TWO YEARS… WHERE HAS TIME GONE?

Two years. Twenty-four months. One hundred and four weeks...

On one hand it seems long ago but on the other hand it feels like yesterday. Our very last day in Belgium. Loading the truck with all our belongings (too much for the foreseen truck 🫣).

“The last supper” with dear friends and family. Belgian fries, of course! Camping and sleeping in an empty house, to be able to leave early in the morning on Sunday March 24th, 2024…

Sunday morning, far too early, packing our last belongings in three cars, including our most precious “freight”: our dogs and cats! Prepared for 16 hours on the road. Three drivers: Georges, Alex and I, and co-pilot Jean Paul to keep each of us company along the road.

I don’t know what has been the toughest… The road to Sweden on that particular Sunday two years ago, or the journey here so far.

And again, it all depends on who you ask. Alex or me…

*Bye bye Aarschot… (sadly enough, we couldn’t take our sweetest Anne with us 😢 )*

As you all could read earlier on, we started our journey in a rental house in Ödenas and we moved again in January 2025 to our own “cabin in the woods”. Different move, same team. Thank you once more Georges and Jean Paul!

*“The cabin in the woods”. A red one of course!*

After one year I can say we’re settled in well and we even made new friends! 🥰

Since our last blog, more friends and family visited us as well. Valérie’s cousin Luc and his wife Dora came to celebrate Christmas with us, and Haidi and Valérie’s colleague Ivana joined us on New Year’s Eve. With another visit to one of our favorite places to end the year with: Marstrand!

But life is not all sunshine and rainbows... Unfortunately, the introduction of Floki, the sweetest kitten ever, didn’t work out as we had hoped for with the dogs. Floki was a little timid and the dogs loved chasing him, which limited his freedom of movement in the house. After careful consideration, we had to take the very difficult decision to rehome him, for his own wellbeing (clearly not ours…). I truly miss this little, constantly purring kitty! 😓 💔

Luckily, Floki was was welcomed by my dearest friend (and second-mom 😉 ❤️) Christine and Patrick where he’s living his best life. Their two little dogs accepted Floki very quickly and in a few weeks, he will even get a girlfriend, Misty, to play with! Thank you so much Christine and Patrick to take such good care of him. I’m happy he’s feeling at home with you and we can always come and visit him when we’re back in Belgium.

*His favorite place to be: as close to you as possible.*

Another personal struggle (yes, it’s Valérie writing…) is speaking Swedish. As I’m working (too much, history repeats itself…) I don’t have enough time to study. The last course I entered (Svenska som andraspråk – grundläggande nivå) was not compatible with my work schedule as it required 20 hours of study a week. Quite a lot on top of working. So I’ll have to find another way to learn more and be able to understand and speak Swedish better, which feels important to me to be able to communicate and integrate better.

But there’s also something called “tålamod” in Swedish… (look for the translation and I’m sure the ones who know me will smile… 😇 😎 😉).

What I am getting better at, however, is training with Luka. Of course with great help of two amazing women! Luka and I are active in showtraining, rally obedience and game tracking. In December, we did our first “game tracking test” and passed the aptitude class. Now up to open class!

*Luka with Helena, judge of the game tracking test.*

Now from roses and rainbows to the Northern lights! There were a few really nice occasions to see the Northern lights just “around the corner”. It’s amazing to walk outside the door and be able to see this show. Enjoy!

We also enjoyed a really nice, long winter with lots of snow (two full months, whoohoo!). As expected, two out of four dogs love it, the two others are rather sceptical. Judge for yourself by looking at the pictures! 😆

*Daddy Rusty, forgetting he’s 10,5 years and not 10,5 months old whenever there’s snow.* 🥰

*Happy Phoebe, running free on a frozen lake.*

*Statler and Waldorf - I mean Hermès and Ares - found the best spot under the heater!*

And now: spring is in the air and we’re looking forward to our third summer in Sweden and welcoming more friends and family to spend some quality time together!

*Rusty and Luka, waiting for the last bit of ice on the lake to melt in order to be able to swim!* 💦

And last but not least:

Oops… while writing about spring…

This is happening! We clearly jinxed it! 🤪 ❄️ 🌨️

Life is what happens while you’re busy…