Holes in the Roof

Today's unusual happenings:

- Visited the village "Gemeinde" (Geh-MINE-duh), i.e. the town hall, to inquire about a government letter that had arrived (in German, of course) about Jason's "Reiseausweis" (Rye-zuh-OWS-vice) - his passport. We need to renew our B permits soon (Swiss residence documents), and they were concerned his passport would expire too soon. They were happy to take a photocopy of his new passport that we received in the past year. And to hand me four forms for the upcoming renewal. Now to get the required updated photos of us all.

- Received almost 4,000 litres of eco-heating-oil in our basement tanks. Enough to last a year.
- Got mixed up about a meeting I thought was happening at my house. Got out water, coasters, glasses, and pens, and tidied the living room (not a bad thing). But it didn't happen. No matter, extra time is always nice. Along with the latest confirmation of my fallibility and need to rely on the Infallible One.

- It hailed briefly. And rained. And was sunny (very briefly). And was cloudy. And chilly. Okay, this is not unusual.

- Had two men making temporary holes in the roof to form their own ladder up to the pinnacle, checking out some leaks we had in the last enormous storm. It leaked on us from the borders of a skylight over the dining room, through the vent in the kitchen onto the stove, and into the winter garden from the middle of the ceiling.

I didn't know that roof tiles could do that. Handy. Then they just slid them back down into place again.

- Planned with another mom to have her daughter come along with Emily and David and me on a trip to Appenzell this weekend, since Jason will be off playing Ultimate Frisbee at a tournament in Germany. I think this will be the first time we take someone else's child on a two-night road trip with us. But I remember doing this sort of thing with my friend K when I was growing up - we went hiking with her parents, and also to Rome & Pompeii!

Posted via email from K's Café

Sweet Swiss Scenery under the Greyness

1. A lake five minutes from our house that I had always wanted to walk around (always drove past it), and finally got to, with my mom and long-time friend last week.

2-4. Insel Ufenau (Ufenau Island) scenes. Really old church and chapel. Very green!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Local Flowers

1 & 2. Hyacinths in the city of Zug, on the lake front.

3. Someone, please tell me what these purple dripping flowers are that greet me as I turn in the end of our street.

4. Grape hyacinths in our garden.

(these are all from April, but I thought them so pretty as to be worth sharing still)

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Photo substantiation of some of the claims from last post

1. Bears in the wildpark 10 minutes' walk from our house.

2. The Walensee in Saint Gallen near where my mom and I had lunch on her last full day visiting us.

3. Emily on the boat ride on Lake Zurich, approaching Ufenau Island where we ate fresh, tender, battered whitefish from the lake.

4. The nice elephant the kids and I rode at the Knie Kinderzoo in Rapperswil, Saint Gallen, on the other side of Lake Zürich from our house. Very jerky gait!

5. The camel chewing its cud.

6. Emily feeding the elephant a carrot.

7. Pink flamingos.

8. A friendly giraffe.

We couldn't believe we could ride an elephant 30 minutes from our house and hadn't done it yet, after living here almost two years. We just didn't realize.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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What haven't I done since the last post?

Which ONE of the following do you think I have NOT done since I last posted here over a month ago?

- Mowed the lawn all by myself for the first time in my life

- Left a heart-shaped area of purple flowers in the middle of the lawn

- Celebrated our 18th engagement anniversary on the same day as teaching a 19th century circle dance evening to 36 dancers

- Concluded a fruitful six-month session of a {daily personal prayer} [weekly accountability check-in] facebook group

- Witnessed a home nurse changing the complicated dressing of a deep abdominal wound

- Broken a glass refrigerator shelf into six and a half million pieces all over the floor and filling a sink

- Seen a bear

- Seen a lynx

- Seen a wolf

- Had three sets of houseguests

- Substituted for someone who was substituting for someone leading a small group of a ladies' Bible study (the first person had to travel, the 2nd had to go home to an unexpectedly hungry baby)

- Turned a year older

- Been given a treasure hunt in my own home

- Had a child taken prisoner by pirates

- Run two bake sales

- Taken a walk with my niece

- Taken a walk with my mother

- Taken a walk with my dear friend since kindergarten

- Eaten lunch in St. Gallen

- Had a child take five AP exams (in Calculus, Computer Science, English Literature, Macro Economics and Micro Economics)

- Ordered our annual heating oil delivery, since the tanks have so little oil in them that we can't see whether there actually is any left or not

- Taken a boat ride

- Eaten lunch on an island in Lake Zürich

- Been in a church building from the 1100s

- Seen a flamingo

- Seen a giraffe

- Seen a zebra

- Fed an elephant apples and carrots

- Ridden an elephant

- Watched a camel chew its cud, swallow it, and burp it back up again to chew some more

- Ridden a camel

- Trained two people in how to use OpenSong open source worship slide software

My next post will reveal some spoiler photos that will help you in case you're not sure which one is the "fake" entry...let me know if you have any questions about how any of these things was accomplished. Almost without leaving the country. There was a small jaunt to an adjacent country involved, but it had nothing to do with any of the animals.

Posted via email from K's Café