Hello bloggers! My, my, isn't it cold now?

Are you being rude? Hey, you have to put on a bit of extra blubber for the winter!! Or winter reserves, don't you? Cos, it really has started to get cold these last few days. We had a big attack of snow, with additional blizzard about a week ago. I remember it was a week, because it was my first time driving my car in the snow. We had to go to our local garage to change our normal tyres for snow tyres. There are police checks at this time of year, to make sure you have fitted your snow tyres. They don't insure you in an accident here, if you don't put your snow tyres on. They grip the road better in icy conditions. Sensible really...........

So, it was a blizzard when we went to go and change my tyres at the garage. Of course, the Swiss, (like many Europeans) don't really understand the concept of a queue! So, you kind of have to eye-ball people, or do a kind of : 'I'm next in the queue' kind of dance. You don't have a lot of a chance of keeping your place if someone in a BMW drives up though! What it is about BMW drivers?? They seem to walk around like cockerals in a pen of hens. You know who you are, BMW drivers!!

But, it's stayed at -3 these last few days. And I have a feeling we're due for a very COLD winter this year. It's already much colder than last year here. I miss that sunshine.

Great times to be painting though - bunking down in the studio to paint. And it's so very quiet here, especially since all the tractors seem to stop grinding around in the winter time. Very peaceful. Sometimes, we get little swiss children coming round to sell charity cards. But, that's about all the excitement we get around here. The children here are delightfully sweet, and polite. Their childhoods seem wonderfully safe and innocent here.

This is just about the time that the neighbours start decorating their houses for Christmas. Last year, our neighbour purchased and fixed a giant snowman outside, for his young children. Well, quite frankly, I saw nothing scarier than a seven foot lit snowman chuckling malevolently through the night. I say chuckling, because anytime a breath of wind came, it began lurching around for the whole of December. A few nights, it seemed to rage like the very devil - in gale-force winds. Plotting evil no doubt! Or maybe I just have an overactive imagination for my age (5). Amazingly, it hung on in there, through gale and hail. Which points even more convincingly to the forces of darkness   Well, I don't know what his youngsters thought, but it scared the hell out of me!!!! I wonder if it will be up and running in the next few days. I'll let you know! Can't they just settle for a Chrismas tree and a wreath??

Here's a little photo of our house covered in snow, from last year. Very cute! And luckily very warm inside. Trouble is, we have an outside thermostat -so, we're either cooking inside, or cold. We can't seem to get it right. We have a real fire, too, which is wonderful for those chilly evenings.......

Ps. Sorry if you couldn't get onto my blog last week. It had a few technical problems, the main one being I forgot to renew my domain  

Helllllloooooo bloggers!

Cute cuddly toy, Boomoore.

Here we are, busy travellers that we've been lately. Yes, I've been there and back to England. And it was lovely to visit family.

Here's brave Boomoore of course. He was very good and didn't get at all travel-sick. In fact, he really did seem to enjoy the adventure of travelling. He especially liked the turn we took in the massage chair at the airport. Actually, I thought it was horrendous! I expected something soft, gentle, relaxing. But instead, these nasty metal hands seems to be pumelling my body mercilessly! Ouch!! I think they were male chairs. No female would ever be so rough! Or, perhaps I picked a wicked one? A chair with a grudge??

So, hubby got this special deal to upgrade me to business class. Now that really was fun! Lounging in the posh lounge. Snacking on all the food and drink. Which was FREE of course! It's amazing how much you can eat when it's free  Anyway, I made a mistake on my return flight time home, so ended up with five hours to kill at the airport! So, I made my way up to the business lounge -feeling superior of course! I started on the sandwiches and coffee with a rest in a large lounge chair. I then moved on to the internet room. Then on to a tomato juice or two - yum yum. Then, onto the desserts - chocolate cornflake slices and shortcake. Then, back to the quiet lounge to listen to my music. Then, back again to the sandwiches............In fact, it was only towards the last hour that I began eyeing up the wall of alcoholic drinks! I don't usually drink. They did look all sparkly and glassy. Hmmmm, a little drop of Drambuie was delicious. But, since I don't usually drink, it did feel awfully 'hot' going down!

So, anyway, I think that plane might've been a bit heavier than expected, after my five hours of snacking. But, well, you have to make the most of that lovely English food. I don't know why English food has such a bad reputation honestly. And they seem to put soooo much on your plate these days. I'm sure the plate sizes have gotten bigger over the years. I guess that explains why the people have, too.

Boomoore was very excited to fly. It was his first time on a plane. And since I was sitting in business class, I guess he was a VIP really. He did get a few strange looks sitting by the window on the plane. And the stewardess looked a little confused to see he had his seat-belt on, sitting next to me (the plane was fairly empty) But, maybe they realized he was a famous bear??

Beautiful View

Well, I've never seen such an excited little bear! Mind you, we were right by the wing and the engine. And the visibility and sunshine was truly beautiful that day. Of course, I tried to explain why everything became tiny, as we climbed, but I'm not sure Boomoore really understood. He is only a young bear, after all. And I'm not sure I really understand it myself......

Our business class meal didn't require much explanation though. Boomoore has a very good understanding of food, just like most bears. And what a feast! I'm still dreaming about that chocolate torte! Yum! There were some miniature bottles of dressing that Boomoore insisted I sneaked into my bag, since they were a perfect size for him! Though I can't imagine when the need will arise for 'orange and olive oil' dressing? But, perhaps one day such an emergency will arise?

Hey, Boomoore, save some for me!! MOVE AWAY FROM THE CHOCOLATE TORTE! !

Anyway, I returned home to no internet for two weeks, curtesy of Swisscom.....bless. They informed us that we'd never had internet at our address! Hmmm!! Funny, the imagination isn't it? Imagining I've been writing a blog for nearly two years now!!

Anyway, off to bed now. Must just add that we went to visit some Swiss thermal baths last weekend. It was wonderfully bubbly and relaxing, especially the outdoor pool with even more bubbles. But imagine our shock when we decided to wander into the sauna and found everybody NAKED! It took a while for the steam to clear. And there was a moment when you kind of thought: are they? Aren't they? ARE THEY? Then......... the steam cleared........and they were!!

We made a hasty exit!

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