Jojo + Noor = Love

Jojo & Noor

I am so proud of the little red roan. She is a mare with an amazing attitude, very honest and willing. She always tries her best, and if she gets winded up and protests, then I know that she does not understand, or that I am doing something wrong, and then I need to take one step back, relax us both and reconsider. We have had some trouble with the left lead departure, while the lead departure to the right has been working just fine. I have no problem moving her hip to the left, but I have noticed that she sometimes fall into a cross-canter, which could imply that she has some irregularities in her body that prevents her from carrying herself properly. However, she is not lame or tender anywhere.

I have been attentive to this, but still kept on working on first getting her soft and supple in all body parts and subsequently getting her into the correct lead on the left. I have tried to be very clear with the right leg, moving her hip over to the left, supporting her left shoulder slightly with the inner rein, while opening the inner leg and putting my weight on the outer side, but nothing helped. She consistently took the right lead, with the result that both of us got frustrated.

I realized that I needed to change something in the balance, so today, instead of sitting straight and putting my weight on the outer side of the seat, I put some weight in the inner stirrup while leaning slightly forward. The horse picked up the left lead, so I loped her off while rewarding her enthusiastically. I thought it was pure luck, but it worked one more time and I was thrilled. I stopped there for the day and went and pampered the horse in the shower.

Leaning inwards is of course not optimal, since it easy that the horse will drop her inside shoulder, but I will just have to be careful and consistent with the inner rein support until her left lead departure is so established that I can start straightening up to minimize the cues.

It feels like we have crossed a huge obstacle. I like her more and more and I am almost becoming a bit possessive over her, since we are working so good together. She is not in the riding school system yet since the kids are afraid of riding her (she bucked a kid off), but soon she will. Nevertheless, she will be mine as much as I want, and I look forward to keeping on working with her.

Horse & Hound

I have been with a car this week, children on full time and two extra dogs. The kids' mother took on a holiday with her boyfriend and we have backed her up. This means that I have spent every morning riding horses in the stable, since I could drive there. There is a new horse, Noor, a part Trakehner mare. She has a beautiful red roan colour and I would guess that she also has some Quarter horse blood lines in her. She is more close to the Quarter in size and she also have a quite typical Quarter horse stride.

Noor

Before she came to our stable she had not done any work for almost two years, but according to rumours some dressage before that. Anyhow, she is a very green horse, who needs some fixing. I have been riding her every day, but also other horses, so I have been busy and happy. In just a weeks time, Noor has gone from being completely overexcited, with her nose high up in the air on a stiff neck, to a relaxed and broke horse, with a soft face on a low head, and moveable shoulders and hips. I am very much in love with her. Only problem is, that she refuses to take the left lead in the lope. She has the most brilliant lead departure in the right lead, but on the left side she chooses the wrong lead all the time, although I really disengage her hip to the left side. Today I stopped trying after a while, stepped down, and lounged her instead. I asked her to lope and first she took the wrong lead, but then she changed all by herself. I rewarded her and let her lope a few laps, stopped her and asked her to lope again, again in the correct lead. Then I climbed up again and asked for the left lead, but she took the right lead. Then I was recalling how she switched before and as I asked her to lope on a really small left lead circle, she suddenly changed lead. I rewarded her and let her lope off on a straight line, along the rail for a few laps. I succeeded to get her to take the left lead once more. We still have some work to do.

Other than riding, we also take care of Martha and a German Shepherd female, Billie. Bille, almost two years old, was given away by her owners as they discovered that she became a large and demanding dog, with a lot of energy. Duh..? The lame excuse was that the woman in the family became pregnant. Bille is now living with Martha, hoping for a new home. Had it not been for Martha being in heat, we could have had all dogs together, but right now we do not dare to leave them alone together. Alas, Martha and Billie stay in their garden and we go there three times a day. On Shabbat we took a long walk with all the dogs and Martha was constantly courted by Barak and I was constantly behind him preventing him from mounting her. Billie is a beautiful dog, with papers. She is a high energy dog who needs some obedience, so she needs a calm owner, with experience, or at least a willingness to learn for the benefit of the dog.

The pack

Billie

Fish fingers

I miss the Swedish fish fingers. Of course I prefer buying fresh fish and prepare it myself, but that is somewhat an acquired taste for many kids. At least for kids who hardly ever got fish in any shape. Since I know how important the fish oil is, with its omega-3 fatty acids, I am doing my best to get the kids to eat at least some fish, in some shape. They eat canned tuna, but considering how lean the tuna meat it, there is no way that tuna can cover the required intake of omega-3. Salmon, Mackerel and Sardines would have been swell to get them to eat, but I can only dream of that. The white fish in the fish fingers is not that oily, but whatever it better than nothing.

Crispy breading and white fish filet

Then over to the Israeli fish fingers. The interior of these fish fingers mainly contain soy meal and a minimal amount of fish, merely for flavour. Then what's the point? They hardly taste fish either. At least the kids eat them. After buying the fingers for a while, I tried with some larger fish schnitzels with sesame seeds on the breading and they actually taste more fish, but still do not consist of fish alone. Even the cheapest Swedish fish fingers contain around 50% fish, including the breading. The nicest ones are even made from whole pieces of filet. How small the amount is in the Israeli ones, I don't even want to think about.

The Original... ;)

Easy money

In Sweden I worked quite regularly as a model for croquis students. Now I started doing that here too. It is probably the easiest money you can make as long as you are not neurotic about nudity. Of course you need to be a bit creative and sometimes strong to keep difficult poses, but the longer the pose, the more comfortable you make it. Yesterday the first half consisted of dynamic 5 minutes poses, while the second half was one long pose. I was slumbering half-laying on soft pillows for an hour and got good money for it. Can it get better than that?

B1

Finally! Today I got my first visa with a working permit - a B1 visa. But, there is no end to how recalcitrant the process is, and how contradictory the treatment can be from one clerk to another. Because, of course, you do not have your personal clerk. Every time there is a new tight-up woman with bleached hair and too much makeup on, sitting behind the glass shield. When we were there two weeks ago, we brought, except for the wedding certificate, pictures from the wedding, but our clerk for the day said that they were not necessary, since we had previously delivered a whole bunch of other pictures.

Today we came back with our last declaration, signed and stamped by Yoram's lawyer and then of course the bitch of the day asked for the damn wedding pictures! However, we talked ourselves out of it. Yoram even offered her to look in our Facebook acounts, but she rejected the offer. We promised to bring the wedding pictures next time, which will be in six months.

Now I have a permit to work for six months, but no other rights. No social security, no nothing. This means, still no baby plans. Maternity care would be scandalously expensive before I have general social security. In the end of April 2011 we will have to bring another suitcase full of proof that we actually live our lives together, as well as answering personal questions about one another in individual interviews. After that I will get a A5 visa (temporary residency), which includes ID card (Teudat Zehut) and social security (Bituach Leumi). This will have to be renewed annually for four years, and after that I can apply for Israeli citizenship.

So...

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Getting your foot in the door of the agricultural business appears to be like entering Fort Knox, so I have no high hopes for that. On the other hand, freelancing from home suits me fine at the moment. I need a little income to give me freedom to develop other ideas and dreams I have, like home-made beer and cheese, as well as the saffron cultivation. When the latter happens, at least no one can blame me for wasting my education.

If someone wants me to tune their riding horse a little bit, or help them to develop their own riding skills, I would be happy to help with that too.

Now I seem desperate. Enough!

Touchy milk

I already killed my first yoghurt. The two first batches were so successful that the self-confidence went over my head. I did two mistakes with my third batch:

1. I overheated the milk slightly in the pasteurisation phase and it almost came to a boil. This denatures and degrades the proteins in the milk, which affects both the setting of the yoghurt, and the texture.
2. I waited for too many days before I inoculated a new yoghurt from the second batch. It was almost the last drops from that batch that I used, and although that yoghurt was very tangy, most of the yoghurt culture was probably not viable anymore.

After the evening in the warm water bath, and the overnight slowly cooling down, the milk had still not set. Since the bottle was hermetic, I heated up the water bath again for a few hours and then the yoghurt seemed to set. However, as I finally opened the bottle, the yoghurt was somewhat slimy and stringy, and without much of a tanginess. Nevertheless, I put it in the fridge up until today, and the tanginess has started to increase, but the consistency is not really that appealing. Anyway, there is nothing dangerous about it, so instead of serving as a breakfast yoghurt, I have used it to strain off into a labaneh, and I hope that it will turn out well. It might be that the sliminess makes it harder to drain through the cheese cloth. We will just have to see.

Yesterday I was a bit grumpy about it for a few hours, but then I accepted my defeat and learned from the lesson. Next batch of milk will be inoculated with a newly bought yoghurt culture, to be on the safe side. Then my challenge starts all over again.

Some doggy talk

A new post about my dogs seems appropriate today. The longer time they spend together (almost 10 months now), the harder it is to see a clear pattern of who is more dominant than the other. This contradicts the theory about a strict pack hierarchy and instead suggests that the packs really are family units in where roles are not changed through struggles for dominance.

Barak shows dominance by claiming space. He is very pushy and often lays down very close to Goshen, or partly on top of her, and then she moves away. He is also the alert one when we are inside of the house. Goshen is instead often the instigator when we are outside. She is the one that takes the decision to run after something, and she will intervene very diplomatically if another dog is being annoying to Barak. In the house she is telling him off if he is not listening to us, if he will not back off, or if he is begging. She goes in between and very verbally explains to him that he is acting inappropriate. When they are wrestling she is also humping him, which is something he never did to her. I like the thought that they are equal members with different roles and mentalities, instead of the dominant one and the submissive. It seems modern in some way. ;)

I am happy that they are so harmonised today. Barak is becoming calmer each day. Up until a month ago, he would frantically check all bowls until there was no food left, so if Goshen did not finish all her food, we needed to take it away. Now he eats his own food, and if she chooses to leave some, he will not go and steal it. They also never really fight anymore. That only happened a few times during the first months together before they knew each other well and trust was built.

Today we discovered a new activity to get some steam out. Not really a new activity, but a very good place to exercise it. Down in Beit She'arim there is a long grass lawn, somewhat sloping down under a huge tree. We were standing in the upper end when I saw that there were a hole group of crows on the ground in the farther end. I had both dogs sitting down facing the crows. Then I just had to give them a "sssssssssssaaahhh" and they sprinted with everything they had those 75 m down to the crows, who of course lifted. I called the dogs back and before they were sitting down the crows were back on the ground. This went on for 10 times or so and neither the crows, nor the dogs, gave up. I will try to bring the video camera next time.

Great breakfast

My second batch of goat-milk yoghurt turned out even better than the first one. The first one was inoculated with standardised cow-milk yoghurt, while the second one was inoculated with the leftovers from the first batch of my own. That is also how it will continue from now on. Before one batch is finished, we get new milk and set up a new batch. In that way, the same yoghurt culture can live on forever. I realise that keeping it as long as possible will be something I take a little pride in.

After one day inoculating in a warm waterbath and then two days in the fridge, the yoghurt I poured up for breakfast today was almost too thick to exit the bottle, with a full and rich acidity. As far as I have understood it is more difficult to get goat-milk yoghurt to thicken, but I do not seem to have a problem with that at all.

I put fresh pomegranate seeds, linseeds and pecan nuts in my yoghurt today. The pecan nuts are from the 2009 harvest, and I just realised that we need to finish them off to leave room for the 2010 harvest that is coming up in a months time. Nuts are really an amazing food. The shelf life of nuts with the shells remaining intact are almost eternal, and the nuts inside are small bombs of nutrients. One of natures great inventions!

Stop building and draw that damn border!

I believe that the only right thing to do is to halt settlement construction until the future border is agreed upon. Although I know that many settlers were encouraged to move to the territories by generous subsidies from the state, I find the settlement enterprise of today appalling and not more than an arrogant strategy to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. Same goes for East Jerusalem.

The proponents of the settlement enterprise often argue for a need of the settlements as a geopolitical security measure, and indeed was this once a legitimate reason. However, in present time, when Israel has agreed upon a two-state solution, there is no morally acceptable reason to keep on building in Jewish settlements until we know which settlements will be evacuated or not. Especially not for the reason of "natural growth". If my children one day want a house, they cannot demand that there automatically will be a house for them in Kiryat Tivon, so why on earth would it be so for people living on land that is not even Israeli yet - if it will ever be.

Then the settlers claim the unfairness in not halting constructions for the Palestinians, but as I see it there is one fundamental difference. There are no Arab cities or villages in the West Bank that risk being evacuated in order to be annexed by Israel, whereas all the Jewish settlements in the West Bank are disputed until the day the final border has been drawn. Every inch that does not contain Jewish settlements (plus of course the settlements that will be evacuated), will become Palestinian territory in their future state - so why can the Palestinians not build on that land?

Boys and girls and taste

Sheridan's Coffee Layered Liqueur

I mentioned before that Barak is drawn to any kind of alcohol, but Goshen rejects everything. I have found what fits her taste buds. She eagerly licks the leftovers from a glass of Sheridan, while Barak takes whatever he gets. He even licks it from the floor if anyone spills. Typical gender roles, anyone?

Home-made goat milk yoghurt

2 litres of home-made yoghurt from goat milk

I notice now that I never shared it on this blog, but I did buy rennet when I was in Sweden, and after we returned home, I made a few batches of cottage cheese, from standardised milk. However, the tiny yield that you get from 1 litre of milk, in relation to the amount of labour and what you pay for the milk, makes it far from sustainable to make your own cottage cheese. It was more of a quaint experience to experiment a little bit with cheese making before I move on to some more complex cheese-making.

Instead of playing with standardised cow milk, I have now moved over to getting acquainted with the goat milk. Milk from different animals have different compositions and properties, therefore each and every one of them requires individual measures in the handling. Even milk from the same species will differ according to under which condition the animals live, what they eat, and so on. And, dairy products from goat milk are really, really healthy. And tasty! It is easier to digest (even for babies), due to a higher level of medium-chain fatty acids, compared to cow milk. Furthermore, almost half of people who are lactose intolerant are able to drink goat milk. Goat milk also contains more vitamin A. Cow milk instead contains precursors to vitamin A, called carotenoids. These must be turned into vitamin A in the body after ingesting the milk. The carotenoids are what makes butter and cheese from cow milk yellow, and the lack thereof in the goat milk is why all goat products remain white. Goat milk also contains more riboflavin (vitamin B2) than cow milk.

Two minutes from here, there is a big goat farm. They sell most of their milk to dairies, who I guess make dairy products like goat cheese, or possibly labaneh. It is not that common with goat milk or fresh goat yoghurt in the supermarkets. We can also go there and buy fresh, unpasteurised goat milk, basically straight from the udder. Just bring your own container and 7 ILS per litre.

Handling unpasteurised milk is a sensitive matter, and unless you are milking your own animals, and can control the hygiene during all steps, a brief pasteurisation is recommended. When the milk is still in the udder, it is free from bacteria (as long as the animal is healthy), but as soon as it passes the nipples, bacteria are added to the milk, mostly lactic acid bacteria. These are the good guys, that under optimal conditions will eliminate harmful bacteria, and later turn the milk into yoghurt. However, if the milk has been cooled down before pasteurisation, the activity of the lactic acid bacteria has slowed down, to the benefit of harmful bacteria, such as E. coli bacteria and other cryophilic (cold-tolerant) bacteria. In this case, the milk needs to be heated up to a temperature where these bacteria die, and after that you add a new culture of lactic acid bacteria to create your yoghurt.

Alas, I could not rely on the naturally occurring lactic acid bacteria in this milk, since it had been somewhat cooled down. I heated it up slowly to approximately 70 degrees and kept it there for a few minutes, and then poured it over on a clean glass bottle. I put it in the fridge to cool it down quicker, but checked it regularly so the temperature did not sink below 45-50 degrees. When I could barely hold the bottle, I added one cup of yoghurt (standardised cow-milk yoghurt), and closed the bottle again. Then the bottle was kept in a water bath, to keep the temperature around 45 degrees. I refilled with warm water for a few hours and then let it stay over night, and cool down by itself. This morning I could see that the yoghurt had already set, but now it needs another day in the fridge before consumption. One litre will go with our breakfast granola, and the other litre will become labaneh.

Making yoghurt from this goat milk is definitely sustainable. The standardised cow-milk yoghurt that we normally buy from the supermarket cost about 25 ILS for 3 litres. Here you get two litres for 14 ILS, and the work load is not heavy at all. You neither need to buy yoghurt culture, since you use a small amount of the previous yoghurt to inoculate each new batch.

Maybe I will try to do some cottage cheese from this goat milk, but my final goal is to start making more refined types of cheese. I will probably start with feta-type cheese, that will ripen in brine, or some mold-inoculated cheese ripened in oil, both of which are easy to mature in a regular household. Cheeses that need to mature "on shelf" are not that easy since it is difficult to adjust temperature and humidity in the air, unless you have a climate chamber. The mold culture I will just harvest from any of the excellent goat cheeses that are available around here. Making matured cheese from milk bought for 7 ILS per litre is neither particularly sustainable, but the feeling of achievement is much higher than after cooking together a batch of cottage cheese, and besides, one day we hope to have one or a few does to milk for ourselves, and then you can really start talking sustainability. Now it is only training and preparation. And a lot of fun!

Three days of retreat in heaven

I love camping in the nature. For me, it is a spiritual retreat, just as valuable as any retreat arranged by practitioners of yoga, meditation or any other movement. Or an aikido retreat for that matter. So, when I go camping, I prefer it to be in a secluded location, far away from noisy and littering tourists. We got many tips about locations from different friends, and we also looked around last time we went to the North. We ended up close to the Lebanese border, somewhere behind the kibbutzim Daphna and Dan. It was a bit tricky to find our way in to where we had planned to settle, but suddenly we reached the river, deep into an avocado grove.

Yoram stopped at the first spot we saw and claimed that it was perfect. There were no shadow over the minimal entry to the water and in the middle of the spot there were big irrigation tubes. I refused. Yoram was almost exploding, but I insisted that we moved on. 200 metres away we found our home. Of course he would never admit that it was worth doing that last drive, but deep down he was happy for it. The entry was small and inside a lovely zula opened up, with a perfect corner for the tent and a fire place waiting to be lit. There was a big tree in the middle and as you stepped over its big roots you stepped down in the cooling crystal-clear water.

The crystal-clear cooling water

We brought everything we needed from home, except for two huge trouts that we bought from kibbutz Dan. They became our first dinner, together with marinated and grilled mushrooms and a broccoli salad. The fish was seasoned with a spicy fish mix and dried thyme before it was grilled to perfection. Not too raw, not too dry. Juicy and soft. When the fish was ready we had already eaten the mushrooms and the salad, and we sat down and devoured one family-sized trout each.

Trouts from kibbutz Dan

Grilled to perfection

Right now the days and nights are practically 12+12 hours long, with sunsets and sunrises as fast as hitting a switch on the wall. The longer you live in nature under those conditions, the more you adapt to a natural day/night rhythm, sleeping when it is dark, waking up when the sun rises. We were only there over two nights, but already the first evening we went to bed somewhere just after 21.00. But before that we took a walk in the pitch-black night, only with the guidance from our head-lights. Next morning I awoke at 5.30, and got up to imbibe the early morning atmosphere. I took the dogs for a stroll down the avocado grove, and although the harvesting season has not started yet, it is merely around the corner, I found some fruits that had fallen down on the ground.

Sunrise just before 6.00 a.m.

Almost ripe avocados on a tree

"Good morning, Daddy!"

I went back to the tent to greet my husband as he awoke, and we made coffee in the finjan. The avocados were not perfectly ripe, but good enough to make an avocado salad for breakfast, with boiled eggs, some onion and spices. We spent a lot of time reading books. Yoram read a history book and I read a book about natural childbirth (No, I am not pregnant.). The dogs were mucking around according to their own needs and desires, and Goshen spent more time in the water than out of it. It was so funny to hear her as she descended. She really reminded me of a human, as she made a deep grunting sound from the sensation of the cold water. The cold water also assisted us keeping the beers cold. We tied them to a rope so they hang just beneath the water surface, with the cork sticking out of the water.

In the afternoon it was time to start with the poyke. One day before we left for the camping I said to Yoram "What do you say about buying a poyke?". He agreed, and it turned out to be the best buy we have made, and will make, in a very long time. I will never go camping without my poyke, ever again. You get a full meal, and most of the ingredients, like vegetables, oil and spices, have no problem with a few days in warm temperature. The only sensitive ingredient was the meat, but we brought it directly from the freezer into an ice box, together with some other stuff, and that ice box actually contained ice all the way until it was time to go home on the third day, in spite of the hot weather.

My beloved poyke making its wonders

with the things we put in him

Our poyke stew contained these ingredients, which were added in mentioned order: oil, chuck steak, rosemary, mixed red/green/black pepper, paprika powder, mineral salt, thyme, garlic cloves, red wine, water, sweet potatoes, Jerusalem artichoke, onion, fresh chili, beans in tomato sauce, sweet peas, and chopped parsley.

Stew under way!

Our poyke stew fed us three times. Once in the afternoon, when it was ready, second time for a late evening snack, and the last morning we added some water and put it back on the fire to give us a thick and full-bodied soup to dip our pitot in. When it was empty, I brought it with me down in the water and scraped the last left-overs out of it, and then let it dry in the sun. After we came home, I cleaned it once more with warm water, and then greased it with oil to prevent rust. I love my poyke!

The water was cold. Well, with Swedish measures it was like just before it hits the maximum temperatures possible in Swedish summer waters, i.e. around 20 degrees. It was not meant for long swims, but nevertheless, the hot weather motivated us to regular dips in the refreshing water. It was also clear. Unless you stirred the bottom up, you could see everything. We did not see much fish, but I found a cute crab that I to Yoram's horror picked up. This guy was not big enough to eat, but normally I love crab meat. Yoram on the other hand, has sworn to never eat crab in his whole life, and it has nothing to do with kashrut or not. Obviously he already forgot that our first meal when we arrived to Sweden for our wedding, was a king crab cocktail and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot.

Cooling down

Cute little fellow

Both dogs were running freely when we were awake, but for the night, we put Barak on a leash long enough to reach around our little bower. He is too territorial to let run loose unsupervised. During the second night there were some people walking on the road at some point, and Barak did exactly what he is supposed to, he gave two-three low-pitched barks that said "Please, stay away from here! I am guarding my family!". Instead, he slept a lot during the daytime. No doubt, did we feel safe.

Our security chief

We had camped on the beach already, and that was great in its own way, but I knew already somewhere deep down that I would love this setting more. It is definitely more quiet, less wind, not having sand everywhere all the time, natural shade, sweet water to clean yourself and other things in, no other people (if you make the effort to find the right place), etc.

As I said in the beginning, you need more than two-three days for the real serenity to kick in, and I hope that we will be able to do that on another occasion. I let go easier than Yoram, since I am simply more used to it already. I have felt that state, and can therefore reach there faster. Yoram is afraid of getting bored and restless, but that is part of the process of letting go. If you are bored and restless, you refuse to let go. Simple as that. We deserve laziness in our lives now and then, to regain energy and motivation. It is good for both the physical and spiritual health. On this trip we indulged ourselves in three of the Seven Cardinal Sins: lust, gluttony and sloth, of which I don't consider even one to be sinful. Only part of enjoying life.

Another natural zula we found,

with the possibility for setting up more than one tent

Chunky Martha

Martha has grown a bit since I mentioned her the last time. She weighs more than both Goshen and Barak, although she is not as tall as they are. Sometimes we bring her with us on our walks with the dogs. She has calmed down considerably, but is still completely adorable. If we ever need to be away from home from early morning to late evening, we bring our dogs to Martha's garden to spend the day there, and they all get a long fine.

Pack gathers for an afternoon walk

Cuddly monster

Boiling Sukkot in Jerusalem

On the Monday we had decided to go to Jerusalem with the boys. Ziv has been there before, but for Gal it was the first time. Normally this time of the year, it is comfortable 25-27 degrees, but this year the summer does not seem to want to give up, and we wandered around Jerusalem in 35 degrees, under a frying sun, among gizillions of people, since it was the Sukkot holidays. This did not have a positive effect on the enthusiasm of the kids, alas, we ended up dragging two whiny kids to the Western Wall, around the Old City and to the famous Mahane Yehuda Market. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, we went home with some nice experiences in the luggage. Now we do not have to bring the boys there for another decade or so... Or?

Natural high by the Western Wall

Ethiopian Jews brought both colours and music...

... wearing beautiful clothing and playing instruments

Married to a 3:d dan aikidoka

Me, about to attack Yoram with a bokken

During Sukkot weekend Seki Sensei came and gave his annual seminar in Israel. I was only there the second, and the last, out of four days. Yoram was about to take his sandan, and two full seminars, as well as a sandan grade, was too expensive for us, so I stepped aside. Seki is not one of my primary teachers anyway, so I did not mind. I took on having the kids those two days instead, so that we would have more days alone after Sukkot.

We had prepared before the seminar, of course, but continued also during the seminar, especially with the weapon part. Seki does not care much about weapons, so the weapons play a minimal and formal part of the graduation. Nevertheless, we wanted a great performance, and I shared many of the tricks that I have learned during the years with Stefan Stenudd. We, as well as Yoram's teacher were under the impression that he would have to show defence against knife and sword, but the day before the test we realised that he would also do defence against stick, so we worked in some jodori techniques in the last minute. Not optimal, but what to do?

Yoram used Assi as his first uke, and me for the weapons, and then Omer joined in for the taninzugake. Yoram did an excellent test, far better than on any of his pre-tests at home. There was another guy doing his sandan test besides Yoram and someone compared the two couples like seeing two butterflies dancing beside two wrestling elephants.

As I was watching the nidan graduations, I saw once more that to keep pace with the people around here it is time for me to do a nidan test not too soon from now. However, this was not the place, nor the time. I want to do it in Sweden, under my own teachers, but those tests are different, with higher demands on the performance, longer tests, and a larger curriculum. A different approach, simply. There are pros and cons with both.

Although I once said that I will never do a test in connection to Lillsved, that is now what seems like the most reasonable option, considering the practical circumstances. I just hope that Stefan could be there too. Maybe he will. Anyway, it is time to get serious. Jan will be here in a few months and then I am up for some feedback on my preparations.

Review - Preview

Now I have not been writing for a while, but I hope that alone-time with my husband is a good enough reason. During the Sukkot holidays we have completed an aikido seminar with Seki Sensei, one day in Jerusalem with the kids and three heavenly days tête-à-tête in a tent way up North. Every point will get its own blog post during the coming days. I just need to accept the fact that I am home again to everyday life.