Joyful Journey

The last full day before all returned to the states, we went to the Flughafen and into Zürich for some final shopping. Everyone was able to find what they were still hoping to pick up before they returned. We got home, had a very late lunch and then decided that we would take a walk through Neerach , the next town over, so they could get a better feel for our community and then we would just have a quick bite to eat later. And so we headed out, walking though our neighboring town, passing by many of the very picturesque buildings, including the building pictured here, Altes Schulhaus ( The Old Schoolhouse). Upon our return to the house, Aunt Myrtle realized that somewhere along the way, one of her hearing aids had fallen out. And so, with Aunt Rhoda staying home to pray, we began to retrace our steps. The most likely spot seemed to be where Aunt Myrtle had taken off her hat. Myrtle and Gene lead the way with Aunt Verna and I following a few feet behind so that we could cover mor...

(Ah, yes, another June post...being posted in August....) "Right now it's clear at the top. I think we need to leave asap..." Bob had heard from a colleague about the wonderful views from the top of Mount Säntis. At 2502 m (8208 feet) on a clear day it is said that you can see six countries. Having not yet been able to share any wonderful Alpine views, we were hoping that this day might be different. He had checked the weather forecast the day before and it indicated partly cloudy. When checking the webcam from up on top, it looked promising. We drove to Schwägalp, where we caught a gondola (a first for Aunt Rhoda!), up to Säntis. On the website myswiterland.com, it encourages your to visit with a Come up, the view will amaze you! But it was not to be, again. Upon arriving at the top, we ventured out to the highest overlook area and then decided to wait inside and give the weather a chance to clear. There was a self-serve cafeteria, so hot chocolate and or...

(This post should have been posted in June!) When I was in PA with Aunt Rhoda, Aunt Myrtle and Aunt Verna, we spent some time discussing what all they wanted to see and do while in Switzerland. One of the most important things was to visit not only the Anabaptist Caves, but other important Anabaptist (or Traüfers in German) sites. As you can see in the photo, there is even a trail marking important Anabaptist sites in this part of Switzerland. And so on the first full Saturday that they were here we headed out for some of the sites in the Emmental region as listed in the book which they had sent me before their visit, A Tour of Ten Important Anaptist and Reformed Sites in Rural Switzerland. The Emmental region of Switzerland, in at least topogrpahy reminds me very much of southeastern PA. Beautiful rolling hills and farmland. Of course the Swiss architecture in the villages makes it clear, in PA we are not! Emmental is also the region which makes the cheese most Americans think ...

Switzerland is a very fragrant country: freshly baked bread in every grocery store or the Bäckerei on every corner, chocolate wafting out of the Sprüngli store, roses, honeysuckle, and manure. Now, I realize that we live in a small village surrounded by farm fields, so what I experience is very different from friends who live in Zürich or any other large city region. We are between some crops currently, the canola, first crop of lettuce, winter wheat have all been harvested and now I see the farmers disking the fields and then they are treating with a good healthy application of liquid fertilizer. (Well, actually I'm not sure which way it transpires, manure then disking or disking then manure. Maybe someone with farming background can inform me of the usual order!) But order is not really the important issue, the odor that comes into the house with the open window is. The last time they applied this liquid fertilizer the weather was cooler and our windows were closed. A...

On Saturday we engaged in our normal Saturday fare, hiking. We were hiking in an area about an hour from home, near Walensee, called Flumserberg. We skied once here this winter and also did a short winter hike here as well. This is the Alpine area closest to our home. Although the morning had started out rainy, and resulted in us leaving home quite late, Bob had read that tomorrow's weather was to be very nice and figured the odds were that the weather would clear as the day progressed. He was right. As we reached Alp Fursch, (pictured below) where there is a farmhouse as well as a restaurant, we noticed that a young boy and man who was presumedly his dad were leading some cows down the road and into the barn. Farther up the road (which also doubles as the Wanderweg), were the remaining cows meandering down toward the barn. We tried to walk up the road, but as the video shows, the cows were blocking the road and not very eager to share the Wanderweg with us. Given the fact ...

Now is this cool or what? I saw a Wordle created image ( http://wordle.net/ ) on another blog and decided to create my own. How fun. You can insert text or input a URL from a blog or any website that has Atom or RSS feed. The more often you use the word, the larger it is in the final product. Then you can play with colors, direction of the words, different text options, or even make the words upper or lower case only. (My Wordle is of my blog from June.) Actually, my purpose was to get myself back on task. That's why I was checking out some of the blogs written by other ex-pats who live in Switzerland. My goal? Get caught up on blogging by next Friday and aim for three postings a week. Stay tuned. Anyone want to be my accountability partner? (*Note, when I set this goal, I thought Bob was going to be in London for the week, thereby giving me the evenings to blog. But that did not happen. So I may need to set a goal for one new blog a day. We'll see!)