Not mine, but photographed in the local garden center of the supermarket. Mine are now finished, although one of my bushes has produced two new buds. Will have to see how they develop. In the meanwhile a bouquet of perfect red roses.
Daily Archives: 08/08/2016
Share Your World: 2016 Week 32
If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?
Mostly British products that are not sold so much in Switzerland. One of which is lemon curd, a spread on the bread, or to add a lemon flavour to a cake mixture. It is made from lemon juice and mixed with egg. You can make it yourself, but cannot keep it very long because of the fresh ingredients.
Crumpets are also something I like very much in England: toasted with butter and perhaps jam. If I am in England I usually bring some with me to Switzerland.
However, need no endless supplies of anything. I have grown accustomed to other countries, other food, throughout my 70 years, so why be so fussy. I like english sausage that Mr. Swiss tells me taste like sawdust with a bit of meat. I am sure if I had an endless supply of the same food it would soon bore me.
What is the worst thing you ate this last recently?
Some time ago Mr. Swiss suggested fried cervelat sausage (the Swiss national sausage that you can eat cold or fried) with pasta for lunch. I did not have a better suggestion so decided OK. I usually eat these sausages cooked with fried potato. I don’t mind pasta, Mr. Swiss would eat it with every meal, I would not: just now and again. I discovered that these sausages with pasta are not the hightpoint of 5 star cooking and I found the meal absolutely not appetising. You can bring me your Swiss sausage in a salad, or fried, but not as a noodle accompaniment.
You are comfortable doing nothing? For long stretches of time?
No absolutely not, unless I happen to be sleeping, then I am very comfortable, somtimes too comfortable. I have to have action, be it just reading a book or on the computer, even cooking one of my 5 star meals. Sitting around and wondering what to do next is for me a complete waste of time.
List of Jobs You Think You Might Enjoy: Even if you aren’t thinking about a career change, it can be fun to think of other jobs you might enjoy.
List? No thankyou, it is too late. I had my last career change 8 years ago and now have the best job I ever had. I am my own boss, have no fixed working hours, and can organise the day to suit I, me and myself. I don’t even have to worry about getting enough sleep. My job allows me to compensate. The State even pays me for doing nothing as well as my ex work place. What could be better? Of course, there are days when the work pressure gets a little too much to bare, and I have some health issues, but don’t we all. For that we have pills, medicine and all sorts of remedies. Yes, life can be fun – who needs a career, just keep to your medicine timetable. I am at the top of my class – a super golden oldie. You can hear my joints creaking before you see me.
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
I survived again last week, although there were a few health obstacles on the way, but I made it until today so what could possibly be better?
There are so many things to look forward to I do not know where to begin. My diabetes tablets, checking my sugar household, avoiding food containing lactose, being careful when I walk and not putting the bread in the fridge instead of the bread bin (golden oldie moments of forgetfulness and confusion?) and of course above all, my golden oldie midday sleep. There are untold possibilities of a perfect life style.
Daily Prompt: Every Day Luxury
Another broadcast from your favourite blogger as she sits on the shady porch/deck or whatever, listening to the soft tones of a lawn cutter as it does it rounds in the garden and composing her luxury blog.. Not just today, but every day this luxury wonder, known as Mowey, does his job ensuring that no blade grows taller than its neighbour. Of course Mowey had his price, he was not cheap, but if he was cheap you would be suspicious. Is he reliable or not, can you count on him, although an actual birth certificate did not arrive when you bought him, you had a guarantee that he would remain faithful for a many years. He is now approaching his third year in the Angloswiss household and is reliable. Note he is referred to as “he”. Over the past years he has become one of the family. Now and again he has a pause when it is raining. Even real live humans do not mow a lawn if it is wet and we only have to feed him on new blades and some oil now and again.
During the winter he gets a well deserved rest, away from the daily tasks. His electric points are insulated and his various limbs are oiled to protect him and keep the rust away. He has a place to hibernate in the cellar where he can rest and dream of the days when he will again be in action. He is a necessary luxury, now an irreplaceable luxury. Never again mow your lawn if you have a mowey. Our neighbours even have a plastic lawn, but they do not hear the comforting purrs of a satisfied mowey as he completes his path leaving the remains of the cut grass behind him, which serves as fertiliser in the process. What could be better. I am not spoilt, just happy to have a mowey.
And now to another scene of my luxury life. As I was preparing to rise after my midday golden oldie sleep, I could already hear the sound of organisation in the next room. It was the assembly of an ironing board, a welcome sound. Mr. Swiss had also completed his midday rest and was looking for action. What could be better than exercising the brain and body. There was a remainder of yesterday’s washing to be ironed and he decided to approach this task
It is the system applied and care he is taking when ironing just a plain kitchen cloth. Not only are the creases flattened, but it is afterwards folded for a neat look when it is placed on the pile of the other cloths in the linen cupboard. There was no harm done to the iron during the photography of this action, and I got express permission from Mr. Swiss to show this action photo. Of course I also help with this job, but it is only pure luxury when someone else does it for me without waiting to be asked. I would add that his accomplishment of shirt ironing is also perfect, although in the senior age of golden oldie-ism, shirts are a relique of the past. No longer needed. The office days are long gone when this part of the uniform, complete with tie, were necessary. Today a simple t-shirt does the job, and these can be ironed or not according to the wish of the wearer. I like mine ironed, some find carefully hanging them on a hanger on the wash stand to dry also does the job quite well. Unfortunately I have no action photos of Mr. Swiss hanging up his t-shirts, but he is very good at it.
And now we leave our hard working blogger who has completed her first prompt of the day. In the meanwhile she has devoured a banana and Mr. Swiss has disappeared, recovering from the exertions of the ironing operation.
My definition of luxury today, speaking from the point of view of a retired golden oldie, do what you want to do and not what you have to. Often these two aspects of life cannot be separated, but they can be combined to make life more pleasant. Today I have to clean the last remaining blind on the sunny side of my appartment. The other two I did yesterday, together with Mr. Swiss. I do not have to do it, but I want to do it. It is all a matter of psychology. Yes Sigmund would be proud of me.
Good Morning
I am not a curtain person. I like a nice clear view of the outside world without some sort of flimsy net between me and real life and if you go the whole hog you also have some sort of thick material to accompany the net curtain, which you can pull together in the evening to stop people looking in. I only have one neighbour opposite that could look in, although she would have a problem, as she also has blinds, the same as mine. Also we have better things to do than look into windows. I remember mum and dad had a sort of complex about coming home in the evening and drawing the curtains before you put the light on because someone might see inside. I do not like curtains so much because you should wash them from time to time, meaning taking them down and hanging them up again – unnecessary work. Although we do have the minimum of curtain in the bedrooms. Mr. Swiss finds he can sleep better.
Anyhow I am drifting. We have metal blinds which you can close or open, according to your wish. We tend to close them more during the day in Summer to keep the hot sun away. Otherwise they are usually open and in the kitchen they are permanently rolled up as I like light and air in the kitchen, my main workplace. We live in a community and if something is renewed in our appartments, we have a meeting and talk about it. Sometimes the talk can get quite exciting, but eventually a decision is made according to the majority. We do not always belong to the majoritiy, but you have to go with the wind. It was decided at one of the last meetings that the walls of our blocks are to be renewed, re-inforced, and painted. There was a discussion about the colour. I believe someone wanted red, but we are staying with a nice neutral off white, probably so as not to confuse the birds and bats.
Then the discussion reverted to the blinds. According to this new and wonderful revision we will have to have new blinds. These will not be cheap and the Angloswiss family found it not absolutely necessary. However, the majority found it a good idea and so our blinds will be replaced next year in the middle of summer, meaning that we may have to suffer a couple of weeks without blinds. I can live with this, others whose name will not be mentioned, cannot.
I clean my blinds once a year to remove the dust, dirt and mainly pollen traces from the trees, but decided this year I will leave it. However, my blinds annoyed me when sitting outside. They were not nice and shiny but more depressing and dull and so I decided they must be washed. I no longer wanted this dismal background to my porch sitting sessions. I decided yesterday was to be the day. Mr. Swiss was not happy with my decision, perhaps because it was a Sunday? I was in the mood, did not have anything better to do and the whole operation was over in an hour. I still have one blind to go on the big window, but have planned its cleansing session for this evening, should not take more than half an hour. So if you are bored on Sunday, then just clean a blind. We are lucky to live on the ground floor as there is no tedious wiping with a cloth on each of the slats. Just turn on the hose in the garden, make sure the windows are closed (otherwise you might have a flood inside) and wash them down.
This was only the one side of the appartment. See my clean blinds in the photo. The three blinds on the other side will be cleansed next week I have decided and for the last time. There are some tedious jobs that have to be done unfortunately.
My No. 1 son has returned to his workplace today after a 4 week summer break. I heard him leave as I was still enjoying the warmth and comfort of my bed. It always gives me a good feeling to know that I no longer belong to the official work force. I am now in the golden oldie voluntary department. My sonis no problem at home, but it is now just Mr. Swiss and me for cooking food and the cat of course, but she has a help yourself dish of pellets which is always full.
They are letting me out again today for a shopping trip, how exciting. And now to do something completely different. I have spent enough time on this computer this morning, there is work to be done. Mr. Swiss is already dealing with it, I have a guilty feeling just sitting at a computer and eating breakfast. I can hear the sounds of a vacuum cleaner in the background. Have a nice Monday everyone, or sleep well. It can only get better.
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 