And then the heavens opened!

Wednesday morning dad had to bring Anny to an appointment so we stayed home. The plan was to do some chores, and then head for a long walk hopefully ending up at the Lenkerseeli (a small lake in the village) where there is a new playground and a train. But I cleaned bathrooms, and did laundry and caught up the blog and the next thing we knew, dad and Anny were already home. So the plan changed.

One thing we always see in Lenk, are these monster snails. They have a cute little name that doesn't really translate with the same charm. I'm obsessed with them. And I'd just been complaining that we hadn't seen any yet, when lo and behold...

Aren't they sweet?

We'd seen this impala out and about a few times...it's easily the largest vehicle I've seen on the streets here. And that's including the gravel trucks I saw yesterday evening. In the parking garage it uses up parts of four stalls...and not just because the guy parks like an American.

So since we didn't really do anything exciting yesterday, let me talk about our daily routine. Every morning starts with breakfast of Lenk Milch yogurt. My favorite is the hazelnut flavour. You can't get that in BC, and I'm a nut about hazelnuts :) With our yogurt we have CM cereal, fresh fruit and milch kaffee (half hot milk, half coffee), a slice or two of fresh bakery bread and maybe a slice of cheese. We've been buying ours from a local cheese farmer. I like it...almost as much as Gruyere.

As I mentioned, we wash the dishes by hand. There's no dishwasher in this chalet. And then we head into town to do the shopping for the day. The fridge here is tiny, and doesn't hold a Costco shopping trip, so you don't buy more than you can use.

This is my dad, cooking our lunch for us in Anny's kitchen.

The Swiss are very Swiss...Like. Very. Here's Anny's faucet in her kitchen.

I'm sure not everyone's kitchen looks like that (they do have Ikea in Switzerland after all), but I love it.

While dad was cooking in the kitchen, Anny supervised Elisabeth's prepwork in the dining nook.

Slicing vegetables is very serious work.

After lunch, the older generations often nap. This used to be common, but I think that now that there are fewer farmers and life is becoming more like our lives in North America (busy), it doesn't happen as much. I could be wrong. In any case, after lunch we usually explore.

Not this day. I don't even know if we'd even finished doing the lunch dishes when the thunder started. Elisabeth and David pulled up front row seats on the front balcony and I took stalker pictures of Anny's apartment. Just in case this is my last time here.


It's not that much different from the apartment I used to visit as a child in the Old Oertli. Here's the nook...with lots of pictures of the whole family lining the walls.

And the living area. There's a fireplace to the left, and the comfy tv chairs.

Plus the couch. It's the same but not the same, and it feels like home.

I joined the kids outside and watched the storm roll over the mountain.

Elisabeth was disappointed that the thunder wasn't as ferocious as I'd described it. No heart stopping cracks. It was still pretty loud and at times only two seconds between thunder and lightning.

Eventually I found my book and settled on the balcony to listen to the rain.I had no idea how much I missed the sound of rain until that moment. I hope it makes its way to BC...and the rest of the West Coast.

Eventually the rain stopped and the kids and I ventured out for a stroll. We stopped at the bakery to chat with the bread man.

And then wandered through the village to my favorite flower store. They always have the cutest little knick knacks. The hedgehogs are so very Swiss...I think I'm in love.

Katherine, these reminded me of you.

We walked down Kinostrasse past the movie theatre. This is the chalet next to the theatre. They have the most magnificent garden.

And this little guy was waving at us from the hair salon.

And when we got home, there were more snails waiting for us on the mail box.

After dinner, when the dishes had been cleared and washed, me and the kids went out and collected more snails to stage a photo shoot.