Not such an impressive morning, so I suppose we cannot have a brilliant sunrise every day. It was similar yesterday, but during the day the sun appeared again and we had a very pleasant afternoon, so I made myself comfortable outside on the porch with my book, although only an hour. I decided to prepare my super self made meatloaf for tomorrow’s lunch to give less stress for Sunday morning. I also had a pizza to prepare.

At the moment I am reading “The Evening and the Morning” by Ken Follett. It tells of life in England during the year 1,000 so it really goes back in time when people were settled in small hamlets, usually around rivers. King Ethelred was on the throne. At that time it seems all the people had such strange names beginning with an “E”, and there were even slaves employed. Now and again the Vikings would invade, leaving death and destruction behind them after taking all that was worth taking. I started the book some time ago, but did not get so far as I was busy with other chores. However, I have now reduced my blogging somewhat and have more time to enjoy a good book. I have read most of Ken Follett’s historical novels and enjoy them very much.

I had a pleasant surprise as I was finishing. Someone rang the doorbell and it was not the postman, he only rings twice.. I was not really expecting anyone, we rarely get visitors, but my computer superguy was standing at the door with my newly repaired Mac computer. It was not really broke, but after eight years the internal battery was getting flat. Apple have internal batteries, so it needed an expert to replace it. He was passing by on his way home from his office and decided to drop it off, knowing that I am usually at home. We switched it on and it was alive. Strange how you can forget your normal routine on a computer after not having it for some time. I attached my mouse and after remembering my password (which was almost a miracle) I was back on line. The computer looks quite new, the screen being again spotless and clean. I do clean my screens, but it never looked as good as it did yesterday. My computer guy stayed to make sure I had everything under control again. We were very lucky to find him and he has often helped us out of difficulties. He was recommended by a neighbour we once had. It is almost like a new computer now. It was the best and most modern Mac they had at the time and since nothing really better has appeared. They have a few keys now that do things automatically, but that is just a gimmick for me. We golden oldies all have our little quirks and one of mine is my computer(s). I also have a windows machine for my photos, so the best of both worlds. It is surprising how you get out of the routine when one of your computers is away, yesterday evening after a few minutes I was back in the apple system of doing things.

As I was a little home bound yesteday I concentrated on a few photos of the local feathered friends. This tit was observing what I was doing from this tree.

A few sparrows gathered outside, but did not stay long. their feeding days are now gradually disappearing and in a couple of weeks I will leave them to their own devices. I am sure they will not go hungry. I rarely see a sparrow in the warmer months. they probably retire to the forests to begin nesting and raiding their families. I have never even seen a baby sparrow.

Today I might take a trip to the local farm to see what the chickens are doing. This chicken is quite a nice fluffly one, something special I think. There is always something interesting for a photo. I want to use my scooter a little today so that it will be worth uploading the battery this evening. I will be needing it for my excursion to the vaccination centre tomorrow to get my jab, although it is just a about 20 minutes along the road by scooter. I remember the good old active days when I called walk it with no problem. You never know what might lie ahead in life.

I am now off to my Sunday routine, which is not much different from other days. Perhaps I might cook something a little more special. Have fun, enjoy the day and wear a mask if necessary.

Good morning everyone. As the golden sun rises in the East it looks like another sunny day. Yesterday was great, sunny and warm, almost too good to be true. Mr. Swiss said something about a light rain today, but no sign of a cloud up to now. I will probably be at home, I did enough wandering yesterday.

The good news is that Mr. Swiss and I are going to be vaccinated. It all happened so sudden. I got a telephone message from the vaccination centre for an appointment on Monday with confirmation of the second appointment end March. It seems that our Kanton has now received enough supplies to do the necesary. In the evening Mr. Swiss got a personal telephone call to say he could be vaccinated today, so he will be one step ahead of me. We are both glad. I suspect that our Kanton has now recevied the long awaited supplies. Afterwards there was a feverish search for our immunisation cards where all our jabs are registered. We keep them in an iron safe box and I found them. At least those from me and Mr. Swiss. I even had a couple of cards from my British days when I was immunised against polio as a kid. So now we ar ready to go. However, the card from my No. 1 son was not there. He is not yet on the list for an immunisation, but will be in the next month or so and so I sent him on a quest to search in his desk hoping it would be there.

About half an hour later he appeared with his immunisation card, so he is now ready. We have to take them with us when the time comes, as well as our insurance card, which we always have with us. It is a free vaccination service but we have to prove that we are insured.

I again ventured out yesterday afternoon for a wheelie. I just had to make the most of the wonderful weather and the sunshine. Vitamin D drops are Ok as a substitute, but the real sun is always better.

And look who I saw at the farm.

Our beautiful rooster was out and about showing his feathers off for the ladies. I am sure they were impressed and the result will probably be a lot of brooding with resulting eggs.

He is certainly somthing special. I have to laugh when he struts around with his very heavily feathered feet and legs.

There were also a few ducks around showing off their plumage.

And let us not forget the geese, although they make so much noise you cannot overlook them.

The horses were also out enjoying the weather. It was just a wonderful afternoon. I went a little further to the stork nest, but there was only one stork there and I only saw his head peeping through. At least they have arrived and there will soon be a family there. Everything is going so quickly at the moment, sometimes life can really be wonderful.

Meanwhile back at the Angloswiss ranch life was taking its usual course. I was talking to the neighbour and he confirmed that we are getting less and less birds. They are no longer so interested in feeding time as apparently they are finding plenty ot eat in the bearby forest. We are probably spoiling them too much. This blackbird arrived, but I think it was just a sighseeing tour. The gardener tidied up my garden yesterday and it is now looking muach better, so now I am really ready to go. Today will probably be a day at home. I will be getting a delivery this morning of some food supplies to get me through the weekend, including Monday.

And now to get on with my daily routine, no problem. Have a good day everyone. I say goodbye with yesterday’s photo of the local castle in the sun.

Looks like another wonderful day today, The sun is, no has, risen. Although there is still a nip in the air it will soon disappear and today we are again promised temperatures of 20°C. It is almost unbelievable and rare for the month of February. My days of isolation are slowly coming to an end and in the afternoon I like to go places and enjoy the weather. Yesterday I was at home in the afternoon and made myself comfortable outside on the porch with a book abosorbing the sunshine.

In between I baked a bread for the evening meal. Alhough I say it myself, I have now really got the routine and it is no hard work, just a matter of having the time to let it rise and bake it afterwards. I do not have a lot of work with kneading the bread as my kitchen aid machine does it all for me. I just have to put the pastry on a floured surface and knock it into shape.

This morning I went a step further with my bread experiment. As it will be a wonderful day and I want to go places this afternoon (just a wheelie in the countryside) I would not have time for my bread. I decided to make time and so the experiment begun. When I stopped hugging the bed and taken my morning photo, I organised a pastry for a brown bread. I had an eye on the clock and found I only needed about 20 minutes for the pastry and to clean up the machine afterwards. I then fed my two visiting cats and the birds outside and did some routine stuff in the kitchen, including my breakfast. At 8.30 a.m. I was sitting at my computer in the kitchen with my breadfast and computer, so everything under control. I can now bake my bread this morning and it will be finished by midday.

Mr. Swiss charged up the battery to his scooter yesterday, so it might be that he is also planning the great escape today.

The birds are still here but probably no longer as the weather is really improving and they have nesting ideas. The first insects will soon be appearing and the vegan diet will be finished for them. Baby birds prefer something warm and living like a nice juicy worm. The flies have not yet arrived.

On my last wheelie thrugh the surroundings a few days ago I could hear the sounds of sawing and chopping and I discovered this pile of tree remains and branches ready to be removed. It is now the time to have a nature clean up. My gardener will be here this morning to do some garden preparations.

I had contact with son No. 2 yesterday. I just had to call him as there was a report in one of our online newspapers that in his little village there was a murder and afterwards a suicide. I just got curious and he said he heard the police car and ambulance. It was in the other half of his village, and he did not know those concerned, but it seems to have been a so-called relationship offence. Even in the backwoods of Switzerland we have our moments of excitement.

And now I should continue with the normal daily chores. Today it will be spaghetti with a side salad, no problem. I have all my groceries and tomorrow will be another delivery. From next Monday our minister has told us that all the stores will be open again as normal, just no restaurants. I no longer need stores so much. I am enjoying my new organisation of life and I am now concentrating more on home life. If our wonderful minister would get a move on with distribution of vaccine material (which we do not have) life would become a little easier for all or us.

Have a good day and hope you also get some sun, otherwise just make yourself comfortable at home, bake a bread, read a book or just enjoy what you are doing.

Even the heather is beginning to show its colour.

I am loving the slow change in the seasons. At last the cold, wet weather is taking a rest and the sun appears daily in the morning. Perhaps you might think I am showing the same photo daily, but I do not care. Every morning the same sunlight brightening up the start to the day, what could be better.

And I am getting out and about. Yesterday I took a trip to town. Mr. Swiss had a new medicine to pick up. They now have Vitamin D drops that you only take once a month and his doc had given a perscription. I am still taking the daily drops, although for me it ia a better solution. Once a month stuff I tend to forget. It was a good chance to have a word with the lady in the chemist shop about whether I should continue to take them and she said no problem. They do more good than harm. I am always careful about taking medicine.

The town was very empty and few people on the streets. All restaurants and stores are closed, only the grocery shops are open for business, although they also do not have a lot of customers. I order my food online. However, yesterday I had to replenish my supply of wine, not that we have a glass with the meal, but I use it for cooking. A meat dish is not the same without a dose of red wine, or white according to whether it is beef or chicken. I buy it in the liter bottles and always have two bottles in reserve in my store in the cellar. Mr. Swiss also had to have a supply of his coffin nails (cigarettes). At the age of 81 you no longer think about giving up and I no longer bother to say anything about it – no point.

I happened to scooter past our local vaccination center yesterday and one of the official guys was outside and asked if I was coming to be vaccinated. I took the opportunity to have a few words with him and told him I would have my vaccination now. Of course when he realised that it was one of my attempts at humour and that I did not have an appointment he said I would have to wait until I was called for. I had to laugh as no-one in our Kanton is being called for. Although they are dealing with 400 jabs a day (so he said) it is only the second jab, and otherwise the thousands of Solothurn Kanton inhabitants are still waiting. Our government seems to have missed the bus to buy enough material to deal with the population.

The pigeons have not yet deserted the town and they are brushing up their feathers determined to impress the next female that happens to hop past. This one wanted to get a real birds eye view of the scene.

As I entered town I saw that our St. Urs cathedral was now clad in scaffolding. Apparently there is work to be done on the blinds. Not so good for the tourists perhaps, it will be there for a few months. It was featured in the film about the American Gerneral Patton “Brass Target” when Hollywood once visited us in 1978 and a stuntman had a injury when he had to jump from the tower. He had a stay in the local hospital for a few days to recover. One of our Solothurn memories. I remember when it happened. Even Sophia Loren paid a short visit to the town for a few secenes, although most of the work was done by her double.

I have really been making up for lost time lately after being locked down throughout the winter at home, but the weather is now very inviting. I am catching up on lost moments by a visit to the local farm where even the horses were showing themselves outside. Now is a good time to visit the country areas when the vegitation is not so thick and you can see the shape of things to come.

The apple orchid is ready to go and it will not be long until the trees are blossoming. I called my gardner this morning to organise something for my garden. It is time for tree trimming and a general tidy up in the beds, although my son and I have cut down most of the bare stalks. The gardener will be coming tomorrow to do the necessary.

At home birdlife continues and I saw that Mr. or Mrs. Robin was again hopping around in the garden yesterday. It will not be long and the local birdlife will be gone as they all begin to build their nests and prefer some meat in their diet. Worms are always No. 1 on the menu. I am still scattering seeds and still have customers.

And now to move on. I have decided on a day at home today. This afternoon I will be relaxing in the garden with a book sitting in the shade to protect myself from the sunlight. What a wonderful choice. A few weeks ago I was sheltering indoors to protect myself from frost and snow.

Have a good day everyone, keep safe.