October 28-31: Mum and Judy visit Bern, and the RWC

After months of talking about it, my mum and sister’s visit came and went in the blink of an eye.

They arrived about 9.30pm on the 26th, and left at 5pm on the 30th. Why would you come all this way for only a few days, I hear you ask? Well they’re now on a 36-day cruise from Athens to Singapore, and hopefully having a whale of a time. It was great they could fit in a few days with us beforehand – or as I like to say, do the obligatory family catch-up before the real fun began! 😉

They were here in summer 2012, and I was worried the cooler weather this time might be a downer, but the sun came out every day, and Friday was positively balmy!

Here’s a small collection of photos from their trip. I worked on the Wednesday, so Mum and Judy wandered around Wohlen bei Bern, then we went out for dinner Wednesday night; Thursday we drove to Thun and toured the castle, walked to the lake and then went to dinner and saw the light show in Bern; and Friday we walked the Lüggliweg path (the one I “discovered” in March) to Restaurant Kreuz in Wohlen bei Bern for lunch, and had a very cruisy afternoon before they jumped on the train to Zurich for their flight to Athens.

The autumnal colours were out in full force and it was nice they could visit the Stöckli again before we have to move. And they both fell in love with a very popular Swiss salad, called Nüsslisalat. Here’s a link about it in English. Do you know of this salad leaf too? It’s very yummy with chopped egg and bacon.

Saturday night we went to Evi and Paul’s for a lovely dinner, and to watch the Rugby World Cup final, where the better team, New Zealand, beat the underdogs, Australia. (Leo got quite into the RWC, and we watched many games each weekend.) I’m very happy for all Kiwis, and we will miss seeing Dan Carter on the field in the future. What a face!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

June 20 and 21: Saturday night and Sunday morning

This title comes from one of my favourite books, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe. It was the right book at the right time for me (1995, living in London) and also reminds me of my friend Tricky (real name Richard) who will be fitfor15in15’s next guest contributor. I’ll tell you our unlikely and incredible connection when I post his helpful and humorous personal story later this week.

Nothing from Sillitoe’s book happened to Leo and I this weekend, but the title is appropriate to wrap up this double-whammy post.

Leo’s family came from Zurich on Saturday afternoon to celebrate both his and his niece, Lorena’s, birthdays. All up, with our neighbours Liliane and Rene, we were 11 people. It was a day of preparations and organising. Leo did an amazing job with all the food, and I made the cake, of which I ate a slice! Gasp!

fitfor15in15

One, two, three!

We ended the night quite late, with our neighbours saying how much they’ve appreciated all the work we’ve done around the property lately. So that was nice too.

Today, we were very lazy. Watched more House of Cards on Netflix and read about the Australians beating Brazil in the Women’s Football World Cup to make it through to the quarter-finals. Great news.

But overall, a quiet day today, after yesterday’s entertaining fest, was just what the doctor ordered. The sugar blowout continued with some chocolate marshmallow things that we forgot to give to the kids. The old saying is true – “If it’s in the house, you eat it.”

I actually don’t think that’s a real saying, but it gets proven true time and time again. Tricky will back me up on that! So the I Quit Sugar bandwagon gets serious again tomorrow. I can’t say I felt bad after eating the sugar, but I do know my brain said, “More! Give me more!”

I really need to do some proper exercise again soon. It’s been waaaaay too long and I can feel it. Fingers crossed this week is it.

Wishing you a wonderful day.