Month: November 2015

No!vember 10-30: Lust for life, lust to write

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No!vember came and went faster than I could put fingers to keyboard. I haven’t lost my lust for life, just my lust to write!

And exercise? Well you can pretty much forget about all that, just like me. I can’t even say I’ve been walking 40 minutes a day, because lately I’ve been getting a lift to work with a neighbour in the mornings and with Leo on the way home. Slack! But, happily, I haven’t had to walk too much in the cold.

Snow arrived when I was in Bonndorf, Germany, with the female Usual Suspects plus a few extras. Every year for about 15 years, this group of women has been going to the Black Forest for a long weekend of wellness and spa treatments. This year, I was lucky to be invited. And I’ve been sworn to secrecy – what happens in Bonndorf, stays in Bonndorf! I’m embarrassed to say I was the youngest of the group, and always the first one in bed. Ha! I think speaking German, and listening to Bern-Deutsch being spoken, for four days may have knocked the wind out of me a bit. But it was wonderful, and I can’t wait to go back next year, if they’ll have me. Must lift my game.

On the 30th, we went to see a unit for rent in the centre of Wohlen bei Bern (one minute to the bus and shop!) and we hope we receive a contract soon. Fingers crossed. If we get it, I’ll tell you all about it.

Here are some photos from the past 20 days. *shaking head in disbelief at how slack I’ve been with the blog.*

Wishing you a wonderful day.

November 9: Sweet and short

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A few minutes later, I had a nice surprise

When running for the bus this morning, a woman in a very fancy car stopped and asked if I wanted a ride to the bus stop in Wohlen. I was cutting it fine to make it on time, so it was such a nice surprise to be offered a lift. It’s only happened once before, and that wasn’t that long ago (from a different woman).

Maybe if I time it right, I can blag a lift to the bus every morning? 🙂

It was a day of laziness, because Leo was at his office in the city this afternoon, so I managed a lift home as well!

If this Indian summer continues as planned this week, perhaps I should dust off the Töffli? Hard to believe it’s November and temperatures are still in the high teens (Celsius).

Are you having an Indian summer too (if you live in the northern hemisphere)? Or has spring well and truly sprung for southerners?

Wishing you a wonderful day.

November 6-8: Weekend wrap

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When the solar panels heat up, she sways her hips, with her arms going in the opposite direction. She moved this weekend. Woo hoo! Warm sun!

It was a very social and outdoorsy kind of weekend. Unseasonally warm weather has lulled us into a false sense of hope that we’re heading into summer rather than winter. What glorious temperatures we’ve had for three days!

Friday morning, I went to work at the dojo and now have a lot on my plate with some additional things to do. Not sure how this is going to pan out as I can’t do everything needed to be done just on Fridays, so will have to work at home at nights, after work!! Hmmm … not so sure this is going to work out well. By the end of the year, a decision will have to be made!

Friday afternoon, Iva and I went to visit our friend Kanjana who had a baby boy, Alessio, one month ago. He’s gorgeous, Kanjana is enjoying being a mum, and we had fun ‘falling asleep’ with Alessio on the couch.

 

Saturday morning was spent in the garden, pruning and tidying, and then BAM! These little fellows (below) came out of nowhere! I think they might be Soay Sheep? We have no idea where they’ve come from, but they have ear tags, so they’re a known quantity. They’ve never been to our place before and they’re welcome to come back anytime. Very timid, happy to move along together, not worried about us standing around gawping at their sheepy fur and goaty heads. An hour after they left, three came back into the garden, closer to our house. Such a nice surprise.

It was a glorious day but we had to leave the garden and blue skies to jump in the car to drive two hours to near Zürich for a combined birthday party for Leo’s sister and nephew. A quick stop at the shops, where I saw (but didn’t try) these cute bread figures, called Grittibänz mit Branchli (has something to do with 6 December and St. Nicholas. Gritten means spread legs, which is also a saying for old people, and Bänz is a short version of Benedict, who also has a relationship to St Nicholas. Mit Branchli just means its with this certain brand of chocolate called Branchli, a special addition for what is normally a plain figure with sultana face features. They’re baked from around the start of November until the end of December). Then the frivolity with the family began. Arrived home about midnight.

 

Today, the sun was still shining, with temperatures around 17 degrees, so we walked one of our favourite walks to Aarberg. We did this walk in reverse in March, when we met the lovely dog Luna. This time we walked from home and caught the bus back. Glorious! My hip gave out on the walk from the bus to our house – couldn’t bend it properly so had to walk with a peg leg to get up the hill. Not good. But the views were.

 

Wishing you a wonderful day.

November 5: Highlights aplenty

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A short post tonight. Snapped the photo below this morning, before going down the path by the stream to the bus. No fog again!

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Layer, upon layer, upon layer

A nice way to start the day. Then it all came ‘crashing down’ so to speak. I’d forgotten the joys of work computers’ crashing, losing what you’d been focusing on in the process. Summoned all my strength not to swear! Then it got better again. Spent lunchtime lapping up some unexpected sunshine with my former German teacher Claudia – amazing how fast an hour goes when we had the luxury of no limits before – and the afternoon was so busy it whizzed by. Now I’ve got that end of week feeling, and look forward to going into the dojo tomorrow for the first time in weeks.

Cleaning up my corkboard from yesterday was quite fun. It looks better but perhaps a bit too neat. There are holes to fill, so maybe I’ll rough it up a bit with some new additions. One thing that didn’t make the cut is a postcard from Berlin. Who would like a German postcard with a Swiss stamp? Let me know and I’ll send an attempted witty ditty.

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A bit too neat, but better than having everything hang off it. Can you see anything you like or recognise?

I didn’t meditate or exercise this morning at home, but I did attempt to meditate on the bus. If that advertising poster clanging on a glass pane hadn’t distracted me the whole ride, it would have been a lovely experience. 😉

Speaking of a lovely experience … Cruise update! My sister and mum have gone through the Suez Canal, which Judy said is a definite highlight.

What will be your highlight today or tomorrow?

Wishing you a wonderful day.

November 4: Trying to find a writing rhythm again

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At last – a morning without fog! View from our bedroom window

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It wasn’t actually a dark morning at all, but while running for the bus I snapped this quickly. Love it!

It’s been so long since I’ve written on a daily basis, but it would be nice to go out with a bang for the final few months of fitfor15in15. Not sure what I’ll do with the site next year. Maybe register a new domain name and bring all the content across? And make it something not date specific (beginner’s mistake and lesson learned!).

Have you ever tried The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron? I followed the book many years ago and enjoyed the process, but nothing amazing came of it apart from some naval gazing. Oh ok, maybe one or two rip-snorter lines were written, but all those pages were binned before moving to Switzerland.

Cameron’s idea is to write every day. Every morning. Whatever you feel like. I have fond memories of the large yellow writer’s notepad I used, and storing them all in folders arranged by months. It’s also designed to spark creativity in other areas of your life too. I seem to remember being well dressed during this time! 😉

It would be nice to get back into a daily writing rhythm, along with a return to a daily meditation and exercise rhythm (that shouldn’t be too hard, it’s only 15 minutes, right?!). The start of the year was great for this, but once the habit was broken …. well …

A while ago, I mentioned breaking the day down into 15 minute blocks, and this could be one way to get the flow happening again. If it’s only for 15 minutes it’s not daunting. If I could get up an hour earlier I’d be well on the way to achieving four things before the day had even started! Must work on that. Note to self … start tomorrow morning.

Where I write is a lovely area and sitting at my desk in winter is especially enjoyable – I can put my feet on the radiator under the desk. Luxury! And there’s a window which faces the forest. Must do something with the corkboard hanging above the desk, though. The weight of all the additions caused a collapse, and it now looks less than inspiring.

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Time to sort out, thin out and rearrange!

I might just do that now … but before I go, here are some snaps of where I work …

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The leaf blowers are out in full force in the city. The building on the right is part of Bern University

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A sweet little garden, with my office, the white building, behind

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It’s nice working in this office (an old house) on the first floor. The building on the right is a book store

So, the wheels are in motion to write every day again. I might have done about 15 minutes worth of writing tonight, but gosh it’s disjointed. The only way is up!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

November 1-3: No!vember

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How’s this for a plan … we change the name of this month to No!vember, because no one can believe another year is almost gone. No! No!vember!

The fog is thick and heavy in the mornings, and the walk home at night is dark. There are no street lights for 70% of my walk from the bus, and the path by the little stream is kinda spooky in the dark. When I use my phone as a flashlight, the fence post shadows look like they walk towards me as I walk towards them … weird and slightly off-putting … *brrrr*

It’s going to be interesting walking in winter, but for now I’m enjoying it – so much scenic variety! Plus I feel like I’m doing a little bit of fitfor15in15 each day still. The walk home is a nice decompression after the day too, once I get over the spookiness of the situation.

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Cloudy layers on our Sunday walk around “the block”. It felt like 1000 people also had the same idea – soak up that sun!

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Can you see the Alps? This is the path by the stream. Fine in the morning, or on an afternoon like this, but scary dark at night!

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Daisies, sugar beets and fog

Do you feel like shouting No! in No!vember?! I don’t think I’m the only one who can’t believe it’s only blah blah many weeks until Christmas and all that jazz!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

This is my 250th blog post. Should be more (that was a shocking effort in October!) but yay anyway!