Things Natural

Leaving the murky worlds of politics and religion behind, I am delighted that I have been able to enjoy the outdoors this past weekend.   Yes, our cold spell has officially broken - at least for a time - and I have been able to bike along some of my usual trails, which does wonders for my mood, even though the countryside is still brown and gray for the most part.  It's also good because I am expecting guests to arrive via TGV from Paris tomorrow and visits are always more enjoyable for them when they can go out and do some walking, without feeling as if they will freeze to death.

I actually had a fairly uncluttered view of Lake Geneva this morning, even though the haze still enveloped the Alps. Of course, the zoom lens helped bring the view a bit closer, but this is as much of the lake as I have ever been able to see from my terrace balcony.  With Spring around the corner, the leaves on the trees will soon obscure the lake once again.

The vines of "my" vineyard have been tended, carefully clipped back in preparation for the growth spurts that will occur soon.  I caught glimpses of the workers in the field, even on some of the coldest days this past month.

The snowy slopes of the Jura remind us all that winter is still here, even with the warm weather we've been experiencing.

But it is lovely to be able to get out and about again, without having to bundle up completely.

Things Religious

There are apparently two topics that are BIG no-nos: politics and religion.  Some believe that we should not discuss them at all simply because they are topics about which people believe differently.  Perhaps it is attributable to my linear makeup, but isn't that exactly why one has discussions - because people do not perceive or believe things in the same way?  Isn't that why we try to exchange ideas, hoping to arrive at a consensus?  Of course, if one firmly believes that one's own way is the right way and that none other could possibly have anything of merit, then there is indeed a problem.

The thing for me that helps the discussion is when those who are discussing can at least agree to certain facts.  After all, one can have - and, I would maintain, one should even be open to - a variety of opinions.  But one certainly does not have a right to one's own facts.  Certainly, when facts are scarce, the few that one has can be open to different interpretations, but so long as those interpretations remain subject to logic, one can still have a reasoned and reasonable discussion.  The problem with religion, however, is that to believe literally takes a leap of faith - one must suspend logic - and that leap of faith is a very personal one.  If only that leap of faith could remain personal, I would still have no problem whatsoever with it.  It is only when those personal leaps of faith cause those who fervently believe that there is no other way but their own to thrust that way upon me and others - that I have a problem.  And yes, I do have a big problem with that.  So yes, after discussing one big No-No yesterday, today I shall mention the Other.

The much vaunted Founding Fathers of the US were, for the most part, Deists.  They believed that there was most likely an all-powerful Creator, but they did not believe that the need for an organized religion necessarily followed.  They were all students of history and had overwhelmingly originated from Western European countries, all of which had been wracked by terrible religious wars between Catholics and Protestants for centuries.  Many of their ancestors had family members who had actually gone to the Middle East to take part in crusades against Muslims centuries before the Western European religious wars between Christian religions.  So, having seen the atrocities that had occurred in the name of religion, they very much valued both distinction and separation between State and Religion and never - at least from any of the writings we know best that stem from that era, e.g., the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution - declared the US to be a "Christian" nation.  In fact, our US Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, determined that. according to the First Amendment, freedom of religion can also mean freedom from religion.

I, for one, would much prefer that NO political candidate for office would wield religion as an attribute.  I would rather see a decent, intelligent, compassionate and committed human being who is genuinely interested in making our dysfunctional political system work for the majority of citizens.  I would rather know what meaningful vision that person has for our country than know anything about what religious views that person holds.

Things religious have certainly deteriorated to the same insanity level as things political when I have to read, as I just did in today's Independent, that Mormons - prominently in the headlines these days because Mitt Romney is a potential GOP Presidental nominee, and also a Mormon - have posthumously baptized Anne Frank.  Yes, THE famously Jewish Anne Frank most of us learned about in our respective youths, whose famous house and former hiding place I actually visited in Amsterdam in 2000, and who died precisely for no other reason than that she WAS Jewish.  With all due respect, the Mormon religion - like every other organized religion I have ever heard of or been exposed to - has a lot of cockamamie beliefs by any reasonable measure.  But posthumous baptism is one of the nuttiest, IMO.  Probably the best treatment of this "controversy" - at least the most bearable - is from the inimitable Stephen Colbert last night. 

People like Colbert make me believe that there must indeed be a Creator somewhere - with a wonderful sense of humor!  And thank God for that!

Things Political

I have so far managed to stay out of things political this year, for the most part anyway.  To be crystal clear as to where my own loyalties may lie, I will unconditionally support President Obama in 2012.  I will do so, not so much because I agree with everything he does - I wish he were even half as liberal in his policies as his would-be GOP opponents charge - but because he is certainly the only sane alternative in the extraordinarily politically insane universe Across The Pond, at least as that universe is represented by GOP candidates.

I am hardly the only person on the globe who feels the same.  I have just read through the coverage of last night's GOP debate in Arizona, as blogged by the Guardian's Richard Adams.  While it is true that the Guardian and I are generally kindred spirits on things political, it is also true that I owe Adams and Guardian DC Bureau Chief Ewen MacAskill an exceptional debt of gratitude for their reporting.  They literally took a bullet for me - I could not have stood it at all.  I also owe them plentiful apologies for having to sit through such a farce.

In fact while I'm at it, I apologize to the globe at large.  These idiots do not represent Americans I know and they most certainly do not represent me.  In fact, they do not even represent many Republicans I know and certainly not the majority of those from the 50s through the 70s who were generally decent human beings whose political leanings were, for the most part, to the left of today's Democratic Party.  In the 1980s, however, there was a political sea change, which worsened in the 1990s with the advent of Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House - yes, the selfsame Gingrich who is currently in the running for GOP nominee.  That political sea change sent Democratic wimps scurrying from the political left-ish high ground to the center and then to the right, while Republicans - as represented by the current crop of candidates - have fallen completely off the cliff into total insanity.

Apparently inspired by how well one particularly insane candidate, Rick Santorum, is doing in the polls, in part for being an extreme religious and social conservative, several state legislatures - dominated by rabidly religious right-wing GOP legislators - have introduced bills that would literally prevent family planning at all and at worst prevent any woman of child-bearing age from travelling out of state simply because there might possibly be a slight outside chance that she would be doing so to have an abortion.  American Taliban indeed!  One of these wingnuts has even alleged that the Girl Scouts is a "radical" organization that promotes abortions and homosexuality.  These so called "family values" folks - whose "family values" are often quite shaky themselves - apparently have no  problem with giving little girls "creepy" experiences.  Give me a break!  Please!

Thank heavens for the Guardian and all journalists who really do try to report the news in critical fashion, instead of toadying to extreme candidates to give the impression that ninnies like these actually have something meaningful to say.  They are not only crazy, they are dangerous.  I am also heartened by the Guardian's readership, or at least by those whose comments made sense or held a modicum of humor, such as the three below:

1. NatashaFatale: Mitt: "Syria is their [Iran's] only ally in the middle east."
Wow. What was the name of that other majority Shiite country...begins with "I"...don't tell me, I'll remember...
2. mope When is the box set of the debates coming out? I will buy it.3. ClaudeIvan Newt fairly waddled on stage.  America will never elect a fat president. I'm talking to you, Chris Christie.

Busy Boy

Prince Lightning is now 15 1/2 months old.  According to Sweet Momma H, at his most recent visit to the doctor, he was deemed to be in the 75th percentile for his age and weight.  This makes us all realize that he is still just a little peanut, albeit a very active one.  Like lots of little ones, he also loves to eat his Cheerios, being charmed by their round shape and the fact that they fit right into small chubby fingers.  At the rate he nibbles on them, he's bound to break the 75th percentile barrier sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, one of his favorite places to be is anywhere near the tiny trampoline that his parents have set up in his main play area.  Even when he's not jumping on the trampoline - which he LOVES to do - he's almost as happy simply to use the platform as a table where he can place his little Cheerios container while he nibbles.

The platform also serves as a play table for the toys that he most loves to play with - preferably those that belong to Big Bro, Prince Tyger.

But our little barefoot boy's attention is often fleeting.  Sometimes there is nothing better than a good book

especially, as here, when Prince Lightning can snuggle up to Proud Papa Big T to read it.

Belated Posting 2: New Year's Day 2012

Yet another belated posting.  With today being the third Monday in February, along with the US Presidents' Day holiday, it's about time to boot SD officially into 2012.  I've been hovering between 2011 and 2012 for far too long already.

New Year's Day represented a small payback effort on the part of the grandparents (us!) to host their progeny, who had been treating them regularly to delicious meals.  So everyone stopped by our home to have a New Year's dinner and to watch the Baltimore Ravens football team play the Cincinnati Bengals.  As can be seen here, there were lots of hard core Ravens fans in the assembled bunch.  Fortunately, the Ravens won the game on New Year's Day, 24-16.  They were not so fortunate in the playoffs and thus missed the Super Bowl this year.

Sweet Momma H took over as photographer for this photo so that HWMBO, photographer for the previous assembly, could also participate in the photo group.  The two littlest family members, Princes Tyger and Lightning, got cricks in their necks from looking up so much.  They thought they had happened upon a race of giants, having never seen so many tall people grouped in the same small place at the same time.

Little Prince Lightning spent most of his non-photo-session and non-eating time attempting to climb the stairwell, fortunately carpeted, although he had lots of caretakers to ensure that he wouldn't fall.  But he was happiest of all with a height boost, even if it was a comparatively small one.

He always feels safe in Sweet Momma H's arms, after all.

Belated Posting: Xmas 2011

Because of many reasons, but mostly because I just didn't get around to downloading photos until the end of January, viz. the late postings about the Basel Christmas Market, which I visited early in December, I am just now getting around to posting some photos of Christmas Day.  We drove to Proud Papa Big J's family home in northwestern Maryland to join a riotous bunch (I actually lost count of how many were there!) of other family members, which included all of Sweet Momma D's family members as well, to have one of Sweet Momma D's wonderful feasts.  We're still working that one off, by the way!

While I was too busy helping, visiting or enjoying the feast to take a lot of photos, I did manage to get a couple snaps.  The most important is one of Sweet Momma D, the "Hostess with the 'Mostess,'" in person.  I don't believe that she was able to sit down the whole time that we were there.  She was also moving so fast that it was difficult to capture her at all.

Here are two of the appreciative attendees: HWMBO flanked by Prince C.  Believe me, HWMBO's glum expression changed to one much more cheerful once the food appeared!

In the meantime, son Proud Papa Big J and daughter Sweet Momma K check out the supply of potent potables, while HWMBO looks a bit less glum.  Food is imminent after all.

Three cousins, Princess C, Prince J and Prince C, pose for the camera.  Prince C has shot up over the past year and is now officially the tallest male grandchild, while Prince J has taken over Santa's role for the day.

We expect that Prince C will soon surpass his paternal grandfather's height to claim the title of tallest male in the family.

Stalling Tactics

Prince Tyger loves to play outside.  Going for a walk with Sweet Momma H or Proud Papa Big T - even if baby Prince Lightning also has to tag along - and being outside where he can run around or ride his scooter bike are some of his favorite pastimes.  Playing on a playground jungle gym is another.

Because it's winter, Prince Tyger is pretty well covered up.  Because he rode his scooter to the playground, he's also still wearing his helmet.  You can hardly see his little face.

The jungle gym is exactly the right place for this little monkey

who loves to climb, and has climbed everything in sight ever since he was tiny.

Once he makes it to the top, he's pretty proud of himself.

As well he should be!

But then the real difficulty begins.  Not the climbing down - he can do that just fine.  But he's not excited about having to go home and back inside afterwards to take a nap.  So The Tyger takes his sweet time climbing down to reclaim his scooter bike.

He's in no hurry to return.

Local Smatterings

A few things that have been in the news around here lately ...

*****

You've seen some of my photos (from 2005) as representative of the mini-ice age we've had hereabouts and I've provided links to some of the more sensational photos that others have taken.  The local Geneva Tribune announced a small photo contest and received more than 800 photo entries.  The five winning photos, as selected by a three-panelist jury, can be seen here.

*****

We're all happy because the cold weather seems to be on its way elsewhere.  Temperatures are hovering closely around 0 degrees Celsius (32 F) and, thankfully, the bise has also moved on.  We had a few lazy snowflakes yesterday, but nothing seems to have remained on the ground, at least not here on the plain next to Lake Geneva.  While more snow is forecast for later today, it really seems as if the worst of the cold spell is over.  I hope that is correct.  We've generally been very lucky because the local infrastructure is so good, but in places much further east, such as Romania, it has really been a life-and-death situation.  For too many vulnerable ones who were already living very precarious existences, it meant death.

Geneva's #OWS group, known locally as le mouvement des Indignés, originally set up their protest site in October 2011 at the Parc des Bastions but, following a death at the site in late January, moved the protest indoors until more moderate weather is here to stay.   The deceased person, who was also a drug addict, was apparently not part of the protest movement but was simply found on the ground outside the tents and, as can be seen from the photo accompanying the story at the link above, it looked pretty darn cold there.  The protesters have compromised with local authorities to relocate their tents elsewhere.

***** 

Last weekend, the greatly anticipated Davis Cup match was held in Fribourg between the USA and Switzerland, with the Swiss team featuring the unquestionably great Roger Federer as well as local Vaud favorite Stanislas Wawrinka.  Although the Swiss team was favored, to the great embarrassment of the players involved, it fell to the US dismally at 5-0.  Wawrinka played a gutsy five-setter against Mardy Fish, that Fish ultimately won.  Federer, to the great dismay and surprise of the Swiss, had a grim - for him - defeat at the hands of a brilliant John Isner, who played the match of his life.  The Olympic Gold duo of Roger and Stan was also soundly defeated by Mike Bryan (sans usual partner, brother Bob) and Fish in their doubles match.  After that, because the meeting had already been won by the US 3-0, both Roger and Stan let their teammates finish out the Sunday matches, which ended, to no one's surprise, in a US sweep.  The US Team and their supporters were all naturally delighted; the Swiss Team and their supporters, not so much.  Congratulations to US Team Captain, Jim Courier, who is also a nice guy!


I'm usually a Federer fan, but am very happy to have seen my fellow countrymen do so well.  Both Fish and Isner seem to be genuinely nice guys who will continue to inspire lot of young US tennis players.  I'm hoping that the Bryan brothers will prove an inspiration to my own fantasy brother doubles team of grandsons Princes Tyger and Lightning.  Just imagining that possibility brings on a chuckle ....

*****

That's the recap for today.  

A Jelly Bean Valentine

As we know, yesterday was Valentine's Day.  There is one young lady, my special grand-niece, Princess Jelly Bean, who was completely thrilled with the balloons she received!

May such sweet and unadulterated joy remain with her throughout her life!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Unlike the last couple years when I have spent Valentine's Day in the US with HWMBO, I am on my own today.  HWMBO and I spoke to each other earlier, before he had to rush off to the classes he is auditing at the local community college.  He won't return home until 11:30 pm my time.  The six-hour time difference does make for some difficulty in trying to catch each other during our various activities.  But we do manage to do so, although not nearly enough.

There are many people - family and friends - that I am thinking about today.  I would be thinking about them anyway, but holidays like today are when those we love are in the forefront of our thoughts.  But here are some whom I am missing very much today ...

and here is one other.

Happy Valentine's Day to all!  Be safe, warm and comfortable!

Basler Weinachte Maerkte 2

Back to the December visit to the Basler Weinachte Maerkte ...

After fortifying ourselves with some hot spicy Glühwein, Friend J, who had finished her business in Basel, and I were ready to visit the market stalls and shops in earnest.

There were sparkling delights

and jewelry

and handmade ornaments, as well as

handmade decorations from German-speaking areas.

There were stalls selling seasonal hats and

others selling seasonal posters.

The only thing that was missing was snow.

But we had a wonderful time all the same and we were happy to visit at a time when the market was not too crowded.

It was a wonderful visit and I hope to do it again sometime.  But I believe that I would also like to visit Basel in more depth.   Another day, hopefully, perhaps in the spring!

Ice Tourism

The Geneva Tribune reported today that Versoix, the little town where I used to live, has become a draw for tourists because of the ice sculptures that have formed on its quai during the period of deep freeze that we've been experiencing here lately.  One photo of a 4 x 4 frozen solid under its ice blanket has attracted attention worldwide.   And here is a photo of the sign that "welcomes" visitors arriving at the boat dock that gives them an idea of what to expect.

When I lived there, the only parking option I had was "any available space" and so I often parked along the lakeside quai.  The problem is that when the bise (north wind) blows, the lake water crashes over onto the quai in tsunami-like fashion.  When the temperature is below zero, as it has been for nearly the past couple weeks, the   water not only crashes over onto the quai, but also naturally forms incredible - and beautiful - ice forms wherever the water falls.  I was just barely able to avoid having my own vehicle blanketed in 2005 by moving it in time.  The car then parked just behind mine was also featured in photos that were distributed globally and its owner was not able to use it at all for a good six weeks.  Just as it is now, the quai was also very beautiful then, even if it is a fierce and cold beauty.

My apartment there, which I loved, was also located right next to the lake, or as it is said here, "les pieds dans l'eau" (feet in the water).  With that apartment, I had a small garden with its own microclimate, which always seemed to be a good 10 degrees cooler than the other side of the building.  When the 2005 ice storm, the last season that I experienced one there, hit, here was a view of those buildings, like mine, that were situated right next to Lake Geneva.

Here is a view of the garden sculptures a-forming.

These will give an idea of the power of those waves.

And these an idea of the more finished product.

One could almost believe that one was a prisoner of the Snow Queen!

But it was indeed beautiful.

Basler Weinacht Maerkte

This report may be long overdue, but here are some photos of the visit to the Christmas Market in Basel.  The weather outside is more like what one usually expects around Christmas than the weather for Christmas 2011 actually was.

Stalls for the 2011 Basler Weinachte Maerkte were located in two parts of the city: the Barfüsserplatz near the Historical Museum

and the Münsterplatz, considered to be one of the most beautiful plazas in Basel, 

which also featured a decorated Christmas tree.

The stalls featured lots of local food specialties, 

as well as specialties from Bavaria and eastern Germany.

Some stall keepers were dressed in period costume,

while others let their decorated stalls set the tone.

With plenty available to eat and drink, we were able to fortify ourselves for a more prolonged visit to the non-food stalls and their wares.