Sunday morning thoughts – October 1, 2023

How is it October already?

Don’t get me wrong, I love fall and everything about it – but summer went by quickly. One thing that always goes too fast is it getting dark much earlier. Just a few weeks ago I could sit outside at 9 PM and read without the light on. Now it gets dark at 7.30ish. I don’t really mind as it’s candle time again. I love candles. But somehow this year I’m noticing it more than I did in previous years. Not sure why. Still better than mid-December when it gets dark at 4 PM. It’s a quarter past eight in the morning as I type this. The sun has just risen behind me in an orange glow and is now right in my face as it’s reflecting off a neighbor’s window.

What a week! And I’m not even referring to the madness going on in the world. NYC under water, an almost government shutdown, more abuse stories made public … I’m just talking about my week. I can’t really tell you about Monday. There are a few people in the know and I’ll leave it at that for now. You guys know who you are. Everybody else will find out later. I’m not ready to share yet.

Along came Tuesday. Whenever I’m at the office alone, I try to go out of the building at lunch time. In my role I get stopped in the corridor or asked questions during my breaks and if I really want to have some peace and quiet that’s the way to do it. Also, the tram ride down to the lake is only five minutes. I grab lunch at one of the places that do take out, go to the supermarket that’s right there or I bring lunch with me. The atmosphere is really relaxed. I tend to sit on a bench a bit further back as I don’t like sitting in the sun. It’s a great place for people watching. It’s also an excellent place to just sit and breathe.

Tuesday night I went on a tour of an old mill on the outskirts of Zurich in Tiefenbrunnen. The tour was organized by my employer and super interesting. We learned all about grains, different stages of flour production and even got tips on baking bread. The highlight was the slide though – without a doubt. We got to sit on empty flour bags and go down a slide that is made for full bags of flour so the miller doesn’t have to carry them down the stairs. We laughed a lot. And I put my new knowledge to good use and baked the most amazing bread. I’ve always loved baking my own bread, but this is next level good. I’ll leave it up to you to translate what those three types of flour are. Please not htat they are supermarked bought and not from the mill I’m writing about. I also used a bit of regular flour (Halbweissmehl). So, it was 250g of flour, approximately 1.5 dl of water with a ¼ cube of fresh yeast (that’s about 10 g). I let the dough rise more slowly than usual – top tip from the guide/miller. It’s so good.

From the grain to the flour and down the slide.

I was writing on the train home from that guided tour reminding myself to take breaks during the day, to go outside, to breathe, to allow myself NOT to get everything done right away, because certain things can wait until tomorrow. It’s okay to leave the office at five sharp. I’m only one person. I learn quickly (if I do say so myself). I work efficiently. So, what I’m saying is that if I can’t do something in the allotted time then it’s not achievable. Conceited you say? Well, I ain’t wrong.

Take extra special care of yourselves. If you’re employed, please remember – a job is just a job even if you love it. Nobody is going to thank you for working until you’re exhausted and have no energy to enjoy your free time, or even to recharge your batteries - to basically have a life. I’m writing this as a reminder to myself.

Couple of things before I leave you with a book recommendation. First, I’m not spending a ton of money on those new ingredients I talked about. One of my readers was under that impression. I’m talking things like green peppers – never bought them, don’t like them. Unless it’s in a curry. Also, broccoli. Don’t think I’ve ever cooked that before. Then there’s curry paste. A jar of it goes a long way. Just never used it. Also a mix of seven Thai spices, because I know nothing about them and it sounded good. Tastes good too.

Second, I’m also not giving money to any of those health gurus you can find online. The only thing I spend money on is books. Preferably scientific ones. Thank you for your concern. I’m not that gullible. Happy to try new things for sure.

Third, I’m a bit behind on my Rhena on the move stories. I’ve got three I haven’t written yet. I’ll hopefully get to those soon. Then there’s a newsletter on democracy, voting and/or elections in Switzerland and one on the history of the Swiss Army Knife (reader request) that I still want to write. I will continue to sit down and write whenever a newsletter on a specific topic wants to be written. Just like I did yesterday.

Now for the book recommendation for a book I haven’t actually read yet. I’ve known the author for a few years (online) and he’s one of the funniest language people I know. The book is called The wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead – A journey around the world in idioms, proverbs and general nonsense. The author is Adam Sharp. I really enjoyed his book The correct order of biscuits, his lists are epic and he’s a really lovely guy too. Apart from putting me on the spot out for everybody to see by @-ing me on Twitter asking me a language question. No pressure! (Okay, okay, I’ll admit that I loved it - you know me too well) The new book came out on September 28. Since I hadn’t had an income for eight months, I didn’t preorder when I heard about it. So, now I have to wait for two weeks. This is cruel.

Saw the cutest little mushrooms in the not very tall grass on Friday.

This is a picture from Friday’s long walk – happy Sunday everyone! Hoping to see a few of you later on Zoom. Hugs all around.