laowai = foreigner

BACK HOME

I'm back home and trying to fit into my routine. My head is distracted thinking about my dad... and my mom. The girls and I are going back to the US next week to see mom and have a mini memorial for dad/grandpa. My mom pulled out a bunch of old photos of dad when I was in Midland and it made me think of all the good times. I'm eager to show those photos to Bea and Claire. 

In the meantime life goes on here. Or as dad would say now and then, such is life. Our view out the window calms me. I can relax when I gaze out at the sunrise. When I'm up in the night because of jetlag I can look around the lake at all the twinkling lights. And today we saw something that made us smile - a blimp flying over Lake Zurich. It zig-zagged around very slowly. And eventually it came right over our apartment. Oh and the sheep are back - you can see them below. I love them so much!

BASS AND PANFISH DATA SHEET

My dad passed away earlier this week. I've been here in Michigan with my mom and my sister. I'm glad I am close to them now. 

You probably know that my dad was devoted to fishing the rivers around his home. You may not know that he has kept records of each fishing trip for years and years and years. He had these little papers where he recorded all the data. The stack below represents each time he went fishing in 2017. He wrote the weather conditions, the water temp, water clarity, where he caught the fish, which flies he used, what kind and size of fish he caught, insect activity, where he fished... About every third paper he notes that he saw an eagle.

The paper at the bottom was his last fishing trip - on September 14 - looks like it was a clear day and he fished from 9-mile on the Pine River.

It feels interesting, how certain artifacts from a persons life suddenly become so meaningful. These papers, his chain anchor, a sharpening stone from the grandfather that meant so much to him, his fly tying box - all these thing and some more that we will uncover seem very special right now.

Here is a happy photo of my dad where he was most content - on the river. And you can bet there is a bass and panfish data sheet tucked into one of those pockets.

TRYING TO FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE

My dad is unwell. He had a stroke on Monday and he is in the hospital struggling. I've never felt so far from "home". I really wish I could be with my mom and dad and Jennifer hugging them. 

I want to tell my blog the news and I have to post here out of habit but there is not much else I can say. So I'm going to stay close to my phone waiting for news and I'll post some colorful vibrant artwork that I appreciate.

The parking garage at our town's swimming pool is fantastic. It's filled with artwork - here are just a few snaps.

 

MY SUNNY KITCHEN

Today I am sharing some photos of my kitchen because I took the time to clear the clutter and because I like to share.

So welcome to my kitchen. As you enter by the dinning area there is a glass cabinet built into the wall. It's a nice spot to put my beloved sentimental dishes and linens.

The biggest difference between this kitchen and my kitchen in Illinois is the light. The light! Our home in Illinois feels tucked into the trees and you can see birds landing on branches just outside my window. Here I am above all the trees and instead of seeing little song birds close up I see beautiful hawks sailing above the orchard out my windows. Even on the cloudiest day it feels bright here. When I unpacked our stuff some of my dishes seemed dusty - I couldn't see the dust in our old shady kitchen.

Everything feels very reflective - the windows, the cabinets, the shiny countertop - it even has a mirror backsplash. Sometimes it's too much light - like when the sun comes up and it's going to be a hot day and you're not awake yet. But I can't complain really.

I have space and plenty of light to grow some plants.

It doesn't look all that big but it's a convenient kitchen and there is plenty of storage. Here are a couple views looking the other way toward the dinning area.

The view is really amazing - it changes every minute. The clouds and boats move about in the day and then lights twinkle all around the lake at night. It never gets tiring.

PEAKS AND VALLEYS

Last week we had a really fun week showing Grandma C. and Aunt Sandy around Zurich. So much laughing and smiling. But now Grandma has had to go to the hospital instead of getting home. We are thinking of her every minute and hoping the doctors send her back to her own bed very soon. Here are some photos from our fun week with her.

Grandma and Sandy didn't really come to see us... they came to see Neil Diamond in concert! We all wore our blue jeans and had the most fantastic time.

"Money talks, but it don't sing and dance and it don't walk. And as long as I can have you here with me I'd much rather be forever in blue jeans. Honey's sweet, but it ain't nothin' next to baby's treat. And if you pardon me I'd like to say we'll do okay forever in blue jeans."

Maybe we fed Grandma too much chocolate???

This last photo describes what it's like to go on a trip with Aunt Sandy. Brace yourself for a wild ride! She's hilarious!

LAUTERBRUNNEN

We took Grandma and Aunt Sandy to Lauterbrunnen - it's a good place to take visitors for a few days. It's easy to impress everyone there. It's a huge glacier-formed valley lined with waterfalls and it has lots of cable cars to zip you up into the mountains. We ate some fondue and saw some cows - even with the lousy weather we still enjoyed ourselves.

Thanks to Aunt Sandy for taking some great photos of my girls.

 

GRANDMA AND AUNT SANDY ARE HERE

So far we've shown them our school and taken them to the mountains (pictures to come).

And we've put Sandy to work cleaning windows and doing our recycling:

We're having fun with them!

SOME THINGS...

Living in a new country can be quite entertaining. Just going to the grocery store and trying all the new-to-us snack items is fun. I'd say we are still in the honeymoon period where I can spend a very long time looking at the cookie aisle. There are always things that make us snicker - like on the highway we see signs that say Ausfart instead of Exit. That's so funny to the little people in our family. Plus there are the charming Swiss things that we come across. For example at the car wash near Bea and Claire's school there is a little glassed in room with a raised sink and a ramp going up to the sink- it's the hunde wasche - the dog wash. Of course, it's a wash your own car place and it's logical to put in a wash your own dog spot too.

Here are some other things that entertain us:

I think this is where you go to have your stuffed animal repaired. Puppen Klinik translates to doll clinic. Oh my - it's too cute.

Look at Claire's face. Oh goodness the candy stores in Zurich make us so wanty it hurts!

Instead of saying "no, I can't go out tonight because I have to wash my hair" I like to joke that "no, I can't go out tonight because I have to prepare my paper for recycling". Oh GOD! The pressure to make my bundle look as tidy as my neighbor's bundles of trash. Ahem... mine it the messy one on the top.

Here are a couple gems that Brian was particularly pleased with. The one below is a coaster from a mobile brewery thing (whatever that is?). And the last one is a mystery item at the hardware store. 

And then there's this - 85 Francs - I'll take two.

BEA IS OFF TO THE MOUNTAINS!

Our Bea left us early this morning. All the 5th graders at her school go to the mountains for a week. She was so excited she couldn't sleep last night. She is going to Torgon - it's West and South of us in the French area of Switzerland. I can't wait to hear all about it. Here she is with her friend Brady right before they left:

YAWN

It's Monday. It's three in the afternoon. I've got the yawns. Claire has gotten the flu or a bad cold. She was up in the night throwing up (sorry) so we didn't get a ton of sleep. And now I have a handyman installing our ceiling lights. All day I've been sitting around watching Claire sleep and waiting for the guy to finish his work. I need a brisk walk but I can't do that so I'll show you some photos of my bedroom. 

It's a nice big room with a bunch of windows. It still feels a little empty in spots but that's not such a bad thing. There's the painting I made to get a little color on the wall above the bed.

I love the used lamp that I found. I wanted something inexpensive and something tall to fill some space and connect the painting to the bed. It's super heavy and it has brass parts that seem sophisticated. 

Here's the other side of the room. Lots of white space but I'm not in a rush to fill it in. I saved the curtains, with their special hardware hook things, from our last Switzerland apartment and they fit fine in this new room. It's almost like I knew we would move back...

You may be wondering where our closets are - well since we are in Switzerland there are no closets (I'll never understand). We bought two big wardrobes from the people who lived here before and they are in the room right next door - it's the closet/sewing room/extra bedroom. 

And here's one more photo of our new place. It's the patio off our kitchen. Our patio set fits nicely and I'll get a big geranium next spring to brighten it up. It's such a nice place to eat a meal or have a coffee. The view of the mountains looking the other way is wonderful.

I guess it's time for a coffee right now.