Goodbye, July

And, poof….

That went fast.

Mary took sunrise and sunset pictures, before she left and when she got back from long days of walking. Lights over Lake Zürich.

And, Swiss National Day tomorrow.

End of Month

Mary’s Adventures, Resumed

Though she is long since home, I have more photos of Mary’s adventures to share with you. I am rather slow, but they will trickle in here.

These are from her early trip to Neuchâtel, when she was still learning the intricacies of train and bus travel.(She did become an expert, by the time she left.)

A fine lady of the lake


Let’s go meet her



Ah, and the gentleman says hello, too


The city was full of bronzes

And not-bronze


And a castle 

And a fine church

And, after a hot, sunny day, rain on the train ride back. 

More to come.

Outdoor Theater

Summer in a Staged Field

In the tiny Swiss town of Bach am Irchel, in random, non-consecutive years, the villagers present an outdoor theater production. The theme might be a piece of their history, or a favorite literary piece from Swiss history. This year was the former. They presented a story from the tumultuous days of 1799, when Napoleon’s Directorate was re-organizing governments all over Europe, including in Switzerland. The production was beautifully costumed, set with rustic period buildings, and included not only a cultivated garden grown especially for the theater piece, but also it had a fine cow and her cute calf  - which had a crucial plot role. And the story had horses, ridden and driven. And it had muskets, and earplugs for the smokey bangs. 

Maria’s husband, being government expert in charge of such things, had been asked about the use of weapons in the theater production. He thought the piece sounded interesting, so he and Maria went to see it; they liked it a lot, and recommended it to us. In fact, Maria made us a gift of the tickets, for Better Half‘s birthday. So we went last night.

The weather forecast was bad. And right on schedule, it started to rain mid-afternoon. Then it poured, buckets and shovels, and cats and dogs. For hours. We drove to the site. It was raining and everyone had on slickers and plastic covers and their emergency raincoat from the little packet, that the bank gave them that one time. We slogged through the puddles to the stands, and found our seats: front row, the ones that had been warned to “bring rain gear,” because the roof might not protect you. An older woman in costume with a wicker basket of towels offered us one to dry the puddles on our chairs. Passing people dripped their streaming umbrellas all over our laps. And one fellow of the cast, in bare feet and bare legs, brought a basket of potatoes from the garden behind the “village square”, that was the setting for the production. He washed his taters in the fountain, though he could have just set them out for the rain to do it. 

And then, miracle of miracles, a watery sun peeped out. The rain drizzled away, and just as the play started, the rain ceased, and stayed gone until after we were driving away later. Praise the Lord. It had been nip and tuck whether the production would be canceled, but we got divine intervention. 

So the story began. It was about the effects of foreign occupation on a village, with troops quartered in local homes, and demands on the villagers. The story was in Swiss German, with some French when Nappy’s troops arrived, and later some broad Austrian-German accents, when the Austrians arrived. Humorous miscommunications ensued. Shots were fired. Repressions were perpetrated. And a little romance developed, that turned tragic, when the girl’s calf was going to be turned into veal steaks. But the ending had a twist and an ended happily. 

Raising the Liberty Tree.

Village dance. All the music was live, by good musicians. 


The “Mayor of Zürich” giving historic background information.









The Frenchies have arrived, and are firing in the hills. Those muskets are loud.





Those swords are real. 


So is the cannon.






The big general arrives.


All ends well. Huge ovation. 


The calf was not made into steaks.


The horses were applauded. 



The romance blossomed. And everyone left happy. 


If you want to read about it yourself:

In the Mountains

Visiting Maria

After a sweltering week, we went to a higher elevation, slightly more agreeable in temperatures. We had church and dinner, then went for a walk in scenery. 

Somebody brought dinner, made the day before 


In the mountain forest


Complete with finger

For the views

Local fauna

All summer cattle, calves, swine, and goats graze up here to their hearts content.

They are brought down in the fall in a flowery and costumed grand march.


The tourists get the local brew: apple


An old-timer car meet-up was just dispersing.

That building is a Käserei (cheese making), so we went to see it.

No more huge copper pots over an open fire in a little log house. 

Choices


And more ripening


With things for the visitors 


Then the walk back, picking wild strawberries. The wild blueberries in the moorlands are just starting to ripen.





Welcome shade


And back to Maria’s chalet for dessert: apricot and strawberry crumble with whipped cream and currents.

So started the week.