We moved into this house exactly 1 year and 1 day ago, and with the move came the possibility to do some actual gardening, rather than having to stick to container gardening like when we were into an apartment.
One of the things we did last year was to remove an ornamental shrub and replace it with a nashi and a redcurrant…

As I mentioned a few times, we did a fair amount of winter hiking this winter. After a weekend spent hiking by the sea, though, I was reminded that I like hiking in non-snowy conditions much, much more

Last Saturday we went on snowshoe hike number 4 of 2025, our 7th hike of the year

I’ve either heard or read the above quote many many times, and always find it puzzling at the beginning of my career.
Then, with time, what it means became evident - if you are self-employed, you can be very good at what you do, but if no one knows it, it’s not going to do you any good…and for me it was definitely a bit of a bummer to ‘find out’ that you don’t just need to be good at your job - but also at marketing.

There are plenty of things one can use as a crutch for stress-relief: smoking, biting one’s nails, drinking alcohol, physical activity, phone use, betting, etc etc etc.
Something we had been indulging a bit too much in during the last month or two before Christmas was soft drinks; so, one of our side quests for the New Year was a month-long fast from them.

Last winter we bought a pair of snowshoes, and then realized that using them was not as easy as just hiking during the summer. Avalanche danger is a real thing if you have no clue about where and when to go, and where and when not to.

So, this fall we enrolled in a course on ‘safety in winter hiking’, and in December we went on two snowshoe hikes

We’ve left Thursdays free from work until 5PM so we could occasionally go on short hikes - but, in 9 weeks - most of which have had fantastic weather - we haven’t done one yet. Not because we didn’t have the time - simply because we didn’t plan it into our weekly schedules.

Last Sunday’s brief bike ride made it clear that the cycling season is largely over. We like cycle-adventuring much more than cycling itself, and the cold temperatures that are now upon us don’t allow for pleasant leisure-riding.

I’m not upset about this, to be honest, as I enjoy hiking more than I like cycling, overall…

Last weekend I did my 4th trail running race, a half marathon with 900m of elevation change. I was eyeing a trail marathon in late January as my next race, but then, as we were hiking last Sunday, I started thinking and realized it may not be the best course of action…

It’s been a while since my last post - more than 3 months, actually. It’s been a wild summer, with our first cycling trip and a fantastic Workaway - and then we’ve gone back to working and adventuring close to home…