A quiet morning, no dramatic sunrise and all I can hear are the birds chirping in the trees and a few unsatisfied crows making a lot of noise. A new year and a new dawn – now I am getting poetical. I was really not looking forward to the end year stress with Christmas holidays, stores closed, and afterwards the same routine with the New Year. This year we had the Covid curse as well. However, every cloud has a silver lining, you just have to find it and adapt. I found it, although it needed some mental preparation and organisation. The result is that for the first time in a long while I can relax, organise my shopping from a computer and just go on a trip to town or the stores when I feel like it. I have become a lady of leisure and almost everything is delivered. I am beginning to bake my own bread (at least some time next week when I have everything I need). This morning I even discovered that making your own pastry is no big deal, at least normal pie pastry. Flaky pastry is a lot of work, I have made it myself, but not worth the trouble. . My mum always made her own pastry for the simple reason that at that time you could not buy it already prepared.

It is never to late to adapt, and at the age of 74 I am on an voyage of discovery. Some may laugh and find no big deal, but it is for me. It keeps me active.

Although yesterday was a snowy day with the birds helping theirselves to food, today it has almost disappeared.

They seemed to be quite happy in the trees having a break between eating.

And now to get a start on today, although I have nothing planned. Dinner is again nice a straight forward. I have a Swiss ham, already cooked and pasteurised. all I have to do is boil it. I have something we call dry beans to go with it. I quite like them. They are normal green runner beans but dehydrated and you can keep them for a long while. All you have to do is soak them for a couple of hours or overnight, which is happening at the moment, and cook them as normal beans. I quite like them, something a little different.

Today is still a holiday in Switzerland for St. Bartholomew’s day, 2nd January. That is why the stores are still closed. And now I am off to continue my holiday – as a golden oldie every day is a holiday, almost. Now and again you have to visit the doc, but I avoid that when possible. Have a good one and make the most of it. And what about Leonard Bernstein with the Vienna Philharmonic conducting Beethoven’s eight symphony to wake us all up. Yes, I have rediscovered my taste for classical music.