Emily's first chocolate

Two days ago Emily managed to get her hands on some Ragusa (chocolate bar) that apparently was within her reach at the table... she seemed to like it, and was very very unhappy when I pried the leftover piece from her hands. Of course the chocolate painting on the face is priceless :)

Northeast Switzerland and more relatives

Northeast Switzerland near Lake Constanz/Bodensee. Some beautiful houses in that area, even if there are no mountains.

We visited Martin's family from his mom's side today around lunchtime. Excellent food, as nearly always (first a salad with greens and avocado and really good dressing, followed by risotto and sauteed meat in creamy mushroom sauce, and finally a nutty cake). I sometimes wonder whether Martin just thinks to himself "let's see where we can get lunch this time". We met there an aunt and uncle with their three (adult) kids, then later another aunt and uncle whose kids we met several months ago when I cut my own hair....

Martin's cousin and uncle:
(it is great when I can claim that I don't understand what he is saying - he did not want to have his picture taken, though he was standing just fine next to his daughter without trying to escape. So I don't think he minded that much)
(and - above their heads are the beams from the original house. They renovated it some twenty years ago or so. In the wall by the window, they found some newspaper fragments that were stuffed there. That newspaper is from 1865. It mentions the american civil war in one article visible on that fragment. Talking of history. Now they have it framed in the entryway.)

Martin's aunt and their cat Momo. Sonja loved the cat. The cat let Sonja play with her for a looong time before getting tired of it. Sonja, Emily and Baby are near the couch. Baby is fine even after yesterday's frightful episode, and did not mind travelling again.

Martin's cousins:

Martin's other aunt and uncle.

Catastrophe... averted

Catastrophe ... luckily averted. Anyone with kids can understand - this happened to our "Baby", which goes with us EVERYwhere.

The perpetrator, eh, rather the suspect:

The perpetrator (a few months back) and the victim:

The innocent bystanders or suspects:


Accident description:

Location: Zurich Zoo, Monkeyhouse

The victim was being held by the suspect, looking at the bystanders in the enclosure down below. Suddenly the victim was in the enclosure together with the bystanders. The suspect claims to have done nothing, and in fact seemed to be rather unhappy, to say the least. It does appear that the victim was not tossed into the enclosure, but rather slipped out of the suspects hands.

The zoo attendants retrieved the victim several hours later. A few scratches to the head. A lot of (stinky) saliva covering the clothing of the victim and the cloth part of the victim itself. No major injuries.

The victim choose not to press charges against the suspect, as they have a long history together. Both have traveled extensively together, from Barrow, Alaska to various European cities and countryside. The victim was thoroughly cleaned and is recuperating on top of the heater.

Kids and kids (little people and little goats)

We spent the weekend at the grandparents'. Highlight for Sonja were relatives (among others her cousin Sophie, who is not quite a year younger) and animals: both goats and a wonderful cat that always came by when she heard us passing her territory, and followed us a ways each time.

Sonja giving her finger to a goat (they tried to gnaw on absolutely everything: fingers, shoelaces, camera, jackets, trousers, EVERYthing. No damage except for saliva.) Behind Sonja is Martin and his sister's family.

A week-old kid. Sophie was there when it was born.

Sophie, Sonja and Martin, walking back up from the stall. The place is steep.

The very social cat Mitzi.

Sonja pretending to be a cat.

Evindence of Emma as seen from our balcony

So it was Emma who put all that wind into Europe the past weekend.

Yesterday, our downstairs (4th floor) neighbors came back from their 4 day trip to Italy, and Nancy told me that last Friday night was a pretty scary affair. Apparently the wind was just howling and howling. Across the little side street from us, the entire glass side of a balcony shattered over time (the middle balcony on the picture is missing the glass).

Across the bigger street someone left the door open on a daycare and the wind was apparently moving the chairs and whatnot inside. Some shutters were banging. And, perhaps scariest, two floors below us (3rd floor), the wind picked up a table that was on that balcony, and tossed it over the railing. Lucky no cars parked underneath got hit.

Today I tried to go see whether I could see the table, but there was nothing. So at least a picture of our balcony and our table, and the waist-high railing. You can also see the much bigger 3rd floor balcony, and they probably had a table similar to ours on it... Sure glad neither I, nor anyone else was below either the falling glass or the flying table.

Perhaps I should start paying a bit more attention to what is happening around, it might have been a good idea to close our shutters if we knew a windstorm was coming.

On an unrelated note, I just heard that our governor is 7 months pregnant with the fifth child, but expects that it won't affect her duties... Hmmm... I would have hoped someone in a prominent position like that would chose to be a role model showing responsibility, and not necessarily having a large family. May she have an easy childbirth.

Back to winter (after all that summer weather)

After those hot February days ten days ago, when Sonja was running around with just a tshirt, winter has returned. The view from our balcony this morning:

Central Switzerland & visit to Martin's sister

Countryside near Luzerne:




This past weekend we spend in central Switzerland near the city of Luzerne. Two of Martin's sisters live there - the one we visited earlier (pictures of cows), Christine, with her family, and Regula with her boyfriend Thomas. We saw both families though we stayed with Regula this time.

As we were leaving, Christine gave us a linzertorte (think shortbread crust with raspberry jam filling on top) from this place, a small bakery run by Margrit Aufdermauer ("on the wall" is the direct translation of her name). The linzertorte is excellent.



Mainly family pictures...
Thomas with our two girls, holding a "family planning" book. OK, so it is for Regula's work, but that didn't stop Martin from giving them a hard time.

Saturday we went to a traffic (train/car/plane) museum in Luzerne. It was very windy, but I think Switzerland did not really have any problems like some other places in central europe due to the wind.
Sunday we went for a walk by the lake. By afternoon, the sun started shining sometimes through holes in the clouds. Sonja pushing Emily near Giswil.

Thomas and Regula in the background...

And a closeup of the two lovebirds :)

Sonja and Regula

Us

Christine with Leoni. Like Christine, Leoni can touch the tongue to the tip of her nose.

Regula, Aline and Emily

Regula, Aline and Sonja