Supporting local entities

My excuse for eating out.

Had to use a big word – entities – as couldn’t just say restaurants although in this case that is what triggered the blog. I also use one or two village bakeries, several other restaurants, a service station, the recycling center (well it is local and keeps my trash from traveling), and a wee bit further afield an agricultural center, McDonald’s (o.k. mainly for coffee), never mind that I have two of the chain grocery stores within 5 kilometers and a department store just a couple hundred meters beyond them.

Why go into town when I don’t have to?

But back to today’s “buying locally”. First I had a talk with myself about the grammar, most people say buying local, but as buying is a verb it really should have the adverb, or does “buying local” imply “buying from someone who distributes on a local level” – you can see the problems and quandaries that arise in my need to do it right. Secondly there was the problem of title. I first chose “the devil made me do it” but quickly realized that

• Why do we blame the devil? Where did the phrase originate? Why do I need to blame anyone?
• If one can blame the devil, one can also either blame a god or let said god take credit for our actions.  In light of recent events I quickly steered away from that whole “kettle of fish”.

  

Parenthesis: I think perhaps that I should just get on with it instead of taking all these side trips into philosophical questions.

Thirdly: so I was going to use “buying local” as my title, but that provoked the grammar debate so….

Now you know how I chose my title.

Are you any further ahead on the subject? No, but I had fun.

To make a rather convoluted and way-too-long, the devil-made-me-do-it blog, just before noon I checked to see what the daily menu was going to be at one of my favorite local

restaurants: (ah, ha “local buying” would have worked) Café des Marronniers. Upon seeing that the entry was a rucola and parmesan (rocket and parmesan as spell-check doesn’t like the rucola) salad followed by an entrecote with a three-pepper sauce, a braised tomato and their matchstick French fries, I knew where I was eating lunch.

Antonio’s warm welcome, the waiter and waitresses always smiling greetings of “it’s nice to see you” set the tone. Everything lived up to my high standards. Wasn’t my first meal there, won’t be my last.

I can even feel virtuous having supported a local entity. Now if I had walked (only a 15-minute walk, but the current excuse is that I only had an hour as the tiler had gone home for his lunch, but would be back) I could have also fulfilled some of the 10’000 steps that one is supposed to manage per day!

I encourage everyone to do most of their purchasing, eating, etc. in their own neighborhood. I can't be too dogmatic as of course my passion for travel destroys a lot of my gains in other areas: we do what we can.

Cat fights

I am currently in the process of a major bathroom and shower remodel so there is a certain amount of dust, dirt and the odd piece of plaster etc.

 

My cleaning lady vacuumed the kitchen, the living room (what wasn’t covered in protective

walkways to access the stair case that is: the stuff is wonderful as slightly sticky on one side

so a lot easier to put down than in former times when one had to actually tape the whole thing very well, but I digress) and the hallway so when I went to bed all was really fairly clean.

This morning walking down into the living room I noticed tufts of hair spread in an area covering a good square meter. I hadn’t noticed that the cats were particularly avoiding each other, but obviously as some point during the night their had been a bit of sisterly squabble: enough that fur was flying. Whose ? Why? Sisterly tiff? There were no obvious marks on either cat and later they were again curled up together in one basket so whatever was obviously only a spat.

Too bad that humans can’t be as sensible: argue, fight then forget and come close again.

Sometimes one just has to bite the bullet…

Buckle down, get going, concentrate and accomplish something!

My daily life leaves place for private e-mails, telephone calls, coffees, lunches, dinners and lots of other pleasures, not the least of which are computer games and checking Facebook.

However, every once in awhile I have to forbid myself from all of these and actually get some of the filing, bookkeeping, bill paying and the lot done.  On those rare days I can only accomplish this by upon opening my computer, not booting up Internet, not checking the telephone’s blinking light, not looking at my cell phone and definitely not opening up the e-mail account either until I have at least done some of my self-assigned tasks.

Today is such a day, but I did allow myself the blog as it figures on my current “to do every day” list and I have already skipped a day.

The rewards however are great: if I accomplish enough this morning I may be able to lunch out and if I get enough done this afternoon I have the reward of one of my concerts tonight.

On with the work, the faster the better as that brings the pleasures closer. It is also well worth the feeling of accomplishment upon having done several tasks. Note, I won’t be able to post this until I have actually done some of the tasks or I might get distracted by other open tabs… discipline is the name of the game.

And I stuck to it: we are now 4 hours later and I have reconciled all of my 2014 bank accounts and started prep for tax reports! Now I deserve lunch.

 

Five men in a tub…

Oh, was it supposed to be only three? And probably out on a lake somewhere and not all in my shower and bathroom, I bet!

It has started: the renovation of the shower and bathroom on my floor.

As per schedule, the man who is taking down and putting up my tiles was waiting for me when I returned home from my morning coffee (and mail pickup). I thought we had agreed that they would all come at 8 a.m., but he remembered in between 7:30 and 8:00. No problem. He actually managed to start getting the protective plastic down (new fangled stuff that is slightly adherent so much easier to put down and stays in place also better) before the two men for the heating units showed up. They in turn were here when the plumber and his assistant showed up.  Five men (six if you add my youngest son who at least had the good sense to stay out of the way) in a space measuring only around 5m2 for the shower and perhaps 7m2 for the bath (with the bathtub still in place) is a wee bit much, but they all were very accommodating to each other’s job so it worked.

By giving the plumber and his assistant coffee first, we were able to let everyone do their job.

By noon I had served 8 coffees and not only were the pipes in place for the two radiators, but everything ceramic (except tub and shower base) was gone!  All the accouterments were taken down as well (and in the process a couple of items were re-cycled). The tiler came back at 13:15 and by 15:30 all of the tiles were off the walls of the bathroom.  Hard to imagine that it will take all of two weeks at that speed, but the old is gone so now it’s wait for the new. And I am consigned to the upstairs bath, the downstairs toilet and the cellar shower for the duration. Younger son, with my encouragement, is leaving for four days, which will help with the crowding.

I so do not envy my sister and her husband doing a total house rebuild! Two weeks will be enough for me, even if it’s the only way to have that many men in my house at one time.

Hallway in front of the shower and the bath rooms.

o.k. only 2 in this picture, but imagine 5!

Serendipity

 

January 4, 2015, Meinier, Switzerland

 I have the good fortune to often experience things by happenstance; deciding to go for coffee or a meal at the drop of a hat; the taking of one road instead of another; changing plans at the last minute, etc.

 

Often they are linked to (funnily enough) doing something for someone, such as the glorious fog patches that I got to see one morning returning from a run to the train station. Other times it has been the sunrise returning from the airport. It happens often enough that I am always willing to entertain the thought of getting up early and helping someone out as over the years I have had some of the best sights because of these morning trips.

Yesterday afternoon was just one such: needed to take a couple of files and other stuff across town to my oldest son. It just happened that since I didn’t have enough time to have coffee before, I waited a few minutes for him to return from picking up his bike. Then as I “needed” coffee I debated several places then found myself changing lanes and going to the train station. There instead of having coffee in one place, I did in another nearer to the Migros, which then led to going into the grocery store for 5 minutes.  This random using up blocks of time led me back across the bridge around sundown. Then although I took the road that would have led me straight home, at the last minute I decided to go straight through the roundabout via the upper road.

Serendipity – a very bright light beyond the buildings, which I first thought was probably the spots in a soccer field. Getting beyond them though I realized that it was the rising full moon!

Now had I checked or known, the weather would have been lousy; the timing wouldn’t have worked; I wouldn’t have had my camera with me (rarer, but it does happen). As it was I simply pulled off to the side of the road and watched it rise for a good quarter of an hour:  in all its beauty – a sight that I won’t forget in a long, long time, if ever.

Serendipity = my life!

Cranes or Herons flying through top left

Didn't notice the lamp post until I had taken the photo

January 4, 2015, Meinier, Switzerland

Rising moon: fields and vineyards of Meinier with the Voirons

Sort your trash people!

A very mundane subject, but as the New Year progresses into spring most of my generation

were brought up on the "take it down on New Year's Day" as well as the "Spring Clean", never mind the daily, weekly or monthly one.

In our household we have been sorting, re-distributing, giving away, taking to various charities or friends depending upon the item for several months now.

First of all, one would think that we would finally be seeing the end of it, but no: that which has been accumulated over a lifetime (in younger son’s case) or the past 30+ years in this house in my case, dwindles but never entirely disappears.

I no longer count the trips to the main re-cycling center across town having made many with my older son when he moved, then with the younger one, then myself and now yet again with all of us.

I usually have 3 or 4 full banana boxes of paper once a month for curb-side pickup; make at least 3 or 4 trips to our village recycling center with bottles, Pet containers (as in PET, not containers for pets per se), batteries, paper, clothing to be turned into rags and large cardboard boxes and yet have things to re-distribute.

Today I decided to meld two garbage bags full of stuff and ended up sorting out the electronics, the beyond-sale-date meds, paper and ink cartridges to be given away. I was still left with a full garbage bag and will have to spend a couple of hours taking the electronic parts, the old meds and the give-aways to their destinations, but we do need to do our part so please people, don’t take the easy way out and just dump it all in the trash – sort and re-distribute: your world thanks you.

 And I'm feeling productive!

paper, curbside pickup once a month

electronics - re-cycler across town

ink cartridges - printer no longer works: give to Salvation Army

out of date meds and cosmetics, etc. - return to pharmacy

110 liter trash bag - pick up tomorrow!

New Year’s Resolutions a day or two late…

Many, many years ago I stopped making New Year’s resolutions: on the whole they are just a list that serves to frustrate oneself in the following days, weeks and months as inevitably most are ignored, forgotten or otherwise not followed.

This year was no exception, until I got to thinking.

In many ways 2015 will be a year of extraordinary harking back to the past, dealing with the present and looking towards the future for me personally. Was going to do my usual colons and semi colons until I realized that what with the ()’s I would be creating a monster of a paragraph so changed tack, which I am sure will allow for more clarity – or at least the potential thereof.

We will commemorate (glad I found that word as “celebrate” didn’t really ring quite true and is in fact the opposite of the emotions involved) the death of my husband; he would have turned 80 shortly after this anniversary and there are still many people beside my sons, and myself who remember: continuity.  Amongst them his only still surviving sibling, his sister. Surely I will visit.

I myself look back over my lifetime of a professional life that was anything but boring as I finally and officially “retired” Dec.10^th.  At some point I may entertain myself listing all the jobs both large and small – or not.  At one point before the world enlarged measurably types of employment due to the boom in technology my husband and I reckoned that between ourselves we had covered a great many.

So although there will be many thoughts of the past, the present (and at this point future as well) will be chock-oh-block full of fun, friends and family.

This year will see many visits in spite of my self-determined “Hotel Julia is closed” ban: my housemate and her husband (she of course belongs, he is still a guest although in the best sense of the term); a new friend with origins and cousins in Switzerland (will be very entertaining to compare notes); hopefully my DIY cousin W together with another of our cousins S; perhaps a couple of friends made when Hotel Julia was a going concern; and a highlight in the fall with (at least they are currently planning it) the visit of two of my American nephews and their significant others (saves having to say wife and girlfriend – but I couldn’t resist anyway). Added to that the odd night when my older son is in between trips and he can’t access his flat, and the more permanent presence of my younger son.

Returning to the past: I am awarding myself a medal as I managed to get through a whole year without any medical mishaps. My goal this year would be more of the same please!

The very recent past: as I stayed in town for Christmas it was lovely. Celebrated with the boys Christmas on the 19^th (even getting just the three of us together in the same spot at the same time is not always easy); Christmas Eve saw us up at good friends for raclette – somewhat of a miracle to actually find a date that accommodated me, my two sons, my friend and her husband and her two children along with her father; Christmas day we hosted lunch and enjoyed the company of my upper neighbors and their son.

But what really made me reflect upon my enormous luck and how I want my life to continue were the events surrounding New Year. I had not planned anything at all, but at the last minute had the Christmas Eve friends “drop by for a drink on your way home from the hospital” (all is, if not perfect, stable), which led to calling one of my coffee-in-the-village pals and then, when I was leaving mid-afternoon to run some errands, also saw the upper neighbors and invited them as well: an impromptu event that turned out very well. Yesterday I was offered a ride up to St.Cergue – sun (!!!), snow enough to make it picturesque, fondue for lunch then a visit to new friends in a chalet up the hill.  Today it will be a water park with the boys followed by a meal in the old town.

I only have one resolution or wish: that my year continues as it ended and began - in the company of friends and family!

January 1, 2015