Joyful Journey

Okay, maybe it's just me, but it just doesn't seem right to be able to find Amish recipes on the Internet. I froze some apple pie filling this fall, using apples purchased from a local farmer, but didn't have instructions how to then make the pie. So I decided to use that most reliable source, Google. But one of the first links that came up was to a website with Amish recipes. Just struck me as funny. I can't quite picture an Amish woman sitting in her kitchen typing in her apple pie recipe to Amishrecipes.com on her generator powered laptop. Of course, there is the problem of no phone line to the home, so I'm assuming some non-Amish person has collected recipes and is now putting them online. Found some good ideas though....I'll let you know how they turn out. Maybe someone can drop by that Amish farm and say thanks for me.

An important day in history. Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette began their exploration of the Mississippi River on this day in 1673. In 1792, the New York Stock Exchange was formed. Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal states to the French Empire in 1809. May 17, 1865 marks the establishment of International Telepraph Union, while on this day in 1902 the Greek archaelopgist Valerios Stais discovers an ancient mechanical analog computer. In 1973, this day brought the televised start of hearings in the US Senate of the Watergate scandal. Ah, but there is one thing about this date that you probably will never read about in the Encyclopedia Britannica or on Wikipedia. This was the date that, in 1980, the Engergizer Bunny married the Tortoise. Well, according to the Engergizer Bunny, he says that can't be the case, since the Tortoise never stops and his tortoise seems to stop quite often. ;-) As we were hiking Mount Rigi yesterday, I thought about how diff...

New Year's Day was cloudy and cool. Typical winter weather in our part of Switzerland. We had slept in that morning, due to the fact we had gone downtown Zurich on New Year's Eve ("Silvester") to watch the fireworks display over the lake. As is our normal course of action when heading into the city, we took public transportation. I must admit, however, it brought back memories of the year that light rail was newly opened in San Jose and you were urged to go downtown using light rail for the 4th of July fireworks show. Only problem was that there were not enough trains to take everyone home! It took a few hours that year before we got home. Although it was late, due to the fact that the fireworks were from 0.20 to 0.40 (12:20 a.m. to 12:40 a.m.), they held trains so that leaving the main train station was not difficult! Typical Swiss efficiency. But we did want to take advantage of the fact that Bob was off of work, and so we decided to explore a medieval-era bui...

The hardest thing about living here, is that we are far from family and friends. You can't just pick up the phone any time you want and call. Well, you can, but you may not have friends anymore if you call at 3 a.m.! Nor can you just jump in the car to go for a visit or meet for lunch. We felt this especially when we received notice while in Samnaun that Dad Stoltzfus had another episode and was headed to the hospital. His myelofibrosis had advanced to such a point that he just is too weak to live on his own and Mama Miriam had reached the point of being unable to care for his needs. I had been researching alternate housing options for them, but the sudden change necessitated a greater level of care than we were anticipating at this point. But we are GREATLY BLESSED to have wonderful family who have stepped in, Dad's brother Leonard opened his home and offered his loving care along with hospice assistance. Aunt Rhoda came along side to help as well. And Glenn and Daniel ...

Sunday was another beautiful day. Unfortunately between the time we finished skiing and our night hike, I came down with the stomach flu. As I was not better in the morning, Bob decided to just go snowshoeing and trust that I could ski again on Monday. He was able to rent snowshoes for the day in town and enjoyed a long morning hike back into a canyon beyond town as well as a long afternoon hike up the mountain on the front side of the ski slope, which with the exception of one small slope used for ski lessons, is not skied on. The photos give you a taste of the beauty that he enjoyed that day. Although I greatly missed being part of the hike, I'm sure he got much farther while hiking alone.

Since it was just going to be the two of us for Christmas (at least in December!), Bob decided that we needed to go away somewhere. And where else would you go in December in Switzerland, but to the Alps. Bob found a small town adjacent to a ski area that looked very promising. Turns out it was. The town of Samnaun (pronounced Sam-noun with the "ou" being emphasized), was like many ski areas in the Alps, at the end of the road. If you wanted to go any further, it had to be on foot, which we did the second evening under a clear sky and bright moon. The first picture includes a view of most of the town, as it is nestled in a narrow valley. (We were glad to see all the avalanche fences on the mountains around town! Given the fact that all the buildings appear new, we wondered if the avalanche fences were there so that the town could be rebuilt or just built initially.) ...