The sun has risen again but who knows how long it will stay. Today is a weather mixture, a little sun, some clouds, and the daily dose of a snow shower. This morning there was a layer of ice on the water bowl for the birds with temperatures of down to -3°C during the night. I will be staying at hone until it gets a little warmer. My golden oldie bones do tend to feel the cold temperatures more.

To keep myself busy I am still baking my almost daily bread. On Monday, Wednesday and Thursday the appartment smells like a bakery. I make do with bought bread on Tuesday as I do not have so much time to bake when the cleaning lady is here. At the weekend I like a platt bread that I can bake up bought online. I have a very good friend, have not seen her for a few years. She is a farmers wife and farmer’s wives always bake their own bread. It seems to be a tradition, but they live at the source of the flour. She has a special oven and could bake 3-4 loaves at a time.

Due to my bread baking rituals, I now have semi white flour, brown flour and pizza flour as I now bake my own pizza bread. Yesterday I reslised that I should really boost up on my supply of normal white flour for baking a cake. Today I have a Swiss cheese flan for the evening meal with some soup and now also make my own pastry.

I do not do it all on my own, but have the help of this wonderful kitchen aid machine. All I do is toss all the ingredients in the machine and switch it on. It mixes the dough and all I have to do is form it afterwards and leave it to raise. It makes a perfect dough and I do not even have to knead it very much. I needed a new machine as only had a hand mixer and stumbled across this one. I had never heard of Kitchen Aid, but am now a convinced fan. I can also also chop and slice with it and the main advantage is I can use it with no inconvenience and just clean it afterwards and store it, although I always have it ready for use.

It seems to be the season for the chickadees. Yesterday I have three of them enjoying the delicacies on the bird house. I am seeing them more and more at the moment, so they are probably getting into the nesting mood. They usually arrive alone, but three at once is really quite rare for me.

Not like the robin that always arrives on his own. Surely there must be a mate somewhere for him or her.

Otherwise not very much happening in my neck of the Swiss woods. I spent the evening with the TV and hanging up the washed linen from the bed. I caught half of a film about Ninja Mutant Turtles. I had never seen one before, but found it quite amusing. Even Mr. Swiss persevered and watched until the end. He seems to have discovered the fun of the unrealistic characters in films. Of course it had a happy ending where they saved the world and were honoured for their efforts.

And now I am off for the rest of the day. Have a good one everyone and think, tomorrow is the week-end again for those that have one. Many of us are still working for the others during Saturday and Sunday.

And look who paid me a visit yesterday.