Flying cows

Today's high is 9 C, or 48 F. It's pouring cats and dogs, non stop, and the clouds shroud most of anything there's to see from our big window. I dread the moment when they will lift and we'll see all the fresh snow. Claire and Colin are leaving tomorrow - they will have been here for a little over 10 days, during which we managed only 3 hikes. Two of those were downgrades from more ambitious hikes because they took turns being sick, Claire with a cold that won't go away, Colin with digestive issues. Between their illnesses and the generally bad weather, I feel lucky that we had those hikes. At least the weather forecasting is getting more accurate and when they are announcing a good day, we pounce, ill or not!

So today is another quiet day at home, recovering, nursing our ailments, and doing some basic cleaning for the apartment to be presentable for my sisters who are arriving tonight. For those who don't know my family: Brigitte lives in Switzerland, near Lausanne, and we have been seeing each other quite regularly since my arrival here, despite the many hours on the train between Zuoz and her place. My other sister is Francoise who lives in Australia. I haven't seen her since last August, when we were up here together. She recently retired and she and her husband are currently spending several months in Switzerland. It will be fun to spend some time the three of us. We also have business to do together, among others we have to make some decisions with respect to this apartment.

Last Sunday was August 1, a big deal in Switzerland, since it's Swiss National Day celebrating the founding of the Confederation in 1291. Representatives of the three original cantons (our "states") organized an uprising against the Austrian occupiers and the signal to start the rebellion was bonfires lit in a prominent place in each of the three territories - where they could be seen by the other rebels. Today August 1 is celebrated in each town and village, with tables set up in the village square, music, food and drinks. The elected officials make long and inspiring speeches. When it gets dark there's a parade of the children carrying paper lanterns, which always causes much anxieties for the parents because the lanterns are lit by candles and prone to catching fire when the wind doesn't blow out the candles. It all is more fun when it doesn't rain - which this year it did not, fortunately! The parade leads to the site of the local bonfire and everybody then assembles around it. From that location you can then see the fires of the surrounding towns, and some others lit on various mountains. It's very beautiful. Cities also offer official fireworks while people buy their own and blow them off pretty much wherever strikes their fancy, without much regard for anybody's safety. Even those that are illegal in the state of Washington are legal here! It's quite scary!

The above paragraph was written from memory, because this year I didn't see any of it. The Zuoz celebration is organized by the Ladies' Gym Club, of which I am a proud member. I was asked to bake a cake that was then sold on the village square. Here there's no such thing as a commercially certified kitchen! Some of you know of my reputation as a master baker, and despite the strong competition of the Swiss women, my cake went so fast, I actually never saw it offered for sale. I still suspect the organizing ladies to have eaten it themselves. I wouldn't blame them - for putting this celebration together is an extraordinary amount of work. I was also asked to work for a shift - and I opted for the late one. And so it is that from 8:30pm to almost 1am I played waitress on the village square. It actually was fun and the time just flew. When all the revelers had gone home we still had to take everything down, put everything away, from the flags to the coffee makers. And the next morning at 9am (after some 6 hours of sleep) I was back in the village to help clean the grills (we had been grilling and selling sausages and kebabs).

When it was all done, the four of us went to the cafe. We were joined by the friend of one of the ladies. She was quite a bit older than me, and politely introduced herself - Katrin Baschnonga. I asked her if she was related to the former butcher, Herr Baschnonga. She opened big eyes and said that she was his wife and co-owner of the shop. (Herr Baschnonga died and the shop closed at least 30 years ago). I told her we were former clients, that her husband always greeted us by announcing "here come the Neuenburgers" (Neuenburg being the German name for Neuchatel, my home town). She opened big eyes and said that she remembers us very well. She remembered my mother dying young and declared that I look like her - in which she is correct! So here I had made another amazing connection with my distant past. The other ladies around the table couldn't believe what they were hearing. They have all lived in Zuoz for over 20 years, but none has the very distant memories and connections that I have!

On another note: Claire and I went on a walk near town on one of those afternoons when the weather was just so-so and Colin was not feeling good. At one point we heard a helicopter. They cruise up and down the valley quite frequently, either to rescue mountaineers, or people injured in car accidents. This helicopter, however, was coming over the mountains, and hauling something quite large dangling underneath on a long rope. Since I always carry my binoculars, I whipped them out and couldn't believe what I was seeing: a cow, strapped to the rope by a harness. It was quite a sight and I was feeling very sorry for that cow, hoping she had been tranquilized before takeoff. Claire was relieved that the cow was not being flown right above us, as she has a long history of being pooped on from above by all kinds of animals, until now primarily by birds and squirrels.









Pictures:

1. Claire and me hiking (picture by Colin).
2. Prepared bonfire (picture taken by Colin).
3. Waitressing on First of August (picture taken by Claire).
4. The flying cow (picture taken from the internet because I was too dumbstruck to think of getting my camera out. Turns out it's a common mode of transport for Swiss cows. The farmers have insurance paying for it.)