Blessed Advent

 Second Sunday

Happy December

 Happy St. Nicholas Day 

Time for reviewing the year, and goodies for accomplishments. Usually the goodies come after the recitation of a poem. 

I am decorating for the season, much, much less than I used to. But I found these old pieces. The little bear was one of the very first Christmas decorations I ever bought. The snowmen are part of a herd the children made. (Do snowmen come in herds or flocks or murmurations? Hm. I looked it up; the collective of snowmen is a melt. Now we know.)

Outside and Advent

 Frosty Days

We have had more winter in this November than we have had ALL winter for years. Maybe the warm period is ending. 

In Zürich

Out of the city

Frosty morning windows

The garden, slumbering. Yes, the greenhouse has heat and wool blankets. 

And now it is Advent. 

Blessed First Sunday in Advent. (We improvised.)

Thanksgiving and Beyond

Being Grateful 

Despite once again transporting nearly my whole kitchen across the country, I am thankful to have had a lovely Thanksgiving celebration with some family and friends in the old family home. And we even managed to find a turkey, after a considerable hunt - not one prepared for roasting, but I made it work and it was good - and still is. 

Christmas Shopping

Then comes my annual stroll around Zürich to see the Christmas markets, the lights and displays. And I find a few baubles for my collection. Fortunately, I do not have to shop for people anymore, so I just enjoy the sights. 

Market stalls on the Main Street.

Store display 

The Christmas markets in the main train station 

And THE TREE. This year it is Sponsored by the Lindt chocolate company. 

 

A little train ran around the base of the tree.

Where one gets his picture taken in front of the tree.

The market is under new management this year, so the stalls are different -  no longer plan brown wood, now painted. I like the old ones better. 

Outside the Schloss

 On the Grounds

The front door and Baroque-style ornamentation.

A view from the front with outdoor seating. This place is used as a conference and wedding venue. 

Part of the garden house, under the porch. 

A view of the organic gardens.

Many large old trees were cut down. Many of the remaining stumps are covered in some kind of a parasitic plant. This one was made into a shrine. Very picturesque. 

The back of the Schloss. 

A sculpture in the back park area. 

A chapel adjacent to the grounds. The bells were ringing.

A history, if you care to read it. 

The end of that excursion. Sort of. We found more thick snow and unplowed roads on our return.

SchlossWartegg

 More Birthday

After leaving family and office, Better-Half and I drove eastward on even-more snowy highways with slow traffic. But eventually we got to our - SURPRISE  - destination. It was worth the effort. By then it was long since dark, so we were greeted by strings of lights and myriads of candles and lanterns. And we got a room. And had dinner. A very fine dinner. The place calls itself the Bio-SchlossHotel/organic castle hotel, and they delivered. The food was from their own garden or locally grown and produced. The wine we had was from a nearby village. The restaurant has a Michelin Star, well deserved. I can’t describe all the flavors, but here are some glimpses. 

Appetizer: tuna tartar with a pickled something and a subtle Wasabi sauce. The other a fennel and grapefruit soup. 

Main courses: roast pork and barbecued pork on Spätzli.

The other a vegetarian old variety “artichoke” with potatoes and an indescribable sauce.

A “cheese salad” of minced sharp cheeses, toasted seeds, onions, thyme leaves, and a dressing. 

Dessert of a chocolate mini cake with a wonderful caramel sauce, and ice cream. 

Those descriptions don’t quite do a very good cook justice.

A couple of views of the interior, note the woodwork - 

Birthday Fun and Not-Fun

 Not-Fun

It snowed the night before.Why, just when we need to hibernate, do we humans think we need to carry on activities as if it were still summer? Like, going driving up steep hills on unplowed, unsalted roads, and around a tiny sharp curve at a narrow bridge over a river at the same time as a postal bus is descending on said roads, with a car on the curve above that couldn’t make it up the slippery hills….? Did I say anything? Well, I tried not to. 

The highways were slippery and slow-going, too, which irritated my driver, but we eventually made it to Zürich. Then the day got better. Much better. I had Oma time with grandchildren. We made music, learned a song, did crafts, and more crafts, for Thanksgiving, and read a storybook. 

And that was just the start….