Friday letters

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you are all well? It has got cold here recently, which gives me the perfect excuse to drink lots of hot chocolate. Except maybe not because my sister’s wedding is three weeks tomorrow and I have a bridesmaid dress to fit into? Dilemmas! Also, I have agreed to work for part of the weekend because apparently I am insane?! (It’s the only way we could actually accept this particular job and we really need to not be turning down jobs right now!). Anyway, let’s get on with some letters shall we?

Dear Christmas. You are creeping up too fast and I can’t think of gifts for half the people I have to buy for. Aargh!

Dear boyfriend. Thank you for not complaining about me being even worse than usual at keeping up with housework because I’m too busy making Christmas cards!

Dear birds. I’m pleased to see you seem to be enjoying your new food. We’ll keep putting it out as long as you keep coming to visit!

Three little dickie birds sitting on a wall…

Dear self. You really need to stop buying new books before you’ve read the ones that are already sitting on the bookcase. For the sake of your bank balance if nothing else!

Dear magpies. Could you please stop flying around singly? I’m ready for some joy please!

Dear sun. It was nice to see you when I went out to buy lunch. Think you can come back tomorrow when it’s the weeeeekend?

Okay, that’s it. Lunch break over – gotta get back to work. Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

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Friday letters

Ah Friday… you wonderful harbinger of the weekend! I’ve been having trouble falling asleep all week, so you’re even more welcome than you would have been anyway. To celebrate, let’s have some letters.

Dear Yankee Candle. That is not what a crackling wood fire smells like! Have you actually been near a fire lately?

Dear weather. I take it you are trying to convince me that it really is November and not May at the absolute latest, as my brain is still convinced it must be? I can think of no other explanation for this constant rain 😉

Dear baked potatoes. I will never cease to be amazed (and grateful) that something so simple is so good.

Dear blue tits. Hello! How nice to see you gracing the balcony again. I’m not sure where you disappear to over the summer, but I’m glad you’re back! (But please stop trying to eat my parsley!)

Dear Christmas. You are sneaking up way too fast and I really need to decide on gifts for my family before it’s too late…

That’s all for today. Happy Friday everyone… and happy weekend!

March 2017 photos

I think April may end up being the fastest month of this year so far. Somehow it is more than half over already. How did that happen?! I’d better post my March photos before I blink and realise it’s June or something!

For those who don’t know, this is just a random post where I throw in all the photos I took during a particular month that don’t fit in anywhere else. Nothing particularly exciting, just an excuse to show off my photography “skills”.

Jan had a birthday, so I made cupcakes.

Once again, most of my photos were of birds.

Crows are very cool (although less so when they’re cawing on outside the window at 5 a.m.!).

I can never seem to resist taking photos of the birds on the balcony. *Sigh*. For those who have asked what a “lard ball” is, that would be the thing the birds below are standing on/eating. Also, notice the leaves on the tree (which was still pretty much bare in my February photos). It’s almost fully green now 🙂

I heard this next bird before I saw it:

Sadly the blackbird was not outside our window, but in a garden I walked past on my way home from town.

Our friend came to visit and we went to the animal park. I didn’t actually take many photos there, but I did grab one of the little red fox, all curled up in a ball. So cute… but so smelly!

And that’s about it for March. Cupcakes and animals seem to have been the order of the month.

I have to say, the final photo is my favourite in this collection! How about you… any favourites here?

Friday letters

Good morning! I am sooo pleased it’s nearly the weekend. This week has gone both really fast and really slow… I was surprised when it was Wednesday already, but then Wednesday and Thursday felt like they lasted at least 2 days each! Jan has choir stuff tonight and tomorrow, so I plan to use the time to relax and sleeeeeep! But right now I shall give you my Friday letters.

Dear Britain. I still can’t believe you actually went through with the “Brexit” thing. Even though we have two years, I’m already in mourning for my freedom of movement in Europe and a home country that didn’t hate foreigners. R.I.P GREAT Britain… there’s nothing “great” about isolationism and xenophobia 😦

Dear hair. I will never understand how you can be fine with a shampoo for weeks and then suddenly decide to become immune to it or something and feel sticky/greasy while I am washing you. I can’t keep switching shampoos halfway through a bottle so please sort yourself out!

Dear self. If you stay up two hours past the time you were planning to go to sleep because you can’t put a book down  you then forfeit your right to complain you’re tired the next day. You can be well rested or well read, not both!

Dear trees. You are looking very pretty right now all dressed in your spring colours. (Well, most of you… some are still looking a bit bare!).

Dear sparrows. You are cute and always a welcome visitor to the balcony but how can something so small be so loud?! I would very much appreciate it if you wouldn’t sit out the bedroom side of the building chirping on and on and on for half an hour at half five in the morning!

I can’t think of anything else. have a great Friday and an even better weekend everyone!

Friday letters

Hello everyone! This week has confused me again. I had to go into work on Tuesday and I spent half the day convinced it was Friday (not as weird as it sounds – I alternate between going on a Tuesday and a Friday, and Monday was incredibly busy this week!). Today really is Friday though, and that means time for letters!

Dear birds. We don’t really need to feed you as much now it’s getting warmer but if we keep the lard balls until next winter they will only go mouldy so enjoy!

Dear tree by the balcony. I see your little buds! Soon you will have leaves again 🙂

Dear spring flowers. You are so pretty! Hoorah for you 🙂

Dear online sellers. How is it possible that two items coming from the UK can both be marked “sent” on the same day but one arrives within days and the other takes 2 weeks. Me thinks one  of you is telling porkies about when the “sending” actually happened…

Dear St. Patrick’s Day. Apparently you are today? I had entirely forgotten about you this year!

Dear cheese. You are so tasty, but so many calories! I couldn’t believe how much of my daily allowance a sandwich with you took up the other day!

Dear scales. I have been really good recently and finally you have decided to agree with me. 1kg down this week (probably a lot of that is water weight, but whatever. At least the number is going down!)

Okay, that’s all for today. Must eat lunch (leftovers from last night) and get back to work. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

February photos

Happy March everyone! I can’t believe another month is over already. Today is Jan’s birthday, so tonight there shall be a nice meal and gifts 🙂

Last month I started a new series in which I wanted to share the photos I took throughout the month that didn’t warrant a blog post of their own. So, with another month now over, it’s time to share February’s photos.

Nobody needs this many (bad) photos of small birds but I just can’t resist their cuteness!

The snow returned (briefly) and I discovered once again that it’s really hard to take photos while snow is actually falling from the sky!

The photo above was taken on a Friday morning. The sun came out in the afternoon and melted everything that had managed to settle… and would you believe the next day was bright sunshine and highs of 12°C? The weather has been so confusing lately!

I had a week off at the end of the month and on a particularly sunny day I went for a walk into town (and beyond). It was 22°C that day. In February! I mean, it was nearly March, but still… 22°C!

There were signs that spring was approaching! Can you spy the bee below?

I walked all the way to the Birsfelden hydroelectric plant, which means nothing to you so you’ll just have to trust me that it was a reasonably long walk 😉 2km further and I would have been in Germany, but instead I decided to cross the river and head back since it was getting on for 3 p.m. and I still had to cook tea.

Look how blue the water is? Aah, I love living here!

And, to finish off, a yummy treat! Jan and I finally made it to the chocolate café I’ve been saying I want to go to ever since we moved here. I don’t even care that I went way over my calorie limit for that day -it was so, so worth it! Chocolate heaven ❤

And that was my February in photos. Tomorrow there will be a proper February recap post – with less imagery and more words (the type that end with -ing 😉 )

January photos

Some bloggers write a weekly photo post sharing a photo for each day of the previous week. There’s no way I’m going to remember to take a photo every single day, but I do like the idea of sharing random photos that don’t fit into a whole blog post, so I’ve decided to just write a post at the end of each month where I can dump all the photos I took. Here’s January’s.

It snowed and actually settled enough to still be there at the weekend so I went for a walk and found this guy:

I also tried to take photos of snowy Basel from on top of a hill, but didn’t do very well:

A few days later it snowed again and someone came to visit our balcony:

That was the best photo I managed to get before I was spotted…

I then went out for a walk during my lunch break and discovered it’s quite difficult to take good photos while the snow is actually in the process of falling!

Look how deep it was though:

Finally, after disappearing for a few weeks, birds started visiting our balcony again. Here’s one sitting in a tree, having just taken a seed from our feeder and flown away to a safe distance to eat it:

And that’s about it for January. Snow and wildlife… that sums up my month pretty well, to be honest.

Friday letters

Hey everyone! Sorry I’ve been absent from the blogosphere this week – it’s been a stressful one. I’ve worked overtime every single day except for Tuesday, when I couldn’t because I was in the office and 2 hours of travelling time each way means I actually work less hours than I’m supposed to. Today I will work overtime again – I started early because there’s a job that absolutely must be finished by 5 p.m.! Luckily next week is already looking better and in three weeks time I have a week off. Now, though, it’s time for some Friday letters.

Dear chocolate. You have been tempting me far too often lately. It’s about time I ignored your call and added more healthy snacks to my diet. It’s all well and good being naughty over Christmas, but it’s almost February now and spring will be here before I know it…

Dear winter clothes. I wish more of you were both warm and pretty. Having an excuse to choose cosy over stylish was nice for a while, but now I would actually like to ditch the layers and shapeless jumpers occasionally.

Dear dishwasher. You save me so much time, I really don’t know how we coped before moving here!

Dear birds. It’s nice that you’ve decided to come back, but I see you’ve been ignoring the pumpkin seeds and eating everything else. Fussy little creatures, aren’t you?

Dear Stephen King. You are an excellent author, but whyyy must your books be so long?

Okay, that’s all for now. I’m cutting my lunch break short today so I can get this job finished…

 

Friday letters

Friday has crept on me again this week… along with half of January. My dad’s, my sister’s and K’s birthdays have already been and gone. Just my grandma’s left now then I’ll have to start thinking about the February birthdays I need to make/buy things for. But first, what letters can I write to the universe this week?

Dear birds. The lard ball we’ve hung out for you is exactly the same as the one you demolished within two weeks before Christmas, so I don’t understand why you’re shunning our balcony now? I’m sad to see my balcony so empty of little feathered friends.

Dear winter. Nice of you to actually show up this year . I’ve been waiting to see Basel in the snow since we got here (I mean, snow is kind of something I associate with Switzerland and we got basically none last winter…)

How it looked here last week

Dear BBC. It’s exciting that you’re producing a TV series of Good Omens, but must it be a collaboration with Amazon Prime, of all things? There is no Amazon Switzerland, and therefore no Prime for those of us who live here 😦

Dear Dara Ó Briain. I am so excited to see you perform tomorrow night. Please be as funny as you usually are!

Dear Goodreads. Quit tempting me with your book recommendations! My wish list is already long enough to keep me busy for many, many years…

That’s all for today, folks. Happy weekend!

Friday letters on Remembrance Day

It’s Friday at the end of what has been a bit of a weird week for me. On Monday I had a doctor’s appointment, one that had been arranged for a while and was nothing special. Tuesday I called a doctor because my left knee had swelled up again after being almost normal for weeks. They had no appointments and suggested I call their emergency clinic, which I did and was told to come by in the early afternoon. I duly did so, waited around for 20 minutes, was shown to a bed and had blood taken to check for signs of inflammation and thrombosis then waited around for even longer to see the doctor before waiting around some more for the results of my blood tests to come back. Luckily I had a book with me! Bloods were all fine and I was referred to an orthopaedist. On Wednesday I called my GP for a referral, which they promised to send me, then contacted the orthopaedist they recommended. They managed to fit me in yesterday afternoon. The doctor says nothing is broken and he would expect an injury like that to take at least six weeks to heal. So I have some gel and instructions to be patient. So hopefully that’s the end of the knee saga! And now for some letters.

Dear rain. Okay, you’ve made your point… you can go away now! (And take your friend sleet with you.)

Dear Christmas market. I saw some of your stands already up and waiting when I passed on the tram the other day. Only 13 days to go!

Dear birds. You don’t seem to have seen the nice ball of fat we’ve hung outside for you now that the temperature has dropped again. I hope you discover it soon!

And, to end on a more serious note:

Dear soldiers and veterans. I don’t have a proper Remembrance Day poppy, but I’m wearing my poppy earrings and poppy necklace. To all of you who are still fighting somewhere, or who are out there on peace-keeping operations. To all of you who gave your lives for your country, or who made it back home but will never be the same. To all of you who have made sacrifices. We shall remember you!

I hope all my readers have a wonderful weekend, despite everything that’s going on in the world. Love and virtual hugs to everyone.