Ahhhh.... Bless the long weekends!

Well, another week has gone by and we're still enjoying this great weather. Before I really get going, I'd like to come back to my last post. This is what the Marigolds look like a week later. They seem to be enjoying the warm temperatures as much as we do. Look how they've grown!!!

To add to the pleasure of wearing summer clothing for the past 4-5 weeks, I have the luck of being off today, since tomorrow is a public holiday (Labour Day) and my new company makes a bridge. Four glorious days off! Unfortunately, O-X had to get up at 4:30am this morning to drive all the way down to the south of Tessin for a presentation.

On Friday after work, I had the pleasure of getting together for a quick drink with Brian*, one of my former bosses, who was in Basel on business. Even better, his wife Sonja had accompanied him on this trip. I hadn't seen her in about 10 years. And she hasn't changed a single bit. Still as pretty and radiant as ever. I have to have a girls talk with her and find out what her secret is. Anyhoo. We chatted for a good hour and a half -what had seemed like only 20 minutes - and I left them to go back home while they were on the leap to go out for dinner with a few customers who had decided to stay an extra night. It was really great to see them again.

Saturday was our relaaaaaxxxxx day. Orange-X had been driving around Switzerland and Germany all week and I had been suffering from a very painful stiff neck since Friday morning, so we were more than happy to just lazily enjoy the sun in our small back yard and grill some meat for dinner. Very cosy - except for the painful neck, of course!

Yesterday, we were invited to a BBQ, but I'll do a separate post about it. You'll read about little kids, big kids, belly buttons and adults that will just never grow up.

I'm off tomorrow, so I'll post it then. Right now, I have to get dinner ready. My godson is coming over for a BBQ!

*He knows he should update his blog.

Another sunny weekend!

The weather has been absolutely incredible here for the past two weeks. Temps have been ranging from 18°C (65°F) to the 27+°C (mid-80’s F). We’ve been really lucky up to now. It does have its downside to it, though. While we enjoy this great weather BBQ-ing and sipping a cool beer on the terrace, nature is suffering because of lack of rain. There has already been a forest fire alert. Even a total ban on lighting open fires in certain cantons has been announced. You can read about it here.

I wonder if it’s going to be like the summer of 2003, or if we will at some point get a really crappy month with cool temps and rain. I remember shutting down the heating in March 2003 and switching it back on only mid-November!! Now THAT was a real hot summer!

Anyway, global warming has its plusses for us greedy sun freaks, although I am aware of nature as well. If only it could rain from 2am until 6 am and then, sunny, warm weather. Now, THAT would make me perfectly happy!

BUT… Since I can’t control the weather, for now I will just enjoy the sun, sip on my cold rosé and prepare a nice marinade for the meat that will slowly cook on our grill this evening.

On another note, TBFs will be happy to hear that the special Marygolds we got from them as a gift last year (apparently, not known in Switzerland) are blooming again. Well, not exactly. We picked the seeds from the dried pods and planted them again. Not only are they growing in our flower pot, but also Ma made sure she got a few. Now, they're growing in Switzerland AND in Holland. Last week, her's had already reached 35 cm (12 inches) while ours are only about an inch high (we were late). Will they replace the tulips at some point? Maybe not, but who knows?

This is what they looked like last year. Aren't they lovely?

And today....

I'm off to absorb some sun rays. I hope that everyone out there is having a fantastic weekend.

Now that's a cool cat!

Today, I wonder why CS and Orange never learned to play the piano. I would have been much easier than the guitar or the flute! Who knows, they might have even called me Mozart... *cat sigh*

Meet Nora*, a very talented and very cute feline. I wonder if female cats are also attracted by "salt and pepper" coats (humans, read "hair")




* Thanks to my very dear friend, Michelle, who sent CS this video in the first place.

Being lazy...

... and we're proud of it. This weekend, all we did was clean up a bit, did the groceries, went for a haircut, planted a few flowers and GRILLED! BBQ-time!

Other than that, we were sunbathing - an exercise consisting of rolling from the belly to the back on a chaise longue - and sipping a cool drink. Orange -X makes a mean cocktail!

Wishing you all a great week.

Now it's your turn, CS

Look what she’s done! I’ve been publicly humiliated! I can't believe it... CS tweaked my picture into a… a…a sissy, pink-eared Easter Bunny (see post below). Can you believe it???!! What a shame!

I understand that you humans think it’s really cute, but to a cat, it’s a serious offence. Ok. It could have been worse. She could have put a dog’s face on me, but I know that she would never go THAT low. Plus, dogs have nothing to do with Easter. I don’t mind if she makes a Capt’n out of me, but a bunny?? That is low!

Anyway, now that both CS and Orange-X are enjoying some sun in the garden, it’s time for my revenge. I've learned to use the camera AND I’ve found the link that she used to tweak my picture. Heheheh!

CS: "Orange?.... Do you still love me??"

OX: "Hmmm?????"

There. I feel better now.

Hope you all enjoyed the Easter weekend. Have a great week!

Happy Easter

Shit happens...

Believe it, or not. Shit happens, and oddly enough, sometimes even for the best.

Read it here.

Updates

Wow! Has it been over 2 weeks already since my last post?

Well, we have been quite busy lately. Here’s a short update of the past two weeks.

The new job:
Everything is running pretty smoothly, considering that I’ve had no one to work me in, thus I still feel I’m still wasting a lot of precious time to look for this and that, not to mention learning many new terms, so it’s still very challenging. At least, my superiors are giving me the feeling that I’m doing all I can to help them out and take away unnecessary burden so that they can work more effectively. So that’s good. As a matter of fact, I had been hired on a trial basis of one month, and the week before last (2.5 weeks before the end of my trial), I was asked if I would be willing to stay until end of June. They are still looking for someone on an unlimited time contract, but they want to keep me: a) until they find that person, and b) to work her/him in (lucky her/him!). Anyway, I’m happy to work there. It’s a fine group of people.

CS-Mom:
She’s doing pretty well and she’s at home again. She has a nurse coming in every day to check on her, a caretaker to help her with personal hygiene and do a bit of household cleaning, and family and friends visiting her on a regular basis to either take her to the hospital for check ups, do her groceries, getting her mail at the post office, take out the trash and/or just plain spending a bit of time with her. My Mom absolutely amazes me. She’s still so cheerful and when I hear her talk, it’s like nothing had happened. AND she’s still wearing that halo and her corset.

Amsterdam:
We spent last weekend in Amsterdam to celebrate Pa’s 75th birthday. We had a good drive up (5 ½ hours) to Harry and Brenda’s and arrived around 11:30 pm on Friday evening. We had a good nights’ sleep and on Saturday, we had a small snack for lunch, did a bit of groceries and, since Bren’s knee was hurting, Orange and I decided to do a bit of shopping in Amstelveen. We met up at O-X’s parents late afternoon. We had originally planned to go out for dinner, but Pa hasn’t been too fit lately. Pa’s sister, Anneke, and her husband Jimmy, drove all the way from central France to be there. Later, Harry and Orange-X picked up some food from Pa’s favourite Chinese restaurants. We had a good time at home with the family.

On Sunday morning, Orange-X spent a few hours visiting his daughter and ex-wife, while I enjoyed the sunshine with Harry and Bren in their backyard. Anjella is doing much better and her cancer treatments seems to be helping. Selina, his daughter, is doing very well in school and will graduate from high-school at the end of June. Of course, Papa O-X will be there for the ceremony. He’s so proud of his little girl and I’m so happy they finally got to meet again.

This weekend, except for some cleaning, doing 2 weeks of laundry (!!), the groceries, my tax declaration, (why do I always wait until the last minute??) and catching up on blogs, we’re just relaxing in our sunny back yard. Tonight, we do our first barbecue of the year. Yeah!