Thursday, March 27, 2008

March Matters

The Whole Shabang, Right Here




First: Above, you will see Andrea. She is our new friend. She is an au pair in Nyon, Switzerland and she comes from Tucson, Arizona. Intrductions, done; you know everybody else.
Everything else: It is a magnificently glorious day. I'd like to get some reading done outside after this. I am currently reading a very interesting book about the life and family of an intersex person. It's called Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.
I don't know where in this chocolate land I was snoozing two years ago, but there are(were?) lots of chocolate bunnies for 1/2 price! I tried to look for them last time with no result. And here they were all along...
By the by, I would say I just ate about 60g of (dark!) chocolate from the time I opened this text until now. I'm not going to lie, it felt good.

We invited Andrea, the Sennwalds and Sam over a few weeks ago and had a dance party in our living room.



In the craft store.


Andrea and Jacques having a camera war.


She'd never had fondue. Fondue has it's own food group here, it's a hands-down must.


Vanessa eating fondue.


If I had a nickel for every self-portrait of Jacques I have on my computer...


Sam and Jacques taking up the dance floor.


Taking the party to the streets.
Andrea, me and Vanessa.


Jacques likes to snuggle when he has a headache.

A Big Snow


Alarm. Get up. Open curtain. BAM.


Bulldozing that snow.


The Devenish's house. The scaffolding is for renovations in the attic.


Poor flowers.




(F.Y.I.: Oma = Grandma. Bitte = please. In German)

Easter


Emptying eggs.


Dipping eggs.


Delightful Easter weekend weather.
What we saw out my bedroom window all weekend.


What we did all weekend: Watch movies, Scrubs, 30 Rock and jPod, which I will say is a great show (albeit with bad acting) filmed in Vancouver, based on the novel jPod by Canadian author Douglas Coupland.


Movies: 27 Dresses, wouldn't watch it again. Into The Wild, really amazing (based on a true story) until the very end when it completely crushed me and left me quite depressed. If you're up for a not-at-all-Happily-Ever-After-still-crying-when-you-leave-the-theatre but otherwise really beautiful movie, watch it. Enchanted, surprisingly hilarious and very Happily-Ever-After.


Easter breakfast with the family. Martina and Jonas across the table.


I found my Easter basket.


Hahn = rooster in German.


After coming back from an evening at the sauna, our friend was waiting for us.


She is the friendliest cat ever!


Another big snow.


Hopefully the last, I am so sick of Winter!


Biggest, baddest milk moustache I've ever seen.


Jacques' new, army-issue glasses. They sent them to him for free.


Enfin.
À part de tout ça, on ira Paris en mois de deux semaines. J'ai beaucoup d'hâte, comme on n'a jamais été là pour si longtemps, presque deux semaines. Comme on a tout déjà vu, on a la chance de se lézarder un peu (avec espoir, au soleil)... ah Paris.
J'éspère que vous avez aimé tout les videos.
Bonne journée et bon prèmier jour de printemps demain.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Matterhorn & Friends

Power of the Raw Film




First Preface:
1. These are from quite a long time ago. About a month ago, really.
2. As previously mentioned in this blog, when visiting the most famous mountain in a country full of mountains, I thought it would be great to forget my camera at home. So that's what I did. Erin, always the thinker! Although I must say it was not all bad in the photograph department of that trip; it was pretty fun to wield a giant piece of wind-up plastic once more.
Let's see what this baby can do, y'all!

Second Preface:
Bern - Kleine (Little) Matterhorn = train, hike, chair/ski lift, gondola, gondola, stairs. This will put you at nearly 4000m (13,000 ft) above sea level! There were warning signs as you were about to go up the gondolas telling you to take it slow as molasses and to not exert too much energy and put lots of sun screen on. I took this advice. Still, going up to that viewing platform (the highest publicly accessible view point in Europe) was like running a marathon. Now I know what it feels like to have asthma. Or be really old and walk up a lot of steps.
So, essentially, I went through a lot to bring you these views. Enjoy please.



From inside the mountain.


Looking out from the platform on the Kleine Matterhorn.
Called something like "the wide mountain" only in German.


Cyril at the top.


The Matterhorn in the back, but from a different angle.


King of the Universe.


On the gondola looking at a glacier.


Gondola galore.


More glaciers. And the valley in the back.


Chillin' in the sun.


There she be.


After hot chocolate.



We got down from the mountains.


Vanessa wearing her Christmas present. Unicorn band-aids.


One of Jacques' innumerable self-portraits.


Jacques, Robin and I getting ready for a walk in the woods.


Walking in the woods.










Llama + Jacques.


Man.


Jacques.


Cyril.


All of them, FYI, are unedited for a change. I must really be getting lazy and I have no idea if it is working for my benefit or not. But I like film and I did not want to take away their quirks by messing around.
I hope your eyes were tickled at least a little.

Missing you lot.