A walk in the park...

Or, at least the forest.
When walking in the forest with two terriers, there is no knowing what you might stumble across.
Today we stumbled across a piece of a roe deer's leg. I bet the deer really does miss it, but - there's no hope at all he'll find it again. He's destined to limp for the rest of his life! Come to think of it...the rest of his life is probably already over....
Anyways, Zassi - being the raw fed dog she is - decided to bring it home for a lovely snack. Only, she gave up halfways and guess who was chosen for the task of carrying the leg home? Yep - Moi!
Took it home, snapped it in two and Hey presto - a lovely terrier snack!

Why have a dishwasher...

...when you have 2 dogs??

First week in real life over and done with, and without any major drama. I worked as usual, and with all that's happening in Gaza we started off at 150 km/h straight away. Well, in all honesty, my work wasn't really affected that much of it, but it is discussed on a daily basis at the International Department, and we are doing what we to contribute to ending of the the horrors.
Liam has started his Swedish course, and with that Swedish is now the prime language in our little family. He really is doing fabulously, and I see progress every day even if Liam himself thinks he's not getting anywhere. He's in school roughly 3,5 hours per day, speaking only Swedish, and then continues to study for another couple of hours at home, so it is quite intense. I'm really proud of him!
Another great thing about SFI here in Sala compared to the one in Tierp (apart from the fact that SFI in Tierp was shockingly shite) is that they will help him study to another profession once his Swedish has improved enough to move on. And this will also be done within the SFI which means that they will be there continoulsy to help with the language. I think it is fantastic!
Not to mention the fact that I really have to start thinking about the Swedish language myself, to be able to explain why things are the way they are. It's very interesting.

Today Zassi was gracious enough to let me sleep until 8.45 before telling me it was time to get up. We went for another one of our little discovery expeditions, and found a lovely little well-marked path. We followed this for a good while, all along wondering where we'd end up! After a while we met a couple out walking their dogs, and asked where we were heading. It turned out the path goes in a circle and ends up not far away from where we usually walk. Sala really is brilliant for marking nice hiking and walking treks, and also have little huts built here and there where you can make a fire and bbq hotdogs when you're out and about. This town really is great for outdoorsy people!!
Weather has been shite all day with cold winds and grey skies. Despite this, Liam and I decided to go for a walk in the afternoon, after having spent the better part of the day indoors waiting for Michael to come as agreed(which he incidentally didn't do...). Of course we took the opportunity to practise Swedish even more. Liam will soon get totally fed up with me taking every opportunity to teach him.... :)

I'm going to love you and leave you for now, to start with dinner. On the menu today is reindeer hamburgers with oven roast vegetables. Yummy, eh?

Last day of freedom

Unfortunately. After me being off work for 2 weeks, and Liam waiting to start his Swedish course, we're brutally brought back to reality tomorrow. My alarm will go off at the un-godly hour of 05.25AM...
But, to be quite honest, I sort of look forward to going back to work. And that is nearly the first time in my working history! Nearly, any way.
So, what have we done this last day of freedom. Not much.... Liam has been flying his newly acquired infrared controlled helicopter, while Abi tried catching it. I on the other hand, got busy making thyme honey. That is, I didn't make the honey, but mixed the two together to make a honey that allegedly is good for curing colds. It will remain to be seen, it tastes good anyway.
We then stripped the Christmas tree, in every sense of the word. Off went all the decorations, and then all the branches with the good help of the secateurs. All of this into black bin liners and finally in to a bin at the recycling centre, where it should not have been left. Cheeky us...
It is quite nice to have the apartment back to normal.
Above is a picture of Liam's dear helicopter..........

On - off - on - off - on - off

That is how this blogging has been lately. Very irritating. But - this time it is not our fault! Telia, Swedish version of Eircom, has taken bloody forever getting our broadband up and running, and it is so much easier writing all this at home than at work. Never mind the fact that I don't think they are paying me to blog during working hours.

So, where are we now? Well, we have survived both Christmas and New Years Eve. Actually, we more than survived. Christmas was spent with my brother and his family here in Sala, and we even had a minuscule amount of snow - but enough to sort of just about cover the ground. We did on the other hand have more food than to just about cover the table, so no complaints there. Even if the ham wasn't of the biblical proportions that we saw at the Higgins' table the Christmas before. I stumbled across 2 photos of turkey and ham from then, and have duly posted them here.
Liam was during the week coming up to Christmas, begging me daily to open up some of the pressies he got for me. He really is worse than a kid!
I did get some lovely pressies though, both from him and from my parents, Bill and Sharon and Mary. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

On Christmas day we went to Tierp (we do all the major celebrations here on Christmas Eve, so Christmas day is the big party day) and had dinner with everyone again. More food, but oh so nice!
Later that evening Liam and I headed down for the yearly home coming event in Tierp. An old style dance where you are required to hold your partner. Funnily enough, this is one of the big events, simply for the fact that this is the time and place to catch up with people you haven't met for donkeys. And, of course, to get absolutely arsefied.
On or way there (normally a 15 minute walk) my dear husband, who incidentally had refused proper shoes for walking on snowy and icy roads, slipped and landed on his arse 3 times. No need to say I laughed until I cried, cause I was wearing proper shoes. (Been there, done that...)
On our way home a couple of hours later, dear hubby was a small bit worse for wear, so we walked SLOWLY, to avoid falling. But, I think that the effects of the alcohol probably helped, cause he was a lot less tense when walking and made it all the way to my parents estate before falling. He did, on the other hand, manage to fall 4 times in 400 metres... Did I laugh??

Anyways, New Years we spent in Lingbo with Therése, Jimmy and Moa. We went sledding midday, and had loads of fun. Liam nearly hit the trees a few times, but only nearly. The highlight of his day was when a friend of Therése´s came on his snow mobile, and gave Liam a spin. He glowed like star afterwards!! Will post some photos of this when I get them from Therése.
For dinner Jimmy had made "tjälknöl" which is moose steak, cooked from frozen in 75 degrees during 12-14 hours. It is absolutely fabulous!!!!!!!
On the 1st of January, and just before we headed back to Tierp to pick up the dogs, we went ice fishing. It can be summed up in two words - if you ask me: FECKING FREEZING! If you're not a huge fishing fan, or dressed in the kind of shoes you use for snow mobiling, it is simply only cold and boring. But, Liam enjoyed it, and that is really the main thing.

When I woke up this morning, I thought the bedroom was a bit chillier than usual (we always sleep with an open window), but after having looked at the thermometer, it made total sense. It was -15 degrees.
We went for a short walk on one of the frozen lakes today, it was very nice and very cold.

Over and out for now!