Laowai

We went to Zermatt for a few days. All these years living in Switzerland and I had never seen the famous Matterhorn. 

Zermatt is an interesting town. The hotels and vacation apartments seem to go on and on. And the Matterhorn really does loom over it all. Even at night you can see the silhouette of the mountain above the buildings. Since it’s such a famous and big resort town it’s very international. They even make train announcements in Japanese.

Here are some photos of the buildings in Zermatt.

The whole town is car free – they only have these mini electric taxi buses. If you stay in one of the old and fancy hotels you get a horse drawn carriage ride from the train station (we did not).

We took a cog-wheel train to get closer to the Matterhorn and to do a little sledding. 

We sledded down to the Gornergrat area. Some clouds stuck to the top of the mountain while we were there but otherwise it was a beautiful day. The skiing infrastructure is amazing to me! And we saw a helicopter which reminded me of this show about the rescue helicopter people.

So this was mostly a good trip except it was a little bit cursed. I started off the trip with a migraine so I just stayed in bed for a half day. And then poor Bea didn’t feel good. She got the flu after the first day. Uhg. At least I can say I’ve seen the beautiful Matterhorn.

Bea is 13. Let’s not think too deeply about that big number. Let’s just look at some pictures of cake and her beautiful smile.

I made an Office theme cake – IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY. There’s always a theme.

And since she has grown to be like 12 feet tall I had to make her some new pajama pants. 

With a chemistry pattern since she’s into that now.

And some pretzel shorts since she’s into pretzels too.

Happy Birthday sweetheart.

Today is Valentine’s day and I’m just working away on my quilt.

Bea is about to turn 13. She hates the word teenager. It feels strange that my kid is so big and so old. I’m not sure what to make of it!

Here are a bunch of other random photos that show what we’ve been up to. Starting with Claire and her friends on the train, going to a birthday party. Earlier this week she took the public bus to school. She wanted to ride with her friend so they could spend some extra time together before school. And she wants to be independent. It’s so nice that we can send our kids out without worry here in Switzerland. 

We did get a chance to roast our homemade marshmallows last weekend. 

Here’s a photo that Bea took. We’ve had crazy weather the last few days. In fact school was cancelled on Monday because of high winds! 

Here’s a basket of cozy things.

Brian took Bea to his office’s evening on the fondue tram this year. Nice smiles!

Despite all the snow I can see on the mountains – spring arrives in February here. I’ve been seeing snowdrops and winter aconites when I go for walks.

So I’ll get back to my quilt now and I’ll ponder just how fast thirteen years go by. Sigh.

Claire and I made a strawberry shaped surprise ball for her friend’s birthday. We filled it with things like lip gloss and stickers and inexpensive jewelry and candy. I love making these!

I was worried that it would be a sticky mess (I hate sticky) but it was easy. They are really light and fluffy. I used this recipe. Next time I want to try mixing in some fruit puree.

I got my hands on some graham crackers so I’m hoping we can make a fire and have s’mores this weekend. Mmmm.

I have no content for my blog. Except for these two goofs.

Nothing exciting is happening here. We’re just chugging along with our regular schedules. Brian is traveling to the US over this weekend so it’s extra quiet.

The girls and I did a little shopping yesterday. We found this strange sight in a stairwell. What???? This is something you just don’t see in Switzerland so we had to take a photo.

I made another tunic for myself. I really wanted to make a tunic that featured stripes going in opposite directions. So I modified the Liesl and Co. Gelato Blouse – replacing the peplum with a flat panel and creating a simple cuff for the sleeve. I’m happy with the fit of the Gelato Blouse after I did an FBA. I love that I can use it as the base for lots of different styles.

Bea made the tiniest little sculpture of mushrooms for me.

My dishes looked pretty in the drawer.

And Claire made fruit pizza.

Happy February!

I feel like I’ve done a whole lot of nothing this week. I guess it’s just that time of year when it’s hard to get motivated. 

Between lots of hot drinks I did finish all 36 blocks of my quilt. 

It’s very bright isn’t it. It’s full of scraps from clothes that I made the girls when they were so little. And there are a few bits that I inherited from my Grandma Dice. I’m way too sentimental! 

It’s good that I finally went through all my fabric and got it down to a more manageable mountain. Of course using up scraps just leads to smaller scraps. So while I sort out backing fabric and order the batting for my quilt I made a random looking pillow cover. Something to brighten up the cloudy winter days.

Bea and Brian and I did a little sledding and went for a winter walk today. We went to Raten a sweet mini ski area that is only about 20 minutes from home.

Claire didn’t join us – she got to visit her friend with a new hamster!