Moose memories

So many of the wonderful souls amongst my northern hemisphere blogroll are beginning to celebrate the approach of winter and a very different Christmas to the one we will shortly enjoy. Wintery knits abound along with snowy scenes, crackling fires, fir trees and pine cones and reindeer of all sorts ...

So when a moose suddenly popped out of a blog post, it reminded me of the time I saw one, literally just like that. I was 11, on a train travelling across Scandinavia with my parents. We were trundling through a pine forest, slowing down as we approached a station. Even though the dense, dark green trees rolled endlessly on, I was staring out the window, getting ready to see the town where the train was about to stop. In an instant a clearing appeared and right there, not far from the train, stood a moose. He bellowed, lifting his head and then he was gone and the thick trees were all about us again. This vivid image has stayed with me and I still remember the feeling of awe and excitement at having seen a real live moose (quite exotic for a young aussie gal). Consequently, I do have a bit of a soft spot for these big goofy antlered deer.


Here's rather a gorgeous moose

from here

 

 And a few other nice moosey, reindeery, yes, OK and horsey, christmasy things {both from here}

from  here

and

from here

 

from here