A Champion

Yesterday was a very exciting day. We went to a dog show in Letohallen about 40km outside of Oslo and we were showing our girl, Birdy. Birdy is a special girl, her dad was my soul dog, Ben. Ben is a dog you only get once...MAYBE twice in a lifetime if you are lucky. He made me laugh, cry, get angry, be extremely happy....everything. He was my shadow, where I went he went. When he couldn't go, he'd wait for me...he began to know the sound of my car and my husband said he could lay outside in the yard and just lay there sleeping with other cars passing by, but when he heard my car he would get up and excitedly run to the driveway entrance as if he had been standing there wagging his tail the entire time!! He was so wonderful....I tried showing Ben many times but he never did really great in the show ring, he got a CAC (cert) and he got a reserve cacib (an second place international cert) he even got Best in Opposite once but he never went all the way to the top. I would write often to breeders who had lovely ladies suggesting Ben might be something for them but seldom heard anything back. Until one time I got a letter from Finland from four different breeders. They wondered if I would let Ben come to Finland and breed six different females. All very nice looking females of course and this was like a dream come true with a sharp edge to it, Ben had to leave me for several months in order to service these ladies. I wanted desperately to have something after him and thought this might be my one and only chance so I reluctantly agreed to send him. My (at the time) friend began driving him and hadn't gotten outside of Norway before I called her and asked her to bring him back, I couldn't do it. I wrote the breeders and explained I'd be happy to send semen or they could come to Ben but I couldn't send him. Most of the females were first time breeders so artificial insemination wasn't an option and many didn't have the rabies vaccination to come into Norway. So almost everyone said thanks but no thanks...except for one...a lovely breeder named Sarianne had a gorgeous girl named Muska and she would love to come to Norway and breed her to Ben. She saw the same Ben I saw, even though he wasn't a champion she loved him just as I love(d) him. So she and a friend drove Muska in the middle of winter all the way from Finland to Norway and Ben and Muska had a wonderful couple of days together. 63 days later in the middle of May 7 pups were born, 5 survived, three girls and two boys. They were wonderful and I followed along eagerly every day and was satisfactorly supplied with endless photos of all my grandbabies....Sarianne was insistent that the red girl would come to us...she was the biggest and prettiest girl and this was the one Sari wanted me to have. So when she was 7 weeks old Stig and my son Thomas took a short guy trip to Finland and picked Birdy up for us. We decided to call her Birdy because her dad was completely fascinated with Birds...at the time we lived on the coast, right against the ocean and he would often swim way out into the fjord to try and catch seagulls. They always let him get so close then flew off the moment he was about to get them!!! It provided a lot of entertainment for us and a lot of frustration for Ben....so when his little girl was going to come live with us, she couldn't be called anything else then Birdy. Birdy was a dark beauty from the start with a face that reminded you a lot of her dad. She grew into a lovely young lady with a dominant tempermant...she is sweet and loving as her dad, but loves to be the boss and let everyone know about it...we have learned to deal with her strong personality over time and she is calming some with age, reminding us more and more of her dad who loved everyone and everything, but she is still a guard dog...will protect us with everything she is and won't take anything from anyone if challenged.

We haven't been avid dog show participants. I have a very conflicting feeling about dog shows. I understand to know if a breeder is following the stanard of the breed it's important to have your dog judged, still I think many judges are bought and corrupt. It's refreshing when you see a judge pick the dog and not the person showing the dog. Well, after Ben's daughter and son in Finland became Finnish champions I promised Sarianne I'd make Birdy a champion in Norway...in order to do this we had to go to some shows. I entered her in six shows after making that promise and in her first four shows she managed to become Norwegian champion as of yesterday!!!! She was also Best in Opposite which means she was not Best in breed, that was a male but she was Best in opposite (best opposite sex from best in breed). Now my beloved Ben has three of his five children with champion titles and I think this speaks volumes about him and the dog he was to have produced such lovely children not once or twice but three times. The fourth child, his second son, is well on his way to becoming champion also in Finland but took a break to have some kids of his own.

My goal is to travel to Sweden and Finland next year and make Birdy a Nordic Champion and then if all her health tests are ok, she get the chance to be a mamma next winter if I can find a boy worthy of her.

Enjoy the photos of my beautiful dogs...the last five photos are Ben...who we had to put down a few days before his sixth birthday and the other photos are his beautiful daughter, Birdy. Today we will go back to Letohallen and compete for the first time in Champion class...keep your fingers crossed for us!!!

Antique auctions and aupairs...

How exciting to have my first blog comments!!! THANKS!!! :-) Didn't quite understand the emails coming in with my blog name on them and then I understood and was so happy!!!! :-)

Well, I've been so busy this past week and I've actually got no time to be sitting here right now either but needed a short break before I get busy grooming my dogs. We are going to a couple dog shows outside of Oslo this weekend and so I need to get Birdy lookin purty....hahahaha...

My busy week began last Sunday when I went to an antique auction about ten minutes from my house. I LOVE auctions. As a child my parents took my sister and I to auctions all the time and I have so many good memories from them. Of course as a kid I wasn't interested in what was being sold but the hot dogs and snacks that were sold and running around playing with other kids who were dragged along to auctions. As an adult though I look at antiques as a link to the past. I often joke that I was born in the wrong generation, which is probably one reason I live in Norway as it seems to be about five to ten years behind the USA in a lot of things and the slower pace of life fits me better then the rat race "over there". I don't really know facts about everything I see in an auction but I'm learning quickly what is "hot" and what is not. What people are paying for and what they don't care about. I tend to go for the stuff people don't really care about....maybe this is mostly because my wallet can't compete with theirs when it comes to bidding but the times I get something they wanted I'm thrilled...The best for me is to get something for almost nothing...I LOVE that. I bought a box of old frames for 10 Norwegian kroner!!! I was SO happy about that. I have wanted a lot of frames to put out different photos as both my daughter and I are avid hobby photographers but frames are expensive and you don't really find anything unique, so I was so pleased with that purchase. I also bought three irons...two of the irons are guro irons which are used to make a waffle like cake without electricity. The other is an iron used to make Crumb Cake (Krumkake) again without electricity. So I have now put all of these next to my wood stove which lays behind my fireplace. I'll have to get a picture of that....The last thing I bought was a little milk bucket. I have wanted one for a long time but this is one of the "hot" items and they usually go for quite a lot of money...they had several at the auction, bigger then the one I have and I bid on those but they went way above what I could afford. So when this last little bucket came up for sale I thought, I'm going to get that one no matter what!!! After an intense bidding war with someone I couldn't see the auctioneer slammed down his hammer and pointed at me....what a joyous feeling!!!!! My intention is to use this milk bucket for flowers...Picture to follow when I get some flowers!!!

While I was putting pictures in my "new" frames I took out three giant frames I had bought at a store and intended to use for some old newspapers I had bought at the antique show last fall at the Viking ship in Hamar. The frames weren't big enough for the entire newspaper to be displayed so I figured I'd just wait until I could find bigger frames. Then it struck me as I was putting photos in these frames I got at the auction that I could put part of the newspaper in the big frames, so that there is some readable stuff showing. I've attached a couple photos of the final product and where do I have these hanging?? In the toliet room- of course!!!!! I had a fanatastic idea today which I'm going to try and make happen, I'm going to put out a request on some of the chat groups I am on and too all my facebook friends for newspapers or comics from newspapers to be sent to me from around the world. Then I will frame everything and put them around in my toliet room. So when you sit on the toliet you will have tons of different things to read or look at...I think it could be a really cute idea. If anyone reads this and has a newspaper or comic strip they would like to send me I'd be forever grateful!!! I believe my email address is under my profile otherwise I can get those interested, my address.

I was asked how my husband and I met. I lived in San Antonio Texas at the time and because my great grandfather was from Norway and I had come to Norway in 1989 and stayed with a former exchange student and her family, we were very interested in attending Norwegian clubs wherever we lived in America. So on this occasion I was attending a picnic with the local Norwegian club in San Antonio and I met a girl who was an aupair from Norway. We became quick friends and on one occasion we were going to go to Austin to the famous Sixth street to go clubbing and my Norwegian friend just happened to know a Norwegian boy who was an aupair in Austin whom we could overnight with.....and this guy was Stig!!!! It was pretty much love at first sight but I had already a Norwegian boyfriend who was going to be coming over in a couple days from when I first met Stig. So after a messy and rocky start dealing with that boyfriend whom my parents loved, I sent that boyfriend back to Norway and convinced my parents that Stig wasn't the big horrible "other guy" they thought he was. Everything went quickly with Stig and I, we met in January and we were married in July and Sarah was born in January the year after. This past July we were married 16 years and I know it's clichè to say it, but it's been the best 16 years of my life and he is truly my best friend...life just gets better and better together. After spending our first two and a half years in the states we moved to Norway to the island where my husband grew up. A beautiful place with the most spectacular nature....BUT that was IT. There was nothing else and I didn't really mind it so much while the children were younger but the older they got the more restless I got for more out of life. So last year we moved in land to an island in the middle of Norway's largest lake. We are within 2 hours of Oslo the capital of Norway and we have several towns around the Mjøsa (the lake) so this is a much more exciting place to live and I will hopefully share some great photos and experiences from around here with all of you as time goes by.

For now, enjoy the photos I've added, they are of the different frames I have put around the house that I got at auction, the newspaper frames in the bathroom and the irons I got at auction! Thanks again for writing...it's fun to know someone is actually reading this!!!

Amy :-)

Baking is a cozy way to keep the house warm :-)

When I woke this morning it was really cold in the house. Thomas and his friend Magnus were already up and watching cartoons and snacking on leftover cheese pops from the night before. I asked them kindly to go out and get me a couple bags of woods from the wood shed and I started up a fire with the wood that we had leftover from the last time we burned. We made a lovely warm toasty fire in the fireplace and right after breakfast I decided to get busy baking. Next week I will start baking a little on my free days for a sweet little country cafe here on Helgøya called The Skafferiet. The Skafferiet was opened this past summer and did such amazing business that the owner decided to build on to her little cottage to make more room to sit inside and eat and she will be opening for the holiday season in the beginning of November. Here is a link to the Skafferiet's homepage if you'd like to know more about this charming little cafe and shabby chic store: http://www.hovinsholm.no/

So I decided I was going to bake three things this weekend and take samples over to Charlotte to see if they meet the standard for her cafe. I thought I'd make cinnamon rolls, red velvet cupcakes and orange and almond biscotti dipped in white chocolate. The house not only was warmed by the baking (as well as the fireplace) but it smelled so delightful in here all day. I'm not going to lie....I taste tested everything I baked, I mean it's the least I can do to assure the quality of what I'm baking!!!! hahahaha!!!

I didn't finish everything, I got tired of baking after making cinnamon rolls and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. So I will make the biscotti tomorrow and take everything over to Charlotte. After all the baking we had to get outside in the frisk fall weather and take a walk with the dogs in the woods around our house. I've added photos of the baking and the walk above. I love walking in the woods, I find so much peace in there. On our way up a big hill we actually came upon a deer. Thankfully I noticed it but the dogs only HEARD it. The deer had made it to the top of the hill we were going up but was over to the side a bit of where we were and as we stopped to take photos and get hold of our 10 month old pup who was off leash, the deer began running back in our direction but then thankfully ran off to the right of us. Heidi our 12 year old lab was still making it down the path we had already been on and the deer was running toward...but she seemed unaware of the deer thankfully. I don't think at her age she could have done more then just look at it anyhow but still, she might have alerted the others to what she saw. It was enough that they could hear it, they were so attentive to the trees hoping to get a glimpse of what they heard!!!

Now we are home and darkness has fallen upon us, typical of Norwegian autums, it gets dark so early in the evening (like 3:30-4PM) and stays dark late in the mornings. I know how a grizzly bear feels like when they go into hibernation....with all this darkness you feel so sleepy.

I promised the kids homemade pizza tonight, they love it when I seperate the dough so they can make their own individual pizzas. So everyone is getting a mini homemade pizza. Is there anything better for kids 15 and under on a Saturday night???

Welcome to my blog!

Well, after reading numerous blogs and being completely amazed and inspired by all the incredibly talented and creative people out there I decided I'd try and make my own blog. I can't promise this is going to be the most exciting read you've ever come across but hopefully I can also inspire a little bit. I think what I love about blogs is that for me, I feel energized by being around creative people. Through blogs I have the chance to feel a closeness to very creative and interesting people even if I've never met them or live near them.

I am not an experienced computer person so you'll have to have a little patience with me as I try and figure everything out here..I hope to be able to add some photos that I take (totally hobby basis) and share little glimps into my daily life. I am American and have been living in Norway for 13 years. It's been a learning experience the last 13 years. I have discovered a lot about myself, my own country and this country I am in now. There have been positive moments and negative moments but I think I am a stronger person because of this experience.

I can't sew, knit, or do any other type of handwork. Although I am extremely interested in learning to sew with a sewing machine. I see all the neat things I can make with a sewing machine and the desire is definitely there. While I'm waiting on a sewing machine I enjoy taking photos and baking. Baking is a dangerous hobby for me as I also love to sample everything I bake....a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips...this fits me perfectly...so trying to lose weight and get healthy is also something that occupys a lot of my time. I do well for awhile and then I bake...hahahaha....

I also love my animals. I wish I had a farm. I think I was born to be a farmer but have never found my dream farm yet. Last year though we moved from the coast of Norway to the inland near Norway's largest lake, Mjøsa. We found a lovely "cabin in the woods" which they called the Eventyrhus in the sales prospect (Eventyrhus means Fairytale house in English) and have really everything we need here except a barn and some land for a few hobby animals. HOWEVER, we have no neighbours only fields around us and woods so the possibility is there for a few animals if only my husband would talk to the farmer about renting some of this land around us!!! The first farm animal on my wish list is chickens...the thought of fresh eggs daily and cozy colourful chickens walking around here is exciting. I told my husband that we only needed 5 chickens so everyone in the family could have one fresh egg a day and he told me if it meant one less chicken around here he would happily go without a fresh egg!!!! Oh he is such a party pooper sometimes, I know he isn't as hard as he sounds I just have to work on him a little and he usually comes around...but other times it takes awhile...hahahaha....I have managed to talk him into four cats and four dogs so far. We have had rabbits, guinea pigs, budgies, hamsters, rats, and anything else that has wandered into our yard looking homeless or in need of a good place to settle down. I am constantly asking farmers if they come across a deer baby to let me know....hahahaha... My youngest daughter loves horses and this is something we'd like to be able to get her eventually and I'd love to have a sheep or two wandering around...my husband asked me why sheep? I said, we could let them graze all summer and send them to the butcher in the winter, think of all the great meat we could have all winter long?!!! He just laughed at me and said I could never have an animal as anything else then a pet and I'd never kill a pet to have meat in the freezer!!!! I guess he has a point but it was the best I could come up with when he asked me why sheep...I was hoping to tap into his money saving side (our own homegrown meat would be cheaper then buying in the store) but it didn't work. :-(

The farmer who lives closest to us and owns the land around us lets his cattle graze in front of our home sometimes...I guess for now this is as close to being a farmer as I will get, so I love those cows and am constantly out taking photos of them. It's interesting to watch them so up close and incredible how quickly they can move over large areas of land!

We are often walking in the woods and I love to take nature photos which I hope you'll enjoy. I'll let this be my first entry and see if I can add some photos for you to look at! Have a great day everyone! Amy