warm weather

July 26-29: Sicily!

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Haven’t had the internet until today! It’s been quite nice being internet-less but here’s an update of the trip so far …

Sunday: Flight was great, took photos of Mt Etna out the plane window, were met by Leo’s Dad and Bossy at the airport, picked up our Fiat 500 and drove to their house in Passopisciaro, had a fabulous lunch in a nearby village, met Leo’s Aunty Elvira and had an early night.

Leo, Bossy and Tony with our hire car :)

Leo, Bossy and Tony with our hire car 🙂

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Looking around the grounds at our lunch venue

Monday: Went to the beach at Fiumefreddo for the entire day, lazing under an umbrella on lounge chairs at a private lido (beach area) with Tony and Bossy. Had pizza in Linguaglossa village at Leo’s second cousin’s restaurant with members of Leo’s dad’s family.

Spent our first full day under an umbrella at the beach

Spent our first full day under an umbrella at the beach

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The original version of our Fiat!

Tuesday: Went to Mt Etna in the morning but didn’t go to the highest point – too expensive! Will do that next trip maybe. Cruisy afternoon driving around the region.

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Driving towards the southern viewing point

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Walking around a crater

Today: Left Tony and Bossy for Gole Alcantara, a natural ravine with a cold river, and then drove on to Taormina. Had a swim and a fantastic seafood dinner. Despite the stony beaches, it’s beautiful here!

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Cold water river

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The view from our hotel room in Taormina

Wishing you a wonderful day.

July 13: Getting organised

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I’ve been a bit slack on all fronts recently, and today was the day to sit down at the desk and get organised. I’ll only be working Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and took the chance today to reply to comments on the blog that I’ve neglected, send some emails to people who I’ve neglected (still many, many more to be sent!) and write some posts on this neglected blog.

There was also the chance to lie on the lounge by the pool and start a new book :). I thought about resurrecting Monday Runday, but that idea quickly faded. Too hot, too unmotivated, too many things to do … too many excuses!

The grass has turned from a rich green to a golden yellow/brown. Walking across it is like walking on hay. We certainly need some rain (but can it come at night, so it’s cooler to sleep?!)

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Dry yellow grass

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Hydrangea coming along nicely! It didn’t flower at all last year

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The crocosmia is starting to flower!

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The poor old blue delphinium isn’t as majestic as it was last year

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The glads are nearly flowering. They’ll be white and orange

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The snapdragons, which I thought were goners, have come good again

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I didn’t plant this gladioli here, it just sprouted on its own

I did send a job application off today too, so that’s something. Fingers crossed!

And you know what else I did? Deleted the card game off my phone that stops me from reading books. Mum and I are addicted to card games, it must be in our genes, but today I decided enough was enough. It’s distracting me from doing things I want to do, like be in contact with people, learn new things, read new books, write some stuff, generally get moving and out of the twilight zone, which I seem to enter every time I open that app on my phone. Not good! Not good at all! Sure, there’s a place for some relaxation, but I was becoming way too reliant on it as something to do, when there are so many other wonderful things to be doing.

Nutritionally, I’ve been a bit naughty too. I’ve eaten ice creams. And chippies. But hey, all’s good. I’ve realised it’s incredibly hard to quit sugar, and I’m not quite ready to do it just yet!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

July 2: Karma Police

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Ha! What a day! I’m barely able to write this post from unindented exhaustion!

I rode to work this morning and saw police on the other side of the street, doing speed checks. So as I saw cars approaching me I motioned for them to slow down. Surprisingly, people waved or acknowledged to say thank you. Very un-Swiss for a stranger to acknowledge you!

Driving on, I laughed to myself that the Karma Police will get me for telling the drivers the radar was ahead. And then five minutes later … I ran out of petrol …

Karma … and then some.

I pushed the Töffli, which I think shall stay called Bruce, for 10 minutes to work, went to work and then afterwards set off on foot to the nearest petrol station, two kilometers away. In 32 degree blazing sunshine (not complaining, love the warmth!). Lugging my bag with my computer, jacket and helmet was a bit bothersome.

The first petrol station didn’t have the special petrol needed for scooters, so I walked on. The second further on didn’t have it either. I asked at an auto shop. No joy there but they directed me to a motorcycle shop … Further. They didn’t have it but they said try the petrol station nearby. Further. No dice there so I called it quits and caught the tram back into town to meet Claudia to go swimming in the Aare. I needed that 20 degree water!

After a lovely swim, my first of the season, Claudia and I walked to the hospital where Rene is, and I visited him for about 20 minutes. He’s in good shape and wants to come home tomorrow. He told me the bike has a reserve tank for such occasions and after learning how to switch it on via explanations and hand gestures, I jumped on the bus to go back to the scene of the crime.

Ha! Not happening. Not even one stop down the road, the cable that attaches to the overhead wire came loose (we have some electric buses in Bern) so we all got off the bus. I figured stuff it, what’s another few kilometers. So I walked back to work.

The bike worked and I drove home, stopping at the local petrol station which has the special petrol.

Rene reckons the petrol must have been siphoned out of the tank because it should last longer than four days. I’ll keep a closer eye on it next week!

When I arrived home it was 6.40pm and I jumped straight into the pool to cool down again. What would we do without water?!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

July 1: Back on the horse

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From the beginning, I’ve always said JUST 15 minutes a day. The simplicity of fitfor15in15 originally focused on doing just 15 minutes of exercise a day. Then I fell out of love with that idea for some reason – my motivation went south.

Some goals had been reached, I felt better and fitter, and then I just stopped caring. I think half of that hard work over the first four months of the year was lost in just a few weeks. So, it’s time to re-start the engines, jump back on the horse, re-join the circus … however you’d like to describe it! And it will be slowly slowly.

Have you thought about what you’d like to achieve in the next six months? I’d like to get moving again, get back into doing my stretches and go for more runs in the forest. I’d love to run 10km by the end of the year. Not in a race, just on a nice forest trail. And I’d like to return to the workout/exercise videos that I really enjoyed at the height of my fixation!

It’s 27 degrees inside the house (with windows and doors open!) at 10.30pm – now’s as good a time as any to start again, right?!?! I’m about to do 15 minutes of stretches and lunges with the hand weights. This is going to be interesting (and sweaty)! I thought about going back to January 1 and re-doing everything from the beginning, in the same order, but it’s too late to go walking now!

My friend Leonie and her kids Maya and Sebastian came over for a swim this afternoon. It was 26.5 degrees Celsius in the water. The Aare river is already 20 degrees too, and with the warm weather predicted for the next week, it may even reach about 22 degrees – not bad for a river coming directly from the Bernese Alps. Could the pool reach 30?!

We had a great afternoon and not one photo to show for it. I really enjoy Leonie’s company and not just because she’s a fellow Aussie. Lotti and Fritz joined us in the shade of the tent as well. Lotti told me Rene is back in hospital – they think he had a little stroke a few days ago, so he’s staying in for observation. I really hope he’s going to be ok. The doctors are worried a bigger stroke might follow.

On that sombre note, I’ll sign off … wishing you a wonderful day.

June 30: Didn’t that go fast?

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Clear blue skies today and …

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… the moon tonight. It will be a full moon in two days

Leo took this shot of the moon. I hope the skies are as clear on Thursday when it’s full. Loves me a good fullmaaaaoooooooon, I does! 🙂

Will keep this post short today. It was wonderfully warm and sunny, unfortunately a bit too hot for the work Pastora and I did – counting all the karate clothes and moving boxes and things while making the inventory. I rode straight home and jumped in the pool.

Still feel like a kid at Christmas on the bike, even if I was overtaken by an electric bicycle on the flat. (I keep telling myself the man had longer legs than me.) My niece suggested the bike should be named Brad, but I already have a Brad in my life and I’m well and truly over him. So far Bruce is still the leader (not hard seeing as Brad was the only suggestion!).

One of the two new plants, which I promised to mention today, has me stumped. The Celosia venezuela was easy to find because of its magenta prongs, but the second has me baffled. It’s quite tall and could possibly be another Campanula variety? The flowers are a beautiful blue and have very obvious petals. Any takers?

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New plant number one – Celosia venezuela – the magenta spiky one in front of the lavender

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And do you think this is another Campanula variety?

Can’t believe half the year has gone! How would you rate the first half of this year? I’m pretty happy with how it’s gone so far and hope you are too (and hopefully I’ll be struck by ‘exercise lightning’ tomorrow and be back on the bandwagon for the next six months!).

What will I do on December 31? I can’t very well keep a blog titled fitfor15in15 when it’s no longer 2015, can I?! Should have thought about that a bit harder.

I haven’t mentioned the I Quit Sugar program for a few days because I find it boring talking about food, but it’s going well (not perfect) and I’m really watching what goes in. As hot as it was today, I resisted the temptation for ice cream! That’s a win.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

June 6: Pool and lawn success

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I can’t take any credit for it, but the pool is clean and slowly filling up.

Leo was up early to tackle the task and did a great job. It’s tempting to jump into it now, half full! While he did the pool, I finally, FINALLY!, finished the lawn. No more holes to fill!

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“I’ve come to clean ze poooool”

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From this …

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… to this! Yay!

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Liliane dipping a tentative toe … hopefully in a week it will be warm enough to dive in

We also moved a fridge into the little annex area under the balcony where the two pink geranium pots sit. We cleaned it, set it running and filled it with our drinks! We lost the bar fridge in the kitchen to make way for the dishwasher, so now we have another that will be just as handy throughout summer.

It’s another stinking hot day here today. We’re off to the Muse concert in an hour or so. Can’t wait!

Update: I forgot my 30-Day Challenge, of learning three to four new plant names each day!

The texture of these lamb’s ear plants make them one of my favourites. I knew their name before but now know the Latin name, Stachys byzantina. Unfortunately, there’s none in my garden but they are abundant in the Rosengarten in town. Sometimes, one leaf accidentally falls off the plant when I visit, and I rub my fingers over it constantly for the rest of the day. 🙂

The aeonium haworthii x urbicum grows willy nilly on the terrace, after I took them from the large pot and spread them around the rock garden under the bushes. They’ve multiplied like crazy, provide great colour, with their green centre and pink edges, and have beautiful long-stemmed pink flowers towards the end of summer. We also have smaller reddy brown aeonium spread in the same place.

We have a pot with fuchsia hanging by the front door. The flowers are a mix of pink and purple sections – pink undercarriage and purple centre. They hang nicely and I hope the flowers keep coming thick and fast!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

June 3: Very warm, very lazy

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Lovely flowers from Liliane as a thank you for being invited to dinner last Friday

I’m surprised to see the day wasn’t as warm as I thought. It felt like more than 30 degrees, but apparently we had a maximum of 26 around 4pm.

I was in the garden for an hour from 11-12, snooping around for any rogue weeds hiding about the place. There were plenty, but I had to draw the line somewhere and somewhere was the heat!

How soft am I becoming?! I used to live in Darwin, Australia, and thrived in the high 30s with 90% humidity. Now it’s 24 with no wind and I have to take a break? Sheesh! Three and a half years in Switzerland has turned me into a mild-weather lover as opposed to a sauna lover.

Maybe today’s ‘lapse’ was my mind secretly telling me, “Hey, you, watch some French Open tennis.” So I made myself comfortable on the couch for Serena Williams’ match against an Italian, whose name I’ve forgotten, and Djokovic beating Nadal.

I feel very lucky to have had that as an option.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

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These very soft, pink blooms grow in spring/summer from a green grass ball. Love it!

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The first white flower from the tall spindly plant … I really need to learn the names!

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Another little garden photo