Getting the Skiing out of our System...

The last days of Winter are upon us. Oh, we have been told that we can still get snow in Basel as late as in April, but at this point it would be surprising. The weather next week is forecast for sunshine and over 50F, and all the bulbs are coming up and starting to bloom - a one way ticket to Spring.

Basel celebrated Fastnacht this week, and regretfully we were not there. The school holiday was only one week at the same time, and any vacation rentals in Switzerland only rent Saturday to Saturday, so it was a choice of staying in town all week (and doing no vacation), vs going away - so off we went. Our Swiss neighbors wanted to give us a hard time for missing Fastnacht, but they, too, were packing the car to go skiing, so they laughed that they couldn't get any more mad at us as they would to themselves... We have been enjoying all of our friend's Facebook pictures of the festivities, and I am vowing that next year we will figure out a way to split the week and get away as well as get to enjoy the celebration.

So to keep Winter going a bit longer, we went of with the Galias and their two boys for a week of skiing at Sass Fee, a resort in the Valais region of Switzerland.

Eric was in Ohio visiting his family, so we started the week without him. Day one was windy and snowy, so we took our time to get the skis to lockers near the slopes (see Aslam's ingenious idea, as we couldn't find the trolley at our rental house), and get the ski lessons and tickets for the week sorted out. And of course, there is the food - lots to eat and snack on, and lots to drink. No one was missing the snow.

But the next day we had tremendous sunshine (and I have the chapped lips to prove it). The mountains and glaciers here are gorgeous! The kids all went off in lessons, and Frauke and I managed the extremely large beginner slope, while Aslam went off to the top of the mountain on his own. Eric arrived my mid day, so then Karl and Bennett spent the afternoon with him on the mountain, while the rest of us practiced further on the bottom.

The next day was not so sunny, but respectable nonetheless. I was finally beginning to get the hang of skiing (thanks Tom for the great lessons in Austria - I think I am finally getting the natural feel for where all my body parts need to be!)so Eric took me up the hill - visibility was tough, but I was proud that though not elegant on all parts, nothing was so hard that I couldn't get down the hill. More practice on the bottom followed, but slowly I think I am getting it. Dare I say I might be enjoying myself??? Let's not take it too far...

The week, with a few days here in the middle with not so nice weather, there has been a lot of lounging and eating. The kids have been obsessed with purchasing free apps for the set of iphones / itouches we have here - for a day and a half they were all fixated on a restaurant game where they had to cook things for certain lengths of time (5 minutes for an omlete - 24 hours for chocolate fondue) and then serve them in a timely fashion. They couldn't put the things down for risk of ruining the food!

And speaking of food, without a real plan we ended up doing "Mexican theme" for most of the week: chicken chili one night, homemade salsa during the week, and fish tacos on two occasions (hey, when you have something that works for everyone, why mess with it?). Despite being in a region of a lot of cheese, we have enough chesse-dislikers in the house that we avoided it. Could it be that we are done with Swiss food? But as I said, Spring is on the way - so that means grilling in the forest, and asparagus and strawberries - maybe Swiss food isn't so bad afterall...

Death and Life

This year, so far, has been rather tough on us. Being away from family and friends does not help at times like this, but our local friends are have been a helping support. Our hope is that as spring comes, these months of bad news and difficulty will come to an end.

It started with reductions at my company announced in November, with actual people notified at the end of February. I have never had to let people go - it was really emotionally trying for me in the months finalizing decisions and then actually telling people that their job had been eliminated. I was shocked how draining it can be - perhaps too sensitive, but I can't imagine how the George Clooney's of this world can do it on a regular basis.

The week in California to let people go, I heard about the tragic death of the 16 year old son of one of my best friend's from high school. I can not explain what a punch to the gut this was - waking up in the night thinking I had dreamed it, and then realizing it was real. He and his friend went for a raft ride down a swollen California canal, not realizing the danger ahead. Amazing, bright, caring kid. I can not fathom the pain for the family - it still causes me pain just to think about it.

And then this weekend, I was awoken in the middle of the night by Eric's dad Dave telling me that Marilyn, my mother-in-law / Eric's mother had passed away. She had just been moved to a nursing home, but this was a real surprise that she declined so quickly. Her passing was peaceful, but has left us with a hole where "grandma" used to be. Eric has flown back to Ohio to be with his family, and the rest of us mourn from here.

So I really think I hit my limit. I can't handle any more bad news, tradgedy, hard issues. But this weekend, walking Karl to a birthday party, we saw the signs of spring: crocuses blooming scattered across a lawn; daffodils starting to bloom; blossoms forming on trees. The sun has been out as well, and despite being cold, all signs are pointing to the fact that winter and all this "bad" might just be starting to be over...