mountainbabe and the four c's

yes, i am mountainbabe. not right now, but in a while when we will start to go up again, that'll be me if you are asking. whenever we rummage thru old clothes, to good to throw out, but not enough fashionable to wear around the metropolis of locarno, one of the guys will say "that will be ok to wear up at 1200 m". they need old clothes to work in, but that is not the case for me. at least not all of the time that i am up there. i can remember driving up in september and coming up to to the beautiful village of linesco, i more or less died of shock, i did not have anything to wear for the next day, when we were going to go to a village feast. i did not have a skirt or dress in my weekend bag. it was very tempting to turn around and go down the mountain again to drive home to get something cute. but i thought 'no, you made a big mistake whilst packing and now you have to live with it'. lordie lord, how could i wear the same set of day clothes for two day in a row? i was crushed. but i had to live thru this. for 2 days i need more or less four to five sets of clothes. i am not kidding. i am a busy woman up there, a real millipede. and i need an outfit for every occasion. if i arrive from home early, i will do some work with hubby dear, so i need my construction outfit. old jeans, and a shirt full of paint and smear, all holes and tears(very sexy). when late afternoon arrives, and i start to think about how much wine we will be consuming, and how many calories all those glasses will add up to, i change into my running gear and head up the two big hills to cimalmotto. this is a killer trip, but a girl has to do what a girl has to do. hubby dear will have to finish up the job and start cooking, because my running is 'me-time'. it is hard to do without for me. and if he keeps me happy, it is also his gain. there might be some dessert at night. after a run upto now, i had to 'shower' outside. just love it. it does not matter if it is cold. so back to nature. standing there with a bucket of hot water and a tin cup. incredible with how little water one can wash himself. then comes the moment for evening wear. a velvet pair of sweatpants, uggs, man's undershirt, fake fur jacket, cute tee on top if we stay at home or hang a friends place otherwise dressed to the nines. nightwear grannies longshirt and socks. after breakfast i usually take the dog for a hike, which means firm shoes and gear to match the weather. in rain windbreaker and hiking pants. in sunshine shorts to kill two birds with one stone....... exercise and getting my legs tanned. conclusion of the whole story, i am getting a second set of outfits together. i am fed up with packing and unpacking. up there, important for me, unlike other people, are the four c's: cute, classy, comfy and color coordinated. i love mountain life. this girl cannot be happier than having two wardrobes filled with clothes.

autumn in ticino

today was one of these days why people from north of the alps move down south. i woke up after a long night to a splendid sun. a day when you can concur everything. waking up to see light in winter is amazing. no dull mornings, no fog, no rain. i sometimes do miss the rain, but today sun for me was perfect. hubbydear took care of the garden, getting everything winter-ready. i was not able to help outside, but enjoyed the beautiful weather when i went out for a run late afternoon. no sweaters, no rain jacket, just 2 t's and i was off. i wish for loads of snow at christmas, because christmas should not be without that. but for now i felt blessed. now i am sitting here in winterstyle, with joggingpants and uggs on my feet, but that is more to keep up the winter feeling.

nature in tegna

i am small but very strong

any obstacle in the path of life is there for a reason, 

find the reason and the obstacle can be overcome.

(l.f. bottema)

silhouette in nature

walk and don't think

the flowers of the dead

we dutch people like to bring the outside inside our homes, as in having flowers standing around to give a nice touch to the living surroundings. days are getting shorter, the weather is changing and we need some warmth in our family space. it is time to bring autumn in. i have done that for ages as my mother did, by buying chrysanthemums. a nice big, really big potplant with lots of flowers and that will last until we bring in the poinsetta's for christmas. when i moved in with hubby dear, he was shocked when i went out and bought one of these monsters the month of october. "these don't come into houses, these belong on cemeteries". it is a big business chrysanthemums here in ticino, together with the red devotional candles. hubby dear had a small construction job to do in the next village last week, the week before 'all saints'. and he had to put a waste container next to the flower shop, where the outside exposition stands. the owner came out screaming. "what are you thinking, putting that container in front of my flowers. this is the only week of the year that i really have something to do!" poor lady. so he said ok i will to the job next week. yes, the day of november 1st arrived, 'all saints'. people get busy to get together graves of forgotten and not-forgotten  relatives. important that the others see that graves are kept, at least for this moment. the cemetery never looks as nice, and in order, and loved like these days. never mind if you have thought about these family members in the last year or not. that is not the point. it is all about show. on the day itself, there will be a ceremony where a clergyman will pray and spread the holy water with his toilet brush all around. this is one of these days where one is to be seen. whisper goes around about the lost souls(aka us!), who do not turn up, thus have not any respect for the dead. i do have respect for the dead. i dust my parents on a regular basis since they have been taking up space in my living room. that is not just a once in a year job, but at least once a month i have a go at them. having the chrysanthemums is the ultimate solution to for graveyard, they last for ages. can even withstand freezing temperatures. so if you are lucky, you will only have to turn up again in spring to clear out the putrefied plant and than wait for next fall to arrive.

the culinary aspects of the ticino apple pie

just put my 'chocolate dream' cheesecake in the oven. i rarely bake because my kids hardly ever eat cakes, cookies or pies. and if you look at my butt, you can imagine where the leftovers went. but i love baking. when i started living with hubbydear, i would bake every friday afternoon. every week something new. when we were last time in florida, we gotten into 'the cheesecake factory', food and pies. daniël loved the different sorts of cheesecake, so i thought today 'what the heck, i'll bake a pie'. a couple of weeks ago we had a bake sale for the footballteam. i made chocolate chip muffins and a pumpkin pie. when i went to drop of my baking goods, the only thing i saw, were apple pies and maybe a chocolate cake or two. it is incredible, the culinary capabilities of baking are reduced to apple pie here in the south of switzerland. if you ask people over for diner, they will offer to bring dessert. great! until you see what it is. you can be darn sure it's another apple pie. and it is not like the pies i know from holland, an outer crust filled to the rim with cut up pieces of apple spiced with cinnamon and some brown sugar and a top layer of dough again. i am licking my lips by the thought. the procedure here down south is very easy. slices of apple on top of a bought pastry dough, over it will be poured a mixture of egg, milk and sugar. i even talked to an old lady whoes husband was a baker here. until somewhere in the eighties, he baked pies for campsite stores. they only did fruit pies. a bottom of dough, a layer of vanilla pudding, a layer of fruit and then a topping of gelatine. what a pity, there are so many great recipies out there. back to the bake sale. when i came to pick up the remnants, the muffins where sold, but the pumpkin pie was still there. only a small piece sold. what we say in holland "what the farmer does not know, he will not stuff down his throat".

have a great weekend, and take care!

MIERENNEUKERIJ - fucking ants

MIERENNEUKERIJ is a word which is only know in the dutch language because only the dutch (mostly the goverment) can be that irritating in their ways that one would say "oh my god, what  a MIERENNEUKERIJ". it means fucking ants, which you can understand would be very difficult for a man. this time i am so upset because little boy needs a new pasport. he has been getting a new pasport every five years since he was born. when we were still able to get our pasport thru the consulat of lugano there was never a problem. i do not know if that counts and because we go to italy now where there are also numerable complications in government offices and dutch who live there got influenced by the manners of grandeur of the italian, or if the dutch laws have changed. anyway, the dutch are very good at making a simple task very complicated. so complicated that you do not understand shit. for a new pasport one needs a photo. too complicted to explain so here is the link! http://www.paspoortinformatie.nl/dsresource?objectid=5126&type=pdf.
the consulate of milan states: we need a legalized birthcertificate, not older than six months. why isn't the original good enough. as if the information on the fucking piece of paper changed since the kid was born! we need a legal piece of paper where it is written that little boy lives with big boy and mommy and daddy in the same household. should i also have mentioned the dog, three cats, two degu's and numerous illegal mite? what if i would kick out his father, or he would die? when i go to the consulate in milan for my pasport, i will ask them if they need the ashes form my parents and do some dna testing to see if i was really there child. up to now i have spent 45 euro's and that little booklet will set me back another 42,50. it makes me definity think about becoming swiss. on this matter they are very relaxed. anyway, i am looking on the official website from the dutch government now, and there is written "only if the child has never had it's own pasport, one needs to bring a legalized birthcertificate". well, it seems that in milan they do not know that! no need for a paper that states the family composition either. but i can see some hope for the future. but i hope they 'don't make me happy with a dead sparrow'. they are trying out a new service at schiphol airport so that can one can make a new one there. and some cities are also giving that possibility to abroadies. just one catch. in the hague they promised that already a year ago. but the pasport making would take six to eight weeks. hello, which abroadie would have the possibility to stay in NL for that long a period? last time i went to milan with big boy, one year ago, we had no trouble at all. we'll see what happens. maybe i am making an anthill out of a molehill;)

off to another part of CH

for little boy's 15th birthday we had chosen a destination outside of our little canton of ticino, laax. going to an inside adventure activity(freestyle academy laax by the way). i loaded my car up with all foreigners. we live in a multiculti society eventhough it is a small place. us three dutchies, my danish friend an her two boys and a cute little scotsman, redheaded and full of freckles. we had a lovely drive over the lucomagno pass. stopped on top, in the middle of fog and the three younger boys had a run around on the stony hills. an atmosphere like in the lord of the rings. anything could break loose at any moment. we drove on down to disentis entering the famous skiing region of graubünden. what a change of surroundings compared to ticino. a wide open valley, with rather hills than mountains, and hardly any forests. all of us were amazed by the beauty of the to us unknown. laax, as a village, is nothing special. not a characteristic village centre, no nothing. just a place to start from for going skiing or hiking. the boys had a great time at the academy and showed off their international heritage by choosing english as the language in which they would get the introduction of the day. my friend and i went on a hiking trip over falera. it was so beautiful. what a view. rows and rows of mountians around us. i can remember that i went to ilanz, near laax, when i just came to CH in 1993, to look for a job. and i was so impressed by the stony walls that surrounded me, i went slightly claustrofobic. what i saw then, i saw with different eyes now. compared to ticino, this is wide open space. i hope i will have chance to visit this region again.