Christmas 2024 and New Year 2025 Reflections
Click here for pdf with pictures
Greetings from a very grey wet Christmas with the lack of sun being the most prominent feature. Yesterday it was sunny, so I went running in the morning and biking with Marc in the afternoon and that gave me some endorphins. Weather has not been the best in Belgium this year. A too wet spring, a mediocre summer and then a wet autumn. I believe we have broken new rain records. The garden suffered, as well as all two-legged and four-legged inhabitants of this household. Enough about the dreary weather in Belgium, but I have indeed enjoyed travelling away from home to see the sun!
Berge Veterinary Consulting BV (I) has had a very good consulting year. New clients and new mission fields have emerged. I have enjoyed numerous travels, and I try to space them, so that I have a week at home between trips to recharge my batteries, since I tend to give my all during trips and come home depleted (but content). I love my work with young stock (calves) and working with farmers ranging from the United Arab Emirates to Finland.
I enjoyed the Buiatrics (ruminant) conference in Cancun Mexico in May, where I went to present some studies I had done for MSD Animal Health on bovine coronavirus and post-closure colostrum supplementation. I was thrilled to listen to many talks on calves, and there is more and more emphasis on preventive veterinary medicine. Unfortunately, I came back from Mexico tired and coughing, and the corona test was very positive and I felt very crummy. Thus, I had to rapidly cancel a planned trip to France, but managed to make a few presentations trough videoconferencing. The farm visits were postponed to July. I lost my sense of smell for a few weeks, and I was very worried about a chronic loss of smell. I cannot tell you the joy I had feeling a very distant smell of cinnamon, as I dipped my nose into the cinnamon jar for the umpteenth time. I was saying ‘I’d rather lose an arm than the sense of smell’, as this is one of our senses that we do not truly appreciate until we lose it. Since I had bought about 8 bottles of vanilla when I was in Cancun, this was double appreciated! One of my big passions in life is cooking, and standing in the kitchen cooking up new things, failing as always to follow a recipe and see if it will be for Marc or my chickens is such an excellent way to destress and live in the moment.
In June, a visit to Sweden to celebrate the last high school graduation (studenten) of my niece Karin and she is the youngest of my nieces and nephews, thus now they are all young adults. I am very proud of them all, with Elisabeth’s eldest son, Victor, being successful in his business career in Malmö, Julia in medical studies in Uppsala (so happy to have at least one of them interested in medicine), Saga in University studies in sociology, to become a future criminal investigator police, and Isak in military service. Sweden has finally become part of NATO, which is increasing the emphasis of a good military defense in the current situation
This year, I have very much enjoyed all social events organized by the graduate students in the veterinary epidemiology unit with Professor Jeroen Dewulf at Ghent University. I think that I did ok in the half marathon relay but need to work more on my break-out room skills 😉.
A lot of the summertime was spent at home, with bike excursions in the Ardennes, the forests in the southern Wallon part of Belgium. I love biking in the Ardennes, because we do not have enough forests around home for my liking, where agriculture dominates. Usually, I do not do any work trips in July and August when Marc has vacation, but this year, due to my cancellations due to the corona infection and scheduling I went one time to France and one time to Northern Italy. On the 30th of July, Marc and I celebrated his 60th birthday, with a cake, and I bought him a Merino wool Molteni cycling jersey (Eddy Merckx biked for Molteni and Marc was and is a big fan of Eddy). Marc did not want any further celebration.
During the summer, I saw an injured stray cat passing through our garden. He was nice to my girls, Lycka and Kurra. I started to feed him, and I managed to sneak some antibiotic and antiparasitic medication into his feed, and the wound healed nicely. I also gradually inched closer to him, starting at being about 5 meters away at the start of the summer, to having him smell my fingers in the autumn. I borrowed a stray cat trap from the municipality to have him neutered and chipped, and I bought him an insulated cot for the winter. Then one day in December I managed to trap him and had him brough to the local vet for the municipal’s stray cat neutering programme. Then I got the bad news; he had tested positive for FIV (cat aids) and according to the municipalities programme, he had to be euthanized. I felt totally crushed and was in tears. I realized that even though I had not really touched him, we had bonded, and he meant a lot to me. His winter cot still stands by the house, and I have not been able to remove it yet. Love has no boundaries and love hurts at times!
Our summer bike trip this year went to Morzine, in Haute-Savoie in France. We got a very good hotel, that upgraded our room to a suite, and the half pension was excellent, with a la carte menu every evening. There were lots of mountain bikers in the area, and the ski lifts were packed with bikers.
In September, my very good friend, Anna Gustafsson, came to visit. Anna and I got to know each other when I was studying veterinary medicine in Uppsala (1986-1991), and Anna was studying to become a nurse. We have remained true friends since, and Anna was the bridesmaid on Marc and my wedding in 2009. We had a great time doing everything around the house, such as milking goats, making cheese, running every morning, going to Pairi Daiza animal park and going on a horse-drawn cart ride with my friend Marjolein’s Fjord horse, Huldra.
October was my highlight trip vacation. Back to California to be with my friends for over two weeks. I met with the ‘Raw Milk Cats’ and we reminiscent over our Race Across America record in 2011 together with Ryan at Actionsports, Bakersfield. Jeanine and Terry had planned a fantastic time riding around Fresno and we did a small excursion to Murphy, where we biked over Ebbets Pass on my birthday. We stayed a few days in Mount Shasta area with Paul Skilbeck and Chase, and Paul McKenzie came up in his campervan. It was so good to see Pauls again! Nothing like a whole bunch of bicycle crazy friends to create a good time! Paul S. took us on a nice hike (Castle Lake trail) with his dogs. Paul M. and I hiked halfway up Mount Shasta enjoying the wilderness and views. Paul M. then drove me back to Fresno, and we had some more nice rides in the area, and dived into the archives of memories, looking at old Race Across America and Furnace Creek 508 movies. These two weeks were fantastic, and I promised that it would be only a few years before I will return to California.
After I came back from California, fortunately, a few planned work trips got cancelled. My first time in Crete was short but fantastic. The Vettaky team had organized good farm visits and organized an evening presentation where nearly all farmers in the region were present. A trip to Trackien in Turkey with Alltech was surprisingly cold and misty with 10 farm visits in 4.5 days.
I visited my father in Helsingborg for a few days. Then some more advent times in Belgium. The traditional ginger break construction with the Van der Linden children and a visit with my dear friend Ewout to Pairi Daiza.
I could add so many more photos and stories, but I have already way exceeded my text length limit. I am also writing for myself, so that I can sit and read this in my rocking chair when I turn 80 or so. I sure do hope that you, my friend, have also had a very fulfilling and nice year, and that your future looks fun and bright. I look forward to connecting with you in the coming year. If you do not like typing, then simply pick up the phone and with whatsapp (+32499703112) we can talk and see each other for no cost!
Love and Hugs,
Cat.
Click here for pdf with pictures
Greetings from a very grey wet Christmas with the lack of sun being the most prominent feature. Yesterday it was sunny, so I went running in the morning and biking with Marc in the afternoon and that gave me some endorphins. Weather has not been the best in Belgium this year. A too wet spring, a mediocre summer and then a wet autumn. I believe we have broken new rain records. The garden suffered, as well as all two-legged and four-legged inhabitants of this household. Enough about the dreary weather in Belgium, but I have indeed enjoyed travelling away from home to see the sun!
Berge Veterinary Consulting BV (I) has had a very good consulting year. New clients and new mission fields have emerged. I have enjoyed numerous travels, and I try to space them, so that I have a week at home between trips to recharge my batteries, since I tend to give my all during trips and come home depleted (but content). I love my work with young stock (calves) and working with farmers ranging from the United Arab Emirates to Finland.
I enjoyed the Buiatrics (ruminant) conference in Cancun Mexico in May, where I went to present some studies I had done for MSD Animal Health on bovine coronavirus and post-closure colostrum supplementation. I was thrilled to listen to many talks on calves, and there is more and more emphasis on preventive veterinary medicine. Unfortunately, I came back from Mexico tired and coughing, and the corona test was very positive and I felt very crummy. Thus, I had to rapidly cancel a planned trip to France, but managed to make a few presentations trough videoconferencing. The farm visits were postponed to July. I lost my sense of smell for a few weeks, and I was very worried about a chronic loss of smell. I cannot tell you the joy I had feeling a very distant smell of cinnamon, as I dipped my nose into the cinnamon jar for the umpteenth time. I was saying ‘I’d rather lose an arm than the sense of smell’, as this is one of our senses that we do not truly appreciate until we lose it. Since I had bought about 8 bottles of vanilla when I was in Cancun, this was double appreciated! One of my big passions in life is cooking, and standing in the kitchen cooking up new things, failing as always to follow a recipe and see if it will be for Marc or my chickens is such an excellent way to destress and live in the moment.
In June, a visit to Sweden to celebrate the last high school graduation (studenten) of my niece Karin and she is the youngest of my nieces and nephews, thus now they are all young adults. I am very proud of them all, with Elisabeth’s eldest son, Victor, being successful in his business career in Malmö, Julia in medical studies in Uppsala (so happy to have at least one of them interested in medicine), Saga in University studies in sociology, to become a future criminal investigator police, and Isak in military service. Sweden has finally become part of NATO, which is increasing the emphasis of a good military defense in the current situation
This year, I have very much enjoyed all social events organized by the graduate students in the veterinary epidemiology unit with Professor Jeroen Dewulf at Ghent University. I think that I did ok in the half marathon relay but need to work more on my break-out room skills 😉.
A lot of the summertime was spent at home, with bike excursions in the Ardennes, the forests in the southern Wallon part of Belgium. I love biking in the Ardennes, because we do not have enough forests around home for my liking, where agriculture dominates. Usually, I do not do any work trips in July and August when Marc has vacation, but this year, due to my cancellations due to the corona infection and scheduling I went one time to France and one time to Northern Italy. On the 30th of July, Marc and I celebrated his 60th birthday, with a cake, and I bought him a Merino wool Molteni cycling jersey (Eddy Merckx biked for Molteni and Marc was and is a big fan of Eddy). Marc did not want any further celebration.
During the summer, I saw an injured stray cat passing through our garden. He was nice to my girls, Lycka and Kurra. I started to feed him, and I managed to sneak some antibiotic and antiparasitic medication into his feed, and the wound healed nicely. I also gradually inched closer to him, starting at being about 5 meters away at the start of the summer, to having him smell my fingers in the autumn. I borrowed a stray cat trap from the municipality to have him neutered and chipped, and I bought him an insulated cot for the winter. Then one day in December I managed to trap him and had him brough to the local vet for the municipal’s stray cat neutering programme. Then I got the bad news; he had tested positive for FIV (cat aids) and according to the municipalities programme, he had to be euthanized. I felt totally crushed and was in tears. I realized that even though I had not really touched him, we had bonded, and he meant a lot to me. His winter cot still stands by the house, and I have not been able to remove it yet. Love has no boundaries and love hurts at times!
Our summer bike trip this year went to Morzine, in Haute-Savoie in France. We got a very good hotel, that upgraded our room to a suite, and the half pension was excellent, with a la carte menu every evening. There were lots of mountain bikers in the area, and the ski lifts were packed with bikers.
In September, my very good friend, Anna Gustafsson, came to visit. Anna and I got to know each other when I was studying veterinary medicine in Uppsala (1986-1991), and Anna was studying to become a nurse. We have remained true friends since, and Anna was the bridesmaid on Marc and my wedding in 2009. We had a great time doing everything around the house, such as milking goats, making cheese, running every morning, going to Pairi Daiza animal park and going on a horse-drawn cart ride with my friend Marjolein’s Fjord horse, Huldra.
October was my highlight trip vacation. Back to California to be with my friends for over two weeks. I met with the ‘Raw Milk Cats’ and we reminiscent over our Race Across America record in 2011 together with Ryan at Actionsports, Bakersfield. Jeanine and Terry had planned a fantastic time riding around Fresno and we did a small excursion to Murphy, where we biked over Ebbets Pass on my birthday. We stayed a few days in Mount Shasta area with Paul Skilbeck and Chase, and Paul McKenzie came up in his campervan. It was so good to see Pauls again! Nothing like a whole bunch of bicycle crazy friends to create a good time! Paul S. took us on a nice hike (Castle Lake trail) with his dogs. Paul M. and I hiked halfway up Mount Shasta enjoying the wilderness and views. Paul M. then drove me back to Fresno, and we had some more nice rides in the area, and dived into the archives of memories, looking at old Race Across America and Furnace Creek 508 movies. These two weeks were fantastic, and I promised that it would be only a few years before I will return to California.
After I came back from California, fortunately, a few planned work trips got cancelled. My first time in Crete was short but fantastic. The Vettaky team had organized good farm visits and organized an evening presentation where nearly all farmers in the region were present. A trip to Trackien in Turkey with Alltech was surprisingly cold and misty with 10 farm visits in 4.5 days.
I visited my father in Helsingborg for a few days. Then some more advent times in Belgium. The traditional ginger break construction with the Van der Linden children and a visit with my dear friend Ewout to Pairi Daiza.
I could add so many more photos and stories, but I have already way exceeded my text length limit. I am also writing for myself, so that I can sit and read this in my rocking chair when I turn 80 or so. I sure do hope that you, my friend, have also had a very fulfilling and nice year, and that your future looks fun and bright. I look forward to connecting with you in the coming year. If you do not like typing, then simply pick up the phone and with whatsapp (+32499703112) we can talk and see each other for no cost!
Love and Hugs,
Cat.
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