Right near out front door to the apartment block is an overgrown, but lovely, garden bed. And right on the path are some tulips. One white one looked very special yesterday – added colours!
Wohlen bei Bern
Plant people – what are these?!
This is a garden update with questions … do you know what these two plants are? They’ve popped up out of nowhere in my garden plot and I don’t know if I should dig them up or let them grow?
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- This is growing in clumps. The root is long and white. There are prickles on the stems (my poor zucchini in the foreground)
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- This has sprouted up in various places and is a climber of some sort. One wrapped itself around a gladioli
Round trip to Murzelen
Have you ever made plans to go for a long walk, somewhere spectacular, which involves getting in the car, and at the last minute think why waste time in the car when you can just start walking from your front door instead?
Leo and I had grand plans recently to go walking close to Spiez, on the Lake of Thun, doing a four-hour circular wanderweg. Spiez is probably only 45 minutes away in the car, but the whole thought of wasting 45 minutes of glorious sunshine sitting in a car put us off enough to search for a plan B. And luckily, where we live, there is always a plan B.
Marney’s visit
A good friend Marney, who I worked with in Darwin when we were young and silly, now lives in Sweden, so after a recent work trip to Zürich she stayed on to visit us for a weekend 22-24 April. Nothing has changed – we’re just older and still silly.
Garden update – early April
Amazing sunset last night!
Hello lovely readers! It’s been a while since a garden update and although I don’t really have much to show for it, here goes!
Working in the new garden
Midday in the garden area. Not much love happening here
Last Friday, I had a spurt of energy, thanks to glorious sunshine, to get the garden into shape. The new apartment has these garden rows in the complex and we were told by the real estate agent that two were free (really? only two? they all look unloved!), so, of course, never one to do things slowly, I’ve dived right in to set up both of them. Continue reading
Novelty factor
This morning for breakfast, we had no milk. So I walked to the local supermarket and back.
This short expedition, after living “in the wilderness” for so long, has a high novelty factor – and probably will for a fair while longer.
I was very, very tempted to buy some of the beautiful potted flowers and herbs while there (the shop sells everything from horse blankets to outdoor furniture to baked-on-the-premises bread), but patience is required. The balcony needs to be cleaned before anything else can be added.
A few days ago, I was almost knocked off my feet when leaving the house. The fields nearby had been fertilised and the whole village smelt like a giant cow poo.
Said fields – thankfully less on the nose today! We used to live about a kilometre further behind those houses
Neat rows and blue skies
Wishing you a wonderful day.
Walking a new path with surprises
Yesterday, we ventured from our new home to a part of Wohlen we’ve never seen before. Well, we’ve seen it from a distance, but never walked through it.
The weather was crazy-amazing sunny and the path threw up plenty of surprises!
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- As you leave the village of Wohlen on the road towards Bern, there’s a bridge across a small stream and gully. We crossed the bridge and walked up a steep path to the left
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- A clump of houses are at the top. I’ve always wondered what else is up there
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- Looking back down the hill towards the bridge and gully
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- Someone has set up a sweet garden terrace
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- A nicely renovated Stöckli
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- Could be an art gallery or something?
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- Love the yellow Wanderweg (walking path) signs
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- With an amazing view over Wohlen to the Wohlensee
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- Leo snapping the view from the main farmhouse. There was someone in there sanding wood, and a friendly dog on a chain
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- Another home being renovated. What a view, all-day sunshine … it has it all. We’re moving in! Hahaha
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- Renovations in progress
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- This A-frame house is the fourth and final house on the hill
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- Surrounding the houses on the other side is nothing but fields and forests
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- If we walked on that path near the trees we would go to Liliane and Rene’s new house. They move there in three weeks
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- A closer shot of the Alps through the trees. Magical day!
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- Once we got to the top of the field, we had our bearings again and could see the main road that passes our house on the way to the next village of Uettligen
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- It felt like all of Switzerland was out walking yesterday!
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- We walked on another new section. The green sign means horses are allowed on the path too
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- I’m always up for checking out a new path!
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- Seconds later we saw the only two horses of the day. I was too in awe, watching them pass before I snapped out of it and took a photo
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- We’re on Moosweg, which means Moss Path, so it was appropriate to see the lush green stuff
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- Tall and proud
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- We then came to a clearing of apple trees, farmland and houses
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- This is in a very secluded spot of Wohlen, which may actually be Uettligen
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- And surprise! Piggies! Big piggies!
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- Snort
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- Surprise 2
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- Hidden cat!
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- Surprise 3 … more piggies – little piggies going to market!
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- Sunning themselves and scaring themselves. But oh so cute
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- Panorama shot 1: The farmhouse with the pigs, and the amazing Alps behind
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- Panorama shot 2
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- Panorama shot 3, with the road going to Wohlen
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- Walking towards our old house on Ballmoosweg
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- A lovely rickety old house
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- With an incredible view too
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- We ran into our friend Hani who invited us in for a quick hello. She has an amazing view
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- Perfectly framed art
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- Walking from Hani’s house towards our old place. Warped panorama shot
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- Past my favourite farmhouse, we saw the shepherd
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- Surprise 4: He’s back again with his sheep!
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- Words fail me! The shepherd has dogs, four donkeys and more sheep than previous years
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- Dog at work
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- Poor quality close up
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- Then we arrived at our old house to collect the bicycle and Vespa
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- And sob! My wildflower garden which I planted two years ago has started to flower. I’ll miss them all!
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- Liliane and Rene are excited about their move soon, and not having to look after all this property (and woes from renters) anymore
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- Our old view
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- Leo pushed the Vespa down to our new apartment, and I pushed the bicycle, because the tyres were flat
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- Down the hill, past the sculptor’s house. She has a new arch in her garden
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- Home to the narcissus, crocus and iris plants … and more sheep
The shepherd and his flock have been sporadic visitors – one year they were in the field right next to our house. The sheep knew to scratch at the snow to find the grass underneath, so all I could hear was constant neck bells clanging, munching and scratching. Very cool.
Last year, there was a tiny flock nearby, but it wasn’t the same shepherd. Here’s that post from February last year – look at the difference in the weather!
Wishing you a wonderful day.
Oh and I forgot this photo! Home to the narcissus and more sheep yeah, but also a well-deserved beer in the sun! Tee hee!
The new apartment photo tour
The grand reveal. Are you reading, Mum?!
While we’ve been getting used to things like hearing people walking up the stairs or coughing in neighbouring apartments, I have been love love loving the brief walk to the bus and home again! The trip to work is a grand total of 20 minutes, instead of 40 minutes. Who doesn’t love a 50% reduction in travel time?!
Even without all the luxuries, like the grass, forest and pool, from our previous “castle”, we feel very at home here. Amazingly, despite upsizing from 2.5 rooms to 5.5 rooms, we didn’t have to buy too much stuff either. We bought a higher bed to see out the bedroom window (in the Stöckli we had a low bed because of the slanted roof), a cupboard, a clothes rack and two standing lamps. Everything else (except for the hammock!) was from inside the Stöckli too. It was a veritable Tardis!
So without further ado, here’s our new apartment. Sorry about the lack-lustre photography. I’m home with tonsillitis and couldn’t be arsed making art. And speaking of art, all the art work is by Leo. Clever chap!
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- A blanket and neck pillow, along with a sudoku book and pen, live in the hammock, ready at all times!
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- The hammock lives in my office. I love it. Call me a swinger; see if I care!
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- Desk and drawers, from where all the ditties are delivered and divided
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- Candles and lights, trying to be zen
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- I may take the postcard board away … unsure … I like the distraction of colours and memories so it will probably stay
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- A few of my favourite things
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- The little bottle of nice smellies hidden at the back is definitely one of my favourite things
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- Had my first bath today, since my niece’s in Melbourne, November 2014. Delish!
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- There’s a sliding door between the bathroom and toilet, hence the two wash basins. Odd, but it will be good when visitors are here. The bathroom has it’s own entrance door too, but I keep it closed and just access via the loo. This downstairs bathroom has very quickly become mine!
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- The divider between the rooms. Cleaning two basins? No problem!
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- The hall outside the bathroom, with the linen cupboard and entrance to my office at the end
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- I call this the middle room, which is the guest room, as it’s in between our offices. We store coats and shoes in this room too, and use it daily. As soon as we come home we walk into this room and take shoes off etc
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- Shoes and coats, with hats and gloves in the white boxes
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- Leo’s room is long. He’s still sorting things out as he’s spent all his time getting the whole house ready and left his room til last
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- A nice space for Leo to create more paintings hopefully!
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- The front door, which comes at the top of the second set of spiral stairs. You have to close the front door before you can walk upstairs to the gallery level
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- Looking from the front door towards the kitchen, dining room, living room and balcony
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- Love the big windows in the lounge area
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- Can’t wait to cook pizzas in the wooden stove
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- Oh hello skylight and plants up there!
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- Standing near the balcony door looking towards the kitchen
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- We have the space to keep the table extended now. Our drinks cabinet is an ex CD unit.
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- Looking from inside the kitchen through the peep hole to the dining room
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- From one end of the kitchen
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- And the other end of the kitchen
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- Looking from the kitchen door down to the guest room with Leo’s office and the front door on the right
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- The stairwell to the gallery level. We need to hang the painting on the floor (which looks like a slim Winston Churchill running) on the blank wall but need a special ladder to access it
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- This is our kids corner – Roberto Birdo, Freda Vogel and Roger (Rogu) the Rat have been part of our family since shortly after I arrived in Switzerland
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- The gallery is a nice place to sit. I am planning a cactus and succulent garden for Leo
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- Looking from the gallery into the lounge. How very 80s!
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- Practical storage and a skylight which goes into the kitchen. Makes it much lighter in there
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- Downstairs has red stripes in the tiles, upstairs has yellow accents. I like how we matched the bath towels to the Listerine colour 😉
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- The open shower and towel-warming rail. I always wanted one of those
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- Our bedroom
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- Strange built-in wooden bench makes for a nice display space. I’m happy to keep it clear
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- Creatures bring colour
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- The window to the Alps
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- Greenery, music and necklaces. The CD is from the buskers I watched in London last year, where the little girl danced along with her doll
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- Our very dirty balcony which needs to be jet hosed and given some TLC. How appropriate that the bus came past! The tower is attached to the rural supermarket. Conveniences!
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- I want to make the end wall into a vertical garden with herbs etc
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- The bottom of the fields from Oberwohlen. We used to live up the hill to the right
So there you have it! Everything, apart from the balcony, is pretty much finished. Not bad for two schmucks doing it all on their own over three weeks. I think that’s contributed to my tonsillitis though. We’ve worked hard, carrying everything up two sets of spiral stairs to the front door and another set to the gallery level. No fights were had either, I promise!*
I’m really looking forward to working on the balcony and getting it established in spring. We’ll have an outdoor table and chairs and hopefully that vertical garden wall!
We look forward to welcoming guests. Will you be coming over?
Wishing you a wonderful day.
* I lie.
Colourful visitors to warm your day
* Still catching up on old photos and stories from earlier in the year.
Walking to the laundry in the main farmhouse on one of my beloved free Fridays (I work Mon-Thurs), two unexpected but welcome guests called me closer.
It was January 22 and we’d had what was to be, so far, the most snow all winter earlier in the week. Because I leave for and return from work in darkness, patience was needed to snap this charming couple, who were taking it easy by the pool.
Our friends stayed for a few days …
Why does the woman always get the broom?!
He did well, bringing an umbrella to avoid all that sun
Maybe they’d been for a dip?
Thanks go to the neighbours, who have two small children, for inviting them over and making us all smile. Alas, the mild weather returned, and Mr and Mrs nourished the soil after nourishing our souls … a broom and umbrella the only reminders.
Wishing you a wonderful day.
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