almost a year later! 12.2.2012
The houses were tinged pink this evening as I took George to his swimming lesson in Avenches. The second lot of tests t determine whether he goes up to the next class, swapping Sunday nights for Saturday mornings. This would be a whole lot more convenient as, at the moment, we always have to make sure we are home in time for swimming after skiing on Sundays, visiting friends or whatever.
Today we went skiing in Schwarzsee. A beautiful, crisp sunny day with fantastic snow conditions but soooo cold - minus 12 on the car thermometer plus wind chill. As soon as you breathed into your face mask the water droplets froze, so I had icicles hanging off my eyelashes! George is a great little skier now and hardly ever falls over. He loves all the off piste bumpy bits and skiis well on the steeper slopes. When I watch him I almost burst with pride. I nag him to lean forward in his boots, keep his arms forwards, practice his short turns so he knows what to do when we get to a narrow passage. On the lifts going to the top of the pistes we cuddle up and tell stories, and look for animal tracks in the snow.
Graham didn't join us. He sat and studied in the restaurant near the lake. He's doing his last paper (before his thesis) for a Masters degree (MSC) in crisis management, with Leicester University. His shoulders ache today - part of the rheumatoid arthritis he is being treated for. He stopped the drugs for two days because he thought he had a kidney problem but it turned out that beetroot turns your pee red as well! He was away last week at a conference in Copenhagen, where he had been asked to speak, and had been eating beetroot (YUK can't stand it myself).
I am also very proud of my lovely husband, who has built his business up from scratch and made such a success of his consultancy. He is a loving, kind, encouraging parent and adoring husband.
Tomorrow I'll finish off editing a film about bats in Switzerland and why they're endangered. I've been to an exhibition, to the papilliorama where a PHD student was studying bats mating habits, and spent one morning with a bat specialist from Neuchatel who helps people renovate buildings in a bat friendly way!
Today we went skiing in Schwarzsee. A beautiful, crisp sunny day with fantastic snow conditions but soooo cold - minus 12 on the car thermometer plus wind chill. As soon as you breathed into your face mask the water droplets froze, so I had icicles hanging off my eyelashes! George is a great little skier now and hardly ever falls over. He loves all the off piste bumpy bits and skiis well on the steeper slopes. When I watch him I almost burst with pride. I nag him to lean forward in his boots, keep his arms forwards, practice his short turns so he knows what to do when we get to a narrow passage. On the lifts going to the top of the pistes we cuddle up and tell stories, and look for animal tracks in the snow.
Graham didn't join us. He sat and studied in the restaurant near the lake. He's doing his last paper (before his thesis) for a Masters degree (MSC) in crisis management, with Leicester University. His shoulders ache today - part of the rheumatoid arthritis he is being treated for. He stopped the drugs for two days because he thought he had a kidney problem but it turned out that beetroot turns your pee red as well! He was away last week at a conference in Copenhagen, where he had been asked to speak, and had been eating beetroot (YUK can't stand it myself).
I am also very proud of my lovely husband, who has built his business up from scratch and made such a success of his consultancy. He is a loving, kind, encouraging parent and adoring husband.
Tomorrow I'll finish off editing a film about bats in Switzerland and why they're endangered. I've been to an exhibition, to the papilliorama where a PHD student was studying bats mating habits, and spent one morning with a bat specialist from Neuchatel who helps people renovate buildings in a bat friendly way!
darwin - 12. Feb, 18:43
