Cookies!!!

These are the 390 cookies we baked for the Young Adults to give them after the Blood Drive. We made 31 bags with 12 each, and had a few extra. The stars are Zimtsterne, the hearts are Mailänderli, the circles are Schwabenbrötli, and the trees are good old American sugar cookies!

Grittibänz

The Swiss love making things with bread dough. At Christmas time, they make little men of all different sizes and styles, called "Grittibänz." This selection was in the window of our neighborhood bakery.

These are 24 of the 30 "Grittibänz" we had for the Young Adults after the Blood Drive. (There are six on each plate.) They each are holding a wooden shovel. Note the raisins for their eyes and belly buttons. They taste as good as they look, too. (You can see also some of the cookie bags we prepared on the right.)

So popular and well known are these "dough men" that they are even used in advertising. In this double billboard, the lead fellow is running away with a local brand of (good!) butter.

Snow!

It was a while in coming, but December 19, we had our first snowfall. This tree near our tram stop is an interesting one. Once it lost all its leaves, it just had clumps of berries hanging from its branches. It looked so cute dressed up with caps of snow on each clump, that I wanted to share it.

After a night of snowfall, the berries are almost buried by the snow!

This is the same tree that had the blazing fall colors. It is just so neat how the snow piles up and outlines everything. Can you see the bird feeder hanging from one of the branches?

Bern Ward Christmas Party

The Swiss can really decorate! Notice the stars hanging from the ceiling. This is normally the Relief Society room. And through the front windows, across the street, you can see the apartment building where we live.

Would you believe this is a chapel?

This is the building for the Biel Ward. The Young Adults spent all afternoon turning it into a party place, complete with a wooden dance floor laid over the carpet. If you look carefully, you can spot the organ, and the rack for the hymnbooks is disguised to the right of the door.

No this isn't a toy...

but a real piece of equipment. This is the size they have to use in the old part of town. It looked so cute, I had to take a picture. (It's not framed well because the tram was coming, and I had to move quickly--and catch that tram!)

Even trees are orderly here...

In Switzerland, the trees neatly drop their leaves directly underneath them. None of this messy wind blowing them around. You will see an orchard with circles of leaves under each tree. These trees are by the temple.

Visiting the Roemers in Ligerz

We were invited to the Roemers after church. They live in the most picturesque town, on the shore of the Bielersee (Lake Biel). This is the front of their house. It is four stories tall, and their "section" of the row is probably 25 feet wide, and maybe 30 feet deep. The bottom floor is their "basement". Then stairs lead to the living room and a little kitchen and bath on the next floor. More stairs to the main kitchen, eating area and family room. Then up another flight to 3 small bedrooms, with two opening to a balcony. There is also a bathroom, and our favorite, a bunk built out over the stairwell. They still heat the house with a wood stove. And they raised six children in this house.

Their "street" was more the size of an alley. But then again, these buildings were constructed in the 1600's. I bet the street was wide enough then! Sis. Roemer is standing by their front door.

We hiked through the terraced vineyards. I was surprised that the terraces were just earth, with no retaining structures. Perhaps it was because the hills weren't that steep (although my legs might not agree with that!).

As we looked behind us, we had a great view of the Bielersee (Lake Biel).

We could also see the Roemer's house--we were about half-way up the hill here.

Fall Color

We see this tree from our bedroom window. Fall is beautiful in Switzerland!

We pass this building, a school, on our way to the grocery store. I thought the colors of the building and trees, accented by the red geraniums in the windows, made it worthy of a picture.

Shortly after we arrived, as soon as I could catch my breath, we pulled out our balcony planters and planted pansies, with daffodils, crocus and tulips underneath. The pansies look so happy, and cheer me every time I look at them.

Back in the Saddle Again

We are back in Switzerland, on our second mission. We went home last April for four eventful months. Three weeks after we returned home, we were able to submit our application for a second mission. We were willing to serve anywhere, but had hoped to be able to return here. The folks in Switzerland asked for us to come back, and the Lord agreed that we could. So we returned to the same mission, same assignment, even the same apartment! We skipped the MTC and flew directly to the Mission Home in Munich on August 15.

Ben's Wedding

In April, two weeks after we got home, Ben married Hannah Edwards in the Oakland Temple. All eight kids were there, even Daniel with a broken leg! And most of the grandchildren, as well.

Mom's 90th Birthday

In May, we helped Sue's Mom celebrate her 90th birthday. We played our alphorns, and had a great time, along with 100 other guests!

The Family Reunion

In August, we had a huge family reunion in Washington State, with my Mom, her children, grandchildren and great-granchildren--over 81 in all! All of our family except Anna and her family and Tim were able to come. There was lots of visiting, and it was over too soon!

More Fun at Home

When cousins get together, it's fun for them, and fun for us to watch!

Time for Goodbye's

Our last night at home. We came back from being set apart, and had the last picture with the Brentwood grandchildren. The next morning found us underway before 5AM, first to San Francisco, and then on to Munich.

First Transfer already!

We jumped right in, and were very, very busy our first few weeks! Before we knew it, it was transfer time, and we were watching our Elders get ready for their last District group photo.

Bringing the Whiteboard home

One of our first jobs was to set up an office to double as a classroom. This is how you bring a whiteboard home on a tram. We tied it on to our trusty wheeled shopping cart, and managed to get it on to the tram and out of the way of the other passengers. And still had room to sit down!

Bern Ward's Raclette Evening

They don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Switzerland. But they do have Raclette parties in the Fall. This is the set-up for Bern Ward's party. We couldn't go (darn it! We had another obligation), but doesn't it look inviting!

I loved this table decoration!

A Swiss Salt Mine

We visited the "Saline Ribourg" one night with the Stake Council. It is a real salt mine, only they use water instead of people to bring the salt up, and then they evaporate the brine. That is all salt you see, not snow!

They have another storage facility, a geodesic dome, all made of wood, that holds probably 10 times as much salt. And don't worry, no-one will eat this salt. This is for roads.

Lamborghini in Bern

I don't know much about this car, but it certainly caused a stir yesterday. You can see people posing with it, taking pictures of it. I don't know where the owner was.

A Swiss Wedding

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Raclette Night

Everything is ready. All we need are people to eat the food!

The "Oven"

They call this a Raclette Oven. The cheese is sliced in about 1 cm. (between 1/4 and 1/2 inch) thick slices from a 5 kg. (11 lb.) rectangular block of cheese, and one slice fills each tray. The trays on the top have cheese in them, warming, waiting to go in under the flame. The lower trays are kept under the flame unit until the cheese is melted and bubbling. If no eaters appear, the trays can be lowered to stay warm, but not burn. When you come with your potatoes and plate, you get the whole tray-full of cheese slid on to your plate. No small portions allowed.

The Eaters

Here is the first table. (Our plates are the empty ones in the foreground. Work before pleasure, you know...)

And another table full of hungry people.

Here's the whole group, hard at "work."

We even got to wear our "dress" aprons.

At the Pfadiheim

This was our room for the night. We were attending a "Retreat" for training of the Stake Leadership. I slept in my sleeping bag on the bed that you see. I didn't get a picture of the 4x4 bunks where Steve slept. And it doesn't look as chilly as it was that night (unless you can see the ice and snow on the roof windows). Nor can you tell that the bathroom was two floors below, down a spiral staircase (with a handrail only on the inside), and there were no lights in the halls at night. (We had been told to bring a flashlight, and we did.)

The "Dream" District

The best District ever! We were sorry we were all together for just six weeks. From left (besides Elder Fox) are Elder Wolf, Elder Glorius (and he was), Elder Kunze, Elder Bernhardt, Elder Venzles and Elder Wilde. All are German except Elder Venzles, who is Hungarian. Three of them are from the same ward! Elder Wilde and Elder Wolf were companions, and in a District with the Foxes...

How we look today

We had to get new pictures for the Mission Transfer board. I thought I would post them so you all won't be surprised at how we look. Bow ties aren't allowed on a mission. And with haircuts for me costing $120 each in Switzerland, I decided long hair is just fine!

Christmas Day

We were at the Reading Family's house, and it snowed all day. While we were snug and warm inside, there was a work of art in progress outside.

Looking out the window...

I love the texture of the different trees as they are outlined in snow.