Animal life

I would like to say that this was Mille convalescing, but in fact she became quite ill and is in hospital chez the holistic vet. It turned out that it wasn't a fall from anything, but a bite from another animal - given that this is Spring and everyone is running about (in the cat world) on heat and very over-excited - which had caused a nasty deep infection and necessitated lots of very strong drugs being injected right into her poor little leg. So Mille is boarding at Gudrun's, out in Fløjstrup. It feels very odd to have our household going its dysfunctional way without her.

Meanwhile over the weekend we went to Legoland. The children were strapped into various terror rides and I had forgotten how utterly delighted they are to be squeezed through G-forces, dashed down cliffs, dropped into water and turned upside down. I tried some very mild G-forces myself and hung on to my rail so hard that it made it much worse, but I couldn't stop myself.

They had a Lego Acropolis (complete with Erechtheum) and a Lego Abu Simbel!




This was preparation for my Big Danish Exam, which was today. I can't say it was really a good preparation, but it was amusing and we all felt pummelled and satisfied and sun-drenched on the way home.

And I feel very mellow, having drunk a point of strong beer at lunchtime after completion of the B.D.E., without any lunch. I didn't fall off my bike on the way home, either. Though I didn't get my flower bed planted.



And finally, here is our magnificent horse-chestnut tree.



Eat your heart out neighbours.

Peglegs rule

Our little cat fell off the roof (or out of a TREE??) last night. Many alarums given what happened to her predecessor, and we took her to the døgnvagt vet at 11pm. It cost - let me get this right - 1,699 kr. But it seems she may only have bruised her leg, which means that she and I are hobbling around the place in the same pegleg fashion. I find this quite amusing. Pets are supposed to resemble their owners. Anyone remember the beginning of 101 Dalmatians?

It's fantastic news though. Thank goodness. We thought she'd been got by a car.

Mille's not very good at cars. She goes out and lies down in the middle of the road. She causes traffic jams of animal-loving Danes queuing up to get past the house. The vet suggested getting a friendly neighbour to drive past with a water pistol and spray her out of the window to get her to realize that cars don't play nice games. ???

Poor Mille. Animals are so sweet.

Can't keep those fingers still

I can't keep my fingers off this blog, though I have nothing to say of any worth at the moment. So I won't use any excuse, but will just do what I've been itching to do and put up my three lovely children and my sweet spouse. On the desert island that is Denmark, these are they in whose sweet company I am marooned. Well it's been good for our family I'll tell you.

Here is Laila, in her moment of glory:



and dethroned:



And very much herself, on a steam train in east Germany:



And here are Zou and Lina:



and Zou (Zahra):



and in exultation:



and little Lina:



and:



And my dear Mark, puffing away:



and on the exile ship (no no, it was just the boat to Kalundborg)



and this was how we saw ourselves in the water. That's us down there. Exiles or what?



Now shut up Lucy and go back to må and skal.

Feeling free

This is how I'd like to feel. This is what one should do in this spring.

Middle-aged blues

My daughter had her birthday party yesterday, and as she's newly a pre-teen and feels she is growing up, she wanted to have all the girls in her class to sleep over. So we stupidly said yes. I must have been hoping that Mark would switch on and be a responsible parent, and Mark must have been lost in sentimental sweetness.

So it was yesterday, and actually it was very sweet. I was a bit sad, because last year they sang the Happy Birthday songs so beautifully and the H.B. songs are much nicer in Danish, and my maternal heart swelled and I thought, Oh gosh, here we are in Denmark, here we go. This year, because all I was doing was running around anxiously in serving mode with food, and Mark was in Odense for a conference, they were loutish, and did loud snatches of one sort of song and then loud snatches of another, polished off by Laila having taught them 'You look like a monkey and you smell like one too'. Which really made me annoyed.

But the rest of it was sweet, and apart from chocolate cake being ground into the floor we can now never afford to replace the mess etc wasn't too bad. But some of them got up this morning at five and made a lot of noise - and I should think all the neighbours were woken too, tho none of them have said anything about it because children are so worshipped here - and that was it, I am completely wrecked for the whole of the rest of the day. I've tried going back to bed, I've tried watching the Hairspray they rented, I've tried pigging out on chocolate cake, I've tried to go to sleep on a rug in the garden in the gorgeous sun, and I still just feel awful and am just waiting to go to bed tonight.

And it's all because I'm MIDDLE AGED. :-(

But I'm being really vicious to Laila to make up, and that makes me feel a bit better ! :-))

My daily fix

I find I've now got addicted to reading other bloggers' blogs. I feel very disappointed and unsatisfied if there isn't anything there when I log on to check. Does everyone get this?