Animals

Of unicorns, powdered horns and Danish tusks

On misty mornings, when the fog curls lazily along the water’s edge and brushes gently over trees and shrubs, the grazing horses can, for a moment, be taken for something else: sun filters down to make their damp hides shimmer, and when the large blue roan turns this way, one can for an instant see …

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Who let the dogs out?

Many, many moons ago, man sat outside the cave he called home and stirred the embers of the dying fire. From inside the cave came the sounds of his sleeping companions. He, however, was on guard duty, one puny human to keep an ear out for cave lions, sabre-toothed tigers and other potential predators. Above …

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Ba, ba, black sheep

I seem to be on a woolly streak of late. First a post about tartan some days back, and today a post about sheep. Well: it’s not about sheep, it’s about wool, and seeing as no sheep equals no wool, that per definition means you cannot talk about one without mentioning the other. Sheep have …

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The things that make us human…

Some people would argue that humanity’s defining characteristic is our intelligence. Hmm. Given our predilection for constantly endangering the future of our species through war, pollution and excessive exploitation of this our very precious, very small, green planet, I am not so sure about all that intelligence. Others will say it is our communication skills …

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Popularity or Principles?

When I was a child, I dreamt of becoming either a medieval knight or a veterinary. One dream fell flat on its face due to having been born in the wrong time and of the wrong gender, the other burst apart when I realised I faint at the sight of blood. Not a good thing …

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Of moose, apples and freedom fighters

When we came up to our country house this weekend, the apples were gone. Puts väck, as one says in Swedish. Where only last week our two apple trees had bowed under the weight of the as yet unripe but beautiful winter apples, now they stood denuded, not as much as a single apple on …

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Man, mud and jeeps – a reflection on human perseverance

I spent Christmas away from home – very far away. On Christmas Eve, I lay awake most of the night listening to the hyenas scrabbling at the canvas of our tent. On Christmas Day, I lay just as awake, listening to the two lions that roared in chorus (or maybe they were roaring AT each …

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Will killing Charlotte come back to haunt me?

I have a thing about spiders. Let me rephrase that; I go weak kneed and squeak like a trapped mouse when I run into spiders indoors. Too many legs, too fast, too unpredictable … ugh! Outdoors, I have a “Live and let live” policy towards these creatures. I can actually concede that a spiderweb decorated …

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Who made wasps? And why?

This weekend has, for a change, been sufficiently dry to inspire me to do some gardening. Quite necessary, as weeds thrive in the wet summer we’ve had so far. Now one can either embrace weeds and decide thistles, nettles, dandelions, chamomile and out of control daisies belong in your flowerbeds, or one does one best …

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We’re having a heatwave…

No we’re not! But I would very much like one – or at least one full week of something resembling normal summer weather. For those of us that spend three months a year in more or less constant dusk (November through January are HEAVY at this latitude) summer is when we recharge our mental batteries, …

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