Christmas 2020 and New Year 2021
If you want to read the pdf, then you can download it below
As I sit down on this last day of 2020, to write my yearly letter, I, like most others, am glad to have this year come to an end. Not that it has been a bad year for me, but nevertheless, I look forward to working again and less restrictions.
The sun is not showing its face today, whereas regular rain and snow showers keep us inside by the fireplace. Lycka and Kurra also find that a quick pee under the rhododendron is more than enough outdoor activity. The chickens are all confined under nets to protect them against avian influenza, that again this year is making chicken keeping a bit more of a challenge, since I cannot put nets over the whole chicken garden, and they therefore have less places to graze and pick. Nonetheless they keep providing us and neighbours with eggs due to my additional light program in their chicken house.
The year started with an active schedule and plans for a lot of travelling in 2020. Then my trip to China got cancelled, and in March all travel seized. However, the lockdown created quiet roads for bicycling, thus Marc and I explored otherwise shunned areas. We had to start using extra big bottles on our bikes, because the bakeries refused to refill out water bottles due to Corona restrictions. The spring and summer became a time to execute everything on the ‘to do’ list such as repainting my cows, new roofs on garden house, chicken wind shield and chicken coup, painting all house windows and doors, concrete flooring in chicken pavilion, and so on. Our vegetable garden became, as usual, overfull with delicious produce. This year it was lots of cherry tomatoes (as I had to start these from seeds) and I could snack on these ‘à volonté’. Potatoes, carrots, leeks, blackberries, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, spinach, beans, and red beets; all have been harvested and consumed with passion, and a lot is in the freezer to take us through the winter.
In June we managed to get a 5-day trip to Ventron in the Vosges in France, and I enjoyed all the epic climbs there as well as the environment. I was delighted to see some relatives to the Swedish fjällko (our Nordic cattle breed) there, and their ancestors came with Swedish mercenary soldiers in the 1600s during the 30-year war (1618-1648), and this breed has become a local cattle breed. Unfortunately, the Swedish mercenary soldiers did not have a good reputation. We biked up to the ‘Planche the Belle Filles’ and this is a steep climb to a mountain peak, where the local women fled and thereafter committed suicide to escape the raping escapades of the Swedish mercenary soldiers. In August we went for a 5-day of cycling in Bourg St Maurice in the Haute Savoie in France. These trips were with all corona safety precautions, and Marc and I have not been near a stranger or friend since March this year.
In October, prior to the second corona wave, I managed to fly home to my sisters in Stockholm for a 10-day visit. I needed to renew my passport and id card, and Sweden does not have an embassy in Brussels (crazy considering that Brussels is the capital of Europe and many Swedes live here). Elisabeth, Susanne and I took a 3-day trip to Elisabeth’s ski cabin in the north, and we enjoyed the autumn there, and watched old films from our childhood.
With all my work travel stopping, I have finally gotten around to publishing my book ‘The Healthy Dairy Calf’. In a few days I will pick up my first edition. Despite having published many journal articles over the years, there is a special feeling about publishing a book. My sister Susanne did the editing and graphic design of the book, and it feels special to do this with my sister.
My year of 2020 has been good. Despite restrictions in seeing friends, and travelling, I have enjoyed every day. The little joys in life; chickens, Lycka & Kurra, Marc, garden, biking, running, yoga with Charlotte, Para Daiza- the zoological park, … and the list goes on. My professional expertise has become well known and sexy 😉, as I no longer need to explain what an epidemiologist does. Despite all the hardship that this pandemic has caused many, I feel that it is an earthly experience that is worth going through. We need to always remind ourselves to live in the present and appreciate the everyday joys of life. I am hoping and praying that there are good things that come out of this crisis and that it will make people reflect on living in synchrony with nature instead of exploiting it.
I wish you all the best for 2021, and I also ask that you make the best of your coming year!
Hugs, Cat.
If you want to read the pdf, then you can download it below
As I sit down on this last day of 2020, to write my yearly letter, I, like most others, am glad to have this year come to an end. Not that it has been a bad year for me, but nevertheless, I look forward to working again and less restrictions.
The sun is not showing its face today, whereas regular rain and snow showers keep us inside by the fireplace. Lycka and Kurra also find that a quick pee under the rhododendron is more than enough outdoor activity. The chickens are all confined under nets to protect them against avian influenza, that again this year is making chicken keeping a bit more of a challenge, since I cannot put nets over the whole chicken garden, and they therefore have less places to graze and pick. Nonetheless they keep providing us and neighbours with eggs due to my additional light program in their chicken house.
The year started with an active schedule and plans for a lot of travelling in 2020. Then my trip to China got cancelled, and in March all travel seized. However, the lockdown created quiet roads for bicycling, thus Marc and I explored otherwise shunned areas. We had to start using extra big bottles on our bikes, because the bakeries refused to refill out water bottles due to Corona restrictions. The spring and summer became a time to execute everything on the ‘to do’ list such as repainting my cows, new roofs on garden house, chicken wind shield and chicken coup, painting all house windows and doors, concrete flooring in chicken pavilion, and so on. Our vegetable garden became, as usual, overfull with delicious produce. This year it was lots of cherry tomatoes (as I had to start these from seeds) and I could snack on these ‘à volonté’. Potatoes, carrots, leeks, blackberries, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, spinach, beans, and red beets; all have been harvested and consumed with passion, and a lot is in the freezer to take us through the winter.
In June we managed to get a 5-day trip to Ventron in the Vosges in France, and I enjoyed all the epic climbs there as well as the environment. I was delighted to see some relatives to the Swedish fjällko (our Nordic cattle breed) there, and their ancestors came with Swedish mercenary soldiers in the 1600s during the 30-year war (1618-1648), and this breed has become a local cattle breed. Unfortunately, the Swedish mercenary soldiers did not have a good reputation. We biked up to the ‘Planche the Belle Filles’ and this is a steep climb to a mountain peak, where the local women fled and thereafter committed suicide to escape the raping escapades of the Swedish mercenary soldiers. In August we went for a 5-day of cycling in Bourg St Maurice in the Haute Savoie in France. These trips were with all corona safety precautions, and Marc and I have not been near a stranger or friend since March this year.
In October, prior to the second corona wave, I managed to fly home to my sisters in Stockholm for a 10-day visit. I needed to renew my passport and id card, and Sweden does not have an embassy in Brussels (crazy considering that Brussels is the capital of Europe and many Swedes live here). Elisabeth, Susanne and I took a 3-day trip to Elisabeth’s ski cabin in the north, and we enjoyed the autumn there, and watched old films from our childhood.
With all my work travel stopping, I have finally gotten around to publishing my book ‘The Healthy Dairy Calf’. In a few days I will pick up my first edition. Despite having published many journal articles over the years, there is a special feeling about publishing a book. My sister Susanne did the editing and graphic design of the book, and it feels special to do this with my sister.
My year of 2020 has been good. Despite restrictions in seeing friends, and travelling, I have enjoyed every day. The little joys in life; chickens, Lycka & Kurra, Marc, garden, biking, running, yoga with Charlotte, Para Daiza- the zoological park, … and the list goes on. My professional expertise has become well known and sexy 😉, as I no longer need to explain what an epidemiologist does. Despite all the hardship that this pandemic has caused many, I feel that it is an earthly experience that is worth going through. We need to always remind ourselves to live in the present and appreciate the everyday joys of life. I am hoping and praying that there are good things that come out of this crisis and that it will make people reflect on living in synchrony with nature instead of exploiting it.
I wish you all the best for 2021, and I also ask that you make the best of your coming year!
Hugs, Cat.
| christmas_2020_and_new_year_2021.pdf |