The start of something big… or

One of my presents (thanks S), was a jigsaw puzzle – of 5’000 pieces!

I can do the small ones (up to 500) in a short time – a couple of fun afternoons in the winter garden. Up until now I have not gone beyond 2’000 and this one promises to bring not just a few afternoons or hours, but many, many, many.

I have even located a board to put it on as may have to occasionally move it before I’m done and my puzzle cloth that allows me to roll up the current one with minimal displacement when I put it back down, just isn’t going to cut it.

I have actually already put together 10 pieces – hmmmm – a few more to go!

New beginnings and

The saga of the last Christmas present, 2016 that is, not an early 2017 one!

Ever since before Christmas my former housemate and I have been e-mailing back and forth about the saga of the missing Christmas present. She had seen something that she preceded to purchase for me – well in advance as she usually has her Christmas presents locked in before the new school year starts!

It didn’t arrive. After a couple of months she re-ordered and was reimbursed for the first purchase – still sending it to my Swiss address as the French one is never reliable and she is often not at her current Swiss one. Getting confused? Our lives are not your ordinary “live in one place and take holidays once a year” type.

The second one also never arrived in spite of repeated reminders from her part to the company through which she had ordered it. Finally in desperation she placed a third order and had it sent to her daughter’s house in Massachusetts: just a reminder, both my housemate and I live in Switzerland, but we travel a lot and the chances of picking something up from an USA address, or alternatively having family there send it turns out to be a lot more reliable.

Anyway, that order did finally arrive and made it back across the ocean in her suitcase just a couple of weeks ago (never mind that at that point she had returned to her home in France, there was a trip planned to Switzerland).

The upshot: drum rolls, high fives and firecrackers so acknowledge the receipt yesterday of my final 2016 Christmas present.

What, you might wonder, was so special that she went through all the effort? Ah… not only one of my favorite activities (and having finally finished my taxes I can now enjoy a bit of leisure so its arrival was well timed) – a puzzle, but such a cute one – a cat that greatly resembles Cléa, wound around books on a book shelf. It is also only 750 pieces so I have already been able to put a dent in the frame and start it. It may have been the last present, but it was definitely one worth the time and effort on her part!

A day away from the computer…

This could get addictive as I am now on my second one of minimal computer time.

It all started with the moon set yesterday morning.

After that beautiful happening the day dawned gloriously blue and cloud-free.  
 

Coffee with a friend as usual followed by a trip to the grocery store from which I returned with a very colorful bag of vegetables and fruit (guess my body thought it needed to get into some vitamins) and nary a junk-food item.  Did quickly boot up the computer, but as there were no e-mails that had to be answered, just as promptly shut it down, threw in a load of wash (remember younger son had returned from a week’s skiing) then decided that it was really way too nice a day to be inside so grabbed a quick bite of lunch on my way to one of my favorite walking spots.  One can see both the alps (including Mont Blanc) as well as the Jura mountain chain and the paths wander through ground that is being returned to its original swamps.  A big plus was that they have recently trimmed back (or rather totally cut down) most of the reeds and surrounding field crops so the views of bird life are much easier. As well as the fairly common to this region mallards I also managed to see both a great white egret (I think, but my more bird-watching-gifted friends can feel free to correct me) and a gray heron (fairly sure of that one). What the lone swan was doing so far from the lake I would love to know!

nesting mallard pair

Grey Heron

Great White Egret

Swan

At home (with lemon pie so that I wouldn’t need to go out for coffee later) I first accomplished a DIY task that had needed doing for a couple of week, then

 

After 34 years the plastic broke

Lovely new one - soft shut mechanism and easily detached for cleaning!

I decided that it was warm enough in the winter garden to use my dining table and start one of the 10 puzzles that housemate D-L and her husband R had brought when they came this time. Made good progress.

sorting started

most of the frame in place

always one on the floor...

Then it was time to watch the sun go down over the lake and the Juras from my easy chair in my bedroom.  No need for a computer, no need to say how lovely my day had been.

sunset over the Jura and Lac Leman