Edinburgh and Boston from an arm chair

I was so excited to see the latest in the Alexander McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street series at the library I grabbed it and read it through almost in one sitting...

I love Bertie's battles with his OCD mother, Cyril the dog with his gold tooth, Big Lou, and how Matthew and Elsbeth are coping with the triplets. Will their au paar's au paar end up finding a Scottish husband? Not to mention Angus and blue spode cups and the Italian nun whose book of the obvious is set to be published. And there's always a smattering of real life writers who walk through the pages.

Mostly I love the feeling of visiting Edinburgh. I can imagine the taste of Irn Bru, smile as the characters talk about the problems with the tram, picture Princes Street. When they mention Napier University, I think of my daughter's graduation and the tent with the champagne on the lawn. I almost feel as if I can go to quiz night at Carter's with my daughter or have a healthy sandwich at Milk, the later two not mentioned in the book.

McCall Smith puts out one of these a year. I will have to wait until late 2014 before I know if Bertie's mother is released by the Bedouin chief who is impressed that when she organized a book club among his wives, the amount of dissatisfaction went down and will Stuart realize that his second son isn't his son. 

In the same way the Robert Parker Spenser mysteries lets me visit Boston. I can "see" the Indian in front of the Museum of Fine Arts, walk down Comm Ave, etc.

All from my arm chair, the bus, train or bed...wherever I've a few minutes to read.

What a treat.

Early holiday greetings to all readers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOahZhA2SoY&feature=youtu.be

In the Christmas Carol there was Christmas Past, Present and Future...This is Rick's and my Past and Present...who knows about the future...

What's in a name

          BIG HUG

That's what the Teletubbies call out.

Here's another big hug...

... Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève. I've just had my face check up after the July 24th surgery for the break there.

All is well. The doctor poked and prodded. The dull end of his instrument felt dull and the pointy one didn't actually hurt for an OW but did produce an ow.

We spent more time chatting about his recent vacations to Finland and the mountains, and my planned ones to Malta, St. Petersburg and maybe Shanghai.

There's something warm and cozy about a hospital called Hug even if it is pronounced in French as Whog.

Master of complications

 

We'd passed the sign Master of Complications on the front of the Swiss watchmaker  Franck Muller and commented we had to stop for a photo.

What would be a complication that anyone would want to be a master of???? (Sorry Julia about the preposition at the end of the question.)

We agreed that we might be mistress and master of complications such as forgetting dates and things, dropping stuff, etc. We weren't sure why anyone would brag about it.

Today we decided no more postponements of photos.

"Do you want me to ask what the slogan means?" I asked Rick.

He felt that it had to me because of his poor French.

The store is of so high a quality that it requires a concierge to open and the door and direct you. I explained what we were looking for. He sniffed and called another man over, who quickly switched to English (my accent does it everytime). He explained it was his first week on the job, but called his boss, a lovely woman who gave us a language choice. (All this English is NOT helping Rick learn French).

She invited us to sit on one side of a gold-leaf table. She sat down on the other.

"A complication is a layer of difficulty in watch making. Telling the hour is only one complication. A date is another complication. More than one time is still another."

She showed us the catalogue. One of the watches had the hours not laid out in traditional 1,2,3, hours but randomly. "The hands jump to the correct time," she explained.

Another watch had more space for mornings and less for lunch time.

As far as Swiss watch makers are concerned Muller is the new kid on the block. Many Swiss watch makers go back centuries. His firm was opened in 1991.

The woman, who apologized that the store was being set up for their new collection and therefore chaotic (we hadn't noticed any chaos), also said that this was good for the new employee to hear. I felt less guilty for taking her time. 

We learned another term...tourbillon. This type of watch counters the effect of gravity by mounting the escapement and balance wheel in a rotating cage. Abraham-Louis Brequet developed the idea in 1795.

The watches were beautiful. The average price is  €38,000 or 46689 CHF or US$51649.

I hoped she wouldn't notice my 81CHF ring watch.

(Note: At some point I suspect Rick will have his own version of the adventure.  http://lovinglifeineurope.blogspot.fr)

Toilets, Tut and Treats

This was an out and about day.

After a doctor's appointment we had  lunch at a restaurant near where I used to live. In my quest to document toilets for my daughter, I came across the self-sanitizing. I can't remember if she had run into them on her time here, so Llara this is for you.

When the toilet is flushed, the green thing comes out of the back and the seat rotates through the sanitizer.

The next stop was at the King Tut Exhibition. See trailer

Unlike the one in Boston which featured more jewelry and artifacts this covered the history of the discovery. One felt as if they were with Carter as he broke through the door of the tomb. For fans of Downton Abbey may not realise that the owner of the stately home where the series is filmed, financed the archeological dig the uncovered the tomb. It may not show on the photo but someone painted a Dali mustache on the King Tut.

Rick has some really great photos at  http://lovinglifeineurope.blogspot.fr/

Then over to the airport to catch the trolley home. Walking by Martel chocolate goodies were calling out. Why pass up a treat when the public transportation system from the airport to our bus home is every few minutes?

Supporting the library

The English Library in Geneva is a godsend. I could never support my reading habit if I had to buy English books in Geneva bookstores, although my reading is down to one or two books a week against my formerly three to six. And yes, I do read on Kindle too.

Located in the American Church it brings back the coziness of the Parker Street Branch of the Boston Public Library where Priscilla, the librarian always knew what I liked to read and told me about new books that were in. When I was doing research, she was always happy to search for information.

Likewise, when I go into the library, the volunteers know me, ask me about my writing and we chat a bit. There is a warmth that makes my day a little bit better.

Unfortunately the library is falling on hard times as memberships fall off. Unless memberships and donations increase they may have to close, a shame after 80 years of bringing reading to the Anglophone community of Geneva.

They do carry my books, but that isn't the reason I'd like them to stay open. And the egg salad sandwiches and the pastries at the twice annual sales would be sorely missed.

So anyone in Geneva who loves to read, please think about taking out a membership AND supporting their twice a year bookstore. A donation would not go amiss either.

Please.

Scooby 2 causes a panic

J and I came home from the Library meeting, opened the hall closet and there was Lady Leopard http://viewsfromeverywhere.blogspot.ch/2013/12/lady-leopard-was-banished.html

She wasn't sure why LL was there, and went into the kitchen.

"Have you found him?" LL asked.

"Who?"

"Scooby 2, he ran away again."

I offered to help her look. Upstairs, I heard muffle sounds coming from my closet.

Herr Hare was up on the top shelf. "I can't get down," he said. "I was able to jump up, but I'm afraid to get down."

"Do you know where Scooby 2 is?" I asked.

The rabbit looked disgusted. "That's why I'm here. When I get ahold of the mutt, he'll regret this. And Petite Cougar is missing, too."

There was more muffled noise coming from my drawer. I opened it only to see a hopping (excuse the expression Herr Hare) mad PC. "My son shut the drawer on me and I couldn't push it open. He's grounded for a week and no dog biscuits."

I wasn't sure what to say. I thought I'd Skype Rick on the third floor to see if he had any ideas, but when I turned on my laptop guess who I saw peeking over the top...

That pup is BIG, BIG, BIG trouble.

Of course, Rick may have another version of this on his blog. http://lovinglifeineurope.blogspot.fr/ or not. He was laughing a bit too much about this all.

Candles, Santons and Trompe l'oeil all in one day

One of the great joys of my relationship with Rick is showing him things I love. Thus, today we set out for the annual Salon de Bougies et Santon Exhibition.

It is held before Christmas every year before Christmas in the Ferme Sarasin, an 18th century farm house that has been modernized and is now used for community events in the Commune of Grand Saconnex where I lived for 11 very happy years.

The Santons are small terracotta figures and dressed in clothing.

The making of santons is a family tradition from Province going back to the French Revolution. The figurines are moulded in two halves, pressed together, fired in a kiln before clothing and accessories are applied with a glue. Faces are painted.

There are so many characters: a knitting woman, a fisherman, a scissors maker, a baker, a painter, a school teacher, a man reading a miniature edition of Le Monde, etc.  We didn't count them all, but there are alleged to be at least 55 people and/or trades.

The Salon de Bougies is a hall filled with candles all made by craftsmen and craftswomen. Some are beautiful, some are novelties. If my mother were still alive, I'd have bought her an owl candle for her owl collection. One year at the Salon I bought my daughter a coffee cup, tea pot, sugar and creamer candles. One candle holder held a huge candle that stood almost to my shoulders. If we could practically take it back to Argelès, I'd have bought it. Instead, it will go in my imaginary farmhouse.

I'd forgotten my favourite Trompe l'oeil painted on the side of a house until we passed it. Another thing to show Rick.

It represents time past, present and future. Einstein, who lived in Grand Saconnex, peeks out of a window and his famous formula is a graffiti on the entrance to the courtyard. An horologue workshop has early watchmakers in discussion. A pigeon flies by leaving a shadow on the wall. The more we looked at it the more we saw. It is worth it to double click on the photo to enlarge it. Even the news box is painted. Only the hands of the clock are real.

More work by the artist can be found here www.a-fresco.com/

We wandered into the park where I used to run mornings and walk my dogs afternoons, caught the bus downtown, before heading home via a lakeside drive. 

The whitecaps and the waves on the lake were the last beautiful thing in a lovely day.