The Swiss National Holiday

This year it fell on a Monday – a Monday after the traditional July/August swap of vacationers. The volunteer firemen of my small village decided to change the formula and hold the event during the day as opposed to an evening event so at 10 a.m. I duly arrived for the beginning of the festivities. At that point they were set up and there were even a couple of my friends already.

Very un-Swiss like though the welcoming by Alphorn players didn’t start until a half hour later and the mayor’s speech another half hour later.

"Our" Alphorn players - there are 6'000 in Switzerland!

With the crowd picking up the traditional bonfire was lit – impressive whether day or night. There was a light breeze blowing, which, although it made it lovely for those of us attending, didn’t make it quite as easy on ash and fire control: the bonfire had been made smaller on purpose as the intention was to grill meats and sausages on the remaining coals.

before the burning

 

into the fire

the play of water through and behind

There were games for the children such as “throwing the fireman’s boot”: hilarious to watch some of the 2-year-olds giving it a go; roll-the-bale; tin-can toss; kite flying and a very clever one where the children “pumped” water from a bucket throw a common garden hose to try and fill another bucket – firemen indeed.

The Banners on the booths were done by the elementary school

More banners

This lot needed some help to start the bail rolling

Lunch was the traditional: grilled meats, sausages, raclette (our other national cheese dish besides fondue), and there were also salads and desserts – although both were on the far end and many of us didn’t discover them until it was too late.

For the adults there was a tombola – and, of course, I actually won two prizes, both of which I already had. But this was during my absence as I delegated S. to check my tickets as I needed to be home preparing for my traditional 1^st of August cocktail party.

Had a lovely lot of friends drop in, had even more great food brought along and the conversations, people and atmosphere were more than pleasant – one of the better celebrations.

That was all topped off with a few of us heading up to the village just beyond us to watch their fireworks and fire (rushed off with just my cell phone and keys so no pictures although it was beyond beautiful: I still carry in my heart the glitter and sparkle of the cinders rising into a dark sky.

Clean-up and thus August 1 was only finished for me a half hour ago with the putting away of the last glass. Now I’m off to pick up my Syrian friends – more partying – more good food – the pleasures of summer are just continuing.

One of the alphorn players is one of my coffee buddies so guess who got to pretend - fun!

The perfect Holiday weekend

This year our Swiss National Day fell on a Saturday – turning the weekend into a totally holiday weekend.

If one ignores the problems getting to and from one side of the lake to the other, it was the perfect weekend:

Brunch in my village – held in the German Ambassador to the U.N.’s grounds – to the  accompaniment of alpine horns, although a bit wet around the edges was very, very good.

Organized by the volunteer firemen, we are served by the city councilors, eggs, bacon, rösti patties, rolls and croissants, cheeses and cold cutes, butter and jams, cantaloupe melon, an assortment of juices, coffee or tea – truly nothing lacking.  The German Ambassador is one of the very rare ambassadors who has made an effort to connect with his local community – he also attends the yearly cocktail event in January and always gives a speech – in French!

R, my cousin and myself enjoyed it before he headed off to visit my housemate in the hospital. Cousin and I decided to wander into town for a coffee and snack, forgetting of course that it was a holiday weekend: traffic was horrible as they had shut down half of the bridge, but we persisted and rewarded ourselves with a cappuccino and slice of pastry before heading home to put together my annual cocktail party.

What a different year it was – most of the faithful had other plans or were across various oceans on their holidays: we added a few new, but then there were those who met the same problems that we had encountered earlier and gave up. A reduced in numbers party, but not in fun and good conversation. Another total difference – it rained so we were actually only in the living room and winter garden – just as well that the usual 25-30 didn’t show up!

Fireworks started after sundown fairly late, but oh what a joy – at one point I could count at least 5 separate parties of them: the best of course being the ones put on by the owners of one of the major department stores, as their property is just below us and there is no better seat than that on my balcony.

Sunday, the 2^nd bit was every bit as entertaining if totally different. The frustration of having to drive way out of my way was well rewarded by being able to pick up my housemate from the hospital. However, due to the extra time involved (a “slow-up” was being held on my side of the lake) I literally turned around the minute I got back as my cousin and I were meeting my older son at the train station for lunch.

At the train station I realized that we hadn’t given each other a meeting place, went to call him on my cell phone, which was dead. My cousin tried texting him from her USA-based cell phone then I made a trip to and fro to see if I could locate him. During that I did find public telephones and was able to call him. We all enjoyed our conversation and sitting on a terrace for lunch.

Said lunch necessitated a nap – and it was very difficult getting up thereafter. However, we managed and after coffee when the air had cooled, we wandered down to the lake for a gentle walk – ending with our sitting on one of the numerous benches to watch the sun set behind the Jura mountains.

A truly perfect weekend!

My multiple lives

So somehow these past few weeks have been overly full – or I have been overly lazy as

Blogging has fallen by the wayside.

One of the reasons, of course, is that I have had my older son home for 10 days, the younger has been here a few weeks longer and my housemate and husband are also in residence. The more humans I have to interact with, the less I am on my computer – living life instead of writing about it – although at other moments I was capable of doing both. Age? Interests?

This past week is a good example of my multiple lives:

Took son #1 to the airport Tuesday (having pre-celebrated my birthday with both boys the night before), waited a few hours then picked up my housemate and her husband. Wednesday went so fast that I only visited a friend. Thursday we had agreed, the housemate and I, that we would celebrate our birthdays finally, throwing in the opening of the Christmas (past or present?) gifts that her daughter had sent in June (that way the husband had a gift as well).  In our usual manner, champagne, nibbles and lots of laughter.

I got the Kindle that I had requested – thank you to both sons and housemate – somewhere I may have written a blog about how much trouble I had actually getting the mail carrier to deliver it as I wasn’t at home the first time they came! I am looking forward to peacefully getting some things on it next week when I have a wee bit more time.

Yesterday, Friday, was our National Swiss holiday and multiple lives may not even cover it!

We started the morning attending the brunch up at in the village, hosted in the grounds of the “castle” where the German Ambassador to the U.N. lives (fittingly this property was originally a brewery). He is a true ambassador in that he has made an effort to become part of the community in which he lives (something that I don’t recall any other of the ambassadors living in our village doing!). Here our volunteer firemen are the ones who arrange and serve at such events and I was glad to see that some of those young men who attended school with my sons are now following in their father’s footsteps. It is also traditional for the food itself to be served by our city administrators – a great way for the community to learn more about them as well as interact with them on a casual basis. This makes for good cohesion.

That done it was home to prepare for my traditional August 1^st party. What started approx.. 30 years ago as a way of entertaining other foreigners at loose ends in the middle of the summer has become a way of touching base informally with my friends. A way of honouring the country in which I live as well as all the diverse nationalities living in this canton.

Last nights group was no exception: Swiss from one of the German-speaking parts of the country (who feel just as “foreign” as many foreigners), a half a dozen British who grew up elsewhere (and not always in Britain), a couple of Welsh, my housemate who although born in the USA is now only Swiss, her husband, an American; a couple of Germans who came over 40 years ago; an Armenian who fled her country as a child; an Egyptian whose father was one of the nicest people I have known; another American who came to France in 1971 – and never left; another Swiss who grew up in Holland then spent many of his early working years in Kenya; his wife who is of Italian origin but also grew up in Kenya; their daughter who married a French-man and is now living in Dubai and that’s not an exhaustive list! We could have held an UN meeting (and maybe have solved the world’s problems in minutes with very little conflict).

D-Ls photo: I forgot to put the memory card in my camera so no photos of my own!

Then just after everyone had gone home and it was dark from my balcony those of us remaining in the house enjoyed fireworks from one of the neighbours (who this year made them even better and more visible by doing them off rafts in the lake) accompanied by those of a village across the lake and then as a low carpet others from various points in the distance: an explosive and colourful ending to my multiple day.