OOOPS - I SEEM TO HAVE MISSED A YEAR...

YES - I MOVED - AND THEN...
basically I've been running around here and there - first getting rid of lots of old stuff - then getting myself organized in my new home - going for a long visit with my parents in canada this december-january and in between: working - sewing - doing stuff.  now i'm happily installed in my new home & enjoying life
below, a few impressions


JA - ICH BIN UMGEZOGEN - UND SONST...
irgendwie war ich das ganze jahr beschäftigt - zuerst mein hab und gut sortieren und sehr sehr sehr viel weggeben und entsorgen - dann mich im neuen zuhause organisieren - dezember-januar durfte ich meine eltern in canada besuchen - und dazwischen: arbeiten - nähen - dies und das.  jetzt bin ich glücklich in meinem neuen zuhause und geniesse das leben
unten, einige eindrücke

it's been a while: from christmas 2016 to march 2017

sorry folks - managed to catch a bad flu just past christmas which then turned to pneumonia so i was out of commission from boxing day until mid february...

but still have a few things to say and show :)

THE CHRISTMAS TREE

as you all know by now - one of my favourite places to hang out, is the natur- & tierpark goldau 
on 24th December, they always have a number of fun activities for kids, families and everyone else as well. one of my favourites is the Bears' Christmas Tree. in the early afternoon the two brothers, takis & arko, are locked into the bearhouse where they normally only spend the night. a few rangers and animal caretakers then bring a pine tree into the enclosure, hang special baubles in the shape of fresh apples, and pineapple slices onto the tree and then douse the lot in raspberry syrup. once everything is ready and they are safely out of the enclosure again, the takis and arko are invited to come out and play :)   

first they waited in front of the house and "discussed" why they had been brought inside during the day - hmmmmmm something seems to be different in the enclosure - oh look - there are lots of people down by the lake - hmmmmmm - maybe they have some goodies for us - or something else interesting might be happening down there. arkos - being getting straight to the point as is his wont - took the shortest route down the hill - galloping down the sidepath and the grass hill - heading straight for us and the tree. takis, as usual prefering to get more facts to a longer more detoured route, "hey maybe there are some goodies in the upper hole for me", he probably thought. but when he got closer he realized that arko had found something new - and seemed to be getting a head start on some treats. can you see the speed he has as he is running towards the tree?  a half hour of exploring, munching, climbing to get at a special goodie and general shaking and munching commenced. when the boys decided to have a break the wolves came down - well there might be something good for them too. but the boys soon returned. after a while arko decided to have another go at taking that tree down - well it's so much easier to lick the branches and get that last bit of sweet goo out of the nooks and crannies - and then of course also out of their fur.   
oh these two boys love their christmas tree!!!

 

WASHINGTON DC - for the ACC - Exhibition alongside the Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology

a quick visit to the US - Washington DC this year. after the scare of the Blizzard to end all Blizzards, I'm quite surprised at the nice and calm flight. the airport is practically empty - I believe that only four overseas flights arrived - all other flights have been cancelled. we were lucky - the main blizzard took place further north - not much snow - but cold and very windy during the next few days. after a stop at the exhibition center to get the badges - check out everything in order and make plans for the afternoon's set-up job once the boys get here I head outside. of course my first visit is to Abe Lincoln followed by a nice but windy walk up to the washington monument - after that into the city to purchase a wall mount for our large monitor. back to the hotel just in time to pick up the boys - and off to work we go. by thursday night we're all done - everything is ready. a good show and good work all round - thank you to all - we have a great team!  before going home - another visit to Abe to say Good Bye 

Klausjagen - Küssnacht am Rigi 5. December 2016

yesterday we enjoyed another fabulous KLAUSJAGEN in Küssnacht am Rigi. 
this year we travelled to arth with the MS SCHWAN enjoying a cozy cheese fondue. a bus then took us to küssnacht and we could soon immerse ourselves into the fabulous event. to get a feel of the eerie feeling underscored by the melody of the musicians, TREICHLER and COWHORN trumpets, should take a look at  this  video.  
below some pictures most of the beautiful IFFELEN and a few from the trip on the lake. yes - we had another boattrip - this time with the MS FLUEHLEN where we enjoyed coffee, cake and the wonderful view on our way to luzern. 

gestern durften wir wieder mal das geniale KLAUSJAGEN in Küssnacht am Rigi geniessen. 
dieses jahr sind wir beim gemütlichen käsefondue mit der MS SCHWAN nach arth gefahren. von dort mit dem bus nach küssnacht und schon bald durften wir das treiben erleben. wer das unglaubliche gefühl und die fast unheimliche melodie der musikanten, TREICHLER und KUHHORN-BLÄSER noch nie erlebt hat - muss sich den abend für ein anderes jahr unbedingt vormerken. hier noch ein link mit video.  
und weiter unter einige fotos - hauptsächlich von den genialen und wunderschönen IFFELEN.
nachdem wir uns sattgesehen hatten gieng es weiter mit dem MS FLUEHLEN bei kaffee und kuchen nach luzern - toll auch die wunderschön adventlich beleuchteten häuser entlang dem vierwaldstättersee. 

Roma 2016

had a fabulous - fabulous week in and about rome in early october - here finally a few impressions.

hatte anfang oktober eine richtig geniale woche in und um rom - hier endlich einige impressionen


8-9.10.2016  night drive from switzerland to rome  /  über nacht von der schweiz nach rom

9.10.2016  OSTIA ANTICA

9.10.2016  LIDO DI OSTIA

 

10.10.2016  SUBIACO  

10.10.2016  SAN BENEDETTO

10.10.2016  NEMI


11.10.2016  ROMA  EUR

11.10.2016  ROMA   

 

12.10.2016  ROMA

12.10.2016  CASTEL GANDOLFO


12.10.2016  FRASCATI

13.10.2016  GIARDINI VATICANI   the Vatican Gardens  /  Die Gärten des Vatikans

13.10.2016  BASILICA PAPALE DI SAN PIETRO IN VATICANO   St. Peter's Basilica  /  St. Peter's Dom

14.10.2016  BRACCIANO

14.10.2016  LUNGOLAGO

14.10.2016  ARRIVEDERCI, ROMAlast impressions  /  letzte impressionen

15.10.2016  going home  /  wir gehen heim

out and about on a rainy weekend

a little while ago we had a visitor from china. as her visit took place when we had a long weekend we decided to brave the elements and do a little sightseeing.

luckily switzerland has a long history which of course also includes quite a few centuries where castles were important - and two of my favorites are the Chateau de Chillon near Montreux and the Chateau de Gruyeres.

The Chillon Castle is a "island fortress" on the shores of the Lac Leman, more widely known as lake geneva.  (for the more traditional pictures - please visit the chillon website with the link provided above)

it was a very wet drive from the chateau de chillon to gruyeres, therefore no stop in montreaux to visit freddie mercury but i don't want you to loose out on (in my humble opinion) the nicest butt in montreux, therefore just for you:

back on the road... yes we almost got rained out but did find gruyeres and the rain slowed down just in time for our visit - a yummy lunch - a little walk through the town and a longer visit to the chateau de gruyeres (english and german websites are being updated). this castle is set on hill in a green valley with the swiss alps as a backdrop - the cailler chocolate and the gruyeres cheese factories are both located within a stones throw of the hill. 

it was a long and full day - but fun and interesting - after a restful sunday we were off on our next adventure first thing on monday morning - today another friend joined us and our "guard-dog" minou.  the skies cleared just in time for our drive accross the brünig pass and a full day out in the ballenberg open-air-museum. 

first a couple of scenery pics from before and after the brunig pass

and now to the ballenberg - this is an open-air-museum located on the mountain side. there are more than 100 historic buildings which wer relocated from all parts of switzerland to show what life was like in the different parts of switzerland in years gone by. gardens, farm animals, old trades are shown and in many places it is also possible to ttry things out. of course the ballenberg restaurants serve only produce that is actually made here in the museum area.  

 

 

 

yes, it's april... SUNDAY IN THE TIERPARK GOLDAU

saturday the weatherforecast was rather bad - but they did say that we should have some sun in the mornig and then it would turn rainy and cold...

well, it was cold - and the moment i left the house it started to rain - by the time i got to goldau it just about poured. no - i'm not the person to let that stop me - so i grabbed the long raincoat with the big hood - the backpack (forgot the raincover at home - duhhhhhhhh) - and because with this rain the camera would probably have to be packed away most of the day - only the camera and tele lens

the owls were feeling rather dreary - looked down at me from various corners where they could huddle under a "roof" - only one of the bearded owls had a quick fly over to see what idiot had come out - but she soon returned to her spot in the heights.

obviously the cats won't be out in this weather - neither the wildcats nor the lynx will show a hair. 

but hey - the wolves are snoozing away - and the bears are out and about - playing and then snoozing. i guess i'll spend the day with the bears!

yes - very wet morning - if you look carefully you can see the waterdrops flying in all directions when Arko shakes his head - i guess he didn't like to have a wet snout :)  but by lunchtime the sun broke through and we had true april weather - sun - rain - rain - sun and rain - sun - rain - and then finally just sun... just in time for the bear & wolf feeding - so much nicer for the people who want to watch.  takis and arko had to wait a bit longer because just as the feeding was supposed to start the wolves decided to treat us to a concert - not at all usual at that time of day - except for takis who was getting very impatient indeed, everybody enjoyed it. but they all got their treats, apples and the standard honey-water/fish/apple/berry/nut ice block for the bears and beef strips for the wolves (they get their real meals in the morning and in the evening).  
...click on the bear picture to see the other bear/wolf pictures:

 

now it really is time to say good bye and head home - it's been a very good day!

so on i go - say hello to the dwarf mice and oder little rodents - they would out and about - munching grains and playing in their cozy homes in the rodent-house. a not so quick hello to the pine marten (baummarder) - he has a nice and cozy new hollowed out tree stump that he can curl up in and doesn't care what the weather is doing all around him - just peeks out at me a few times and goes back to sleep.

in the late afternoon it really is time to move on - but there are a few flowers that deserve a quick stop - and there are kids playing at the waterfountain despite the cold. but i'm just in time for the lynx to come out for an explore and a bit of a play and relax in the sun - then they head back up into their favorite tree.  a quick hello to the wild cats - only two here to say hello - a rather grumpy hello at that. 
... if you click on the flowers - you can see the cats too:

Chicago - April 2016

if you know me - you know that i like to laugh and enjoy life - the world around me - and make that world smile too...

lucky for me - i have great colleagues who not only let me have my way, but also encourage me in any weird and more or less dizzy plans.

i've been collecting teddy bears for years - no i do not have hundreds - actually i've made myself a rule that for every bear coming home with me - another has to go - generally i give them away and pass them on to someone who enjoys them. a few years ago we visited the vermont bear factory, but at that time i did not meet anyone who wanted to come home with me - when i was at burlington airport the other day,  i met a vermont bear factory bear who asked to be adopted. his name is "Bud' the Moose-Bear". 

i'm therefore giving you a look around our ACC 2016 exhibition booth with Bud' as your guide:

of course we also managed a few steps out and about ...