More photos of Aliyah

Aliyah on a walk

This was maybe two weeks ago, when Aliyah and I were out on our first "spring-walk". There was still some snow on the ground but it was really sunny, warm and nice. The little pup has really grown!




Aliyah posing on the side of the road

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Home again




Equus Caballus: The horses of my life

The early beginning...

When I was 12 years old I got Bleikfaxi, an 11 years old Icelandic horse. It was wonderful.
"Bleiki" and I had a lot of lovely times together throughout the years. I learned so very much about horses from him. When I was about 16 I had to move from the village I grew up in and to the town, and then I decided to leave Bleiki to another family who lived in the country. I just wanted him to be with someone who lived outside the town, who had other horses and who had more time for him than I had at the time. I didn't sell him though, because I had a feeling that I would be able to have him again in the future.



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Bleikfaxi frá Eyrabakka



The years passed by. I was busy studying, travelling and moving around a bit. In the fall of 2005 I finally got settled where I'm living today. On the countryside in the north of Sweden. It didn't take long until I felt that I really wanted to have horses in my life again. There was no stable at our yard, but it was a barn with the potential to become one. I think I got the idea in november or december, and in january the stable stood ready.

I couldn't have Bleikfaxi all alone, so I came to the conclusion that it was time to make a dream come true. A long time I have wanted to have a young horse, an "undamaged" one, that I could grow together with. My favourite breed beside Icelandic horses has always been Arabian horses, and especially the Egyptian type. I wanted a colt, because I like the way they are and I think their charisma is something really special. So, I began to look around for a good breeder, because that's what I felt was the most important thing; that the breeder was a good person and had been able to give the foal a good start in life.

I found a stud in the middle of Denmark, which had three foals for sale. Two colts and one filly. They all looked stunning and I really liked the appearence of both the colts. I wrote two the breeder and asked about the personality of the two. I got a very nice mail back with good descriptions of them both and I instantly fell for the sweet and gentle Said El Dine.



Said in Denmark, a couple of months old

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The beautiful parents of Said


 
1. The father, Radames II
2. The mother, Saida Bint Shahila



A lot of mailing and phone conversations later we (me, my mother and my boyfriend) took the car southwards. It was a crazy trip, considering that it's far more than a thousand kilometers from where I live to Denmark. But Said was an angel and the trip went flawless, just perfect. Some days later Said was here in cold, northern Sweden, in the stable I had built.

The day after Said arrived, we went to pick Bleiki up. It was a wonderful reunion with my dear old friend.



The first picture I took of Said when he had arrived here

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Said, january 2006, 10 months old



The story continues...

It felt great to have horses around me again. I loved watching them play with eachother. I loved taking them on walks in the woods or in the fields. The harmony of seeing them just chill out , grazing in their pasture is beyond words. I had a thousand wonderful times with the horses and I never regretted that I got them, even though it was plenty of hard work too.

Said grew fast and even though young colts tend to be pretty demanding when they are growing up and the hormones start to flow, Said continued to be the most sweet, easy and gentle little boy. He was so good at everything and behaved excellent in all the situations I put him in; the daily care, the other animals, the traffic, the hoof care, the vet - everything. I was really, really proud of him all the time.

Bleiki seemed to like being the "father" of a young stallion. I think it helped him to keep fresh and young himself. He didn't get very much rest, because Said wanted to play almost all the time, but it seemed like Bleiki was enjoying it really much. Of course he got his lazy moments anyway, when he could just lay down and chill some hours. The older Said got, the more Bleiki could trust him to keep watch while he was resting. Bleiki was the leader of the two. Said tried to take the lead at times, but in my eyes Bleiki was always the strongest, even though Said was bigger.



 
Winter 2005/2006

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I'm riding Bleiki and Said is following us



Spring 2006

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Summer 2006



The end of the story

Sometime in the middle of this summer, 2006, I had to realize that it would be hard for me to keep the horses one more winter. It was not only the time that wasn't enough, it was the money too. It was a really hard decision. The horses was of course a big part of my life and they gave me so very much. I thought of all the plans I had made about the future, when I would be able to ride Said and all. But deep inside I felt that I wanted them to be with someone who had a lot more time for them. I had school, the house, the dogs and cats. My time just wasn't enough for giving quality time to all of the animals, and horses are really "time stealing".

I wrote to Said's breeder in Denmark and explained it all. Wondering if she was willing to take him back or if she knew someone who was interested in him. I deeply wished for him to go back to his breeder, because I knew that she was a really good person. After some weeks she had decided to take him back.

I started to look for a good home for Bleiki, and I had a lot of requirements. Bleiki is a special guy and I wanted him to come to someone who could give him what he needed. Finally I found a family who lived in Norrbotten, even more northward than I am living. This family came here to see Bleiki and after just some minutes I realized that they were the perfect family for him. They were showing great understanding in horses and their needs and they were very nice people. The daughter was 12 years old, the age I was in when I got him, and Bleiki and she agreed very well. It was lovely to see.

So Said moved back to his breeder in Denmark in the middle of july and Bleiki moved to his new family in Norrbotten a couple of days afterwards. I really miss them but it felt, and stills feels, like this was the very best solution for us all.

I deeply treasure the time I got with those two lovely creatures!

♥ ♥ ♥



Miracle of the day!

A baby snake is born!

This is the fist newborn snake I've ever seen. About two years ago, I got a pair of Irian Jaya/West Papuan Carpet Pythons (Morelia Spilota Variegata). They were babies back then, but now they're grown up, at least the female. This female is mother to this little baby, but the male of this pair is not the father. The father is instead another, larger, type of Carpet Python, a one called Coastal Carpet Python (Morelia Spilota McDowelli). This male is not regular Coastal Carpet either - he's got a special color and pattern, which is a genetic mutation. Just this color mutation, morph, the father has got is called Jaguar.

Accordingly, this baby is a cross between two different subspecies of Carpet Python. The chance was 50% that the offspring would inherit the father's special color. This year the female only laid one healty egg, which is understandable considering this was the first time in her life that she laid eggs. In the end, we didn't even think that this egg would hatch because it seemed to dry out more and more with time. So my hopes were not too high. But on the exact day that we had calculated, the egg hatched and out came a perfectly healthy little baby - with the color mutation from the father!

It will be really interesting to see this little guy (or girl) grow up. Baby snakes are growing fast and these kind of snakes are going through drastical changes in color which are really, really fun to follow.

I will update with more photos as time goes by and the little one developes.



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This is the mother, a two year old Irian Jaya/West Papuan Carpet Python, normal color


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This is the (mighty) father, a really big Coastal Carpet Python, Jaguar type




The little cookie: Aliyah

Aliyah

A couple of months after we got our first dog, Whippa, we got Aliyah's mother - Gizmo. She is a Staffordshire Bullterrier of the sweetest kind. Her daughter Aliyah was born last fall, in august 2007, among with two other puppies, Vilja and Akillez.



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1. Aliyah a couple of weeks old
2. Akillez (up) and Aliyah (down)


"Watch out mum, I've got some teeth too!"




The proud mother Gizmo



It was not part of our plans to keep any of the puppies. Aliyah's brother and sister got new homes, but the family who was going to buy Aliyah changed their minds before even seeing her, so she was the last one left. She had been my favourite all the time and after just a couple of days of having her left alone we really started to bond with her. After some weeks we couldn't imagine leaving the little sweetie away, so she stayed with us!

And here she is today, 9 months old...

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Aliyah is very sweet and gentle, but yet (as all terriers) kind of energic. She is really intelligent and listens and learns very well. She looooves food and to chase Whippa around the yard, altough she never catches her because Whippa is way too quick. She also likes "fighting" with her mom Gizmo and to sound like a grizzly bear while she's doing it.

On the whole Aliyah is a very fun and sweet little dog!



Have you ever seen a Whippie before?

Well, if not - here you have one!

Whippa came to me in may 2004, in other words we've known eachother for three whole years soon. This lovely little ladydog is born in february 2004, on the countryside outside of Göteborg. She is a mix of three different breeds. Her mother was a mix between Collie and Bearded Collie and her father was a Whippet. Or I hope they still are of course!

A Whippet and a Collie - A Whippie! Hippie Whippie!




1. Whippa, her father and her mother
2 & 3. Whippa, about 10 weeks old



Whippa got her name both from the word Whippet and from the fact that she really loved a cat toy that was like a stick with some feathers on ("vippa") and used to apport it all the time when she was a little puppy. Oh, she was the sweetest puppy, she never did anything bad like destroying shoes and furniture. Of course small accidents did happen, but over all (and with "bullstaffs" to compare with) she was a saint. She's still a very well-behaved lady, but she has a lot of speed in her legs and also some mischief in her head, so of course she is a bit wild sometimes, but isn't that what we want to see in our animals? Life and own will. We don't want to have a robot dog walking beside us all the time, obeying every order, without the tiniest will of their own. Do we? Anyway, I really don't!

Yes, as I said, she's got a whole lot of speed and I've never seen a dog run faster. It's obvoius that she's taken after a lot from her dad. I think the ladylike behaviour is from her mom, the Collie. She was a real lady, lying in the shade, chilling, while daddy Whippet was playing with his daughter. Whippa is also very intelligent, she learns even without me having to teach her. Beside our two "bulls" she appears like a real Einstein. Haha!
(Sorry Gizmo and Aliya, you know I love you too!)




1. Whippa and little Aliya, a couple of weeks old
2. Whippa on Öland
3. Whippa - the ghost dog



The thing I enjoy most doing with Whippa is walking in the wilderness. I love being with her in the woods or in the open grasslands. She is running, smelling everything, searching for some fun animals to chase, like squirrels or rats. I am walking at a slow pace, philosophising about everything an nothing at all.

Nearly all the times she stays pretty close to me, but sometimes she finds something really exciting and then she's gone. Those times she also loses her hearing. It doesn't matter how much I'm calling for her, she's got much more important things to do! After a while I use to hear her barking loudly somewhere at a distance. I know then that she is seeing something that she's either afraid of or that she wants to eat. I never know which of these two it is, or what kind of animal. I use to get really curious... What if it could be a bear, a wolf or a lynx? Often times I guess it's just a squirrel or a bird. But you never know!

Other things we use to do together is just chill out in the bed or sofa and train some searching or agility. Whippa is a really fun friend to have. This summer I am planning on taking Whippa with me to the mountains to walk some of the "king trail" ("Kungsleden"). It will be very fun to be out in the wild for maybe a week - just me and my beloved Whippie.






My mother

I can't possibly imagine...

...a better mother than mine. She is the most kind, caring, considerate, intelligent, fun and sweet person I know! Without her I wouldn't be where I am today, not even close. She have given me a lovely and secure childhood and she keeps on supporting me and giving me a lot of help to build up the life I want to have.

I don't have the words to say how lucky I am to have a mother like mine....

I LOVE YOU!

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♥ ♥ ♥

Hoping hearts...

INTRODUCTION

This is a little something I wrote maybe 6 months ago, maybe a little longer. It seems to me that I was kind of fed up with sceptics at that time. I was tierd of those people who said to me that I couldn't possibly believe in someting that isn't proved by common science yet. I have been told a trillion times that believing in anything other that science is against common sense. Somtimes I've even heard comments by people who has suggested that having ideas which run outside or beyond science is a sign of mental illness.

What appears to me very clearly, though, is that it isn't the act of believing that is wrong, what is wrong is when the believing becomes a conviction and your mind stagnates in that way of thinking. I think that it's important to keep your mind moving and all doors open, even those doors which isn't that likely to lead to something real or a true bigger understanding. Why is this important? Because you don't know now, and can't decide today, what can become essential in the future.

Religion is often a conviction, when the believers have closed all doors but the one door through which it's meant for those people to go through. Often they don't belive in everything science is teaching, and neither in the things that people of other religions believe in. They have their believes and nothing else will be considered.

This is the same way that "science-believers" act, from my point of view. They accept all that science is telling us, their gods are the scientists and their bible is the scientifical method. Don't get me wrong here, there's nothing wrong with believing in science, because science is a very good way of knowing more and more of our world. As a matter of fact, many people think it's the only way of knowing anything about our reality. Anyway, listening to what science says isn't wrong. What's wrong, again, is when the belief turns into conviction and the believer becomes convinced. Because when you're convinced, then your mind is set and you have decided not to change it. In my opinion that is a point when you stop developing and growing. Seeing that life is development, you actually stop living at that point too. That isn't good, is it?

´o_O`

For that reason, my idea here is to keep doors open and never stop searching, don't ever be convinced but keep your mind formable. What I have written down here are a few thoughts about why some people want to stay close to the most busy roads and don't ever want to roam the more unknown paths to experience and explore. I have also philosophised a bit about science and if there could exist phenomena and theories that science would have a hard time to grasp, with the methods we have at hand today.

What I refer to as a sceptic in this text below is a person who firmly rejects all kinds of phenomena, theories, ideas and thoughts that are not proved by todays common science. I do see myself as a person who is able to think sceptical and critical, because I question everything many times over and I never swallow anything unshewed. But here a sceptic is a person who is convinced that the world looks like science shows that it can't possibly look any other way. That is the distinction between a sceptic and a person who thinks sceptical, from my point of view.




Hoping hearts and doubting minds...

I think that in their hearts, many who are sceptic to a deeper meaning in life, would like to believe in a meaningfull Universe, a bigger potential in our being and even in a life after death. The thought do appeal even to them. But that is in their hearts. In their minds, however, they won't belive in such things at all. Believing in things that science can't prove is against common sense, I think many of them are feeling. Instead of even noticing the feeling deep in their hearts, they put all their faith in today's science and they are not really aware of what they are doing is also believing. They believe in science and that science has come up with most of the explanations for the nature of this world and reality by this time. But has it really? Should we be sure of that?


Fear of beliving - fear of deception...

Quite a lot of the most extreme sceptics have indeed been "believers" as kids. Maybe they thought Santa was for real, that there where aliens on Mars, a man in the Moon or little creatures lurking in the woods. When they got older and came to understand, by their own intellect or by help of others, that there is no Santa flying around the whole Earth in december and most likely no men on Mars or the Moon either, my guess is that they felt very disappointed and deceived. As a defence mechanism these kids decided never to believe in anything that stupid again. The only thing they decided to belive in hereafter, as they were growing up, was nothing more or less than what science, authorities and the majority of all people belive at the same time. That way they will not be taking any risks of being deceived and embarrassed again. Now, if what they have thought was true will prove to be wrong in the future, it will not be so bad because then nearly everyone had been wrong about it. What these people won't do again is taking those risks that you take when you believe in someting that isn't yet proved by common science nor believed in by the majority. Is it the fear of being wrong that keeps them away from the lesser walked paths? Is this why they critizice people who dare to consider things outside the well-known areas?


How much do we really know by now? How much is still unknown, and how will we continue the discovery of our reality?

I guess even the most sceptical of sceptics knows that at this time, in the beginning of the third millennium, there are still a lot more left for science to discover, examine and explain. However, they do not belive in the possibility that this could be something that will change the human point of view more or less drasticly. Sceptics see no reason to take anything that science can't handle and prove at this point in time into consideration. Small, small steps are required for them to feel safe and out of the risk of deception. Everything that isn't compatible with what we know today is looked upon with very sceptical eyes. Sceptical you should be, but not closed to the possibilities that we have overlooked someting that could give us an even more complete picture of our reality.

Paranormal phenomena is one area that isn't considered by many people. This is because it doesn't fit into the picture of our worldview that science has painted so far. I think another reason is that if paranormal phenomena would be an accepted part of science, it would have a lot of consequences for all human beings. But here is a contradicion, because quantum theory also is very controversial and brings a lot of consequences in our way of seeing the world and ourselves. I don't think you should be afraid of changing your worldview. I think it's meant to be changed all the time. That is what development is, in my opinion, changing yourself and the way you look at things. I think paranormal phenomena should be taken into concideration and be studied much more.

Although the scientifical methods of investigation are mostly developed and adapted to explore the physical world, many sceptics use the argument that paranormal phenomena are not real because we have not been able to get strong, clear and consistant proof yet. We do have evidence that make good grounds for looking further into the matter, but we are still lacking the kind of proof that can get science, and with that, the majority, conclusively convinced. The contradiction I can see in this is that nobody claims paranormal experiences, and with that the spiritual aspect of reality, to be physical phenomena. Hence, the methods used to learn more about the physical reality may not be the most suitable for learning more about the non-physical, or spiritual, reality.

On the other hand I do understand that we must start with what we (think we) know today and continue from that point. Though the source of the paranormal phenomena may not be physical in the way we know it, there are ways that they appear in the physical. Examples are psychokinesis (influence on the physical in a non-physical way), healing, and different kinds of ESP (extrasensory perception) that is confirmable in the physical reality. If we, as a society, are able to establish and keep the right attitude, openness and sense for truth, I think we will learn a lot more about our reality and one day eventually find a bridge that connects the physical and the spiritual. Many individuals are on a good way to find this bridge. We can say that this search has a lead on the individual level. Those people are just waiting for the crowd to catch up.

Miria, 2006


Today I'm enjoying myself with...

...indefinitive integration!

Or antiderivative, as it's also called. I'm studying mathematics, course D, because I need it for getting in on the Biology programme at the university. I've done course B, C and D in one year and now I'm SO fed up with mathematics. It's starting to get real wicked now too, really advanced. Well, I guess I have to endure a little longer. When this spring term is over I have completed my upper secondary education. Feels good. This autumn I can finally begin to study what really interests me. The study of life - biology - and especially zoology.

If one beautiful day I am working as a biologist with creatures like these...

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...every drop of sweat will have been worth it!

If everything goes the way I've planned I am starting this summer, at the summer university, with mountain ecology, mountain botany or sustainable human ecology. We'll see how it goes...

Right now it's back to my math book!

My all-time favourites: Groundation

GROUNDATION
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I really love the music of Groundation. It's like a beautiful blend of reggae and jazz, with timeless and deep lyrics. Spiritual music indeed...

A sample of a song: Confusing Situation
And one more: Undivided

 

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