Is this for real ?

Laziness is not the reason for me neglecting my blog recently, the real reason is the weather - - it's been dreadfully hot lately and it left me feeling listless, and drained of all energy.
At first we had so much rain that I couldn't imagine enjoying a sunny Summer at all.
Then, all of a sudden it got hot, hotter and now it's at it's hottest!!
OK, I'll stop complaining - - only because NOW IT'S RAINING, and we can all breath freely again - - for how long? that's another question!

So every now and again I'll read something fascinating about the people of China - - but this takes the cake!!
This tiny button is only two years old, but already he smokes a packet of cigarettes a day!
Apparently the little man throws a tantrum and goes totally ballistic if he doesn't get to his daily dose of "nicotine sparks!"
It's bad enough that some of us cannot imagine a single day without the
dreaded drug. Whenever we get uptight, we grab a fag, after a good meal, we reach for the packet , it's a never ending battle to combat the dirty and unhealty habit of smoking!!
We as parents, care so greatly for our children and we'll do anything to keep them safe, happy and healthy - - so why in heaven's name will we introduce a child to the filthy habit of smoking - - let alone a small baby of only two years !old???

Will we ever....?

What an achievement!! These twin ladies celebrated their 104th Birthday in China and I can't stop wondering what their secret is to such a ripe old age.

Chatting to these women over a cup of tea and listening to the stories they have stored away will be beyond my wildest dreams!!

The sisters dressed in blue are a little younger, only 97 years old, nevertheless I'd sacrifice the best laid table to spend an evening listening to their tales of yesteryear!

Even though we don't know the key to their success, I am still wondering if we will ever be so lucky to compete with these "Tough as boots" Great Dames from China.

Guilty of negligence !

My humble apologies to all the people in bloggyland for neglecting my blog the way I've done for the past few weeks.


I have no excuses, all I can say is I've been here, there and nowhere.


As a good blogger buddy once said "Life gets in the way!!"


For my deeds, I'll serve prison sentence for as long as it takes to be forgiven!!

Thailand's pride and oy.

On Sunday evening I received an e-mail from my dearest friend who lives in Cape Town, and I would like to share this with everyone out there in bloggyland.

This is a flower from Thailand, it is also a protected species and not allowed to be exported. This will be the only way we will be able to view this flower.

The very rare parror Flower

WHO BUT GOD COULD DO THIS ?

Tribute to David Carradine

I was totally distraught about the death of this great actor David Carradine.
Caradine was found dead on Thursday in Thailand. The 72 year old actor appeared to have hanged himself in a suite at the luxury Swissotel in Thailand.



He was a great actor, and I remember his suberb performance in the TV Series KUNG FU in the 1970s - - I never missed a single episode of the show when he played the Shaolin priest as Kwai Chang Cane.

What more can I say here except "You will be sadly missed David, not only by me but by millions of viewers from all over the world!!!"

Once again, we've lost another great one !!!!

It's a man's world ?

Sometimes we do things in good faith and then all goes pear shape.

Above is a picture of my snow white male canary, and he sings so loudly that you can hear him way down our busy street.

Not only is he a superb roller, but a very pleasant little bird as well.

He's lived in our household for the last 5 years, and a few weeks ago I felt so quilty that he lives a life in solitude, that's when I decided to get him a little female companion.




Needless to say, the little guy wasn't amused with the imposter in his cage, or as Mr. CC said "The little guy was practically forced into an unwanted marriage!"

Above is a pic (the best pose I will ever get of the little female demon)

One week after madam's arrival, I saw her sitting constantly in the seed bowl, and refused to move from her comfy spot.





The following morning, while cleaning their cage, I saw the reason why she was so reluctant to remove her skinny little legs from the seed bowl.

Soon after the shock of finding 3 tiny eggs in the seed bowl I noticed that all was not kosher with my male canary. Not only has he stopped singing, he looked a proper mess.

He has no energy what so ever and he remains sitting in one corner at the bottom of his cage, all puffed and doubled in size.

So off we rush to the petshop in search of answers.

To my surprise the lady at the pet shop said it's a normal procedure for birds to become "overworked" due to their male duties during the mating season.

HUH!!!

That sure was a new one on me!

So we seperated the two love birds, and my beautiful little singer could find a little peace and quiet from the very demanding female.



Two weeks down the line, and the poor guy looks no better, yes he's lost all zest for life.

I've tried all the home remedies in Grandma's good book - to no avail.



In the meantime I'm legging around like Mother hen hoping my bird will snap out of his Zombie state.

When I mentioned my worries and frustrastion to a total stranger today, she told me I should invest in a small bottle of BACHBLÜTEN TROPFEN because he's probably still in shock and the good stuff well do the trick on him.
I can't seem to find the English word for Bachblüten (the dictionary tells me it's Brook blossom drops) but I'm really not sure, all I know is the Bachblüten is a Homeopathic remedy and comes from the Bach flower.

So, if it doesn't kill, it'll cure !!

A film to experience.

When the day's work is done, I like to sit down, feet up, and watch a good movie. But ever so often I can't find much of interest on any of the 54 Channels on the telly. Lately we've had to put up with repeats - either you watch again, or you don't watch at all.

As I paged through the TV magazine last night, I spotted the movie called PERFUME and said to Mr. CC "Finally something new and different AND it looks promising!"

So at 8.15pm I sat down to watch the film.

I was spellbound from beginning to end and hardly dared to breath or utter a single word during the entire film.

It's the story of a murderer but also of an artist, as a baby, born with an extreme sensitivity to smell.

Strangely enough, this poor lost soul gained all my sympathy, and silently I kept hoping he'd get away and his obsessive deeds (although murderous) were never discovered.

Click on the link for a few snippets of this weird and way out movie, wonderfully played by the young actor called Ben Whishaw.

http://www.perfumemovie.com/ click on the image gallery.

Struwwel-Peter is everywhere

During our visit to one of the villages in Switzerland and strolling the dog, I came across a Ladies Hairdressing salon called STRUWWELPETER . At the very top of the wall is a large metal figure of the bad boy himself - - Note his unruly hair and long fingernails - - a very appropiate name for a Ladies Hairdresser.

The story of Struwwel-Peter (Shaggy Peter) is just over 150 years old and it was originally written in German and later translated into several languages.

The storybook describes a boy who does not groom himself, by not combing his hair or cutting his nails.

The story of the cruel Frederick - a violent boy who terrorizes animals and people.

The dreadful story of Pauline and the matches - a girl plays with matches and burns to death.

The story of Suck-a-thumb - a boy who continuously sucked his tumb, until a roving tailor comes along and cuts off his tumb with a giant scissors.

The contents and illustrated pictures of this "Educational" book for children is enough to give any small child a night filled with bad dreams instead of sweet dreams !

A man's home is his castle

The Schloss Ebenrain is a former country residence that was built as a Summer residence for the wealthy Swiss silk ribbon manufacturer, Martin Bachofen and his family in 1774.

When Bachofen died in 1814 the Schloss was sold to another wealthy Swiss merchant, Johann Ryhiner-Streckeisen.
Seven years later the estate's new owner committed suicide at Schloss Ebenrain. He was facing charges of bigamy, and on 29 July 1824 he took his own life with a pistol.



The gardens to the North and South of the residence were converted to fashionable English parks in the early 1800,s and has unchanged to the present day.

Strolling through the beautiful gardens of the Ebenrain is ever so peaceful, and I can't say that I've experience any uneasy feelings of the past tragedies that happened in the life and times of the rich and famous.

HAVE GREAT WEEK END

If you look at the little Meercat yawning away (he's probably over excited while standing guard) that's what I'm doing today - - yawning and feeling like a Zombie (can't say the same about the over energetic little guy in the pic)
Last night we kind of over indulged in a few litres of good red wine and drinking too many Espressos, with a couple o' people from Germany.
The wine and the small cups of coffees weren't a problem - - the real reason for making me feel "under the weather" today is the result of finding only a palm full of hours to hug my pillow!
"Yaaaawn, (pardon me) on that sleepy note, I'd like to wish you one and all a lovely and relaxing week end.

Snow fleas ?

You may laugh if you wish - but I've never ever heard of a Snow flea before, until I came across this article in a German magazine.

This tiny creature is only 1 to 2 millimeters small and it's also known as the Springtail.

I was most amused to I read about the critter who loves to wallow in the icy snow.

Let's face it, this is a pesty little thing who likes to hitch a free lift onto the warm fur of our 4

legged pets and then jump onto our legs - or other body parts to take another free nibble - - - so why for pity sake would the little "biter" like to hang out in the snow ?

Nevertheless, I think it's rather a cute lill' insect with a very comical face ! Click on the pic for a closer look.

A little midweek nonsense

Big root is watching you

Driving along the road, I caught sight of this very large and strange looking tree root, but stopping just anywhere, to take a pic isn't always allowed, but luckily the road was very quiet and we could stop the car for a few flashing seconds to take a snap shot not to be missed.

Let's play house

These miniature houses and the mini church down below, was seen in a garden, while we walked our dog in one of the many villages here in Switzerland.





The owner placed his miniature house on top of his 3 letter boxes - -

This typical farm house is a real eye catcher, but what I liked most about the scenery was the bunch of Blau Enzian flowers - BLUE GENTIAN, growing right in front of the little house.

This famous schnapps is made from the roots of the yellow or red gentian and enjoyed by Swiss, Germans and Austrians for centuries.

The schnapps made from these roots are known to be very very strong, and the aftermath of

this alcoholic drink, will leave you with a terrible hangover and a nasty taste in the mouth.

Personally I will skip the schnapps, stick to my glass of red, and enjoy the beauty of this beautiful mountain flower.

The typical Swiss church is much cuter seen in miniature form.

Light after darkness....!

Since the middle of February, our lives have been turned upside down and inside out, due to renovations in and around the complex where we live.

But now we can say Hooray to a spanking new bathroom, tiles and tiled floors.

What a merry mess until the job was completed !

For many weeks my entire flat was covered in a fine white dust, so spitting and polishing was a waste of energy - - even though I've done my daily bit of spitting, the evil white stuff was right back the very next day !

When we thought the hammering, boring and drilling had finally come to an end, our elevator was removed from the lift shaft - - and boots were made for walking !
While the tennants got agitated and aggrivated for doing their daily excercise by walking up and down the stairs, the poor workmen was left with a much tougher job 'cause they were instructed to remove the old bathroom in the Penthouse on the top floor and install everything new !
That's no joke carting away tons of rubble and debris down many floors, all day long, for many weeks on end.

The list of drama we've all experienced here for the last few months is endless and everyone's waiting for the work to be done so we can have a wee bit o' our lives back again.

But let me tell you about the electricity board that had to be removed and replaced by a new one.

In our complex we have an employment agency and a Dentist practice, so this job could not be done during any weekday.
We were informed that the job will be done on a Saterday, which meant we will be without electrical power from 8am. to 5pm.

So we locked our front door and escaped the flat with no electricity, for the entire day.
When we arrived home shortly after 5pm. we really looked forward to a cup of coffee and a home cooked meal, but instead of enjoying the bright and blissful pleasures created by Mr. Edison, we were left standing in the dark ages !

At the sound of my stomach complaining loudly for a little food, I remembered my deep freezer
filled with frozen foodstuff, and the thought of me having to remove everything that's gone off by Monday, I started to panic.

While the Ginco family stood in total darkness, our neighbours were enjoying a festival of lights.
By running and 'phoning around (with the cell phone) we finally managed to track down the Electrician who could throw a little light on the subject.

Two hours down the line, we could finally switch on the lights.

I'm still trying to figure out if the blown fuses on the newly installed electricity board was responsible for our faces that turned a paler shade of white, or was it just the hunger pangs !

Ol' Ginco's in full bloom again !!

Today, exactly a year ago, I stopped blogging, it really doesn't feel as long as a year ago, but it just goes to show how quickly one year can pass us by (without us even noticing!) I must honostly say I have missed posting the daily entries and I've missed the good laughs and kind comments of a few people in Bloggyland!! Due to my husband's illness, and running around in circles trying to get our lives back onto the safe rails of life, I simply didn't have the energy and the time to blog. Living in a strange/foreign country certainly didn't make matters easy, and I desperately needed the solid and sound advice of how to cope with a situation gone horribly wrong.
But that's all in the past now, even though I had to learn the hard way - - - most important is, I'm still standing as strong as an old Japanese Ginkgo tree. It's Springtime again, and after a long and tedious Winter period, everything's in full bloom - -and so is the LITTLEGINCOTREE !!