It's a green disaster

I am not going to start a long rant about how messed up the weather has been this "Spring" and how this has badly affected Nature and those of us trying to grow stuff in a garden or on a balcony. We have been held at ransom by rain in the last few weeks, culminating with over 24 hours of non-stop rainfall this Friday/Saturday.

The river at the bottom of our garden (seen above on a normal day) has burst its banks, firemen have been on duty all weekend setting up sand bags and blocking roads, whole tree trunks have been floating past and bridges have been submerged. Needless to say that with the lack of sunshine and over-generous amount of water, our tomato/pepper/chilli/courgette/aubergine seedlings are not looking promising. We had very good crops last year but this year will likely turn out to be a wash-out (no pun intended). The only plants which are doing well (probably because they are inside!) are Mr T's collection of carnivorous plants:

Pretty and keeping the winter garden fly-free! :-)

PS: I have recently discovered the panoramic setting on my camera and Picasa Photo Editor, so, as you can see, I am going through a mad phase with both of these!

First outing of the snow boots

I did not at all believe my friend Annabelle who said that snow was forecasted last weekend. Seven days before we had a beautiful weekend and wore shorts and flip-flops so there was no way we could have snow and a drop of 20 degrees celsius!

Erm...and this is what we woke up to on Sunday morning...

Annabelle 1- Made in Suisse 0...well at least the dog was happy there was snow to roll around in! So the snow boots came out of the cupboard and we set off all together on a morning walk. It felt a bit surreal to be seeing this winter wonderland in October!

Back home, the snow boots came off and I remembered to top up my bird feeders as my little feathery friends were having a tough day!

Was la Suisse the only place to get snow or did you also enjoy a white weekend where you were?

Silent Sunday

Freebies from the garden

I don't think we will be blessed with huge crops of anything this year due to the fnny Spring weather we've had, late planting and insects eating everything but it's nice to come back from the garden with a few things that have been harvested!

It's nice to have flowers in the house without the Swiss price tag...

And although a bit slow, the beans we have planted are doing well...

Self-sufficience is not going to happen this year (or never really) but getting anything for free in La Suisse or anywhere else always makes you feel good :-)

What's that noise in my garden?

It's a Woody Woodpecker!!!

Tis the season to be gardening

My oh my...if i'd known that 2012 would be such a terribly exciting/busy/exhausting/unpredictable year, I would not have believed it! Work has been ridiculously busy for the last six months and it isn't getting easier for me to strike a good work/rest balance despite already being 31 weeks into my pregnancy.

As a result, I have been neglecting this little blog quite severely and it is making me sad as I used to take such pleasure in writing regular posts and seeing what others were up to. Not that I don't enjoy writing posts anymore but I just find it harder to finds items of my day to day life that may be of interest to others as no-one (not even myself) want to know about swollen ankles, keeping stretch marks at bay, endless meetings, preparing lectures...BORING! I was hoping as time went by that I'd be less busy at work and would have time to enjoy some crafting in preparation of Baby Suisse's arrival, some afternoons off to go and explore new areas, time for baking/preserving...all things that I used to routinely share with you. But no no no, I still struggle to find 5 minutes to do mondane things such as finding time to put nail varnish on, let alone anything else that requires more of my time or energy...

But anyways, Mr T and I (well mostly him to be honest) have spent some time planting some seeds earlier in the spring in order to grow a small garden and take advantage of the small outdoor space and terrace we have here in Brugg. So I'll share a few pics of our recent gardening effort for now to keep you busy until I find time to write about our recent holiday in Morzine, the BIG event that is taking place next week and my slow progress in the crafting department...

Courgettes (pre-slug invasion and heat-wave...not looking so good just now!)

Pepper plant (so small we're still wondering whether it will produce any fruit this summer but one can hope...)

One of three tomato plants

Some thyme and lavender

and a first small crop of rhubarb that was growing of its own accord in an abandonned corner of our garden

To these we have now added three varieties of beans and some squashes which remind me I should go out again and take some more recent pictures as additions have been made in the last couple of weeks since these were taken.

I look forward to sharing more of the last few weeks with you soon :-)

Small animal fair

As I am thinking of packing our bag for our trip to Meilen tomorrow (for some local fish and chips on the beach!), I have just remembered that I haven't blogged about our last trip back to Meilen 2 weeks ago when we went to visit the annual small animal fair. Mr T had already been back in 2011 but I was away at the time, looking after my niece and nephew in Montpellier for 3 weeks some of you may remember.

So this year we headed back to Meilen to visit the fair and have some lunch with our Meilen friends. It is a fairly small affair mostly designed for children who love to come and look at all the rabbits and chickens.

Perhaps because it is designed with children in mind, the local authorities has dressed up the naked statue that stands on the beach in Meilen...only in Switzerland!

Within 10 meters, you can witness the Ugly

the Vicious

and the Impossibly Cute

Any trip to Meilen wouldn't be complete without sitting down to some local produces for lunch (I am sooo looking forward to my fish and chips tomorrow!)

Swiss folklore music included!

Great times :-)

Have local fairs started in your neighbouring with the return of the sunshine?

Swiss farmers' fair

My job does have its perks...you may remember last year when I spent an afternoon in the beautiful Emmental region visiting a cheese factory and cattle farms and eating my way through a gigantic cheese and meat platter? Well, I spent last wednesday morning visiting the BEA, the annual Swiss farmers' fair which took place in Bern this year. It is a very popular event that takes place for 10 days and I was lucky to get a free pass through work and decided to get there at 9am to beat the crowd.

The exhibition center in Wankdorf (just outside Bern) is huge and there were many different exhibition halls with different themes. Needless to say I spent a lot of time with the farm animals and near the food stalls! Here's an overview of what you could have spotted at the BEA:

A hair brush for cows

a rather scary 1100kg bull

seriously cute cows

and the proof that cows do actually sleep!

a novel way of "roasting" piglets

and some seriously chic birds

The Swiss horse show was taking place alongside the BEA so you could sit down to watch demonstrations of how clever trained equids can be!

My favourite part though was the dog section where you could spot many of the Swiss dog breeds, most of which are working dogs

Farming is not just about animals and there was a very nice hall decorated with a vegetable landscape that included an artificial river with remote-controlled boats!

There was a small but interesting section with some traditional clothes and crafts

and last but not least, a detour through the food court was compulsory before leaving!

Now, if only every day at work was like this...(sigh)