I was three years old. (Yes, really.)
I live in Turku, Finland and walking in the park next to our cathedral with my mother. (The first parts of the cathedral were built in the late 13th century, and it features in my Nephilim Quest -series)
A mounted policeman appeared on the path at the other end of the park. Before my mother could say cat, I was off. I ran to the horse and according to my mother I was climbing up its front leg when she came to the rescue (the horse’s or mine; I am not sure). Maybe it is in my genes, as my grandfather had trotters, but from that moment on I was nuts about horses.
My mother had some candy with her, and she showed me how to give them to the horse from the palm of my hand. I still remember how carefully the horse took the treat from my hand.
I declared I wanted to take the horse home, but my mother disagreed based on us living in an apartment building and had no balcony. My negotiation tactics were unsuccessful and so we returned home without the horse.
I sat down on the floor, took a paper and crayons, and wrote my first story. Perhaps I was certain I would write a bestseller, earn enough money to buy a house in the country and get my horse.
Well, I was no child prodigy - I didn’t know the alphabet yet, so I used pictures. I drew a cartoon. In it, a young foal had to leave its parents. I was quite impressed at my creative endeavor and cried buckets because the story was so sad.
This probably also led me to drawing horses. I painted them for years and had my horse painting exhibited both in Finland and abroad (UK and USA) before I started my Egyptology studies. After that, I painted ancient Egyptian subjects.
As a featured image, you can see a portrait of a Finnish cold-blood horse I did some years back.
So you could say my three favourite things were present at an early age - horses, writing and painting. (Cats came only five years later when we got our first cat - a grey tuxedo kitten called Misu.)
Leena :)
