Sunday morning thoughts - October 15, 2023

Raclette, carrot sounds, a new book, is that a croissant? and a bird.

Morning all.

Granted some of you will read this around lunchtime, but there you go.

Another kind of late start – in terms of writing. Have already done a load of laundry and that’s now hanging all over my apartment. There’s a drying room downstairs, but I’ve actually never used that one.

I have an anniversary to celebrate. I moved in here three years ago. I think officially on the 16^th. Being a total numbers person I’m surprised I don’t remember the exact date now. And, I would have to get up and go check when I changed my address and everything. I remember what day I got the key, but not wasn’t moving day.

Anyway, what a ride it’s been. That’s for sure. I’m feeling content. I don’t think I’ve felt this relaxed for this long in decades. Still getting used to no longer living in survival mode.

I got a ton of stuff to do today, so let’s get started.

As I said I’m feeling content. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t things that are difficult. Right now it’s mostly how much of the craziness out there do I let into my life? Been staying off social media (well sort of) and not having a tv definitely helps as well. But then you hear somebody say “well at least some of those children are too young to remember” or you DO scroll through IG reels early in the morning and come across somebody talking about “resilience”. And that was yesterday’s newsletter. I will always speak up on those topics, especially if children are involved. I’m also done sugarcoating things. Just FYI.

Now for today’s thoughts

Yesterday was Raclette weather. Every Swiss reader knows what I mean by that. Somebody on Bluesky was a bit confused as to what that was. Let me explain. Raclette is basically melted cheese that you eat with potatoes. That’s the basis. Some people add pickles others add onion or bacon, then there’s tomatoes, mushrooms – you name it. My favorite is garlic flavored Raclette cheese with pineapple and onion. I know what you’re gonna say, but it’s not like I’m kissing anybody.

Hot cheese and potatoes are comfort food. So, Raclette weather is when it’s cold and miserable outside, possibly thunderstormy too. It wasn’t all that cold yesterday but the rest was true and everybody was buying Raclette cheese at that store. That’s when you know Raclette season has officially started. Yes, you can also have cheese Fondue but it’s more difficult to sneak pineapple into that. Try it with tart apples instead of bread. That’s delicious. While eating Raclette on your own is a bit sad – having Fondue on your own is just wrong. That is clearly a social meal.

You might wonder why I spelled Raclette and Fondue with capital letters. Well, as a language person there is always a reason. In this case it’s that raclette and fondue just look so wrong. Also, I think since the Swiss came up with both dishes we should be allowed to spell them any way we want. Just like in Swiss German where there are no rules. Now when I say that we invented Raclette and Fondue that’s not entirely true. It’s true for Raclette and the word itself originated in the Swiss canton of Valais, where “racler” is a French dialect word for “to scrape”. When it comes to cheese Fondue that was sort of a common Swiss, French and Italian dish in the Western Alps. So, we can’t really claim it. Not that that has ever stopped us. And if you know any French, you’ll recognize that it comes from “fondre” – to melt and fondue is the past participle.

That’s the educational part of today’s newsletter done. Just one more note. If you’re anywhere near Bryant Park in NYC in December, they have a stand where you can get Raclette. They pour it over bread, but I guess that’s easier to eat that way. Just look for the longest line and you will find it.

What else was I going to talk about *scrolls up*. Oh yes, carrot sounds. Making me laugh again. A friend sent me a picture yesterday. It says that on November 1 there will be short concerts at the reformed church in Aarau. They are called “Rüeblisounds” - carrot sounds. Some of you might know a bit of German and say “aren’t carrots Karotten in German?”. Well, yes – but this is Switzerland and we call them Rüebli (from German MohrRÜBE to which we added -li and that was that). Now, why is this happening on November 1? That’s carrot market day. You wouldn’t believe the things you can add carrots to to improve them. I’ll tell you more about it when it actually happens.

Nobody knows what Rüeblisounds are but we all laughed when we saw it. The acoustics in that church are amazing. So I bet it’s going to be brilliant. Stay tuned as I’m sure the local tv station will send a film crew to cover this epic event. The carrot market itself is extremely popular and whenever it falls on November 1 it gets very crowded. It’s a Catholic holiday and Aarau is right on the border to Catholic Solothurn. Good for business, I guess. All I want is a carrot bratwurst though and I can be in and out in five minutes – I know where they live.

See text for explanations …

Have I mentioned Adam’s book yet? Seriously you guys, it’s so funny. I’m putting it here again because I managed to get the title wrong last time. I have since edited and corrected it. Also, I wanted to mention that there is a part in there that was run by me to make sure it was accurate. I guess I’m one of those language experts on Twitter that are mentioned in the acknowledgements. Quietly proud. Okay, not quietly at all. Deal with it!

How do I get from that to croissants? No idea, but in the picture above you see what the new bakery at the station is selling as Laugencroissants. They even call it croissant instead of Swiss German “Gipfeli”. Apparently, that’s a thing as some people with a death wish have told me on Bluesky when I was being all grumpy. Why do people do that? You can’t be reasonable when I’m being all grumpy and hangry. You just can’t.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I don’t care if this type of croissant is a thing or not. What I want is the crescent moon shaped kind. That’s it. I don’t care what it tastes like. It’s the wrong shape. I’m not having it. If this is confusing to you – don’t worry. It makes no sense in English as both croissant and Gipfeli translate to English “croissant”. Also, I don’t think it’s gonna last. They will have to replace their fancy Laugencroissants with correctly shaped Laugengipfeli to survive. You heard it here first.

And then there was that little birdie. Sad and beautiful how I got to sharing a video of this bird with somebody this weekend. My phone told me that it was running out of storage space and suggested deleting some video files. That’s how I came across this video again. I shot it on April 14 this year at 7 in the morning. This bird showed up outside my bedroom window and started singing. Then it just flew off. An extra special moment since April 14 is my late sister’s birthday. I shared it with a friend because we had talked about how sometimes you just feel like somebody you lost is with you. This was such a moment.

I don’t really believe that the spirits of people who die are still around. I believe that we carry them in our hearts and that there are moments that remind us of them. This was such a moment.

Have a lovely Sunday everyone.

Picture from Friday’s hike (Möhlin, Aargau, Switzerland)