Where there is an orchid, there is always a flower.
Daily Archives: 17/04/2017
Share Your World – April 17, 2017
When writing by hand do you prefer to use a pencil or pen?
If I have to write by hand, I do not care. Just the first thing I find, it is not worth wasting time searching. I only write on my smartphone or computer, everything else is just an extra.
Would you rather be an amazing dancer or an amazing singer?
I have a choice? My dancing days are long gone, so it will have to be an amazing singer – something in the hard rock style, AC DC will do: loud and memorable.
If you were on a debate team, what subject would you relish debating?
I must leave that one. I am no good at debating, and would not enjoy debating anything.
What are you a “natural” at doing?
Sleeping – I am quite good at that. Giving myself my MS injections – I can now even do it quite well with my left hand without using the mirror to see where I am stabbing. Taking photos perhaps. Mr. Swiss tells me they are good. I am not someone that does self praise, so it is up to the others what they think.
What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
I am grateful that the Easter holiday is now behind me with all the disadvantages of shops being closed and my normal routine being completely destroyed.
I am also grateful that the gardeners finished their work on the renovation of our building and managed to remove my flower box to a good place in the garden where it can stay until the renovation work is finished. I planted the everlasting sweet peas from seeds and they arrive every year and are now very well established. It would have been such a shame if I had to get rid of them. They used to climb up the side wall, which will now be painted, so I put some tomato holders at the back of the box to let them climb again.
This week the builders are arriving with the construction of the scaffolding – grateful absolutely not. On the other hand there will be lots of new situations to photograph.
Colour Your World: Pink Sherbet
I think I found some pink sherbet hiding behind the twigs – tell me how shades of pink are there?
Daily Prompt: Give Yourself a Jolt
This afternoon I needed a jolt to get me out of my bed.Those after dinner sleeps are useful, too useful often. I do not feel like writing about anything, but I jolted myself out of the bed in any case. I actually intended to go for a walk, but no way. It is cold and unfriendly outside, no jolts anywhere.
Was it lunch? I cooked to feed the five thousand, but it was just Mr. Swiss and I. No. 1 son is working today and so there was too much food on the table. I was jolted awake by my digestion and so I took an indigestion tablet and now feel better, but not better enough for a walk, or pehaps it might be a good idea. A little exercise in the fresh air never did anyone any harm, and I have not left my home since last Friday.
Perhaps a walk along the river bank with my camera would make me feel better. Yes, I have convinced myself. or shall I stay at home? Life is full of decisions. There might be swans or ducks waiting for a photo. I have convinced myself, no good just sitting at a computer waiting for a jolt to happen. Jolts always happen when you least expect them. It seems that I just gave Mr. Swiss a jolt because I am sitting in front of an open window and there is a gale force wind blowing through the apartment. He has decided to leave me and go to our hobby room in the cellar where has has his drum set.
I will now close the window, put on something sensible and go for my walk. It is a short blog today, but a far far better thing to do than I would otherwise do – no inspiration.
Good Morning
It seems the weather is not so sure what to do today. At the bottom blue sky, which is the bit we are getting at the moment and a little bit of sun, but just a little bit. The rest is grey and troubled, which probably means the rest of the day will not be so positive, although I really planned on a little walk this afternoon. I have now been inside since Saturday and am getting claustraphobic feelings. Even my camera is complaining with nothing new on the disc.
In the “good old days” of being a working woman, I was happy to do nothing and go nowhere on a holiday break. I could tank up. The kitchen was full of food and I could forget the daily stress of office work, shopping in between, and trying to keep the place clean and tidy. Today I just keep the place clean and tidy and go shopping now and again. It is funny, when you had to do everything it was just life and now I ask myself how I managed to do it all. Today is still this Easter thing, although no longer as it used to be. No. 1 son has even gone to work, as the boss called.
I had one of those nights where I was still laying awake at 2 a.m., but somewhere on the way I fell asleep, although one of those sleeps full of dreams. I should really stop reading books about dragons before going to bed.
I decided to cook boiled bacon with green beans and boiled potato today and somewhere along the way I will also cook one of those smoked sausages with it. It was something I could already get last week, as you can keep smoked stuff for a while and it was no brainer to buy alrady. It is also something that I can begin cooking already after breakfast. I could, of course, prepare it in the pressure cooker, but there is no need. This morning I am not going places and seeing things so have nothing better to do.
It was interesting to see how the others decide to suffer because of the Easter holidays. Switzerland is small, but in the Southern part they speak Italian, where you find places like Lugano and Locarno. We spent holidays there many years ago, but it was not our favourite place to go, because everyone went there. The Italian part of Switzerland has a different climate. It is where the palm trees grow on the streets, the place where you find some tropical vegitation, and also famous for various film festivals. It is the place to spend the summer, which is one of the reasons we stopped going there. It was overcrowded and full of tourists just passing through. Although it would be only 2-3 hours by motorway, it usually developed to a 5-6 hour journey as everyone wanted to go there. We arrived with a frustrated car driver and kids that had progressed into the miserable, crying stages and you were lucky if they all arrived without barfing in the car on the way.
Another negative of the journey is the Gotthard mountain pass, although they have now built a good road going over it. However, the main road to take is the tunnel through the Gotthard. There used to be a train on which you could load your car, but since all the new expensive road improvements with a new faster tunnel, the possiblitiy no longer exists. We would often put the car on the train through the tunnel: a 20 minute ride and no road stress, but now everyone goes through the road tunnel.
The result is that at holiday times, there can be a congestion. We have just got through the Easter holiday and already on Good Friday (again not so good) there was a 4 hour traffic jam on the route, mainly caused by the tourists from the other parts of Switzerland. And then there was the car crash in the tunnel. Another feature of the journey towards sunny Ticino (the name of the area) with the result that everyone had to take the high road over the Gotthard pass because the tunnel was impassable. There are a few other alternatives, but if not higher, than longer – the Lukmanier or Saint Bernhard are also alternatives. Not only does the Saint Berhard have the famous dogs, but also traffic jams. Yesterday the return journeys for the tourist began and traffic jams were again reported of 3-4 hours. What fun. A holiday in sunny Ticino camping out on the motorway.
If Mr. Swiss and I decide to go to the Ticino we take the train to either Lugano or Lucano. No problem, but we now prefer to stay at home and watch it all on the news on the TV.
The local rowan tree
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 