Baby steps in the Alps.....

Morning all! Well, here I am, in central Switzerland, high up in the Alps near Luzern. I only managed to book a day or so before I actually left, and had to fly on a scheduled airline, because there was a shorter distance to walk at airports, and no mad scramble for seats, and the train connections worked well. In theory. There was fog at Heathrow, so we were delayed and hour, and I just managed to get the last direct train of the day. I was totally shattered, but hey, I got here, and my sister was on the station platform waiting for me. If I had missed it, I would have had to make 3 changes, and then get a bus, and lugging 20kgs of luggage, it was not an option. Susan? You may have met me sooner than planned! (And Thursday will be wonderful - I will email you!)

Switzerland is stunning all year round, but magical at Christmas time. The village is lit by thousands of little white lights everywhere, and I just love it. This place feeds my soul, but I may have mentioned that once or 470000 times before.

So I had a fairly quiet day recovering yesterday, and taking photos. It was cloudy, but I decided to walk to the mountain base, where my sister works, and, with my stabilizers, aka Leki poles, I managed to walk there and back! Slowly, and watching the snow and ice, and being ultra careful, but I WALKED there! It generally takes me 10 mins and yesterday took more like 40, but I don't care, because I walked.



And today, as I look out of the window here, the fog is dissipating, and there is blue sky appearing, and the camera and I will be out there again. Oh yes we will. And yes, I did all the exercises, and rested too, after I baked the apple cake, because my sister does not bake, and the house needed to smell of Christmas, and that means baking. I brought my recipe books from home, and today I will start on the mince pies too.

My brother-in-law's restaurant is absolutely beautiful, and I am so thrilled that it seems to be doing really well so far. He and his cousin are loving having their own place, and with the ski jumping carnival of thousands arriving this weekend, they should be really busy. If - no, WHEN you come to Engelberg, you must go there to eat!


Can you see the men sweeping the ski jump landing slope?

This is the path I took along the river back home. The river is frozen. This path goes to the bottom of the ski jump, and then I turn left to the house.

So. I am here. And the sun is rising above the mountains, and I will walk over to Marge again later. I can have a schalle there (latte) and watch the skiers come down the mountain. Sigh. Now i need to go and make some pastry. Oh does anyone know anything about baking at 1000m above sea level? Do I have to add extra baking powder? I am only asking because the apple cake was flatter than normal, although it still tasted great.

The fog is gone ...... I am off!

Christmas Tour of Homes 08

I cannot tell you how glad I am that we are not touring my home today, with its measly little 12 inch gold tree. I did not do Christmas at home, because, hey, I am not there!

I am in the Alps.

Yes - I am at my sister's home in Switzerland, high up in the Alps. And there is no-one on earth who does Christmas better than she does. So thanks to Boomama, you all get to see what her home looks like. And as I speak she is at work, so she will not know I swiped her camera and took photos. there will be more later. When I get round to getting shoes on and investigating all nooks and crannies.

But here we go with the first ones..... You walk in the door and Christmas starts right here.... If you touch that chimney, Father Christmas pops up and starts singing and dancing...

Then you turn left into the downstairs foyer, and Christmas is all around you! Yes, my sister made those cushions and the teddies under the tree, and so much more, you would not believe it....

Keep turning round - we have not even got to the living area yet....This is her doll's house. Look a little closer.... yes, even this little house is decorated for Christmas!

And all the dogs' soft toys have now got into the festive spirit, and they all have Christmas hats on their heads.....

So now we go upstairs, because that is where the living areas are.....And you look to the right, and here is the lounge....

But you have not seen her village yet. This is Marge's "St Petersburg" - that is what she calls her village. It is arranged, for Christmas, on special stands she built across the fireplace, and honestly, the photos do NOT do it justice. I walked in last night and the lights were on and it was magical. Stunning. So I have tried to take a few photos of it close up for you to see. Have I mentioned that my little sister is enormously creative and unbelievably talented? You may be hearing that quite often in the next 2 weeks....

So you have started to see her beautiful home. I say started, because here, it carries on, through the house. The bedrooms are decorated, as are the bathrooms and kitchens. The hallways, ....everywhere. And then you look out of any of the windows and all you see is snow and mountains. Magical. Perfect. Today it is a little foggy, but I do not care. I am in the Alps, and I am with Marge, Peter and Mum.

Excuse me now, while I go to find the snow boots and the Leki sticks. I am off to breathe in the alpine air.

PS....... Can I just say here that the tree is her Memory tree. The Christmas tree has not been put up yet! There will be loads more photos coming, believe me!

My non-letter....

The one thing I have not done this year is a Christmas letter. I had a hilarious (short) one from an uncle and that gave me the idea for my own. So this is what I would have said had I decided to write one at all.......

Well, 2008 has flown by with all its accompanying challenges. I have come to expect these! And here I am, a year older, hopefully a little wiser, slightly dented, and ready to see what 2009 will bring.
Merry Christmas!

So I decided to leave the Christmas letter this year. You can see why. There is only so much one can say about half a year spent on the couch now, isn't there? And most of the people who know me, know about the blog, whether they read it or not, so they know all the news!

It is icy cold here, and there has been freezing rain all day. It is good to be indoors with little tree lights on around the house. It looks cosy and warm, and I will probably fall asleep watching TV in a while. It is time to be still. Well, it will be after I get the washing out of the drier and sorted. And after I make some more coffee.

Lots done today....

Today, I did not turn on the computer till supper time. I hope you are all picking yourselves up from the floor. This is an all time record for me. I have so much to do and today was the day to get it all done. I know we are all aware of how fast time speeds by when we are cruising about reading all the wonderful posts from all over the world. Hours disappear. This is not good.

Anyway. Here I am. I have wrapped all the presents, and I have written the cards. I have half cleaned the house, and I have done the shopping. I have finished more cushion covers. I have even vacuumed most of the house.

I do not, however, have a tree up, and this is a really strange feeling. The house does not feel right. But, as I am away for the Christmas season, and my sons are celebrating Christmas down south, and my daughter even further down south, there was no need to put it up. Sigh. It feels all wrong, somehow. But there is also the fact that I could not consider crawling around the attic right now. Hmmm. That was the decider. That and the fact that I opened the shed door in the garden, where the tree is kept, and it looks like Miss Haversham's drawing room. The cobwebs could be world record beaters. So I shut the door.

BUT.......

My sister's home will make up for my distinct lack of decoration. And I will be there soon, and you will see all, I promise. This will also the very first Christmas I will celebrate without any of my children with me. It will be very different. But I will be with my sister and her huaband and my Mum, and I will be in Switzerland in winter. Very special. If you happen to tune in to the international ski jumping championships next weekend on tv, they are from Engelberg, the place I am going to. And you will see how beautiful it is there and why I love it so much. You never know, you may even see me in the crowds! I will be the one with 2 Leki poles.

The cleaning stuff calls. And I have more exercises to do. The Bath appointment is being processed, and I am delighted that I will be going to the specialist centre for CRPS after Christmas. Thank heavens. I will be back.

I have been busy....

I am back. Sorry about the Right Royal Funk yesterday. I left it up for an hour and then decided I would not have a temper tantrum in public after all. It was ONE OF THOSE DAYS. Enough said.

Today has been better. I saw the doctor this morning and she has indeed referred me to that specialist centre, so I am hoping I will hear from them in the next day or so. And I have a raging ear infection. Gee. Just what I need right now. So the pill count is now looking quite ludicrous over there on the kitchen counter. This could also explain my mood yesterday. It is just as well I bought a pre-pay thingy for prescriptions.

Margaret the garden fairy came round today and I no longer have 2 tons of wet leaves in my garden. She zapped about clearing it all for me. She is a star, as I have said many times. And then Jean popped round, and we put the world to rights, and managed to get her signed up for broadband and cable , so that was productive too. I have spent the day wondering when my First Class delivery from Amazon will appear. It should have been here yesterday. Sigh. I did indeed pare down the basket, by the way. I was ruthless.

And I have just downloaded the photos from my phone. SO IF YOU KNOW ME AND ARE EXPECTING A CHRISTMAS PRESENT, LOOK AWAY NOW.......... and that includes you, my children.....

I bought some simple white hand towels from Ikea, and then I used my embroidery machine to embroider motifs on each of them.....

And when you add a bottle of hand wash or a guest bar of soap, they make a lovely present for very little financial outlay!I haven't wrapped them up in tissue paper yet. But I will. Tonight.

And then here is what I made very simply. I had complicated ideas, but realised that using the saw was not going to be wise, so I cut small rectangles and rounded the edges with the saw, sanded them and then glued on small wooden pegs with either a star, heart, or tree onto the top, pegged a small notebook underneath, and stuck a piece of magnetic tape on the back to make a magnetic shopping list. Sigh. Simple is sometimes best. I then put each one in a cellophane bag with a matching felt tree decoration, and some chocolates.

Voila!

I know you can't see very clearly, but you can get the general idea. This one has a tree decoration and a tree on the peg.

And then I finished the first of the memory quilts. This one is for my oldest son. It has photos of him with his Dad on it, and some embroidery and stuff as well. Lots of bits. Each of the children has one uniquely personal to each of them individually. I have made all the tops, but not finished the quilting etc yet. I am getting there. It is actually a lot more complicated than that. I have been making them for a year, but it is not just sewing. It is the handling of the fabric too. They are all made of Geoff's shirts which I kept when we sorted through his things.

This is one close up bit .....
Anyway. There are some of the things I have been making. There is more. But that can wait.

It is time for supper. I need some food. And did I mention that the new physio exercises are nearly finishing me off? I have to balance on my bad leg for 10 sec at a time. I cannot describe what that feels like. I am also doing some kneebends with a towel between the knees slowly up and down, but the problem is that my left leg keeps rolling inwards, so I have to consciously turn out from the hips. You have no idea. Thank heavens I went to ballet lessons. Once. A very long time ago. I remember a milkmaid costume..... At least, though, I know how to "turn out"!

Ostrich mode.....

I have not cleaned, tidied, wrapped, or sorted. I have been sewing. I ate egg and bacon for lunch because it was quick and easy, and I went to church this morning, even though there was a hard frost last night and everything was sheet ice. My achievement for the day was not falling. I lead such an exciting life.

I need to sort out when I am off to Switzerland too, and when I am returning. The brain is fried. You know that feeling where it is all just "too hard" and you want to be beamed up and plonked down somewhere without having to do anything about the getting there, the packing, the tickets and all the rest? Yes. That would be me right now.

I need to go and see my children down south. Unfortunately that does not include the one further south, down there at the bottom right hand corner of the earth. Sigh. I wish it did. And before I do that, I need to have all the presents sorted and wrapped and ready. And I have nothing ready. I am a BAD mother.

The Christmas spirit is sadly lacking in the Casa de la Rocking Chair at the moment. Sorry about that. In all honesty, I am weary. I just don't want to do any sorting or making things happen any more. I want a magic wand. Now would be good.

But Mothers cannot go on strike, or the world would cease turning. I have a list of pending things which would make the strongest of us weep and wail and gnash their teeth. And it would be so much easier to just sling everything in the car and set off but that won't happen because, as I have only managed to drive 10 miles so far, 1000 miles is a little too far at this moment. 990 miles too far, to be exact. Sort of. Round about. Roughly. Normally this would be a doddle. Bigger sigh.

So I had better go and sort the wrapping paper out. And actually wrap some things. And book flights. And remember physio tomorrow at dawn. And do an Amazon order (which is reasonable and NOT the £162.37 worth of goods I popped in my virtual basket a couple of night ago in a frenzy of excitement). And do the washing. And re-insert the wire innards of my underwear which saw fit to leave their designated homes. And vacuum. And find SOMETHING Christmassy to brighten up the abode.

Hey people, a knight on a white charger would be good about now.

The week flew by...

I have just eaten hot cross buns for lunch. With the pastry crosses on. No, you have not entered a time warp thingy, we can get Easter treasures in the food departments all year long. This rather takes the "special" out of eating them on Good Friday, of course, but the delicious-ness is delightful. So is the alliteration. And we will not mention the calories either. Cold days mean carbohydrates are essential. According to me.

I am supposed to be sewing. However, I am captivated by baby shopping sites on the web, and am very happy imagining my shopping basket, should I happen to win the lotto tonight. Sigh. Once upon a time, long long ago, staying out of the shops meant saving money. Now, I can just click the mouse and enter shops which make me drool in my own home. This is not good. Trust me. I am a first time Granny, and that does not bode well for my wallet, which appears to be anorexic.

Moving on.....

This week, like most weeks, has flown by. I went to a concert in our village last Sunday, performed by the local music society I usually sing with - Bach's Christmas Oratorio, which was excellent. Then there was book club on Monday, London and tennis at the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday, recovering on Wednesday..... and so it went.

This year, 4 of us went to the tennis, the senior's master's tour, and we took the train to London and then a taxi to the RAH, because I would never in a million years have coped with the underground. As it was, I found sitting very difficult for long periods, and eventually gave up and started wandering round the corridors aimlessly, until a door-lady asked if I had a problem. When I told her the knee was misbehaving, she ushered me to the disabled section, right at the court-side, so I could stand and watch in comfort. Bliss. So that was great. And we saw London lit at night from the taxi on the way back to the station too. Believe me, London at night in the run up to Christmas, is very special indeed.

My friends were discussing the lack of Christmas lights yesterday. We have noticed that many people have stopped lighting the exteriors of their homes this year, and that has to be because of the massive increase in electricity costs. So it appears that it will be a dark Christmas this year around here.

Right. I am off now to sew. Wrap presents. Tidy the house. Clean. Do the exercises. All the stuff I am putting off on a daily basis. At least all the activity will keep me warm!

I will be back.

Cold.....

Layers. That's what I am wearing. Many layers. It is cold here. Hmmm. It is winter, after all, so cold is to be expected, but I hate having cold hands!

I am listening to the news - unemployment figures, home re-possession, murder, cholera, OJ. I am looking at people marching in Harare - Zimbabwe is a place which defies belief. How much worse can the situation get? Crisis? Oh yes.

And yet, I am safe in my little world here. I have heating, I have food, I have shelter, I have water, I have books, I have a computer, I have clothes, I have a comfortable bed, I have blankets, I have it all. My problems seem miniscule in comparison to the problems of people in Zim, drinking water they know is going to possibly kill them, because they have no other option.

I tend to forget at times, just how much I have to be thankful for. The news reminds me that my small corner of the world is not the norm. I need the news to ground me - bring me back to reality. The temptation is to turn it off and bury my head in the sand, but I don't do that. I need to know what is happening, and part of that is what makes me the person I am.

I know how fortunate I am. I know I have so much to be thankful for. I know this, because I make sure I know what the rest of the world is contending with on a daily basis. And so, when I look at my own life, there is no room for self-pity or discontent. I may not have many riches. I may not have all the trappings. My dishwasher is dead (you need to know how much I HATE washing dishes!) and there are loads of things on my wish list, of course. I would change a great deal if I could!

But hey, I have enough! More than enough. I am an ordinary woman, who is immensely grateful that I have so much.

Keeping my eyes open....

Snow? What snow???

First we had torrential rain and then the sun came out. Freezing, but snow? Pah! Admittedly it fell north of here. By about 200miles, it seems. And this country is famous for letting 2 inches of snow stop the nation in its tracks, and I think it did just that this morning. If you happen to live north of here by a long way.

So I sallied forth on the quest to buy the last little bits for my presents, and got to the shops at the crack of dawn. Empty car park. Empty shop. Plenty to buy, and no people. On a sale day. No queues at any tills either. Just moi. This, people, is a very real and worrying sign of the times. I zapped through the shop (I do like using words which clearly do not in any way reflect the truth!) and was home by 9.30am. Mission accomplished. That is the longest distance I have driven too, by the way. Baby steps. Sigh. I am the ultimate long distance driver usually. Just not right now.

I had a couple of things I really wanted to talk about...... can I remember them? Hmmmmm. What were they..... ah yes. I remember one of them now.

At house group a little while ago, the conversation turned to the church looking after its own, caring and also reaching out to the community to help where necessary. And I listened to the conversation buzzing around me, and all of a sudden, it occurred to me that the words were all very cheap and the actions all very prescribed in a sense, and I wanted to say out loud - where were you when.....? Or where were we when.....? Or where was anyone when.....? And I didn't. Because I knew I may have said things I would have regretted. So where does the accountability start?

It is so easy to say the words - we look after children in need. We look after the old. We look after widows and orphans. We look after the sick. We...... who are the we? Do I? Do you? It is not enough to simply be a part of the body which apparently does these things, and bask in the reflected glory. It doesn't work properly unless all parts of the body actually work in the first place. That means noticing. You know what I mean?

I am as guilty as the next person of saying things like....at our church "we" do a, b, or c. But do I actually take part in them? Who are the people who actually go out and do these things? I need to do more. Open my eyes more. My experiences can help other people facing similar circumstances. My strengths can be utilised to bring both empathy and understanding to some situations. And the same applies to us all.

The reason this is weighing so heavily on my mind, is that I noticed a friend sitting quietly at the housegroup meeting, not saying much at all. And as the conversation turned towards what "we" do to support each other, she had her hand almost covering her eyes. It worried me sick. She never said anything about what she may have been thinking, but something was clearly wrong. And it is. I understand how deeply it must have hurt her to listen to all the words, and she must have been thinking....what about me. I am here, and has anyone even noticed something could be wrong?

You see, we say the words so easily and generally sometimes, that we forget the individual. It is hard to say that you are hurting, or worried, or have nowhere to turn. Believe me, I know. Been there and done that. But it is even harder to sit and listen to the words, knowing that no-one considers for a second that one of those needing help is right there among us. All it takes is a call. A note. A visit. If we need to be seen, we need to see too.

I am willing to bet there are a great many people close to each of us right now who are hurting, worried, frightened. And silent. I am making a real effort to try to notice them, just the way I wish I had been noticed. It has to start with someone. One. Especially now. It is winter, it is very cold, and we live in perilous times. As Christians, this is the time to be aware of those in need, whatever that need may be.

And noticing is not enough. Doing something tangible is what is most important. Our actions will speak far louder than any words. This is as much a wake-up call for me, as it is for everyone. I can make a difference. So can everyone.

If we are aware and care enough.

Pottering about at home.....

My posting seems to be very sporadic at the moment. I wish I had two pairs of hands, and a clearer brain. I start something and go to another room to fetch scissors or whatever, and then see something there I should have done. Etc etc etc. And doing all this with a slightly addled brain does not help. All courtesy of the tablets. The muscles-in-the-eye-tremor is the worst. Just the left eye. And when you are operating a scroll saw doing finicky bits, it becomes a bit of a challenge to retain ownership of all the fingers. So I have ceased and desisted.

And the sewing by hand, or threading the machine.....you can just imagine. Thank heavens for self threaders! Anyway, I have soup on the stove cooking away. I trawled through the fridge and tossed any and all veg into the pot. It smells like winter. You know that hearty food smell? That's the one. So supper is sorted, for a good few days too.

Tomorrow is another 20% off day at M&S, so providing there is no snow to contend with, I will be there at the crack of dawn, to pick up the few last bits I need. I really do not enjoy shopping much. At all. I try to avoid the shops, especially at this time of the year, but I need to start wrapping things, and M&S has them. So far, I have managed to spend very little this year, and have made small things for my friends, and the family too.

This is the way it is supposed to be. Using my time to make some small gifts which my friends will appreciate. I hope! Christmas is not about getting into debt, especially now. Ever, in fact. I think that even if money was not an issue, the home-made gift from our home to another's is still what is preferable. Simple. The focus then is on the true meaning of Christmas, and not on commercialism.

So I must get on with the finishing off of bits now, and then I will show you the results of my creativity! It is freezing around here, and snow is expected to blanket most of the country tomorrow. Perfect weather for staying home and making stuff.

Now where did I put the Christmas CD???