Although now that Summer is approaching and the days are getting longer, “evening” is drifting to the later hours when it begins to get darker.Today was a day of mixtures. Lucia, my cleaning lady, arrived this morning and as I do not see her for a week, we first of all catch up with what we have been doing. Lucia is more than the lady that cleans, she is my assistant at home and has such wonderful ideas. Since Mr. Swiss is no longer here, the housework is now different. I am still organising and she helps me. I have a shelf with cookery books in the kitchen which has really got quite untidy and a bit grubby. She has been wanting to organise it for some time. So today she got down to it, with a little help from me and here is the result.

And I must say it is now looking much better. It was also weighing on my mind and looked so untidy. She actually wanted to put plants on the top shelf and shift the books elsewhere, but I said I prefer to have my cookery books all in the kitchen. However there was a space left, so we compromised with a pot with an amaryllis that flowered last year, and I am hoping it will again flower this year. I am now happy with the new organisation, much cleaner and more tidy.

Otherwise I seem to have everything under control now and just have a few drawers to empty in the book case where Mr. Swiss seemed to have a collection of old radios which are now very old and no longer function due to more modern systems. He forgot he had them and I never bothered.

By the way I had a surprise yesterday when I visited Mr . Swiss. There was suddenly a knock on his room door and this lady was suddenly standing there.

I had to laugh, but Mr. Swiss was in the picture. He said she visits the golden oldies in their rooms once a month to cheer them up. She certainly cheered me up as the last thing I expected was a female clown.

She was quite funny and had a conversation with us. Then she took out her accordion and began to sing some old songs and play. The home organises her to bring some life into the days of the golden oldies and I must say it is a good idea. She left us and moved on to the next room.

Mr. Swiss had a visit from his daughter and her daughter today so I left them to it as I had some shopping to organise. I had quite a successful visit to the store. I had so many vouchers from my supermarket that I did not have to pay for anything. When I got home Mr. Swiss called me. He was quite concerned as he tried to call me and I was not answering. That was because I was sorting the frozen goods in my deep freezer in the cellar. He always seems to think I might have an accident with my scooter or otherwise. Yes, we might be apart, but we still have the feelings of 55 years together for each other.

As I approached home from my shopping trip I saw this crow in the grass. I t seemed to be a young one, no so big as the others and I suspect it is one of the fledglings from this year’s brood.

I noticed as I went shopping that they had organised a kiosk in front of a restaurant where you could get fresh strawberries. It is now strawberry time in Switzerland and we really do have good tasty strawberries. They have a good flavour and grow on the farmers fields.

Wishing you all a good rest of the day.