First of all I would like to thank everyone for their birthday wishes yesterday. They were certainly the highlights of my day.

Having not been anywhere since Friday I am very short of new photos, but I still have my 8000 photos in the archives. This photo was taken over the week-end when the birds again arrived in the morning to tank up on food for the day. The peanuts are there for the magpies. When they arrive the other birds disappear.

Today is the first morning since Saturday that I do not wake up to a layer of snow on the ground. I was a bit worried about weather conditions for this week and was really not sure if I could get out or not, but this morning looked promising. There was no fresh layer of snow, the old snow has disappeared completely, and the weather report has shown afternoons with no rain or snow and even perhaps a glimpse of the sun, although I am not so sure about that one. I never realised that not seeing the sun could be so depressing. The same old low grey clouds daily can really bare down on your nerves. We are at 5-600 meters above sea level. If I would take a ten minute trip by car towards the mountains I would soon be over the cloud level and bathed in brilliant sunshine, but alas those days are now gone for me.

I had a visit from one of the two local felines this morning. She suddenly walked past me from my living room. I did not even see that she entered the apartment from outside. I think she treats us as her holiday home. Eventually she waited patiently to reap the benefits of some feline treats.

At the moment my time seems to be occupied with food plans. Christmas is now getting closer and in our country all the stores will be closed from Friday until Sunday due to the holiday being followed by a week-end. It is so worrying to be sure that you have everything. There will only be Mr. Swiss and No.1 son to feed. No. 2 son lives on the other side of Switzerland. In the past Christmas days my parents would arrive from England for the week and my mother-in-law would also be here for various Christmas meals. All four kids would be here as well and there was a busy coming and going. I just took it all in my stride to cater for everyone with the food. We even had a real Christmas tree with decorations. The Swiss Christmas has many traditions, quiet and organised. Our English Christmas was more a celebration with songs and music and dancing, so we had to combine the two somehow to keep everyone happy, but it worked.

Now those days are gone. We have now become the grandparents, but without so much close contact with the grandchildren due to Mr. Covid interruptions. My No. 2 son suggested that could visit during Christmas or afterwards, but with regard to the present situation I said it would be safer for us all to keep to the isolation rules. We have all been lucky up to now being able to avoid the problem, but there is no point in taking risks. I think I am just satisfied to know that everyone is as healthy as usual. Mr. Swiss and I have our physical problems, but we just live with them and adjust.

All being well today, and so far it looks good, I will be off into town shopping today. I might even do some online shopping and order a few items. I still have space in my cellar rooms, even in the freezer, although that is getting a little crowded slowly.

I am now off to tend to the apartment and organise my day. Housework keeps me occupied and out of mischief. Look after yourselves, stay safe and enjoy the day as far as possible.

My goodbye photo is of yesterday’s cake. At least it gave me something to do. This time I made a hazelnut cut with chocolate pieces. Another one of my inventions, based on the so-called Tiroler cake. I tried a piece yesterday and it seems to be OK. We usually feed on it throughout the week.