Good Morning, Allegra

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And yet another greeting in another language – no problem or? Try a guess.

Snow 04.02 (2)

We had a sort of freak snowstorm yesterday. Mr. Swiss said look out of the window in the afternoon and there were megaflakes falling. Of course I had to quickly change to my zoom lens to capture this one. They were falling thick and fast and we had a nice snowy layer within an hour. It then stopped any when evening arrived everything was back to as normal as it could possibly be. This morning there is no sign of any snow, just cold and a little bit frosty.

Actually history repeats itself, because 48 years ago on 4th February it was also snowing a little. How do I know – I got married on that day. No big deal, it was all done at the registry officed in town. It was just me and Mr. Swiss and our two witnesses. We had a drink in a restaurant next to the registry office, before I signed on the dotted line, and it was snowing outside and it was cold. It was a painless ceremony. I remember the guy who married us. He was dressed in his best pin striped suit. My command of the german language was OK, but not as perfect as today. All I had to say was “ja” in any case, in the right place at the right time, so I just did what Mr. Swiss did.  I got a family book afterwards. Everyone gets a family book in Switzerland when they are married. It has room for at least 16 kids to add on the pages. Better to be safe than sorry I suppose. At that time, in 1969, I was automatically adopted by the Swiss nation and got citizenship. This only applied to women, men had to wait a few years and apply I believe. In the meanwhile the law has changed, and women also have to wait for a few years. Mr. Swiss says often I am more Swiss than the Swiss – although I am still sorking that one out.

Anyhow I am still here and only have my Swiss identity card. My english passport expired last year and it is too complicated (and expensive) to apply for a new one, although it can be done. As I no longer have close family connections in England, I will probably not be going to England again – but you never know.

It will be another lazy day today. As soon as I get the meal on its way I can take it easy. I have another one of those meals that almost cooks itself all morning with the remains of an apple tart that Mr. Swiss baked yesterday.

And now to explore the appartment with my trusty vacuum cleaner – ready Mr. Dyson? (he purred so we are all set). See you around.

Crows in snow 10.01 (4)

18 thoughts on “Good Morning, Allegra”

  3. Good morning, Pat, or should I say ‘Allegra’ since you are not far from the area where they say it. It’s Sunday today here in Portugal and the day of rest except that it will be just as usual as any other day for me. I had planned to go over to Policolchoes bed and mattress shop in Arroios but after checking their website I know the shop is closed on Sunday. So I guess I will go to Benfica, to a Worten store to check the prices and availability of washing machines and fridge/freezers. We are hoping to move to a larger flat in a couple of weeks. Yes I know I’ve said that before but we’re still trying. Have a pleasant Sunday, Pat.

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    • You are probably one of the few that guessed it correctly. Yes it is Rhaeto-Romansh and spoken in Graubunden. It would be about 4-5 hours drive on the motorway to get there. We once spent a summer holiday in Klosters, the favourite skiing resort for Prince Charles when his kids were still kids. I am not really a Graubunden person. It is very nice, but a bit too bleak and grey for me. I am more the Bernese Overland type of person.
      Good luck with moving and I hope you find something suitable.I ordered my second fridge online, but I only needed it for storing my injection material and the overspill from the freezer in the kitchen.

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      • I’m a most Swiss places sort of person. It is definitely my favourite European country. Pat, I’m thinking of having a second freezer in the new place. There’ll almost certainly be a standard fridge/freezer in the place we get but we can’t get too much in those freezers. We’d love to cook lots of Nepali dishes and freeze portions to take out when we need them. Also we can make fruit paste when the fruit is in season. That’s what we used to do in Kathmandu so we didn’t need to buy the sickly shop jam. Freezing stuff can be quite a good hobby and can be very money saving too. In Kathmandu we lived very far from the only place we could buy decent bread so we would buy 12 to 16 loaves each monthly trip and store them frozen. It worked really well for us.

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    • Allegra is an italian expression used in music, but it is also how people greet each other in Graubunden in Switzerland. They have their own language, Rhaeto-Romansh, and this language even has a few different dialects The children grow up with the language, but are usually bi-lingual eventually with German, as speaking only this language does not get you far. However, on the street and in the shops it is spoken by the population. We have one weekly TV programme using the language. I do not really speak it, have picked up a couple of words, but more or less get the gist of what is being said. To me it ia a basis of italian mxed with latin, but do not think that if you understand Italian you understand Rhaeto-Romansh, it is far more complicated.

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  5. The snowstorm looks like an impressionist painting! Today is the Super Bowl football game here. It is a big deal. What it means to me is I get to work with my pictures while hubby watches. I do, interestingly, watch the commercials as companies spend a ton of money on them and they are usually very entertaining and memorable. Also, half-time. Lady GaGa will be performing.

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    • We have big flakes because it is not so cold. The colder the weather, the smaller the flakes, if it snows at all. Sometimes it is too cold to snow. I have heard of that super bowl. My youngest son even watched the match with his mates when he was younger. He even understood the game and explained it to me, but I prefer soccer, the game with the round ball. It is hand when men are occupied, you can really get down to doing what you want to do and they are happy. I don’t think I have ever watched the Swiss cup final, just a couple of international games. The Swiss seem to be more tennis crazy.

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    • I actually meant the snow not being a big deal. It stopped after a couple of hours and will probably disappear as fast as it arrived. 48 years is a long time.It is funny to see us today and when we married. Of course we have not noticed the change over the years, just a different hair colour or perhaps less hair and we have become shape shifters, but are comfortable like that.

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      • Oh, OK. No, snow is no big deal. 48 years is a long time. I guess if I’d stayed married to my first husband we would have been together 45 years this year. I cannot imagine it.

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  7. Two super-cool shots – wonderful!
    And of course it’s Rätorumantsch – I know that (not only) because my son lives in Graubünden…
    And again – happy anniversary – how perfectly perfect 🙂 🙂

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