House and Garden.

The Munot, Schaffhausen, taken on Tuesday.

The flight to our holiday destination with relatives in Kanton Schaffhausen in Switzerland was as smooth and stress free as these things are possible to be. We checked in on-line, took only hand luggage and left our hotel near the airport with good - but not too much - time to allow us to leave the car in a secure car park, take a very short bus ride to the terminal and walk straight to security. As we passed through the main departure hall the place was thronged by multitudes of people lugging huge cases and an enormous queue that shocked me. It was only 5am on a Sunday morning after all.

The side of the house. 'Klosterli'  {The little cloister}

Upstairs the line for security was small and we were scanned and through in a few minutes, leaving us just enough time to walk to the departure gate and relax a moment before being called forward to board. Our flight meant a change in Amsterdam and again, once off the plane we casually walked to the departure gate and were immediately boarded onto the next flight. Once landed in Zurich we simply had to walk through the baggage hall and out where we were met by The Lovely G's cousin Martin who was astounded, in a very Swiss way, that we'd managed to get through only six minutes after the plane had landed. That's Swiss efficiency {and luck} for you!

The barn broom

Normally the weather here is much better than back home but we'd been warned that just like us they'd not had the greatest start to the year as far as that's concerned and the forecast for the next two weeks in fairly mixed. That doesn't matter to us though. we've been here plenty of times in the past and in truth are looking for a simple just-time-with-family kind of holiday. The weather is pretty inconsequential. Some sun will be fine but to be honest it's the kind of place that is stunning in any weather. I hope the second week is best, truth be told, simply because we're being joined by The Lovely G's brother and fiance and our gorgeous niece Emily and it would be great to have some sun while they're here so Emily can get out and about with us.

The end of the hallway

 

So far there's been both sun and rain, plenty of time to relax with family, read books and play about with my camera taking shots around the house and garden between showers. The house is a farmhouse, even though it's in the heart of the old village, and has a huge barn attached ripe for exploring and taking moody photos in. The house, built over a hundred and thirty years ago by Onkel Richard's Grandfather, is bright and airy with an original traditional wood fired heating system. Aunt Margot and he each take a small sack of cherry stones heated in the range to bed with them each night to keep the nights chill away - not that us Scots think the nights are chilly at all!

The wood stack

These are a few of the photos taken so far - a flavour of the house, garden and the local town. I hope you enjoy them.

 

Klosterli

 

Listening to:

Getting away from it all.

By the time I can post this for you to read I’ll be sitting cosy in the house of my wife’s Aunt and Uncle in a small village in the very north of Switzerland. We’re on a fortnight’s holiday with the other side of the family, relaxing and reconnecting with a special place full of very special people. This year we won’t be doing as much travelling as we have often done in the past. We’ve decided this will just be the chill-out of all chill-outs. 

The final day at home was filled with the kind of last minute prep or panic as some people unforgivingly describe it that us men are experts at. In my defence I’d say that years of living away from home have made me blasé about packing and I can do it in about fifteen minutes and as for the rest: weather and work has been against me. The garden has been slowly burgeoning since I last worked out there and has been much in mind as needing attention but every time I’d some time available to do it, it has been raining or the ground still sodden from previous downpours. It’s been a major niggle and I was thinking that I’d never get a chance before we left. 

 On Thursday I was on a day off work and the weather was good but I’d remembered late the night before I had to go and speak to a group of local authority social workers on the changes to child protection legislation being enacted. I’d been asked to give them a talk on the changes from a Children’s Hearing perspective, especially any issues which had implications on social works required interaction and provision of evidence to allow us to make decisions. Having completely forgotten, I hadn’t prepared anything so spent the morning doing that while the sun shone, then spent most of the afternoon delivering it and answering questions. By the time I got home it was tipping down. I thought I’d lost the last chance and would be coming back to a wilderness in a couple of weeks. With the amount of rain here in Scotland grass grows at fearsome pace. 

This morning we woke to clear skies and a cracker of a day. Within minutes of getting up I was barefoot in the garden checking if it would be able to be cut and soon after I pushed the throttle open on the lawnmower. A few hours later I stood back, pleased with the result and almost wishing I could enjoy the rest of the day sitting out there with a cold drink and a good book. Unfortunately that wasn’t on the agenda. A shower and a change later I pulled together the things I need for the holiday and soon after we left to take Jess to the cattery, take a birthday present to one of our sisters in law before heading into Edinburgh to have a meal on the way out to the airport where we were staying nearby to catch a very early flight on Sunday..

 

At least I got the grass cut.

The weeds on the drive will be there when I get home.

In Edinburgh we walked from the car park at Waverly, the main train station along the length of Princes Street with the castle for once looming bright in the afternoon sun. It was stunning and the light highlighted some incredible detail in Castle Rock and in some of the historic skyline of the city. Being me {naturally} I’d left my camera in the boot of the car. That was probably no bad thing as I could have spent hours taking photos today but I don’t think The Lovely G would have been too pleased, expecting as she was to have a leisurely walk to a restaurant on one of the side streets.

 

Princes St. Edinburgh taken last summer.

Edinburgh is a wonderful place and is already seeing the start of the summer influx of tourists. The streets and bars were busy as we walked with people keen to sit out on a sunny afternoon at the kerbside tables that have become a normal sight in town. Normally though the customers are hunched over hot drinks or cigarettes and swaddled in layers of waterproof clothing but today for once there was perhaps the 'continental' feel the city fathers responsible for such stupid planning regulations in our rain soaked part of the world hoped for when they brought such things into the often narrow mediaeval streets, with happy faces and  peely-wally {pale} skin unused to the sun’s rays exposed for probably the first time this year. 

Soon those same streets will move from busy to crowded, especially when Edinburgh Festival, the world’s biggest festival of the arts, comes with its annual invasion of more or less talented and beautiful people.. Then the place will teem and every seat at a table in the town’s multitudes of bars and restaurants will be a prize to be coveted by a lucky few. Despite that it’s my favourite time here and I’m already planning some excursions with the camera.

But for now?

 

Gabirelle's Aunt's house

 

 

Rheinfall - just a walk away

 

Our niece Julia in traditional costume

It’s all about Switzerland.

 

See you later

.

Listening to:

Back from holiday.

Plant-Pot Ornament.

Hullo ma wee blog,

That's us back home from holiday in Switzerland. It's been great to see family again and as usual I took loads of photographs so we'll have lots of memories of our time there with the family. One of the reasons for the visit was because the lovely G's uncle had been very ill. It was great to see that he had made some huge improvement since the lovely G had seen him last in February of this year, even though he was still very frail. It's hard to see someone who was very powerful laid low by encroaching old age. The improvement helped the lovely G settle down and enjoy the holiday and gave me the chance to do some minor tasks around the place as a way of helping out G's Aunt and simply saying thanks for all the times we have stayed with them. So, I did some gardening and took over responsibility for making sure that the vegetable plot was kept well watered in the heat.

Path im Wald.

Silhouette

Over the last week, the temperature rose every day until it was almost too much for me to bear. I struggle in the heat and become quite grumpy, especially as tiredness begins to affect me. So, despite the fact that it's always amazing to see family and that we love the place so much, it was nice to step onto the plane in 33° heat and get off two hours later in a much more accommodating 18°. No matter how much I love a place or a holiday, I also can't help looking forward to my own bed either, so it was also great that night to slip between the sheets here at home once more. Since then there's been lots of lovely rain to keep the temperature down and welcome me home. Some people are never satisfied are they???

Here are some more photos from holiday.

On a Woodland walk.

Cut branches.

Kids day out.

Dog training

What Makes You Think This Is Your Chair?.

Best Side Please?

See you later.

Listening to

A River Runs Through It.......

A Traditional Rhine-boat

Hullo ma wee blog,

That could be the theme for week one of the holiday in all probability. Staying close to the Rhine {pronounced 'Rhee' in this area}, Schaffhausen built on the bank and on trade from the river and Rhee-fall, biggest waterfall in Europe and still impressive even with only half the normal flow due to the dry weather this year. Today we continued the theme with a trip to Stein-Am-Rhee, one of those places that we really like and visit every time we come here. Stein-Am-Rhine is a small town of painted medieval houses a gentle couple of hours on a cruiser upstream from Schaffhausen through woods, vinyards and lovely little villages. On another boiler of a day, it's a great way to stay cool as the water takes the heat down and the breeze blowing gently down the river valley keeps you refreshed.

Two hours of scenery and people watching brought us to the town in time for a small lunch and a cool drink under huge parasols to keep the sun off. Stepping off the boat was like stepping into an oven for the first few moments until you began to acclimatise a little. Time though for us pale skinned Scots who are unused to sun like this to be careful and keep the sun-lotion topped up and stay out of sun where we can at this hottest time of the day.

Some people from the boat trip.

reflections

Chatting with a young boy

Enough already

A hard day

A quiet hour or two for a lunch - Rosti for the Lovely G and Saurli {pork}-schnitzel for me - and a bit of sightseeing and shopping before we caught a train back downstream to Schaffhausen then a bus {after only a minutes wait please note Scottish bus companies!} back to the village where we stopped at a cafe for a drink and something cool { I had lemon and plum sorbets while G went for banana and mango ice creams}

Stein Am Rhein

Windows St -Am - Rh.

The butchers shop

And some more water to finish off with...

See you later.

Listening to:

Randenturm, Rhinefall and a really nice BBQ

          A Flower-head in the house trough.
              {Also great for weary feet!}

Hullo ma wee blog,

Yesterday was hot.

We didn't want to go far as a result, but also because we had been invited by one of the Lovely G's cousins to their family house in a nearby village for a BBQ in the late afternoon. We've been to a few of Ruedi's BBQ's before and he is a bit of a 'Grillmeister', so not only was I looking forward to it but I definitely didn't want to be having a big lunch beforehand.

Looking down on the village from The Randenturm.

G's Aunt and Uncle's house is the shiny roof

In the end we decided we would go to the Rhinefall, which is only about 3km away. We took the bus to Neuhausen just beside the Rhinefall as we were both suffering from the effects of a walk to the Beringen Randenturm {Watchtower} which is in the forest above the village. Again, as it had been boiling hot, we'd slightly overdone it and were both suffering from 'quibbly legs' by the time we'd returned the day before.

Here's a few shots from the last two days;

The Rhinefalls.

How many tourists can you fit on a set of stairs.

The best - and coolest - place

No matter how much water there is around

it's nice to find some more!

Can I go for a swim?

Evening garden.

see you later.

Listening to.

Relaxing with a Camera

Access to the den is from the rear of the house barn

Hullo ma wee blog,

Behind the house there's a small shed with a vine covered arbour attached. It's a cosy hideaway to get out of hot sun to sit in the shade or just to spend a bit of time in of an evening while there's still warmth in the air. We use it on holiday as a favourite reading or chatting spot and spend a fair bit of time there.


      Which gets you to here.........

Yesterday we spent the day here at the house just chilling, doing some watering of the garden as it's been so dry here this summer. After the vegetable plots had been given a good hosing and all the flower baskets and borders had been thoroughly saturated I spent an hour or two with a beer and a book in the shade of the den. I had my camera with me too as I find it hard to be without it hereabouts. There's always so much to see, so much thats worthy of an attempt at a photograph that I always want to kick myself if the camera's not somewhere near to hand.

These are some of the photos from the den yesterday:

See you later.