Joyful Journey

Last Thanksgiving we were invited to join the Greenlee family's Thanksgiving celebration. At a time when we knew so few people, it was very nice to be included. While in the states in September, I suggested to Bob that we host a Thanksgiving celebration this year and he agreed. As no one has off on Thanksgiving Day, since it's not a Swiss holiday, we will celebrate on Saturday. Now turkeys are not common in the grocery stores, but Vreni Greenlee had been able to purchase one and so I began to ask around how to go about ordering one, etc. As it got closer to Thanksgiving time, I noticed that the Aldi always had large turkey breasts in stock. My oven here is very small. I was concerned about having room for anything other than a turkey, if I bought one large enough to feed a group. But turkey breasts don't take up as much room and have more meat per square inch. But how do you cook a breast by itself and keep it moist? Especially when the only kind you can buy are wit...

We picked up our new car in Bern on Saturday. It was to have been ready in mid-October but the delivery of it was delayed and then there were some delays in getting all the necessary paperwork taken care of. Bob ended up having to go to the licensing bureau to pick up the plates himself, although that was to have been taken care of by our insurance agent. When he got back to the office with the plates, his assistant was quite surprised that we had been given "diplomat plates." The number "8" on top of the red and white rectangle, indicates that we can only have the car in Switzerland until the end of August of 2009. And that it is a tax-free car, which is why the plates are typically given to diplomats. When we first moved to Switzerland, the assignment that Bob came under paid for a rental car for the time that we were here. When the assignment was lengthened, it actually became a new "type" of assignment, and they would no longer reimburse us for a...

You've probably seen one of these lists. There are hundreds of variations. "You know you were born in the fifties if..." or "You know you're a homeschooler if..." or maybe the "You know you love Ramen Noodles if..." The other day I stumbled across the list below. Only I have given you my edited version. I've done all of the items listed below. And you? You know you are living in 2008 if... 1. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years. 2. You e-mailed a family member in another room of the house. 3. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses. 4. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't even have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life (if you've lived that long), is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it. 5. You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee. 6. You use the computer clock to ch...

One of our favorite things about hiking in the Alps is to hear the cow, goat and sheep bells as we hike and so in our first year here we decided to start a cow bell collection. We have enjoyed checking out the bells at different places we've hiked or visited. When Justin and MarDell were here we spent one day in Engelberg watching the cows make their trek through town on their way down from the high pasture land. (Oops! I just realized that I haven't written those posts yet!! Guess I better get busy!) On our drive up to Engelberg we drove passed what appeared to be a wonderful bell shop, but we didn't want to stop then and miss any of the Alpsfahrt. On the way back, we missed the shop. However two weekends ago we again went to Engelberg to hike we found the shop again and stopped by on our way back home. However, it was closed at this time, but we found a website on the door and took a photo so that we could remember the address. There was contact information on th...

I recognized an old friend yesterday while on facebook. Well, actually the "little brother" of my best friend when I was in elementary school. I don't know if you are on facebook, but when I "make" a new friend, I love to read their Info tab where they list their interests, activities, favorite books, TV shows and movies as well as favorite quotes. And one of Larry's quotes made me laugh, out loud. "The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell." - St Augustine The fact that Larry included this in his favorite quotes gives me a clue as to why Larry is a high school history teacher and not a high school mathematics teacher. Seems like most people either love mathematics or hate it. Not many people are ambivalent. When people learn that I taught hig...

Bob and I both suffer periodically with migraines. My mom did as does Bob's dad. Joel suffers from them. I wish we could keep from passing them on to any future grandchildren, but studies have shown them to be hereditary. Only today something unusual happened. We both had gone to bed with headaches, thinking we should probably take something, but neither of us did. We both awoke with migraines. We both got up and took some medication. But there is where the similarities ended. Bob was in London and I was at home. Bob proceeded to go workout in an effort to feel better and then went for a full day's work. I, on the other hand, took medication and crawled back into bed, awoke late, and then worked around the apartment in my pj's until 3 p.m., at which time I get dressed to go for a walk. Tonight when Bob called and I realized we had both suffered, my response was incredible gratitude. Grateful for a husband who is so honorable, that rather than do what he wanted to...

If you read my post from the 26th of October, you may remember that I managed to pick a slightly difficult hike. Gratefully, this Saturday's hike was not as strenuous nor was it even planned. We expected to be picking up our car in Bern on Saturday and did not find out until Friday late afternoon that it wouldn't be in Bern for us to pick up and so we would have the entire day to hike. We had gotten our first snow fall Thursday, which is very early for this area. It was a very wet snow and most of it had melted in our area by Saturday, but there were still areas of snow on the hills surrounding us. We decided to head out toward Amden area, where we have frequently hiked and just find a different loop than those we had previously done. Bob put in our newly purchased snowshoes (which we had found on sale last weekend for 49 Swiss Francs) and we also took our newly purchased waterproof boots (necessary to use with newly purchased snowshoes!) There are two main ways to Amden f...