Spring is coming

Slowly but surely.

More and more days no we have nice temperatures, wich means above 0 level. The snow really starts to melt away and more and more raw earth is showing.

In the very beginning of March Ron receives a phonecall from my parents. They had to make the difficult decision to have one of the deer, they had been feeding all winter, shot. The animal had been limping for a while and it became worse and worse by the day. They decided to call a neighbouring hunter to put the poor animal out of its missery. Once shot it became clear that one of the hindlegs was broken and beyond healing. But the question was if Ron would like to have the deerskin. Ron has a great interest in the outdoors and everything that's related, including working with hide an trying to turn that into leather... So of course the answer was YES!!!. He went down to my parents and got a deerskin that already was a little older, with the promiss that they would take of the furcoat of the newly shot deer and that he would get that one as well.
 But where to put a deerhide..... how about on the balcony.

 

and the head came with it

the body part.............

In the following days he tried to work with the material, but unfortunately the whole hide was riddled in holes from buckshot. We ar still waiting for the next deerhide........

On the same day we got the hide, we received another phonecall. One of our "neighbours" from the village called and asked if we'd like to have some fish. Ehhh.... sure... Ron didn't know the person in question, but Annalena did. Turns out that it was the woman living 2 houses further down the street. She's from Russia and they appearantly like to icefish. The fish were caught only minutes before. Ron, never having handled a fish felt a little akward. But, after a short introductional conversation with the neighbour, went home and put the fish in the fridge. Afet all I am the only one in the house who knows how to clean them, and I was out singing with the choir. A little later in the evening he took them out of the fridge to show them to our youngest, only to hear from our son that he saw them moving......... how could that be, they were supposed to be dead.......

The truth was, that they were only stunned, not killed. So that was up to Ron as well. He had never killed an animal before, didn't know how to do it either. He decided to bang them with their heads on the balcony railing. but boy.... were they hard to kill. He had to do this about fivetimes before they finally died for real.

So after I came home we had to start cleaning them, knowing they will turn bad if you wait too long with that. I thought this might be a good moment for Ron to learn and so I did the first fish and carefully explaining my actions, and Ron did the second....... he was a fast learner I must say......

Now they are resting peacefully in our freezer in the basement. 

After feeding all the wildlife surrounding us all winter, we slowly backed out. Now that winter was on its way out and spring was definitely on its way they had to learn to find their own food again. We did notice there were an awefull lot of birds around and Ron, after killing animals, was in the mood for some more possitive vibes, decided to try and lure the birds to come to him with food on his hands. So he stood there, really motionless, with food in his hands for quite some time, and I have to admit  they came really close. Just not close enough..........

and now we wait

Being a man of the outdoors, over the years he has collected quite a few items. Not only to himself, but for the rest of the family as well. Because we all like to spend time out in nature. But up till now we had no decent place to put away all this stuff in our new home. So we decided to re-arrange our basement a little, in order for him to make his ManCave. This is how it turned out.

the right side

The left side

More and more Spring signs are showing themselves, here and there one can even find a little colour in the garden. 

For me it has been a time of change, jobwise that is.  You all might remember that me and my colleges from the cleaningpart of the Prioleva company were sold to quite a bigger company called HomeMaid in Falun. from a small town company with only about 10 employees on the paymentlist we went to a company with at least 90 people in personell. With of course a whole other vision on how to get the job done. We got an "education" in cleaning and were sent out to do our work, we had done in our own way for quite some time, but now we had to do it HomeMaid style. That takes some getting used to. About two weeks after we started working for the new company, the first changes were made.  And a few more followed. It didn't make the "getting used to" part easier. But since we am used to changes and challenges, often by our own choice, it all worked out. 

All in all March marched on to it's end, with the weather variyng from freezing cold till lovely springlike. At the of the month the easterfestivities waited. The children had  thei hands full in making all kinds of decorations to themselves or the house. The most lovely of all, I think, is our little Easter Bunny with her handmade eggbasket.

The day before easter was one of those very nice springlike days, what better to do then sit out on the balcony, enjoying the sun with a lovely cup of tea.......

Or if you happen to be a child, play outside in the garden, without coat, climbing trees and pretending you're a cowboy or a soldier.....

And when the day ends, enjoy the view from the livingroomwindow, where the sun touches the trees turning the mountain a little redish in magnificent contrast with the whiteness of the snow........

So as winter is coming to its end, it's time to give it proper goodbye as well. With spring daffodills on the table, we enjoyed a good glas of Winter Alt....... life's good.

The last day of March and so Easter came. With the snow still out there, it was a challenge hiding the brightly collored eggs we made. Let alone finding them in time before they were completely frozen. I went out in very early and freezing morning, while everybody else in the house was sound asleep, and played for easterbunny in a morningrobe, hiding the eggs. So glad our neighbours did not see that.... or at least I hope. After that I went in and set the table and waited for everybody to wake up. With my kids luckely that doesn't take that long. So they went out an searched the whole garden for eggs. Obviously I did a good job, because it took a while before they found all of them. 

Look Mam, matching color ....

So we enjoyed a lovely easterbreakfast, not too much fuss, as usual. An then when you go out spring is saying hello again.....

It's been a while

Since we last kept you up to date with our life up in the  north. There are several reasons for that. One was a little lack of inspiration. And besides that, we didn't want to tell the same story over and over again.
But now we're back on track......and since it has been about 4 months, I think it's wise to split this post up, and try to guide you through each month separately

Right after the last post we got some visiters from Holland. Our dear friends Wim, Eriko and their daughter Maya came to visit us and talk to us about our move to Sweden and how we live our life here. They themselves have plans to move to Sweden and wanted to learn from our experience. They were so very kind to bring some beloved fooditems from Holland with them, so that we could make our own Peasoup. according to our children the swedish variant is more like yellow cement.......in other words,.... inedible

lovely Dutch Goodies

We had a very cosy afternoon, lots to talk about and when it was time for them to move on, we gave them a few books on emigrating to Sweden and our Swedish course to start  their own new life with.  I can only hope it'll help them making things easier.

February is still very wintery up here, but what I've learnt back in Holland they also found out what winter really is all about. Couldn't help but giggle a few times, reading all the comments on Facebook about it.
We kept feeding the animals outside regularly so that they wouldn't starv, even spend our last money on a bag of deerfood. But it's so rewarding when you can sitt in your kitchen, looking through the window and actually see them eating......

Sometimes the differences in temperatures gives us the most beautiful views, especially in the early morning or in the twilight hours

Of course our kids had their ways of surprising us. For instance Annalena..... she never played a game of chess before, but now that she goes in fourth grade she gets a few lessons in chess, and the next we know they're in a tournament with lots of other schools  throughout the whole country, it's called Schack 4:an.
The first preliminaries were the 18th of february in Hedemora. The whole class takes part in this, so in the early morning they went to Hedemora  and in the afternoon they came back....... all with a golden medal around their necks. They were the best!!! The pride radiated from their faces. On to the next round, somewhere in april in Borlänge.

Every now and then the temperature rises to little more comfortable then below freezing and on these days when the sun comes out, it actually feels like spring al little bit. On one of the last days of february it really felt like spring. Temperatures on the balcony in the shade of a book rose to a nice 16 degrees celsius, and the kids decided it was warm enough to have a lovely lunch outside. While eating  they went trhough a book they got for christmas with   150 swedish birds and their calls. When they saw a bird they recognized, they looked it up en played the call of the bird in question and then waited for answer. Surprisinly often the answer came, and from very close by as well.

And the rollercoasterride goes on

If we ever thought peace and quiet would return after the december month, we were so wrong......
Of course there were at least three bithdays to celebrate, Rons, my mums and my own. That in itself is not so special. It's what happens at or around those birthdays.......
Take Ron's birthday. I wanted to give him a present, but  man is that hard if the man himself can not give you any clues to what you can get him. Then I finally found something he could use. But he forbids me to buy them. Only on the day itself I actually got permission to order him the special shoes he wanted so much.

A few days later, they arrived, in the absolute wrong size....way too big and not what we ordered. So, a lot of back and forth emailing, but we need not worry, they will send the right size without extra costs. Unfortunatly they were not in store, but as soon as they are, we will get them........... and we are still waiting.........hopefully they'll arrive before the next winter.

On my mums birthday it was Elsa turn to go to the dentist again, to get a tooth fixed. Very exciting that must have been, first time anesthesia, drilling and filling. But a brave girl she was, right after all of this she wanted to go back to school. I was off to the office to have a meeting, so  Ron picked the kids up at school and went to my parents. Right after the meeting he was going to pick me up. So a little surprised I was when my phone rang. Ron asked if I had someone that could give me a lift to my parents for he was unable to pick me up, He drove into a ditch with the kids in the back.......... due to the slippery nature of the "road". Luckily it was close to my parents house and the kids went on by foot, while my dad came to the rescue and they had to dig the car free. Instead of into the ditch, the car had slid with the underside onto the icy ridge that formed after the snow was pushed to the side. After this, a nice piece of pie and a good cup of coffee were very welcome. Unfortunately, all this was a little too much excitement for our little girl, so she got nightmares the night after and was sick the next morning......

Up next, my birthday. And this is related to my chirstmaspresent. Dear Santa Ron bought the cd I wanted to have for a while, and in my happiness and enthousiasm I said that of course I had to get the rest of this bands albums as well. ( For those who don't know what  or who I'm talking about, it's Sabaton). In the days running up to my birthday, all my kids had to give 50 Sek to daddy, and I just couldn't help wondering........WHY???
Now Santa was a little careless when he explained how my christmaspresent arrived at our house, in a thick but plain brown envelop. When I noticed one of those envelops under the newspaper I got an idea as where those 50 kronors per child had gone to.
Ron soon found out I knew and so I got my birthdaypresent a little earlier, 2 more CD's, one from the kids together and one from Ron.
And as a newyears resolution I made a promise to myself, to think a bit more of me and a little less about all the others (just a tiny little bit though) , plus I had a little profit from the christmas fairs, so I decided to buy the other 3 albums as a birthdaygift to myself. Now I am complete, musically speaking that is.

Poor Ron did not know what he started when he bought the first CD. Now he is forced to listen to it,  from all corners off the house, and never the same song at the same time. And 4 housemates singing along as well, one better than the other. Luckily he doesn't think it's too bad either.

Between all these festivities Ron found some spare time and on a morning spotted a wonderfull sighting just outsight our livingroom window. Eager to get out he jumped out of his pyjamas into his clothes, grabbed some stuff to eat and drink and went on a reconaissance trip of our new surroundings. Enjoying every minute of his little outdoor adventures .Finding tracks of wolf, moose, hare, deer and other animals, listening to birds whistling in the trees right above his head.
But only to find out at lunchtime that he, in his hurry to get out,  had forgotten half of the basic lunch ingredients, something like coffee, not completely unimportant .......
Here are a few appitizers.........

The first sight in the morning

Wolftrack

If you want to see or read more, feel free to read it in his blog The Trying Woodsman.

On the Jobbfront we were about to get a great shock........ again.
First there was of course the fact that Ron was practically without a "real" jobb from the beginning of january. That has, on the other hand, one advantage (always look on the bright side). There's always someone home to do household chores ( and I must say he is doing a very good job there) and to heat up the house, so that is nice and warm when the kids get home from school or I from work.
But that was not all that was to change................ Of course not, it's never a smooth sail with us.......
On january 23 at 14.00 I attended the Big Yearmeeting at work, it was moved a week so that all co-workers could attend, already giving it a sense of importance.
The atmosphere was tense, when our boss started talking. She started with explaining that they had thought and talked  about the growth of the company and that it had developed in too many different directions. Both she and the other owners had to admit that their heart lies with the food part of company and thats what they wanted to put their energy in. She told us that our part(the cleaning) of the company would, after long negotiations, be taken over by HomeMaid in Falun.................
Silence,.................. you could hear a needle drop so to speak
After the shock sank in a little we got a bit more information on the why, where, when and how and then we got to meet some of the chefs from the new company. Not that we were able to have a decent conversation with them, the shock was too big I guess and maybe the anger as well, certainly for a few of my coworkers. Understandable If you know that we had only two weeks to get used to the idea and only 5 days to think whether we wanted to follow along into the new company or not. We were going to have a meeting at the new office in Falun on the monday after, where we could ask all the questions we wanted (and we sure did have an aweful lot of 'em), and at 18.00 that same day we had to give our answer. A tat bit short I say.
But me being quite used to change and adaption, I soon saw challenges, possibilities and opportunities. I'll go in with an open mind, see what the future has in store for me this time.
I tried to get those thoughts across to my coworkers, but not all of them are able to see it like that, and maybe that is just for the better. We do not all have to be the same or think alike.
I think our bosses made a wise decision, and I wish them all the best of luck with what they have left of the company.
At least we still still have a job, that's more than the employers of another company in our little village Vika bröd, they got the message that they will be without a job from the summer on the same day we got to hear we going to be taken over!

Elsa our little brave girl had to go to the dentist several times this month to get some tooths fixed. Thanks to the lovely Dutch healthcare, where they are very generous and fast with subscribing antibiotics, all of our children have problems with their teeth. Because these docters who subscribe these antibiotics, "forget" to tell you as a newbe parent that it is full of just about everything that's absolutely devastating for their young teeth, and that you might need to brush those right after intake of the antibiotics. And of course there's also no list of ingredients on the bottle itself. But enough on the dutch healthcare, let's talk about  the Swedish Dental care......
I must say I am impressed with the way the take care of our litlle ones, starting with just getting acquainted with eachother, and....... the chair! After that the rest of the equipment is shown, explained and in some cases tried out on other bodyparts like hands, just to get the feeling of what it might feel like. And the anesthesia is done in a whole different maner than I was used to. They don't even give an injection in the gumm here. just a few drops of a solution is sort of rubbed on the gum and that does the trick. It even makes me feel like it's safe to go the dentist, me being the kind that has about 7 colours of sh*t in her underpants whenever she needs to go.
So in the end little Elsa didn't think it was half bad going to the dentist, she thinks it's cool. You get to lay in that comfy chair, your teeth get fixed while you don't even feel a thing, and you get lot's of presents if you do good!! Guess how many presents she's got, knowing that at the dentist they think she is the bravest one of all??

That our kids are already more adapted to this country we live in than we are, became obvious when they ended op in a ditch with the whole schoolbus. As soon as I heard of it  from Sven, I was on high alert, called Ron at home, he was already informed. I tried to get in touch with the kids a few times, didn't work. Not good for my Mammie heart, that is.
All in all our kids spend about 3,5 hours in a schoolbus in a ditch, of wich the doors did not seem to open.......and they had the time of their lives.
While we parents were kind of freaking out a bit............we have a lot to learn I suppose...

already half way out the ditch and the kids gone......

Would have been nice if the kids would have let us know when they arrived safely at school, but somehow they forgot all about that.

Other transport problems there were to solve a well. We knew that the little red Volkswagen Golf we were driving around in was due up for it's yearly examination. We also knew that it was definitly not going to pass and thus not allowed on the road. So we have been searching for an affordable car that runs. Off course the budget was very low, but nonetheless we found one on blocket.se. Only 5000Sek and still being used on a daily basis. So off we went  to somewhere in the Horndal area. Off course it is not a new car, and you can not expect too much for that price, but after a little drive we decided to buy the car. All paperwork was taken care of in a couple of minutes and we were the proud owners of a Mitsubishi Carisma. I got in the "new"car and followed Ron in de little red Golf. Right outside the little village we had to test the brakes propperly for a deer decided it was fun to just step onto the road from under a bridge right in front of us. Brakes functioned as they should.
So we drove on. After a little while, it was already dusk, Ron hits the brakes again. This time already in advance. By the side of the road stood a big animal. As we passed it we could clearly see it was a moose. We stopped at about 10 till 15 meters from the animal, got out of the car and looked at it for a while. Moose looked back at us as well and seemed quit comfortable doing so. It might have been just a few minutes we stood there and watched eachother, then a car came from the other side and off went the moose. Finally I had seen a Moose up close and rather personal.

Not the actual Moose, but much the same.

These lovely creatures of the forest have become very special to us. we feel like they are some sort of blessing to us. Every time a big event in our life happens there is a moosesighting that goes along with it. Our move from the Netherlands to Sweden, a moose. Our move to our own house, a moose and now with all these major changes like new employer and stuff, again a moose. We are counting our blessings.

We went on, finding at least one thing at the new car that needed fixing, for the screen wipers in the front have a life of their own, starting whenever they wanted to, and me not being able to stop them doing so. Then a last stop in Hedemora at the postoffice. There I could finally, after 4 months of waiting, pick up my Swedish driverslicence. I had send in an request form to exchange my Dutch driverslicence for a Swedish one on september 21st 2012. They took 3 months to think whether they were going to grant me permission to do so, costing 600Sek. So finally at the end of 2012 I got the permission, needed to send in a mugshot and another 150 Sek for the little card itself and one month later there I was picking it up. All this time driving around with a copy of my original Dutch one. The original of course had to be handed over with the original request. I really had no idea if a Swedish police officer was going to buy my story if ever I got pulled over........

So now we could bring the little red Golf back to my dad. In spite of the fact that is not the kind of car I would have choosen myself and that the car had a few discomforts, the little red devil had never let us down, always got were we needed to be. So I'm gratefull for the services it performed , and very thankful to my dad that we were allowed to borrow the car for such a long time.


The next event was our Little Camping adventure. We being lovers of the outdoors, but not having the eqipment to go out and camp in the winter, had this briljant idea of a little camping in the living room. The kids called it Powerless Night, as we decided there was not going to be any electricity, no tv, no radio, no computer or game console and no light just candlelight. Only the fridge was allowed to cheat, for we did not want to shut down power completely. All this meant that we were going to cook dinner in the fireplace, daddy,s special Pytt-i-panna, and of course grill sausages and marshmallows. The kids were going to sleep on fieldcots (veldbed, fältsäng) while Ron and I had the couch. And what an adventure it was. We had lots of fun and learned a lot at the same time. The full story you can read here, but here's a nice impression

Daddy's special!  Mummmms

What do you do when you have nothing else to do....... you read

Ron trying to sew by candlelight

Off to the land of dreams

the morning after........

Annalena started with the choir again when springterm began, and after only one real practise she was going to sing in church. she dressed herself up in a skirt, did her own hair and ready she was. A tat bit nervous as well. At the church they had a little time to practise, but unfortunately only 4 girls showed up, including Annalena. But she did an amazing job, while proud mum was sitting in the church watching and listening.

It's like looking in the mirror

Practice

The Real Thing.

Festivities and other hurdles to tackle

As we swang into the last month of 2012 we know we are going to have a very busy agenda.
To kick it all off Annalenas class had drama at school and all by themselves they came up with a play. Of course this had to be performed in front a "sold out" house filled with parents and other familymembers. Annalena herself was a cat, probably because she had a cat costume at home.
We had an evening filled with laughter, as the play unfolded. Not that there was any real "red line" or story in it. But I think it was great that they did it all by themselves, the characters, the story and how to  put it all together and of course perform in front of a crowd, twice. Of course they had help from their drama teacher but nonetheless a big thumbs up for them.
Two days later I went to get the newspaper, and what a nice surprise. My daughter on the front page and another big article inside the paper as well......


The PaperPicture

And our own one

After this great event, another suprising event. Ron got a phonecall from a teacher from the SFI course we wanted to attend. Off course we had a meeting with them before and had done a writing test, but never got an answer as to wether we should take the course or not.
Now they wanted us to take the exam for the highest level of the course, without ever having atended class.
We thought we might as well give it a try.
So we did, on december 11th we went to the Dahlander Gymnasiet in Säter and sat amongst 14 other people, almost all of them from african origin. Really felt a bit like an outsider there. The exam had 4 sections, reading, hearing, writing and speaking. The speakingexam we did not have to take, they said, they had already heard enough of that with the first meeting. So we were left with the other 3. Both Ron and I were ready  in no time with the reading part, but of course we didn't want to stand out too much, so we tried to stay put and sit it out, but ist's hard when you know you're going to have to wait for more then an hour. Eventually I got up and went, Ron soon followed, and we got ourselves a cup of coffe at the little cafe downstairs. The hearing section was peanuts as well and so we went to the last bit, The writing. This was the "hardest" part, because that is what we do least. We had to write two articles and had an hour and a half to do that. After half an hour I was ready and done, so I got up. My neighbour thought I had forgotten the second one, and looked a bit silly when I explained I was ready with the both of them. Ron followed, again, soon after. Then we waited, not knowing what was next. Finally I saw the teacher and asked. She explained it was save to go home for us, didn't have to stay and wait. She could already tell that Ron had only one mistake in the first two sections, and I had none. And there we had taken a writing test before, she was pretty sure that was quite allright as well.
Happy we went home, a little proud of ourselves that we did it, without classes or help, all by ourselves.
After a week we got our certificate. We both had a B.
Hopefully now we can apply for the SAS course (Svensk som andra språk).

Meanwhile, it being the december month with its festivities, both Ron and I had to work a lot more hours then we normally do. Due to sickness of a few of our colleges and  an awfull lot of people who want to have a spottless house when they start decorating for christmas. Off course these hours where welcome, it means, after all, money in the bank.
Especially since we got a  little less fortunate message from our employer that Ron would pretty much be without a job from the beginning of January. He will remain on the payrol as a substitute, but he lost all his own clients. So the jobhunt ,if it ever stopped, is back on again. We have set our hopes on a new to build and open IKEA store in Borlänge. As Ron has 10 years of experience working at IKEA in the Netherlands, this is the best option. Furthermore we got a few very good tips of ceveral people, about where we can get help in these matters. We just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. In the mean time we try to make ends meet as good as possible.

Of course december is also the month of the Christmas Fairs. So like last year I had booked a table on two of these fairs.  One in Skäve and the other one I was actually asked if I wanted to come with my Angels, this was at the Hönsgården in Nordansjö. Both were very chilly events, standing in a barn with a lot of holes in the walls. It was actually colder inside the barn then it was outside, and outside it was really freezing. The tea was freezing in the cup.

My little table in Nordansjö
 

Poor Annalena was really freezing her toes of. Luckily there was a place where she could warm up, so occasionally I sent her away to do just that. But it went well in terms of business. It helps when all the other sellers go home, because they think it is to cold. It was kind of funny that in the end there was no swedish seller left, only a German woman from kryddan i tillvaron , a woman from Rumania selling breads and this crazy Dutch woman. we had a good time the three of us, making the best of it all.
All in all I can say that it was a succes for me, aspecially considering the fact that a few days later I got an order for a pair of angels, thanks to the German Ulrike , who showed a picture of them to one of her own customers and gave the woman my telephonenumber. Thank you for that Ulrike, it's much appreciated.

As the month proceeds our children began to stir and act a little nervous. We knew they had a few secret meetings with grandma before and among themselves and that they were planning something special, but we had no idea what it would actually be.
It all had to do with our 20 wedding anniversary, that much we did know.
So the day came, december 22th, early in the morning we heard noises in the kitchen. Not knowing if we were supposed to get up or stay in bed, Ron got out to to fire up the heating, but was swiftly directed back to bed. we were served a 3 course breakfast, starting with a fried egg, followed by a bowl of managryn (semolina, griesmeelpap) and finally a big bowl of fruit. Egg and mannagryn baked/cooked by Sven and the fruit cut by Annalena and served by Elsa. What a wonderfull way to start a day.
But that was not all. They had invited my parents for fika and arranged a little present lottery, all gifts made by themselves. And the cake and cookies for the fika they bought from their own pocketmoney, secretly while they were at the daycare (fritids). In the summer they had done various chores while my parents were back to the Netherlands for a while. They earned money for doing these chores, and with that money they send my mother out to buy a nice bouquet of flowers.
And finally for dinner Sven made pizza for the whole family.
We had a great day and think we have a bunch of awesome kids, putting so much time and effort in making it all work.

Best presents ever!

 

Of course the house had to be prepared for christmas as well. Instead of getting a tree out of the woods, I bought one. Of course our children wanted to help and so they did.....

It turned out to be a very nice christmastree, if I may say so.
.

Christmas shopping was not such a great ordeal as I thougth it would be, so on christmas morning there were presents for all of us under the tree, even some made by a special Santa, one that goes by the name of Sven.

Enchanting Christmasmorning
 

This christmas was a one of a kind for us. First time in our own home, just our little family. Good food, not in excessive quantities. The same goes for the presents. And just enjoying eachothers company. And of course it was al completed by a lovely snowfall starting Christmas Eve. Exactly as it should be.

Since it is real winterweather, Ron thought it might be a good idea to try some skiïng, something he had never done before. Nor have I for that matter. Since there came two pair of skis with the house and we soon found a matching pair of sticks, it was only a matter of going out and try. A little awkward it looked, but I must say, he did well. He only fell down once and that was because his shoe came loose from the strapping. No broken legs, arms or other injured bodyparts.

 

Just to give an idea of the great whiteness.
 

All this is soon followed by New Years Eve. we were a tat bit curious. How is that going to be so farout in the country side. The kids went to bed, and we had to wake them up around 23.00. This way they had enough time really wake before all hell was going to break loose or whatever was going to happen. I had some special champagne in stock for them. Ron and I just watched our last Harry Potter movie.( Between Christmas and New Year we watched the whole lot of them actually).

Then the clock struck 12, we toasted on the new year and waited..............Silence. After about 5 minutes we saw something that looked like Fireworks in the air, and here and there you could hear a thunder roling through the valley. We had our own little "Firework". I bought a coouple of those Ricepaper Balloons for the kids. So we went out and tried to get them in the air........and what a succes it was.......NOT.
The first one set itself on fire, and the other two, well...... they got airborne, but only to end up in the tree standing in front of our house.
.

If this is an omen for the year to come, we better go in hiding

After this little sparkling adventure we just went inside. Then I saw our neighbour, standing with her horses. So me and my girls went out to wish her a Happy New Year and keep her and her horses a little company in the dark night. It was much appreciated.
But it being cold and two girls in pyjamas getting a little cold, we went inside and a little later the lights went out, for all of us.

And now we find ourselves in the year 2013, wondering what it's going to bring us. Happiness I hope.