It's nice having a chef visiting...

The other evening, the young man visiting here with his partner, another friend of mine from a different circle entirely, cooked up a wonderful storm -- the most delicious green Thai chicken and shrimp curry I've tasted in a long, long time. It was reminiscent of the gorgeous food served up by what used to be my home away from home in the Muesmatt area of Berne, the Mues@matt Restaurant. Sadly, the manageress/wine specialist and her Thai husband moved to a different area and changed their opening hours, which didn't suit me.
Ret0's dish has inspired me to try and emulate Thai cuisine with whatever ingredients I can rustle up in Oban. He used the freshest of runner beans, which tasted a lot like okra -- yummy!

Upstage Berne presents Neil Simon's Plaza Suite

Hiya
I'm still on several Swiss mailing lists (and happy to be), so I can inform you today that if you're in Bern, Switzerland, in May, you could catch Neil Simon's play Plaza Suite at Theater am Kaefigturm.
It is presented by Upstage, Berne's English-language theatre group. Directed by Kendall Brazowski.
Upstage are a great little amateur theatre company who have been putting on English plays for at least fifteen years.
Here's the slightly adapted blurb from Upstage's invitation card:
Neil Simon's hilarious comedy follows three couples successively occupying Suite 719 at the Plaza Hotel in New York.
Karen Nash is desperately trying to revive the romance in her 23-year-old marriage to Sam, a trim, calorie-counting businessman. Jesse, a famous Hollywood producer, tries to rekindle old times with Muriel, a seemingly unspoiled wife and mother of three, 17 years after they last dated in high school.
Finally, Norma and husband Roy go into a mad panic when their daughter locks herself into the bathroom minutes before her hugely expensive wedding.
This will be an evening that will make you laugh, cry, sigh and mostly ... be glad it isn't happening to you.

Dates: May 7, 8, 13, 14, 15 at 7:30pm; May 16 at 5pm.

Tickets from tel. +41 31 311 61 00, or click on the header to this post which contains a link to their website.
Box office: Monday to Saturday, 6 to 7:30pm.

Have fun!

RTFC – Raise Tibetan Flag Campaign - Exhibition at Tibet Museum, Dharamsala, April 7-19, 2008

Hello again

I'm trying to keep my head above water -- sometimes wondering why I'm doing this to myself but always knowing, deep down, that I'm doing the right thing and that, if I don't make this move now, I never will and it will always prey on my mind: what if...? -- I'm talking of moving my life, my business to Oban -- leaving behind so many of my wonderful friends and family here in Switzerland. That'll be a wrench!
Right now it all feels pretty painful and chaotic but I'm already catching glimpses of relief at jettisoning some of the material ballast I've been dragging around with me for far too long. And I know that true friendships will last.

But enough of me. Here's a press release from RTFC -- a friend of mine is currently living and working in Dharamsala, Nepal, assisting the Tibetans there in their peaceful struggle with his beautiful photography and artwork. RTFC – Raise Tibetan Flag Campaign merits everyone's support.

For what it's worth, I'm proud to be able to pass on the word about it, especially on the day on which the Olympic torch was flown to Beijing, which is excellent news for the Chinese government, terrible for universal human rights.

Nuff said. Peace!

The Tibetan flag is raised high on Münsterplatz in Bern on Monday, March 24, 2008. © Photo: MPJ

PS
Since the Press Release was written, a video has been compiled for RTFC which you can view at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0zs-icVGts

And the date of the opening has had to be shifted. Here's the note that just came in from one of the organisers: "... after meeting with the Tibetan Parliament this afternoon, we secured part two of our Exhibition at the Tibet Museum from April 7th to the 19th. The opening will still be held at the TCV day school."
******
March 31, 2008 -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Raise Tibetan Flags Campaign hosts its inaugural Peace Exhibition in
Dharamsala

Dharamsala, India – Since the Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1949 and more recently, in the wake of the events in Tibet and within the Tibetan exile community, Raise Tibetan Flags Campaign (RTFC) was initiated as an outlet for peaceful and proactive demonstrations.
As a result, RTFC has coordinated a Peace Exhibition featuring the work of 17 photographers, painters, multi-media and video artists, performance artists and musicians from 9 different countries across the world.
The purpose of the Exhibition is to portray ideas and reflections about Tibet, united by the themes of peace, freedom and justice through art and music while fundraising for RTFC. The opening Exhibition will begin at 11 am at the TCV Day School on Sunday, April 6th, 2008 and continue at the Tibet Museum until April 19th.
Admission will be free at the opening Exhibition and 5 Rs. at the Tibet Museum.

RTFC is a movement which aims to promote peace and awareness through raising Tibetan flags worldwide. The ultimate objective of RTFC is to create a platform for Tibetans to express their right to raise Tibetan flags. Raising a Tibetan flag is a simple yet powerful act of solidarity for both Tibetans and Tibet supporters alike. Since not one Tibetan flag is allowed in Tibet, we will raise millions everywhere throughout the world.
All proceeds from donations and the sale of art works from the Exhibition will go towards the further distribution of Tibetan flags; RTFC is run entirely on a voluntary basis.

The Raise Tibetan Flags Campaign is also organizing ongoing Peace Exhibitions which will continue from Dharamsala to Delhi, Seoul, Kathmandu, Bangkok, London, Los Angles, Minneapolis, Kumamoto and various cities throughout the world. By organizing international Exhibitions, our goal is to promote the message of peaceful expression far and wide while opening the dialogue about Tibet amongst the citizens of the world. In addition to Tibetan-themed artwork, each Peace Exhibition we host will also include speakers and musicians who will help spread awareness and understanding about the current situation in Tibet. Free Tibetan flags will also be available at each Peace Exhibition so that all attendees can carry on the promotion of peace and awareness through the raising of a Tibetan flag.

For more information, please contact:
Tenzing Jamyang – Campaign Founder
(for Tibetan and Hindi correspondence: mobile 9805236959)
Wen-Yan King – Campaign Co-founder
(for English correspondence: mobile 9816273240)
Je Min Lee – Exhibition Founder
(for Korean correspondence: mobile 9218807616)

peace@tibetanflags.org
www.tibetanflags.org


NOTES TO EDITORS
Raise Tibetan Flags Campaign (RTFC) was established one week after the events of the 49th anniversary of the March 10th, 2008 commendation of the Tibetan Uprising. The ultimate objective of RTFC is for Tibetans to have the right to raise Tibetan flags inside Tibet. Within the first week of RTFC's establishment, we raised over 4,000 Tibetans flags through free public distribution in McLeod Ganj. By mobilizing Tibet supporters across the world, we will continue raising Tibetan flags to promote peace and awareness while paying homage to those who have suffered or died for freedom and justice in Tibet. RTFC also aims to preserve Tibet's unique cultural heritage through the mass raising of Tibetan flags worldwide.

Upon its inception, RTFC has existed as an apolitical movement which aspires to unite all Tibet support groups in Dharamsala and abroad under the Tibetan flag. It is RTFC's aspiration for all Tibet supporters to stand in solidarity for promoting peaceful resolution and open dialogue about Tibet.

RTFC's website, www.tibetanflags.org is currently under construction but will available soon. A press kit with detailed information about RTFC will be made available at the press conference at 10am on April 6th, prior to the commencement of the Exhibition. Please RSVP at peace@tibetanflags.org if you plan on attending the press conference. In the meantime, please contact us for any questions or suggestions. We look forward to hearing from you.
****

Hello again
I'm forever lagging behind with my photos -- life just passes too quickly. Ah well, ... -- spring is definitely in the air here, after a day or so of rain. Of course the first night with overcast sky had to co-incide with the complete lunar eclipse that would otherwise have been visible here. Bummer!

Here are some impressions from spending a moment recently watching and listening to a group of four Mongolian musicians. I was especially fascinated by their instruments.Ubiquitous trainers and jeans contrast with baroque (traditional?) floral patterns.
I had listened to music from Mongolia only the night before and was fascinated with descriptions of instruments just like these. Serendipitous coincidence!

And here, a sunset captured a few days later from the top end of the Kornhausbrücke. Cheerio!

Cold!

It was +5°C on my balcony at 7:30AM today. Glad not to have grown any basil this season. Wonder how the self-seeded cherry tomatoes will fare. Brilliant weather though, very crisp, invigorating, lots of sun with a few clouds, fairly high wind. Perfect for cycling! Now all that I need is time :)

Busy, busy, busy

Hiya -- no, I'm still around, no worries, and doing great. Just very, very busy all round.

Spent part of last week in the Grisons (Vals -- very hot; totally homesick for Lewis, probably because of all the sparkling gneiss, missing the sea, missing the sea, missing the sea-breeze...); celebrated Swiss national holiday last Wednesday (hot again, great farmer's lunch bang in the middle of Berne city, which was weird and wonderful; followed by only my third trip down to Marzili for a couple of very refreshing swims (water temps of 16-17°C) in the river; from 10:30 PM onwards oohed and aaahed for half an hour at the most spectacular fireworks Berne has ever seen -- the last time they were launched from the top of "our" hill, the Gurten, was sixteen years ago, the hiatus due to a horrendous accident that year, which killed a young girl -- air pollution was absolutely awful, the peak noticeable even on top of Jungfraujoch! -- but it was simply magnificent). Now I'm trying to catch up on all the lost time.

Photos, hopefully, to follow over the weekend.

Flowers and more on a Bernese farm

Hello again

I promised a post about my friend's 80th birthday -- well, some photos that highlight the lovely setting and beautiful flowers at Staehli's Rustica in 3144 Gasel, Switzerland. For details, see http://www.rundumbern.ch/gaumen/gaumen.htm. It's an absolutely lovely setting well away from the noise and bustle of the city. Most importantly, the Staehlis are extremely friendly people and great cooks/hosts.
They keep bees, a very friendly, very lazy dog, Rico, ... ... chickens, goats, and provide for children out of doors (indoors, there's a playroom, as well, which doubles up as a bar and/or store-room for instruments when guests bring their own band -- I even saw a drum kit!).
Some wild sage not usable in the kitchen, but great for bumblebees and butterflies.
Here's chef preparing the fire: I didn't count the logs he tossed into his big self-built fireplace, but if you want to feed fifty people, your fire and griddle have to be generous.
Not a great photo, but it shows the ingenious counterweight to the heavy steel plate of the griddle -- a big, round rock Mr. Staehli found in the hillside above his farm.
Here he is prepping the griddle, a simple, rimmed steel plate about 1.20 x 1.20 m, a few minutes before he started to grill sausages made by a neighbouring farmer and steaks from neighbouring farm animals. They tasted fantastic. He had a good blaze going at that time.
We were very lucky with the weather. The gathering storm held off until we were well into our meal and safely indoors.
A very warm welcome arranged by the lady of the house, Mrs Staehli. She had her eyes and hands everywhere.
About an hour before we were ready to leave, the skies did open and it poured:A fair amount of water came rushing down at the far edge of the terrace. We were keeping fingers crossed the rain wouldn't bring another wheelbarrow-load of muck, like it did the night before.
Luckily, the indoor space is lovely and spacious and well-lit.Yes, the piano was in tune, and we had some exquisite music during the party.
My friend's very own florist brought a dozen of these lovely flower and fruit arrangements all the way from Basel. They looked gorgeous.
We were happy enough, especially as chef served up an amazing ice-torte he had made himself the previous night:He had at least five different types of ice-cream in there, and the outside was decorated with meringues, frozen raspberries, Kambly Bretzeli and other delicacies. He was generous in the pouring out of brandies and liqueurs, too, to help digest what was not exactly a light dessert. Yummy, though!

Summer moan

Hiya

Need to have a quick moan about the heat. It's been tropical these days. Anyone in their right mind would go flop on the lawns by the river (aka Marzili) and enjoy the occasional dip in 18°C waters (or the 24°C pool, but I heartily dislike swimming pools). I dropped everything yesterday evening and joined a mate from one of my favourite NGOs for a chinwag and a good, long swim. Very refreshing, invigorating. So much so that I was wide awake after just two hours sleep. Woke in time to watch and listen to a massive thunderstorm. Huge bolts of lightning came out of the black sky, crashing thunder following almost immediately. Quite scary, actually, but also exciting. And the rain that followed had that sweet, sweet deep summer smell -- of hot asphalt, grass, leaves being tossed about. Mind you, there was very little wind, which is odd for a storm like that.

Woke much too late, to a hot sun in a relentlessly blue sky. Not so relentless: it's quite overcast now, but still very hot and extremely humid. As I said: anyone in their right mind...

But I'm not, and I'm busy, so I better crack back to jobs in hand. Ciao!

PS: Would give an arm and a leg (metaphorically speaking, of course, to be sailing, swimming, walking up and down the Scottish West Coast right now!). Next summer, hopefully. Anyone else interested?

Musings

Hello again

At the end of a pretty intense day, just a few notes.

One, I've long meant to mention that I recently read Frank McCourt's "memoir", Angela's Ashes, about growing up in Ireland in the 1930s/1940s. Impressive read. At university I read James Joyce's "memoir", A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which McCourt's book seems to almost seamlessly pick up from. The similiarities in their catholic upbringing are striking. McCourt's poverty is even more extreme. I admire anyone who pulled through that kind of abject destitution.
I won't go into whether Angela's Ashes is a factual enough book -- let me just say that, if one really focuses on certains points in one's past and stops worrying about what might turn up, it's amazing what details will surface, right down to tones of voice, facial expressions, colours, physical sensations, smells, noises, etc. So I have no problem believing McCourt.

What else. Oh yes, bitching about the weather: Yesterday I received an announcement about European River Swimming Day on Sunday, July 15. Lovely idea: people everywhere will jump into their favourite rivers to demonstrate their love of a healthy environment. More at http://www.rivernet.org/bigjump/ However, as I thought when I read the announcement, our river here is much too dangerous these days, so the event has had to be cancelled. Maybe further downriver things will be better. I'm hoping to perhaps jump into a river in the Jura -- definitely taking my swimwear as hot weather has been forecast.

A year ago, this is where I was, at this very hour, 5:30-ish PM:
Absolutely no-one else will ever be allowed to use this photo [© R.A.E., by the way] because it's a far from attractive view of me from behind. It will serve very nicely, thank you, as a memory of how great it was to be walking towards that lovely, cool water of the top end of Lake Thun after a hot descent from the Jungfraujoch the same day.
Mind, I won't forget that excursion in a hurry, because of the great time we all had up on the ice and in the snow after getting up at the crack of dawn to catch the first train up. Worth it just for the gorgeous early morning drive up the Aare valley all the way to Interlaken Ost (I'll remember that for the rest of my life, too, but that's another story). And also because, a few minutes after the above photo was taken, I had to muster all my ancient rescuing skills when dealing with a drowning person: the friend I had spent the day with, an outdoors person if I've ever seen one, suddenly felt very faint out by a raft which, however, had not steps to climb up, was too far above the water and out of reach. He almost had to be dragged back to safety. The combination of massive differences in elevation, lack of sleep, lack of food and the great heat, followed by sudden cool water took a toll on a body that once was fighting fit but that day (dare I say it) rather overweight and under-fit at the time. Gave us rather a nasty fright. Not sure I've been forgiven for coaxing the man into the water in the first place. Ah well, such is life, I suppose. Need I say that I'm glad nothing more serious happened?

To finish this off for today, here's another sky picture -- just as a reminder of how lovely summer can be, even in Berne, even in July (by the way, I'm currently wearing scarf, long-sleeved shirt, vest, long trousers, socks, warm slippers, and still not feeling really warm. Temperature this morning, at about 9AM: about 10°C! Unheard-of for this time of the year. I woke several times last night, feeling like the tip of my nose was about to fall off with the cold. Honestly!

Nuff said, here comes the blue sky!

Berne: Palatial looks

Habemus cupola! The renovated cupola of the Federal Palace, the Swiss national Houses of Parliament, is being unveiled today after about a year of work. My photo isn't all that good, but in comparison with a photo from last September (I think), where the dome was hidden under a huge white canopy (see below), one does perhaps catch a hint of shiny gilding. Apparently, this is what it looked like 105 years ago, when it was unveiled for the very first time. I will try for a better photo, promise.

Weather report

Hiya again

This morning I got to work even later than usual because of a massive rain and thunderstorm. From my kitchen window I can see the north-eastern sky, which was lit up just above the horizon, with even a hint of blue in the distance. But it was so dark I had to turn the light on to see what I was doing as I was preparing my coffee -- at about 8:15 AM on this year's longest day!

It was a very muggy night, with a couple of downpours and thunder and lightning waking me at about 2 AM. The air was warm and heavy with impending rain.

For a clearer view of what might be developing, I went to my sitting-room window, which is almost at a right angle from the kitchen, and looked out towards south-south west. A low-hanging, light grey blanket of cloud was approaching very fast. I could see none of the hills and houses beyond the huge hospital complex (Inselspital) -- the sky was a uniform, dark grey. Gusts of wind were beginning to whip the crowns of the sycamore trees in my little street. A moth was being tossed about just below my window sill. It seemed to struggle desperately for shelter in the lee of the balcony next door. Somewhere from off to the north-east came a crashing noise, as of a window shutter being slammed shut. People were running for shelter, the kids in the playground opposite were screaming as the first huge raindrops hit them. For a minute it looked as though this was going to develop into a hail storm. But the massive drops caused nearly as much damage, bringing twigs and branches and seeds down everywhere.
It grew darker still. Now the wall of cloud and rain had even obscured the hospital -- it's about half a mile off as the crow flies. I could barely make out the huge green lettering on top of the fifteen-storey patient ward tower.
The deluge was impressive: massive gusts of wind whipped lashings of rain up my little street, spraying my windows -- they almost never get a drop of rain because I live on the top floor and the eaves protect them. I rushed to close my balcony door and the kitchen window.
What I saw there stopped me in my tracks: lashings of rain rushed down the roofs opposite. The amount of water was too great for the gutters to swallow so that a small stream came splashing down into the gardens below. In one of the houses opposite, one of the big flower pots outside a balcony railing on the second floor had gone crashing down, just missing the steps of the ground-floor flat leading into the garden. The people were at home -- at least they had their lights on -- but luckily none of them had ventured out just then.

Half an hour later I walked to my office, picking my way across debris, branches, twigs, seedpods that had amassed on the pavements and streets.

One of my office colleagues, who lives in one of the small villages beyond the suburbs, told me she had driven past several trees that came down across her road; and another colleague, who lives on a hilltop to the south of Berne, had to turn his car around because a fallen tree blocked his usual route.

I'm so glad to have the choice of when to start work (well, most times). So many people got soaked this morning!

As I type, at 2:45 PM, everything looks clear and lovely, with great white clouds hanging calmly in the sky, a slight breeze caressing the leafy trees, the sun lighting up the view, and temperatures down to a very pleasant temperature.

No pix today -- I was too busy watching and absorbing the sights. :)

Hot-air balloons on a Saturday morning

Hiya

Early Saturday morning I'm woken by very loud whooshing sounds. Now, I usually have the window open in the other room. If my bedroom window is open, there's too much outside energy to keep me awake. The very loud whooshing sounds are familiar: hot-air balloons! I jump up and frantically grab for my camera, throw my kitchen window open – yessss! There they are. Two of them, almost overhead, drifting northward. More whooshing sounds, not from these two. For ten minutes, one after the other of these ephemeral objects with their fragile human passengers drift past, most of them soundlessly.
One of these days I'll have to grab a ride myself... For now, these photos are my view. Have fun!
Scarily close to neighbouring buildings, these two were the first I saw, and sinking fast. About to land on the football field a little ways up the road?
Numbers three and four in hot pursuit:
As numbers 3 and 4 drifted north-westward, numbers 5 and 6 came into view, with number 5 following the same route as the preceding ones. Unlike them, however, it didn't seem to be sponsored by a watch or coffee company:
Number 5 wasn't only the most beautiful of the lot, it also obligingly fired up well within viewing range ... :) ... while off in the distance, number 6 drifted across the sky in the background.
Number 7 drifted in from the west, creeping into the game like a maverick:
Firing up again, number 5 approached number 7, but kept sinking beyond the rooftop:
And another one (number 8) rises from the brightening skyline, the third one, I think, sponsored by a local coffee (roasting) company. It seems to slide down the edge of the rooftop opposite:
This one, must be number 10, looks huge as it creeps above the rooftops.
My beautiful columbines -- yesterday they were just buds, now they're already in full bloom -- provide the foreground to hot-air balloons numbers eight and nine.
It didn't look like it was going to be such a great day, but it turned out to get rather hot. The evening brought the first rain in weeks, and a welcome cooling-off.

The summer has begun...

Hi again

Those of you who know me also know that I loooooove swimming in the Aare river in Bern. It's simply the greatest feeling to be carried downstream by the sometimes gentle, sometimes quite fierce current.

Well, I launched my personal summer season yesterday evening. The air was very warm, I'd say at least 25°C at just after 5 PM. Water temperature ca. 14.5°C. Now, you might call this cold or at least chilly but I can assure you, after lying in the hot afternoon sun for half an hour, this cool water was more than welcome. I swam only about 200 m, of course, but could have gone further if necessary. And I warmed up really quickly afterwards. I don't remember a time when the Aare river was this warm this early in the season (1982 or 83 was the only time I went down there on an Easter Sunday, but only dipped my toes in 10°C water -- I do draw a limit). And I certainly have never swum past an apple tree in full bloom, as far as my memory serves. Glorious! The only drawback was the many fluffy balls of dandelion seeds floating on the water surface -- you have to breathe carefully... :)

The Marzili is not officially open yet, so the pools are still empty. But everything else is in place: the old wooden sunning planks – polished from thousands of towels and bodies – located along the river and in other strategic places, the changing rooms and amenities, and even the restaurant is open, albeit with a limited schedule and range of food and beverages for sale. But still: isn't it great that the Swiss capital city should have this kind of leisure facility -- free of charge? I also heard that the Weyermannshaus -- another park-like open-air pool with great lawns -- is open to the public. They also have an indoor pool, so the less hardy may prefer to go there.

Sorry, no pix for a change -- I didn't take my camera along yesterday evening. Perhaps on the weekend.

Till soon!

Early April weekends again

Hello again

It's already more than two weeks since Palm Sunday and over a week since Easter but I found it interesting to see the difference in vegetation then and now -- the heat we've been having these last few days is more like mid-July than mid-April, the only difference, perhaps, in that the nights still cool down considerably.

All over my neighbourhood, parties were happening and people enjoyed their balconies, gardens and barbecues -- not necessarily to the pleasure of neighbours, I'm afraid. I for one am pretty peeved to find I either have to go out, or sit indoors with my windows closed, or be smothered by the fumes from numerous barbecues all around. Lighter fluid creates especially obnoxious fumes but burnt fat comes a close second. Yuck!

Anyway, rather than harping on about this, here are a few more early April 07 photos.

A little to the south of Berne is the lovely Elfenau – Elves' Glade – park. During a walk there on Palm Sunday, I was delighted to see the lush white-and-green carpets of wood anemones that cover deciduous forest floors.
A few steps further lay this massive victim of Lothar, the December 1999 hurricane.
The local kids have transformed a nearby fellow-victim into a play-trunk -- great fun for them. Fungi and small creatures have evidently had a feast, too.
And the next photo may be another remnant from that scary night just after Xmas 1999 -- our woodlands are still strewn with evidence. Forestry management research has found that devastated areas revitalise more quickly if fallen trees and debris is left on the ground.
Nearer to my friend's house stands a larch tree. They're hard to spot on this photo, but the very tips of its branches are dotted with tiny red blossoms just bursting out of their pods.