meat further on, and our large beer mugs were never empty.
Some of the guys volunteered to get some extra liquor, also served in a rather rustic way:

The atmosphere was rather high after a while, and as there were many nationalities we ended up singing songs from every country.
The buss took the still singing, rowdy crowd home at about 11.30 pm.
Needless to say some were a wee bit tired the day after.
(I was VERY happy I stayed with the beer).

Rounding off this week I was in for a pleasant suprise.
We are to split into two groups after the initial weeks.
One group is to work in Hannover, and the other (where I belong) is to work in......

PARIS!
I was sooo disappointed!
Not.
*tapdances*