I'm not infallible...

Being the oldest of four, being slightly organized when compared to the chaos of most of the world, I am sometimes led to believe that I have it all together.

I have many un-strengths, but usually, a sense of direction isn't one of them until all of a sudden it is a major blooper (anyone who remembers that word? Sure dates me doesn't it, but then I have never been afraid to admit to my real age).

I'll let you find out for yourself in the following blog.

https://theexpatwriter.blogspot.com/2020/07/julia-doesnt-always-know-way.html

As we managed to arrive in time to get served, what could have been a total disaster turned into just another "adventure" à la Julia and D-L. Some friendships have fun going the wrong way!

Being sensible, or….

Not my usual state of affairs, nor mind.

For once in my life having planned something I woke up thinking: really, get sensible – one doesn’t need to go out in the heat, burn up the miles in a train just to end up paying a hotel overnight, all with the goal of “using” pre-paid daily cards.

If that is my only loss due to Covid-19 I can count myself blessed!

It all started well way back a year ago, mentioned in my “Train to somewhere” blog in January of this year.

I purchased, combined with a half-tariff train pass, 20 day cards at a very good price, i.e., one that was even cheaper than buying the same day cards from my community. However, as I planned on using most of them during March and April of this year (valid a year), I hadn’t been too generous with my trips during the winter. How could I know that Covid-19 would come along and upset all travel plans?

That left me with more than half to use in just two months. In June I did manage to use 5 and had a great time, but one also has to remember that one has friends, travels with second parties and the like so I entered July with 6 still left. Break-even point would be 17 as that would be the equivalent of my community cards, but I still have 3 till that point.

As I was free today and tomorrow I had actually even packed a small suitcase with the plan of leaving after my haircut and spending the night somewhere else, thus using two. Upon awakening though and realizing that the weather is to be stormy in all the areas in which I was interested I “woke up”. Why try and use two cards, whilst paying for a hotel room that would be worth more than the two combined when I have so many things to do here at home?

I got sensible, stayed here, did a lot of admin this morning, then called a friend to see if she was available for lunch. No, but wonder of wonders I now know that they have a working, fixed telephone and that I can actually call them without going through the shenanigans of her cell phone (always off), their out-of-the-country phone, his cell phone (half a chance or less) or a message via social media. Oh the luxury – I was very chuffed.

No problem that they weren’t available, I called another of those dear friends whom I haven’t seen in it seems forever and we will have coffee when we go grocery shopping.

I don’t plan on making it a habit but being sensible is working out well indeed… this time.

I would attribute this, if I could, but not quite sure who used or designed it first.

Simply being

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a tree, grow for ages, not hurt anyone. -Czeslaw Milosz, poet and novelist (30 Jun 1911-2004)

Ah what a lovely thought.

In these uncertain times I wonder what it would be like to simply be a tree – to live, breath, take the sun, take the rain, the snow, whatever “life” throws whilst simply putting back fresh into the air and joy into the hearts of those who love nature.

To simply BE instead of trying to worry about all the consequences, the emotions, the 180° turns that life often takes. Perhaps that is to truly be a god or a hero, being always available, being always even-tempered (ok when a tree falls and causes havoc it is often due to its roots over which it has no control or a storm, again no control), being always there.

I love life and living, emulating a tree might be the way to go.

How was that trip?

So yesterday we started off, catching a train headed for the state of Schwyz in Switzerland.

Stopping along the way, first in Neuchatel where we had a lovely walk in the Spring sunshine along the lake, then on to Bern where we decided to have a delicious lunch in one of the many just as lovely restaurants near the Federal buildings.

In the afternoon traveled along several lakes, stopping at whim for coffee in one of them before arriving at our goal of the city of Schwyz for the night.

A cocktail on an open terrace, a stroll around the Old town, a great meal in a colorful restaurant we then went to bed in a delightful hotel and slept the sleep of the just.

This morning, a lovely breakfast then we went to the Forum of Swiss History – our main goal – to see the charter from 1291 that was the beginnings of today’s Confederation of Helvetican states – better known as Switzerland.

Lunch along the lake of Lucern, in Brunnen, better known to locals as the Vierwaldstättersee or the Lake of the 4 Cantons,

Then it was time to catch yet another train: we traveled with what is known as “day cards” both days. This allowed us to go where we wanted, when we wanted, staying as short or as long as we wanted. Even to backtrack or take side trips. Highly recommended!

This time and just because we could, we went through the alps instead of around and returned via an entirely different canton and scenery. The cherry on the cake was having cocktails in the dining car – antipasti with Prosecco.

What was the occasion, who the guest? One of my dear friends had a special birthday last fall and this was what I gave her as a present. We duly researched, settled on a date (about half-way to the next birthday) and were really excited.

However, what I have just described was a virtual trip in my dreams as, due to Covid-19 we were not able to undertake it at this time.

When we do finally get to, I am sure that it will be even better than what I imagined!

Bits and pieces or…

 Finally, a half-hour to look at “stuff” and catch up on words, sayings and other forms of communication.

After a trip across town to pick up my housemate’s work computer (3 weeks after she was banished to home office) and to hand over documents and other necessary items to my younger son, I actually found that the word-a-day was one that I had never heard!

I started reading at 6 and never stopped: won the prize for most “books” read in first grade, i.e. 62 (I still have the pen on a pin that I received as a prize), my first library card is still one of my most memorable “gifts”, I have a subscription to the local daily, to the English-speaking library and there are never less than two or three other magazines on my main desk.  All that to set the mood: I know a lot of words, so finding a new one was like finding a treasure. Pelion.

Pelion, pelion, pelion, rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Meaning? A huge or difficult task, based upon Mont Pelion in Greece. Who knew? I won’t be forgetting anytime soon and it is a very good word for today’s world. A world that encompasses some indeed huge and difficult tasks, the first of which is survival.

On that subject, so far, so good.

And I even know two older persons than me who celebrate birthdays today. Yeah for them, yeah for us.

Linked to the current pandemic is the necessity to be even more cautious than usual with hygiene. I took to washing my knobs, door handles and anything metal with a cloth dipped in water and bleach. I knew that it was a good disinfectant, but didn’t appreciate just how aggressive it is: below is the picture of the cloth after several days of being left in the water/bleach mixture!

Hope that everyone I know is surviving well. Stay in, stay safe!

No joke….

The Coronavirus is no joke, no hoax, and nothing to be taken lightly, however, there are other things that go against the traditional April Fool’s Day thoughts.

And one very positive one at that: my oldest son met his wife-to-be an April 1^st and this year they celebrate – and we with them at a distance – their first year.

So much has happened in that year, things that are stressors beyond belief. Within 7 months they married, had their first child and moved. And that was all last year.

This year they have enjoyed settling into their new apartment, gotten used to a different path to work and in general got on with life. Then the virus hit! They both have had it and are currently on the mend, but what a roller coaster ride it has been.

The rest of their lives will surely be less high stress!

So I raise my glass to a daughter-in-law who has brought only good into our small family, to my son who was smart enough to pick here and to their baby, obviously the best grandchild in the world!

leftover wedding cake

The end of a month….

But not the end of the problem.

In these trying times we find ourselves reaching out, reaching out first of all to family and friends, then also to all those former friends, colleagues, acquaintances.

We often say “how would we have managed without modern tech and the ability to connect”. I say we have always connected, perhaps less knowingly and less consistently, but connect we do.

We find ourselves mulling over days gone by, learning about former pandemics and in general going back, as if we were afraid to project into the future.

I won’t address that problem, but these past days have had one poem running through my head with great insistence so I went and re-read Rudyard Kipling’s….

By Rudyard Kipling

(‘Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards and Fairies)

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

So here’s to hoping that there will be many men and women “made” during this

Apocalypse or Coronalypse.

No diamonds please….

No, the way to my heart currently: a lovely fresh red or orange pepper, purple onions, a mix of fresh spring greens.

We all have enough dried beans, rice, pasta and the like probably to do us for several periods of confinement. We also have canned goods and probably freezers way too full.

But what is not always in the refrigerator after lunch is fresh produce, especially for those of us who are really not supposed to go out. And no, one week hasn’t been sufficiently long for me at least to want to “bother” some younger person to get me those items. Should this continue, of course, I will have to face reality, but until then the way to my heart is that gift of a red pepper to accompany the last tin of refried beans.

Flowers are not essential…

In the cruel world of today’s lockdowns, flowers are not deemed essential. What???

For me they have always been very essential. Even in the deepest winter, I have always had fresh flowers on the entry table, or occasionally a flowering plant, for example, December’s poinsettia. But no flowers?!

Not possible.

My tulips were dropping and I had been intending to replace them for several days, but again what with the circumstances both I and the young adult who does my shopping neglected to put them on the list.

With the result that today when she went specifically just for flowers, the flower department was shut, deemed non-essential.

I was later able to get a bunch up at the service station whilst getting gas. Thank goodness that a local grower knows that, indeed, for many of us, FLOWERS ARE ESSENTIAL.

Getting through the days, weeks and potentially months of current world circumstances make small bits of color even more important.

It is interesting to note that our civilization in the Northern Hemisphere is facing much illness and death at a time when nature is exploding: a riot of color to help us keep our sanity. Again, for me, flowers are just as essential as the water I drink, the air I breathe and the food I eat.

No longer saveable - my two-week-old tulips

More expensive, but lovely - my service station boquet

“7 Deaths due to the Covid-19”…

The title doesn’t nearly tell the story.

One of those is a former neighbour and dear friend.

RIP Sonia

You were a fascinating, intelligent, interested and interesting person.

You will be missed!

The hand around her back? Her husband of 55 & a half years

Blocked Blogs

As in writer’s block, not as in blocked by any computer system.

I have so many thoughts runny through my head in relationship to our current world situation that it’s overwhelming. The urge to write is present, the thoughts there, if not well ordered, but time seems more precious and in general in between cancelling events or having them cancelled on me, I find myself wanting to be more social – at a distance – so emphasis is on people.

Walks, phone calls, e-mails, skype sessions all take time and energy so my thoughts although tumbling around in my head continually don’t make it onto paper.

However, today’s Thought for Today from Worsmith.org had to be shared and is a reminder that in spite of it all, life continues and we need to remember that voting will be even more important in future elections everywhere is we wish to maintain any kind of society.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Many people consider the things government does for them to be social progress but they regard the things government does for others as socialism. -Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court (19 Mar 1891-1974)

shades of mountains

Could’ve, Should’ve?

It would’ve been my husband’s 85^th birthday today. He died 20 years ago just three weeks before his 65^th.

He could have lived ‘til 85 – at least statistically for that generation. Those who made it through WWII had a good chance and there are several of his university friends who have. He also has several who didn’t make it much longer than he.

Should have?

He was 10 when the war ended and probably wasn’t well-nourished throughout his early life although his father did his best and sent his family out of the war-bombed city to the countryside.

He had his first major illness at just 32 and owed his life then to penicillin.

At just age 34 he had open heart surgery – the replacement of the aortic valve: he was lucky as living at that point in a major city in Switzerland that had the latest machines.

At age 45 he had his second open-heart surgery with the replacement of his mitral valve and re-replacement of his aortic valve. They threw in a pacemaker as well.

He never had colds, the flu only once that I recall, but major crisis he could do.

What kept him going? Probably finding someone to be at his side, then the birth of his adored sons. He worked hard to stay healthy and got those last 20 years.

So should he have turned 85? On will alone – a resounding yes. Logistically probably no.

I’ll still remember and still raise a glass to an extraordinary man. Happy Birthday RSL!

In Alaska the summer of 1999 less than 6 months before his death

Names or…

The mangling thereof.

I grew up in an English-speaking western world.

Then I moved to Europe and learned French. Still a Western World and although words and pronunciation entirely different, the basic ideas and particularly names remained legible and pronounceable. Then I met and married a German. Now there’s a logical language: need a new word? Simply put two already-existing ones together and voilà a new word that makes perfect sense for the new situation and doesn’t require (as do both English and French) an entire phrase to explain a new concept. Still as 60% of English and in particular names in the USA are of German origin, recognizable.

Where I first encountered problems was during my years working for the Luthern church here in Geneva. If Asian names were kind of o.k. (I had spent three years in Hawaii as a teenager), African ones were beyond me. It took quite some time before I had even a hope of saying them correctly never mind spelling them. And I am sure that they, too, faced the great divide when it came to some of our names!

Upon marrying I took my husband’s name, a double-barreled one at that. This posed problems as in Switzerland the last half of a hyphenated name is usually the woman’s maiden name. I will not mention the number of times I had to return official documents or credit and bank cards for the correction of my name. Then computerization hit the world.

The first computers were limited to about 7 letters maximum; anything thereafter got truncated so I was often very frustrated when formulas asked for my name, but wouldn’t take it, never mind the hyphen. It was particularly problematic in the travel industry and I basically ended up having a variety of last names depending upon the airline. Truncated I was kind of o.k. with, but one of the very best, that continues to this day, was KLM’s

I am Mme. Sxxxxx Leaf Fen.

Every time I get an email address to me I always wonder if I can’t go be a Leaf in a Fen – that would at least make sense.

Caring and sharing

What a topsy-turvy day the first of February was. I had a “free” day: simply the absence of any and all formal arrangements – still a lot to do, but nothing obligatory.

I was slow to get up for my coffee.

I had thought to eventually make the rounds of some of my favorite places throughout the canton such as the recycling center to drop off paints and the like that can’t be left on the curb, to take the sack of gathered items to the Salvation Army and the like, but already before leaving for the village I had nixed all that in favor or a quiet day in and around home.

So: few clients in the mini-mart and I was able to have coffee with the owner who shared some of his dreams. A client came in who had forgotten his wallet (on bike) – no problem I applied the concept of a “forgotten coffee” or whatever it is that they call it. The client in turn helped the owner pick up the models on the sidewalk that started falling over in the wind. An invitation for fondue was received – and accepted.  What else will the day bring? It is sometimes marvelous to go with the flow!

So in honor of “getting something done” after making my lunch date I decided to run a few errands including making the mad dash to the complex in the next village down to post a letter to a good friend: I was only a couple of months behind! That had me running into yet more acquaintances and had me late for lunch. Wanted to let H know, but, oops had left my cell phone at home. So had to swing by the house to leave the groceries then send a quick text to apologize. By the time I got there it was almost 13:00. Never mind H had also wanted to call me and say that he was running late, but didn’t have time! He needed to do a couple more things before our fondue – no problem; two of the City Councilors that I know were chatting in the rear so I joined them.

H eventually did get the fondue done – we had a delightful meal and were only “bothered” a couple of times by real clients. However, by the time we finished, it was going on 15:00 and I had eaten enough to need a nap.

The evening was much quieter, but the next day I first had a political coffee, ie one to meet the candidates for our upcoming city elections, then the family was here for lunch – my late husband’s favorite: grilled chicken, brussel sprouts and rice with gravy to celebrate his life. It is hard to imagine that it has been twenty years!

I quickly went to the local bakery for a slice of cake to share with my current housemate before settling in at home.

All in all a very good time was had caring and sharing both the joys and the sorrows.

Beauty Alert or…

Being aware.

I have the privilege of looking out of my bedroom window every morning (and believe me that is indeed a privilege as not only is my house very well located, but there was a time when I feared the loss of my sight).

The view is mostly the lake, the mountains, shades of grey or in the summer bright sunshine.

Then there are the days where the full moon is going down on those mountains or the sun (in the winter) hasn’t quite risen so the mountains are the same blue as the sky above them and if one is really lucky there is snow on the mountains that divide them. The sunsets can also be phenomenal, or a boat sailing past particularly gorgeous.

These moments are known in my household as “Beauty Alert”s and anyone living here has learned to come running if I shout out one as they never last more than a minute.

It doesn’t take much to make me happy: beauty alerts are a blessing. And sharing them makes them more enjoyable.

Early one morning after fresh snow on the Juras

Sun on the fresh snow through a very old tree

We all need..

A listening ear;

A helping hand;

Laughter;

Music;

Silence;

Understanding;

Love

We are all humans, and in spite of what some news reports would have us believe, most people are good!

Never forget that the richest become ill; that the poorest sometimes find a helping hand; that those who govern us are chosen by us; that we make our own choices for happiness – or not – on not only a daily basis, but by the second.

We are influenced first by our parents and our family circle, but that quickly enlarges to friends, teachers and anyone with whom we come in contact. We are – no excuses please for “I had it tough” etc. – what we make of ourselves.

We choose to listen, we choose to smile, we choose to nod to a stranger, we choose to lend a helping hand – or not. We CHOOSE. Let our choices be good!

Remembrance

“Our dead are not dead until we have forgotten them”

George Eliot

RIP

Rudolf (Ralf) Lothar Schmitz-Leuffen

Born in Cologne, Germany, died in Geneva, Switzerland

23.02.1935 – 02.02.2000

The sound of silence…

My husband introduced me to the Peruvian Pan Flute more years ago than I’m willing to admit – love at first sound.

Yesterday a friend sent me a clip from YouTube: the Sounds of silence.

Reflect: the true sound of silence is so full.

As children, we listen, but don’t always hear – babies communicate without words and not always with cries either. Think of a mother’s smile as she tends to her baby – communication without words. Think of a lover’s glance – the whole world can be held in the lack of words.

Think of friends who exchange smiles – there is no better hello.

Think of the ill and their carers: again often a smile, a tear, and a sigh send more messages than words can ever communicate.

Think of those to whom you wave from a distance: a message is sent: I see you, I care about you.

Think of touch – the holding of hands, stroking of a cheek, the pat on the back or the knee. All communicate care, like or love – without a word.

In this busy world we should listen more to the sounds of silence. Enjoy the clip

https://www.youtube.com/embed/BFnjVazFSTE

The modern church or….

Some of them run disco evenings and now accept credit cards in lieu of the old coin slot.

For those of you who have travelled to Europe and if not for religious reasons, but for reasons of tourism have gone into a cathedral (more likely as the protestant churches seem to mainly be under lock and key except when in actual use) you will have noticed a slot box (usually in bronze or iron towards the first pews of the rear) in which one may make a donation for the upkeep of the church. Also where there are candles to be lit in front of saints there is another dropbox for the odd coin that they charge.

an old-fashioned coin box to pay for your voltive

Well, on one of my day trips to a big city in Northern Switzerland I popped into a church, only to find that they were advertising “disco nights” once a month (ok not a “proper” catholic church but a reformed church in a former cathedral, but also had installed a machine to the rear of the church for credit card payments.

the modern coin box

Where is the charm? I agree that some things probably need to be modernized, but seriously a credit card machine for church donations?

I will not visit that church again.

How to go crazy…

It doesn’t take much, nor long when dealing with administrative tasks!

This morning in the mail I received a letter announcing that if I didn’t pay within 10 days the property taxes in the next state up on a piece of land the family owns, this state would be within it’s legal rights to slap a mortgage on said property.

So far, so good.

However, I had already paid this tax shortly after I received it last fall!!! Even reconciled in my bank accounts so I know that the bank paid it (sometimes, I discover a month later that something I have scheduled hasn’t been paid… but that’s another problem).

I had used the payment slip they sent and did it on-line. This is an important fact as we have a reference number of some 20 digits that allows the receiver to correctly attribute the payment.

Instead of writing a letter, paying the postage and trying to cover any other payments from the bank as proof I decided, oh mistake, oh mistake, to call.

I properly followed the instructions and got the usual, “sorry all of our collaborators are busy”, with the addition of please consult our on-line pages.  Then after no collaborator is available within 10 minutes they simply say “sorry, no one is currently available, please call back later”. I repeated this cycle 6 – yes SIX – times (never had it worse), meanwhile duly checking the website, but of course, my question isn’t covered.

The sixth time I go someone and with my client number was able to have her “find” the payment. Although there are separate reference numbers for each bill, it seems that the banks sometimes “correct” the number to the one that you last used for that invoice and thus my property tax payment became simply a payment on my income taxes. Arghhhhh

And I can’t say that loud enough! At least this year I am forewarned.

There are days like that: I also have no heating in the attic so I called the heating chap. He was quick, but the problem couldn’t be solved so now I’m waiting for the company that checks the whole system to call me and come see.

I have dinner with a friend, which will save my mood, then it’s coffee with girlfriends followed by cocktails tonight with the neighbours. My day will end better than it began.

And, oh, the sun is shining. Right now though my blood pressure is through the roof and my faith in the “system” non-existant

.