2016
Our animals
Trudi not only treats her family lovingly, but also the refugees and everyone else in between. And she not only treats all people lovingly, but also all animals. She feeds the foxes who go by our house at night and is openly proud of that even though it is strictly forbidden by Swiss etiquette and consensus. Despite the warning of scientists against feeding birds, she allows her new patio to be used as a free McDonalds for all the birds who happened to fly by. Kenni, Nico, Napoleon and Mupf also enjoy special love from her.
Kenni, our black and tan 3 year old, and Nico our 13 year old black toy poodle are her children, and I treat them as if they really were. She reads the labels of almost every bags of cat and dog food just to try to find what is healthy and tasty for our Kenni and Nico. Our house pets really enrich our lives, just like children do.
Napoleon, our 16 year old cat with the totally symmetric black and white belly pattern is showing his age. He does not like to use the cat door to go in and out and insists on being let in and out the front door by meowing to the point that it is so annoying that we stop whatever we are doing to open the front door for him. He also insists on only drinking running water from the tap, and lets us know with the same whining growl. And sometime he just wants to be noticed and petted. Mupf, our white cat with the small black patches is no longer as wild as he was. Before you could not pet her, and now she comes to us to be petted. He brings us mice and birds, most the time intact- left just for us. A few times, she leaves her left over kill for us to clean up. Napoleon and Mupf have a love- hate relationship. They often fight with each other, but at the same time they are mostly together, but keeping a respectable distance of a few feet.
Kenni and Mufp often cuddle, but if Kenni sees that he was seen cuddling, he immediately stops out of shame to have been cuddling with a cat. Whenever Mupf comes to watch TV with us and joins Trudi and Nico, Nico leaves or goes as far away as he can in disgust. Sometimes, especially when we have visitors, Nico chases Mupf in the typical dog-cat chase and Mump plays along the game and runs away. Kenni, after having been bitten by a boxer, is even more afraid other dogs now, than he was before. Nico, on the other hand has no fear of anything and smells all the dogs we cross paths with. Nico also likes to sometimes chase things that have wheels - like tractors, cars, motorcycles and bicycles.
Nico is not a typical dog. He very proud and independent. He is very gentle, except when he has a bone. Then he goes off to a private corner and if you try to approach him, he snaps thinking that you are going to take his bone away. While Kenni usually finishes his bone very fast, Nico takes his time like a gourmet, enjoying it long after Kenni has finished his. And should he have something that he doesn't want to eat, and should Kenni want to eat, he guards with growls and threatening bites.
Kenni barks when he wants to go out for a walk, or when he wants to tell you something. And he continues to bark till you could understand what he wanted to tell you. He eats mostly everything he sees to eat, including whatever is on your plate. Amazingly he never begs when we are eating with company or in a restaurant. But to make up for that, if you are not looking, he eats out of your plate. He is very loyal and when we go for walks and I fall behind, he always stays behind all the turns in the roads to make sure that I do not take the wrong road and get lost. Kenni`s barking can be very annoying especially when we are in the car. He knows and announces a few minute before we arrive at our destination, even if it's not our own house. Even Nico gets annoyed and lets us know by making whining sounds that sounds like a complaining oriental cat. Kenni can also be like an animator in a tourist hotel. He often wants to motivate Nico to run and play with him. Both Kenni and Nico seem to know what we are going to do, before we actually do it.
Ellie`s visit
We were most happy to hear that Ellie was coming for a few weeks. We decided to book us all into a dog-friendly hotel in Arosa. Trudi just happened to get a 50% discount to that hotel but it was just for 1 room. So adding a bunk-bed to our room, we got a great barging by fitting all of us into the bargain. We had a great time together. Trudi and Ellie get along like sisters. The weather was very nice and we ate great trying out various restaurants. We even took the gondola up to the peak. One evening we took the train to Chur to walk around the town in the evening. There were so many orthodox Jews with their families in Arosa that we thought that there must be a Jewish Convention of some kind. When we asked, we were told that it is just a favorite place for them to have a holiday and meet each other as they came from all over the world.
The ride in the car there and back was magnificent. Ellie got very close to our dogs and they to Ellie.
The Swiss National Wrestling Championship was nearby and Trudi being an honorary member in Fritz's name, we went as we always go every 3 years. It was very hot and we were for most of the day under the blazing sun with only our caps giving us shade. It was held in the biggest temporary arena in the world. It is a 6 sided arena with each side more than 100 meters long. In the center are 10 meter diameter sawdust rings that the wrestler wrestled on. There are 7 such rings, one in the middle and 6 enclosing it facing each of the 6 sides of the stands. Each side sits about 10,000 people. The top row of seats is 20 meters high.
In addition to the 60,000 seats in the arena, 1-200,000 come to the grounds. There are camping facilities and the ground has lots of stands for eating a drinking with huge TV monitors set up here and there. There is just one camera filming the wrestlers. The camera is attached to 4 cables and by changing the length of these cables; the camera could be positioned to any point within the arena. The entire 2 day event is televised on national TV, and spectators watching from home or wondering outside the arena on the grounds have a much better vantage point and view that those in the arena with their binoculars.
This year it was held in the French part of Switzerland on a military airport that they closed for the 2 day event. It was a breath of fresh air to see the event so well organized. People came from all over Switzerland. The parking places were on huge freshly cut corn fields. We had to walk about 500 meters to get into the gated area. Once inside, people we were told were just volunteers started giving us caps advertising various products and invitations to come visit particular stands from machinery producers to outdoor equipment suppliers.
People were assigned seats depending on what region in Switzerland they came from. You can tell by the dominant colors and flags being waved around the arena, where people from various regions sat. When you heard a cheer from the Valois section, you can be sure that a wrestler representing Valois, was able to nail both shoulders of his opponent to the sawdust and was now as custom dictated, helping the poor loser stand up and brushing the sawdust from his back.
I went with Trudi on the first day but it was just too hot for Trudi to return the second day, so Christopher went with me on the final day. The atmosphere is very special and friendly. Everyone comes with big stuffed backpacks with their salami, their army knives, and bottles of wine, loaves of bread and chunks of cheese and their binoculars. When they want to walk around the grounds, they just leave everything on their seats, trusting that it won't be taken.
Rosehips and Mice
We decided to pick all the rose-hips that are nearby and make rosehip jam. Except for picking them off the bush, we found a very easy way of making lots of jam. We find a bush that is extra rich in berries, and then we pick enough to fill a very large cooking pot. We remove as much of the stem and leaves that we can and cook the berries gently until they are soft enough to be blended in a mixer. Then we put the blended much thru a sieve fine enough to filter out the seeds. Then we put the seeds one more time thru the blender and we blend until the seeds are clean. We bought over 50 jars that we were able to fill and we give them out as presents to visitors and special occasions. I made a special label “Trudi`s & Andrew`s Bio Rose-hip Jam” with a small magnet on it that sticks to the jar.
We were invaded by a couple of mice that ended up becoming a couple and moved in to have about 8 little babies. We managed to over many days capture all of them in a cage mouse trap and were able to safely leave them in the field in the back of our house. Our new neighbor Paul was very helpful and we removed all the sideboards around the kitchen to see the 30 years of accumulations underneath which we swept out without seeing where all those baby mice that we trapped each night one by one were coming from. This somewhat reminded me of the last time we had a mouse in the house and our neighbor Fritz, who sold his house to our new neighbor Paul came to our rescue. We had 2 cats watching and me moving the furniture from the walls and Fritz ready with his broom. I doubted from the beginning that Fritz's ploy of catching mice would ever work, but I played along more out of curtesy than out of conviction. When all the furniture was removed from the wall, and the cats playing outside, and after a few minutes of futile waiting around, I decided to give up and go to my room. To my utter amazement, Fritz ended up catching the mouse.
Refugees
Riggisberg was for a long time the only community in all of Switzerland that offered its empty war bunker facilities to be used as refugee shelters for 150 refugees. The church committee that Trudi is a member offered its hall to be used as a “Café” where residents and the refugees met every week. Many women offered to make cakes and serve coffee and tee. Most of the refugees preferred hot milk sweetened with sugar. The “Café” brought together many ideas that proved to be fruitful, like sewing classes, gardening, and volleyball. It allowed residents the chance to get to know the refugees who were seen as very friendly during the day but had a reputation of drinking too much and being too rowdy when drunk. One night at the beginning, police were called to stop a stone throwing window breaking fight that started when refugees demanded that those who were drunk be quieter as there were children trying to sleep.
The café eventually turned into a place where the refugees could learn to speak and practice their German. The “Café”`s success reached the press and the politicians got a hold of it. One day the town was surprised by the spontaneous visit of the Swiss President and all of her cabinet members to have lunch at the underground bunkers where the 150 mostly young men live. Of course they did not show the sleeping facilities where they sleep in rows of bunk beds in long narrow rooms without any windows. Nor did they show the kitchen where all 150 must share only 6 stoves.
Many residents were left a bit angry that they were not consulted that their community of 2500 of the sudden inflow of the 150 refugees. Communities from all of Switzerland felt equally threatened. Many were left confused on seeing the well-dressed attractive young men refugees with their big bright white teeth and their big bright wide smile. They were very friendly and seemed to be always on their mobile phones.
Trudi cleaned out her attic and gave the refugees about 7 sacks full of clothes. She also hired them to do work in the garden. When we put the giant plastic swimming pool away for the winter, the once nice green grass had turned into a brown carpet of dead grass that greatly annoyed Trudi. So we went to one of her most favorite stores, the Bauhaus - that sells building materials and tools, to find out what materials we need to make a patio to cover the dead grass. Then she ordered the truck full of sand and stones it needed and hired 4 refugees to do the work. She organized a neighbor who knew how to do such work properly to supervise the refugees. And while everyone worked, she cooked lunch for everyone. She is a fantastic manager as I know only too well.
Riggisberg became a shining example to the rest of Switzerland showing what communities can do to help refugees who are flooding into Switzerland in need of help. I was very proud of the role Trudi played in all of this and was happy to have seen the recognition she got, as she made the front page of various prestigious journals. Trudi filled the car with as many refugees that were able to cram themselves in to drive them to the Gurbe river nearby for a swim. I can imagine the look of disbelief of the local bathers, mostly single mothers as the refugees were getting out of the crammed car like clowns from a toy car in the circus filled with clowns crammed in tight. Trudi introduced the refugees to the young mothers and she heard one of them complain that “all you need is a black face…. and you are helped. If you re Swiss single mother in need of help,….you are just ignored”.
Every Tuesday, Trudi goes to the church community hall and organizes and runs the “Café Rainbow” as it has become to be known.
Besides doing volunteer work for the refugees, Trudi plays the piano for the ministers who minister to the old folks home. Every month she also plays folk music for the old folks – songs they remember from their school years that they have not heard for a long time.
We have had a very long summer, much longer than the norm. Just when I thought Trudi was finished with her garden, she started another project of putting a 10 cm high stone wall fence, more for show than function.
When our neighbor Paul saw Trudi do all this work, he got motivated to started a few projects of his own, one which was to pull out a tree stump. Before long, the same men were trying to put out our tree stump left when we cut down the 30 year old fir tree that was shading the swimming pool of our neighbor.
As not all the sand and stones ended up to be used, Trudi used them to make a round carpet of sand and pebbles and furnish it with garden furniture and decorate it with outdoor sculptures and cacti. A perfect place to have a smoke as basically it was like sitting in an ashtray.
When the swimming pool was put away, and the bird feeding devices were all set up and filled just waiting for the birds, Trudi was already thinking about her next project –replacing the window in our living room with a new floor-ceiling window so that one can see down to the new patio and hopefully the birds. Then once the new window was installed, we repainted the living room. To match colors we repainted the entire house. Fortunately many of the refugees came to help. It was so funny to see them covered in paint with their black faces filled with white drops of paint that looked like freckles.
Trudi bakes cakes for the refugees, collects cloths for the refugees, plays piano for the refugees, rents out her block for the refugees,,,, while I thought of a proposal where refugees are selected and trained to form self-sufficient communities in remote areas to open up the land for tourists.
Pioneers for Canada
The pioneers would be trained by Switzerland, and allowed by Canada to make their settlements and the right to keep them as their own They would in build trails, roads and facilities for tourists. I publicized my proposal at
and sent them to universities, and politicians in Switzerland and Canada. I had practically no response from the thousands that I tried to contact.
A Journey thru space and time
While Trudi was busy with her projects with the Eritrean refugees, our local church, playing piano in the old folks home, and her manicured garden, I was busy with my own projects. The writing of this Journal, my book and videos on “Simplifying Everything” and my book on “A Short History of a Long Future”. In Switzerland, after 30 years, the dead buried under their gravestones are evicted to make room for the new arrivals. To add acid to the wound, the headstones are sanded down and re-used. Trudi and I found that very disrespectful and typical of the short term throw away culture we find ourselves in. I did the calculations and using our local cemetery, I drew up a plan and demonstrated how 1000 years worth of headstones could be used to make a fence around the cemetery and have towers of headstones inside the fence of headstones. I envisioned how interesting it would be for someone to see a 1000 year of headstone. It would be a bit like going back in time and contemplating its flow. I never really got anywhere with this idea, but it did lead me to expand the idea into a 100 meter long straight path that represented 350 years for each meter.
The path would have posters describing the history of events going back 35,000 years. At the end of the path, I would have a globe of the earth with a path around it marked with the points when life, the solar system all the way to the big bang 14 billion years ago. Using the scaling of 350 years per meter placed the big bang event to the start point of the path. I used the 100 meter straight path to visualize the size of things from atoms to the size of the known universe. A planet walk with a football sized ball representing the sun and post with sand grains and marbles representing the planets. On this scale the earth was just a small pea 10 meters away and light was slowed down to the speed of a snail. The atom was shown to be the size of a 100 meter diameter sphere with a nucleus in the center the size of a grain of sand. In this 100 meter long path, especially if it was on the side of a football field, If a 100 meter diameter sphere was the universe, then if you filled the she sphere with grains of sand, there would be 400 billion grains of sand. Each sand-grain would be a galaxy. If the sphere represented a typical galaxy, then each grain of sand would be a star. If that 100 meter diameter sphere represented a human brain, then each grain of sand represented a cell in that brain. If each cell was represented by the sphere, then each grain of sand would represent an atom in that cell. The calculations and those results fascinated me. Unfortunately I was the only one fascinated.
Micro-JITIFA
I started getting friend request from Facebook users from Gambia asking me to help them financially. Mostly it was a plea to send them money to buy rice or to pay school fees. All of them were surfing the internet from internet Cafes. I decided to help them so I asked them to have the principal of their school write me an email as an confirmation that they attend school and their school fees are. While I was waiting for their replies, I conceived a system I named Just-In-Time Individual Financial Aid for small amounts. The idea was to have students in need who have internet access the platform for presenting their needs in the form of a project that used Facebook to find donors who would donate small amounts and recruit from their circle of “friends” to also donate small amounts and to also recruit their friends to help. The Facebook friendship would allow for a personal contact which the needy student could build up by presenting his needs in the form of a free blog. This way a pool of donors can support and monitor how their donation was being used. Then the project to get donations to pay annual fees can be easily extended for subsequent school years.
The blog would consist of pictures of the school, a report of what was being learned, the report card of how the student was progressing and any other relevant information. All I needed was to have needy students who were constantly begging me to help them willing to make and publish their blog.
Alasana
Alasana is a 15 year old Gambian boy in a wheelchair because he has no legs. We connected in Facebook and he asked me to help him financially. I was working on a project called Micr-JITIFA a Just-In-Time charity using Facebook, Blogs, and Bitcoin to allow small donations to be made to Facebook friends. The concept was to build up a personal contact on Facebook and presenting needs by publishing a project on a Blog. The facilities needed to do this are freely available to poor young people who get their internet in Internet Cafes.
Alasana published one successful project to pay for his annual school fees. Then he made a second project to pay for his annual school meals. He managed to raise more than half his needs for his second project but things slowed down. He published a blog called “Alasana`s Gambia”. He made a Facebook page for his school as I wanted to use this concept for charities on a school level where schools would be asked to help other schools instead of just students asking students to help. The school Alasana was attending was a private school run as a charity for physically handicapped people to be trained in IT skills.
Things were really picking up. Alasana`s Blog was impressive. It was an eye opener to see Gambia thru his eyes. He made about 10 posts on various topics from history, fashion, climate, tourism, and the plight of the poor. Then he stopped posting. When I asked him why? he told me that his school closed because the electricity supply was shut off.
After many months of waiting, Alasana, a handicapped 15 year old boy agreed to making a Micro JITIFA project to help him pay for his school fees. He wanted to attend a special private school for handicapped children near where he lived.
At the same time that Trudi was involved in her landscaping, I was turning a dream into a reality. I was doing what I dreamt to do 9 years ago - to make my atom pieces out of plastic and to use magnets to connect them together.
CHONX STIX
9 years ago, when I lost my job and found myself with lots of time to think, I thought of the shapes atoms could have to correspond to their characteristics. I made hydrogen a suckling baby loved my most atoms. I made carbon a lady with 2 outreaching arms and welcoming breasts that formed gentle yet strong bonds that could last a long time if cared for, but at the same time could so easily and suddenly break apart, like a trap that is triggered. With hydrogens clinging on the carbons, carbohydrates became like single mothers with their children.
Oxygens were like firemen, with 2 strong arms that could break things apart as well as hold things together and build them up. With hydrogens clinging on, the oxygens became single fathers with their children. Nitrogens were like circus acrobats that had 3 strong arms and formed very complex and stable 3D forms. Metals and their easily lost electrons were like bees with their stingers. Halogens were like flowers that attracted bees to make salts.
I realized that the common shape of all of the different types of atoms was the tetrahedral. My paper prototypes of truncated tetrahedrals turned into wood prototypes which when I connected together, I was amazed at the rich variation of forms and patterns the pieces built ----from the diamond crystal to domes and real molecules and shapes found in nature. I called the piece “CHONXBLOX” an acronym for carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and other atoms like metals and halogens.
I looked into having these complex forms mass produced in plastic, but the cost to have them made was too high to be able to sell them at a profit. I was told that the angles and the holes that the piece needed to have was very expensive to make and made only economic sense for much greater quantities that I dared to hope I would ever sell. So I put away my models and prototypes and forgot about them for a few years. But I never quite totally forgot them. Over a period of a few years, CHONXBLOX turned inside-out and CHONXSTIX, a stick version of the blocks was born. The pair complemented each other just like Ollie Laurel and Stan Hardy, the famous fatty and skinny pair.
I made prototypes of the pieces using metal wires. I cut out and bent the wires into the desired angles to for the tetrahedron and dressed the 4 wires with metallic tubes each ending in a magnet disc. I colored the pieces giving each of the atom types a color. The atoms connected together magnetically to form molecules and diamond crystal structures.
One day it occurred to me that I could make my complex and expensive 3D tetrahedron, by connecting together 2 very simple and cheap 2D flat piece of plastic. The new flat pieces allowed cheap packaging and postal delivery, and marketing. I could replace the expensive box and parcel service with an cheap envelope and public post. Then I could send free sample evaluation kits to chemistry teachers in schools worldwide who would then recommend that their students order the product. I proudly claim CHONXSTIX to be a very affordable and convenient chemistry teaching and learning tool that is as small as a book, and can model as many molecules that a book can picture, and that no chemistry student should be without one.
I published a book called “Modeling molecules, crystals and structures with CHONXSTIX” The booklet explained how atoms, as represented by the CHONXSTIX prototypes could be used to easily make molecules and crystal structures. I published the book on the web
On the web, I was able to expand the material greatly by including more photographs. I also was able to have more text to describe the various molecules, and to include translation in various languages.
I then made an engineering drawing showing the dimensions and shape of the pieces that I wanted to be made from plastic in various colors. Most companies demanded that I submit a 3D CAD drawing of the shape I wanted made before they would quote me a price to make them. One company did make me a free 3D CAD drawing and after about a month, they provided me with a quote. They said that they were convinced that the product could sell.
The pieces were flat enough and thin enough to fit in an envelope and not need a parcel. The connection between the pieces were mechanical similar to LEGO type connections allowing bigger molecules, crystals and structures to be stable enough to be built than with magnetic connections. For building smaller structures, where the magnetic connection was desirable, magnetic adapters were available.
The sales engineer of the plastic mold company that offered to build the pieces for me was a young man. Initially he gave me a few quotes that were too high for me but agreed to reduce his quote to one tenth of his original quotes. He explained that his company believed that CHONXSTIX could prove to be a successful product and that is why they reduced their price.
They charged 5,800USD to make the molds and provide me with 500 sets with each set containing 100 pieces. My plan was to make available to chemistry teachers free “sample sets” to evaluate the “new” teaching/learning tool for chemistry I was promoting. The product was very unique with a magnetic sheet used as a workspace where molecules were first built up using 2D magnetic pieces for the atoms. Then the 3D atoms were built by connecting 2 flat plastic pieces of the right color together like they were LEGO pieces to make 3D atoms, and by connecting 3D atoms together to make the 3D molecules.
I got 3 unexpected cheques. The first cheque was from the life insurance I once had but was unable to keep up when I landed on welfare. At that time they explained to me that the policy that I had did not entitle me to recover any of the money if I should stop the insurance. It was a pleasant surprise to suddenly have money I did not know I had. The second surprise cheque was from my sister Ellie who sent Christopher and me a money order for Christopher`s birthday and our Christmas. The third surprise cheque was from a refund I received from my old age pension for my last heart attack operation.
These 3 unexpected cheques amounted to the 5,800USD needed to pay to have CHOXSTIX manufactured. The coincidence made me think back to 1983 when my mother`s money order covered exactly the plane ticket I needed to fly with Christopher to Canada. That memory sent me bubbling. I had a very positive and optimistic feeling in my gut. I felt that everything would turn out not only OK, but great. Unfortunately, my gut feeling proved to be only indigestion. I suddenly woke up out of a beautiful 10 year old dream and found myself in a nightmare.
The Chinese company I paid for making CHONXSTIX complained that they had not received any payment from me and had paid into the wrong bank account. My bank told me that there was nothing I could do to get my money back other than to sue.
Losing a dream was difficult, and so was losing face. Not only did I feel ashamed of myself for being so easily duped, but I also felt that so would other people. They would look on me as a dreamer at best, or a fool at worst.
Edu Cards
My next project was to make a card game that could be used to teach and learn languages . There was a picture on one side and text on the other side. I tried to print them out myself but was unable to. So I had them printed out professionally and put up a web site to promote it.
Unfortunately, I am a hopeless promoter.
2017
We had another great Xmas family get together this year. This time Trudi had her electric key board and provided the entertainment. We as well gave every guest a jar of our rose-hip jam.
Chicago
I went to Chicago with Christopher for 10 days. We stayed overnight in a hotel at the airport where we had to wait a day for our connecting flight. We enjoyed the free WIFI and the excitement of our voyage. When we arrived in Chicago, we did not see Liqing and Adam, or any one that we were hoping to have pick us up. My cell phone did not work, and when I tried the pay phones, I could not make the call to Ellie. Then I saw Liqing or she saw me. Then soon we found Adam and before we knew it, we were entering their gated community.
Their house is the tallest and the only one with a tower. It really looks like a castle. The inside of the house is just as impressive as the outside. Adam and Liqing picked us up on their way home from work, and like all work days, they come home late. Little Andrew was up. He is so cute and made best of friends with Christopher right away. Adam and Chris stayed up till the early morning. The house looks like a museum. It has 3 floors that you can see from the winding staircase that connects them.
We went to China town one evening to buy groceries. It was like walking around in China. Then we went around Chicago one day. It was so cold that we could not stay outside for very long, sio we took the train line that runs above the ground. It must have been -30°C and there were homeless people huddled under blankets on most street corners. We were all so shocked that we decided to help one guy on the street corner next to the restaurant we were eating at. We decided to pay a taxi to take him to a shelter. It was not so easy as taxi drivers did not want to take him. Fortunately we found one taxi driver that promised to take him to a shelter.
The highlight of the trip was when David and Tara arranged for Chris, me Ellie, Adam and Liqing to see the famous Buddy Guy blues artist play at his famous blues club. It was interesting to hear David talk about the historic importance of the blues scene in Chicago and of Buddy Guy being an inspiration to Jimmy Hendrix and famous musicians.
On our last day we went with Adam and Liqing to their office. It was quite chaotic as the communications network in their office was not working correctly. Adam showed his skills by trying to fix the problem himself by unplugging all the modems and routers. That was not the easiest of things to do as there were more than 10 wires in a spaghetti jumble. Then when on reconnecting the wires, the system still did not work, Adam showed his managerial skills by calling and organizing the professionals to come and fix it. I felt really bad in not being able to help Adam.
There was one little scare when the checkout man told me that he could not check me in unless I provide him with a Swiss residency card that I did not have. I showed him my long ago expired Swiss card that fortunately I found, he accepted that.
The day that I was returning home, Trudi called to tell me that Napoleon died. Edmundo visited for a few days and like always we had a great time together. When I mentioned that I had bought a piece of land in the slopes of the volcano Villa Rica just before Christopher was born, he took a copy of all the papers and promised that Mundi, his father, will look into what exactly happened to that land when I was forced to flee with Christopher back to Canada.
Italy
I invited Christopher and Mathew to a week holiday to visit the hotel right on the beach that I used to take my 4 boys many many years ago when they were very young. Our room on the corner with its private exit to go right on the beach was converted into a play room fo the guests. So we got the room beside it. The restaurant was the very same and we all remembered at the exact table we used to have every year. The sea level seemed to be a bit higher than when we remember it as it was more difficult to get on the stone fishing platform they built 20m out. The waves were the same and it was just as refreshing to go for a swim as we remember it. The children learned to swim and each year, they went further and further out till they were able to surf the waves back. The beach was all built up with restaurants and bars. We went into the village and I went up dried river bank to the cemetery on the hill.
We met an Italian family who were also guests. They had their 25 year old daughter with them. Mathew spent many evening with her while Christopher and I stayed with Ronya. I turned out that she used to regularly visit this very hotel as a child at about the same time of year that Mathew was regularly visiting as a child. The parents were very nice and they helped me chose a nice necklace for Trudy and Ronya from the beach salesmen from Africa who walk along the beach with hats pile up a meter and carry along a kiosk full of cheap products.
Sprouts and stones
I started to grow sprouts again, but this time instead of growing them in containers, I grew them in soil in our winter garden. They were very nice to look at and great to cut and sprinkle on the salad as we were eating it. Trudi wanted me to have my little garden of trays outside, so I made some pictures and a video and discontinued my sprouts.
Another project we had was to pave a part of the garden with flat stones from the Schwartzwasser river nearby. So we made a couple of trips and came back with enough flat rocks to place around the hanging hammock that Trudi placed in the middle of the round stone garden that she made.
Schwingfest
A highlight of the year was going to the 2 day Schwingfest that is held every 3 years. The first day I went with Trudi and we were under the sun for most of the day. Trudi did not want to go the last day so I went with Christopher. We sat beside all the family and friends Trudi was able to get tickets for. It was nice to see all those Swiss with their heavy backpacks filled with sausage, cheese, bread and wine, and of course their Swiss army knives.
Severin almost made it to participate. Despite his 2 injuries to his knee that needed an operation, he is one of the best in his club. He also graduated the top of Switzerland and won the Swiss young butchers competition and came in second in the European Young Butchers Championship. His proud father Martin won 6 gold medals last year and 13 gold medals this year for his products. He was awarded with having the best small Butcher shop and being the best butcher in Switzerland. Fritz must be very proud right now.
Trudi has a very distinguished family. On her family side, she has Samantha, the daughter of his brother a TV moderator. The daughter of her other brother is an award winning banker. Then the x-wife of Martin Astrid is a successful politician. Richard, Trudi`s son is the Chief Financial Officer of the Bern hockey team. Therese finally found her true love and her new daughter Julie with Christian, the investment banker who she found on the internet. Priska, also busy on the internet split from Mike and started a new life working in a big butcher company and living with one of the butchers there.
All of Trudi`s grandchilden have turned out well.
Vanessa, who had an aversion for animals is now living with a family farmer and she is working in the community center as a bureaucrat.
Gabriel and Jonathan have their real-estate company and are on their way to reach their goal of becoming millionaires. Florian is an optician and Manuel is working in a drugstore preparing healing products from plants. Niel impressed me with his knowledge the last time I saw him. And he is such a great big brother to little Julia. Benjamin is now just about as tall as Severin and he is still going to school learning how to sell electronic appliances. Didier has changed his best friend from a girl to a boy. He is very active between sport, building things and his iphone.
Instead of going to the theater this year, we went on many hikes.
We went up the Niesen taking the gondola up and walking down. We had this great idea that it would be nice to walk down and look at the scenery. It was so steep and rocky, that we had to constantly look to the ground where we were stepping so that we do not fall off the steep slope. Christopher took up the sport of paragliding and he was telling us that he jump off Niesen and took 10 minutes to glide down. We also took the gondola up and walked an hour to a mountain lake.
We went a few times to “Blausee” which is famous for its trout. They have a restaurant that serves fresh fish from the lake. It is near the road but the 15 minute walk to the lake is very special as it is strewn with rock and boulders the size of houses with trees growing on them. I had the very best ravioli filled wit trout.
We walked from the end of Thun Lake to Interlaken, a trip we regularly make. It goes thru a nature park and the mountain pine trees are so bent that they look like they are from a children's book.
We walked in places that Trudi had not been to for a long time and visited restaurants that Trudi and Fritz used to visit with their friends from his wrestling club.
Barbara
I met Barbara one day while I was picking rose-hips near the hospital next door to our house. She was attracted to Kenni and Nico and we started to talk. She told me that she was in the hospital for rehabilitation and therapy to learn how to talk again after she had a stroke 6 months earlier that left her partially paralyzed. Her ability to walk and move normally had been restored, but her ability to talk was not. She had problems in formulating her thoughts and she had a very severe stutter.
She was the daughter of an abusive pastor who abused his wife. Barbara grew up with a brother and a sister. She was sexually abused along with her brother by her grandfather, her father's father. She was already stuttering at a very early age. Her father suffered from maniac depression. Her parents got divorced, and the good pastor married a third time forcing the family to move out of the parish house. Barbara was put into a children's home.
Barbara eventually became a psychiatric nurse, admired for her great dedication for her patients. She met a 16-year-old man from Germany and got pregnant. She eventually married a man from Czech Republic, but the marriage only lasted 2 years. Last year, Barbara's son Vladimir was brutally attacked in a train station and was left an invalid and Barbara got a stroke and was left partially paralyzed.
Eventually she was able to go back home to her apartment in Bern. When we visited her one day, Trudi realized that Barbara was not in a position to look after herself, and she suggested that she come to live with us for a while. I think that Barbara realized that herself and she gladly accepted.
Although she did not come with much luggage, she did come with 3 dogs. Fortunately, her dogs are very gentle. Trudi is delighted and our house is now like a dog-pen and Barbara and Trudi are like sisters now. Trudi takes her to the many therapies she needs and even joins her in her consultations with the many professionals treating her.
Despite that she is diagnosed as unpredictable and unstable, she has proven herself very predictable with us. She always cries every morning. She gets up very early and takes her 3 dogs for a walk around the neighborhood. Then she waits for Trudi to make her breakfast. She complains about everything. Trudi drives her and the 5 dogs for a morning walk in the forest nearby where Barbara usually drives Trudi a bit crazy. Fortunately there is no room for me in the car so I get to stay home. This gets repeated in the afternoon.
It is understandable that she is in such a bad mood in the morning, as Barbara has constant diarrhea and cannot sleep which leaves her hungry and tired. Predictably, she suddenly cheers up in the evening when she is allowed to decide what TV programs to watch. They are always “love romances” that always all have very troubled beginnings, but very happy endings.
Barbara's 3 dogs are as special as she is. They all come various places, and they are all very different from each other. Orpheus, who looks like a Dalmatian is white and freckled with dark spots. He comes from Spain and he is Barbara's favorite dog. He is like a lord and never takes his one eye off of her. He has been like Barbara, abused and perhaps that is why both of them have taken to each other as they have. Orpheus sleeps in the same room as Barbara. He has a very affectionate low murmuring growl, especially when he wants to tell Trudi that he likes her almost as much as he loves Barbara. He reminds me of a deer when he runs thru the woods.
If Orpheus is a lord, his lady is a short legged and long haired lady called Jumali from Romania. She has started to sleeps with us and Kenni and Nico in our bed more and more. She has her nose always on the ground, sniffing everything and trying to dig out the mice that she seems to hear crawling under ground. She is very quiet, except when she meets other people with their dogs when out walking. Orpheus and Jumali are best of friends.
Kuchali is from Sicily and she is a born hunter who is always digging in the earth with Jumali. She is very gentle and puts her head on our lap while we eat hoping to get some scraps.
Barbara's 3 dogs get on very well with our 2 poodles, like they have right from the first day. Most mornings, they quietly wait in front of our bedroom door for us to get up and give us a really nice greeting to start the day off on a good note.
Barbara, like her dogs, is actually a very nice and lovable person and this is demonstrated by her many nice and lovable friends who regularly come over to visit her. Thanks to Trudi, she convinced the many doctors treating her to put her on sleeping medication which they were very reluctant to do. Now Barbara can now sleeps 5 hours each night. Thanks to Trudi, she insisted that Barbara's diarrhea be looked into and it was found out that she had a lactose intolerance. When eating lactose free diet did not get rid of her diarrhea, Trudi inquired about the side-effects of her medications and it was found that her anti-depressants she was on could cause diarrhea.
Trudi, Barbara's friends and Barbara's team of doctors all tried to find her a suitable home in an institution where she would be properly treated. Unfortunately when she was taken to see the homes, either the homes would refuse to take her, or Barbara refused to live there.
All this was causing a great strain on Trudi as her friends and family considered her to be a bit crazy for helping people who needed help – like all the refugees who are living in her block apartment and in our village - and like Barbara and her 3 dogs. Fortunately Trudi`s soft heart is compensated by her hard head and she realized in time that even for her, it slowly became too much and that she had to make a difficult choice. Either to send Barbara back home to her apartment in Bern with Orpheus, or to see Barbara admitted into a psychiatric home, probably along with her, and that the five dogs would end up in a dog kennel, probably along with me.
Soon after Barbara and Orheus moved back home, Trudi went to bring her to a Dr appointment and came back with Orheus. A few days after that, as we were taking the 20 legs for a walk, (fortunately they don't need shoes), I spotted a dog that looked just like Orheus in the post office parking lot. I tried my best to divert Trudi`s canny eyes for stray dogs by warning her of an oncoming car from the other side of the road. Fortunately the approaching car saw us, because unfortunately, Trudi`s eyes locked on to the dog and she saw that the dog did not have a collar. So, being the sheriff of Riggisberg, she took the stray dog to the police station where they told her to take the dog to the community hall, where she was told to take the dog to the veterinarian who suggested she take the dog to a dog kennel, which of course she refused to do. Now we have 6 dogs. The only consolation is that the stray dog has 2 eyes while Orpheus has only one and that he is a very gentle soul who is a he and not a she.
I am starting to worry about Trudi. Her heart is just too soft. I am starting to worry about myself as well. My tail has found what seems to be a permanent home tucked between my legs and my growl is beginning to turn into a howl. Trudi thinks that the dogs suddenly and expectantly appear like Jesus suddenly appeared to the Virgin Mary. She of course means that it is all “meant to be”. I am more inclined to think that god is just fucking around.
Our Neighbors
Fritz next door died. He taught me that by stamping hard on the garbage bags, I could fit 3 bags into one. He also showed me that despite how impossible it looks to chase a mouse thru the living room, it can be done. Trudi, being afraid of mice panicked when there was a mouse running around our living room, and our cats just watched in between their naps. So I panicked and asked Fritz, an all-rounder to help us. After moving around the very heavy furniture around, just to have the mouse get under one that we have already moved, I finally decided that it was futile and gave up and went upstairs. Shortly after that Fritz did manage to capture the mouse. He put in a railing for the stairs that go out to the field behind our house. His profession was to work with leader and textiles, and he was able to fix our 6 winter-garden chairs that were falling apart. He had a workshop where he spent a great deal of time. His wife Rosemary has a hard time to stop talking especially about Fritz in front of everyone, but Fritz just quietly laughs it off. He did appreciate the ear protectors I gave to him as a joke to solve the Rosemary problem.
They moved down to the village preferring to live in a smaller house than staying in their large house next to us, A young family with a 3 year old girl bought their house and we are fortunate to have such good neighbors. They are members of a church that does not allow any radio, television or other modern entertainments in their homes. The women have to wear skirts and they have very large families that help each other. Paul has 15 brothers and sisters and he works at the family lumberyard. Erica is an excellent mother to Luzia, just as Paul is. I was working on a complicated project involving sawing, gluing, nailing and screwing together and I was amazed that after watching me for a while, Luzia was handing me the right tool in the right time. Whenever Paul does something, whether it be raking leaves, polishing his car or landscaping his garden, Luzia is right there by his side helping him. Unfortunately whenever she sees Paul working, she starts to work around the house as well. We are still collecting flat rocks for our garden that has become more stone than grass. Luzia loved to swim in our pool and Trudi always invites the refugee children living in the village to come for a swim.
Our neighbor on the other side are quite the opposite. I believe the problem started when as good neighbors should do, Trudi assured that she look after their house while they were away. When they returned, they complained that one of Trudi`s cats spilled the flower vase full of water ruining their wooden table. Then one day he cut the 2 meter crown from our beautiful 30 year old fir tree that he actually gave the Schwanders as a welcoming present when Trudi moved in 30 years ago. He shaved of the entire side of that once beautiful tree because the needles were falling into his swimming pool and the tree was shading his house. On one of Trudi`s birthday the police were parked om our drive way with a radar. Trudi asked me to go over and invite them over for a toast. I thought that Trudi wanted me to invite the policemen over so I went out to ask them but they kindly refused the invitation. After we had a laugh about it, Trudi explained that she wanted to invite the neighbors living on our wrong side. They came over for a very short toast and invited us to his birthday party in a few days.
When we returned the visit, we were invited in and asked to sit at a bare wooden table. We chatted and when we were about to leave, he told us that before we leave, we have to taste some of his very exquisite wine and ordered his wife and daughter to get the bottle and the wine glasses. When they came back, he complained that the wine glasses were not glancing clean and in a chastising way, ordered his wife to immediately clean them making her run back into the kitchen humiliated. After we toasted to his health, with some of us perhaps having opposite thought, he ordered his wife to bring us the cake. She put the cake in the middle of the table telling us to serve ourselves, adding that they just couldn't eat any more as they had so many guests. We could understand the lack of plates, as we had serviettes, but we had nothing to eat the cake with and we had to ask for a knife to cut ourselves a piece.
Uli Marty and his Tanya in Hungary
I invested in Bitcoin every month for the last 3 years. I only bought about 5000 $US worth but suddenly the price of Bitcoin increased dramatically and I suddenly found myself with about a half million $US.
As I wanted to buy a safety nest for my family in case the entire system falls apart, I thought that Uli?s Tanya that I knew he wanted to sell looked to me very attractive. It is about a football field of land at the end of a sand road next to a very rich farmer. It is about 90 minutes to Budapest and half an hour to Seged. There is a national park nearby featuring the Puzsta culture. There is a fish park hotel nearby for those who like to fish. And it about 8 hour drive to the heart of Transylvania. I thought that my emergency plot would be also great as a family summer home being only 8 hours drive away.
Uli came by with the pictures and Christopher agree to buy it. The contract was written out and Christopher changed his mind. He told me that he only agreed because I wanted him to. Mathew came by to look at the pictures of the place and agreed with Christopher that we should not buy it.
2018
Edmundo came up to visit us again when he went on his annual bossiness trip to Germany. He is doing very well with his new business to provide charging stations for cell phones. He has a solar version for the ski slopes where people take so many videos and run out of battery. He also provides his product for country fares and shopping centers and wherever there are enough people using their mobile phones. He designed a system much like the ones used by lockers in train stations, but without requiring any payment. On his last night we had a great party where we drank and smoked a lot. We were ll talking Spanish and listening to the conversation brought back many memories of when I had all night parties in Santiago 40 years ago. The next morning, Trudi was a sour and complained that she could not sleep all night because of the noise. I did remember hushing my laughing guests various times. When I added that next time she come and join us, she turned bitter for while.
Edmund's visit was like it always was a highlight. Christopher and Mathew came to join us. We had a great few evenings of interesting and entertaining talks going past midnight.
Ruth and Richard's invitation was another highlight. They decided that they wanted to treat the 2 mothers to a meal in a very special restaurant.. I was able to join them. It was a magical place. They had an igloo big enough to use as a restaurant and it had about 5 rooms carved into the ice. They had ice statues in every corner with furniture made of ice.
Trudi went with Analise her long time friend on a cruise to Singapore and surroundings. I stayed with the dogs for the 2 weeks she was away. Mathew came by and stayed a few days with Ronya. It was so peaceful to have the entire house to myself for a change. I spent it going for a walk 2 times a day with Kenni and Nico and on my projects. Now that I am “rich”, I decided to print out my CHONXSTIX pieces with a 3D printer. I found a CAD designer from Egypt that is doing the files so that it can be printed out. I also found a 3D printing service to print them out. The first few prints were very disappointing in that they looked good but did not connect together. But each time it gets better and better. I also decided to have my education playing cards to learn English, German and French be printed out professionally, and I have about 2000 cards for all the interest in trees, plants, animals, rocks, gems, flowers, and famous people.
Trudi
Trudi came back happier than she left.
Trudi is a real angel that lifts up spirits needing to be lifted up. She plays piano for the old folks in the old folks home nearby the first Monday of every month. With her music and singing, she can transform people who are drooping in their chairs with their head down into smiling singing and even yodeling fossils clapping and swaying to her music. She plays old Swiss folk songs she remembers as a child that the old folks remember fondly. She also helps the Eritrea refugees with all of their bureaucratic paper work they constantly need to fill out. She is so busy helping people and I am so busy with my projects that we are together only when our dogs take us out for a walk, mealtimes, and our evening TV and going to bed ritual with Kenni and Nico.
Fritz
I believe that for a man is to be happy with his lady, he has to make and keep her happy. I could not keep Trudi happy. I was going to keep on trying, but Trudi realized it first and found another man and fell in love with him. Fritz is a bit older, but he was a very successful CEO of a very big company that Trudi`s son Billy used to work for. He is very rich, dignified and Swiss. He is very much different from me but we got along great from the first time we met. I was devastated for more than a month.
But then I realized that the quickest way I can make Trudi happy is to help her in all ways so that her new romance will have a good start for a lifelong happiness. I saw Fritz as the perfect match for Trudi. He is active and respected in his community, successful and rich coming from a poor farming family, had a horse and a dog and loves the outdoors and appreciate the fine arts.
When I told Mathew, he said it was about time. He told me that he was looking for a place closer to where Ronya and her mother live so that once Ronya starts school, that he would live closer and be able to spend more time with her. He suggested that we find a suitable place together and that it would be a great chance for me and Ronya to get to know each other. I had to agree with him that it was amazing that my relationship with Trudi lasted as long as it did.
Cleaning out the attic fill with my books was very difficult. I could not look at the one more time as I needed to do that as quickly as I could. I put the in 10 paper shopping bags handful at a time, and every once in while I saw a book I put aside for Mathew. I felt so bad that I started to have hot and cold spells and needing to throw up but being unable to. It got so bad that I went to the hospital next door and they kept me wired up the entire night. They diagnosed dehydration causing a life crisis.
I slowly realized that Trudi loved me like mother Teresa loved the helpless. I and I slowly started to love her back in the same way. I am sure that with her new Fritz, she will eventually take off her mother Teresa cloak.
I seem to attract domineering women who are attracted to me, take me in but end up throwing me out. Anita died before she could do that. Susanne took about 7 years and Trudi took 10. I felt like Susanne tried to take my money and Trudi tried to take my soul.
Ellie knew about my splitting from Trudi from Trudi. She wrote how worried she was about me. Christopher and Mathew and Stefan came over to console me.
I am so proud of Stefan. He got a scholarship to study illustrations and has made 2 illustrated reports that have been published in magazines. The first was a reportage on the old riding halls next to the train station where anarchist have overtaken as their cultural center. The police have agreed not to enter the facilities. Stefan interviewed the drug sellers and buyers and the homeless that make this space a home. In his second reportage, he interviewed the homeless in Hamburg where he is now studying.
The following day, I celebrated my birthday with Christopher, Mathew and Ronya by going to a Chinese restaurant and feeling a far far away in China.
I felt shattered and was in shock. Trudi reminded me a few times that I would have to have the attic cleaned out of my stuff. All I had left of my many years of collecting were my books and my little atom pieces that I made from, paper, and wood. Now that I had such a good working piece made by a 3D printer, I had no difficulty in throwing in the garbage bins. My books were another story. So I packed them in 10 paper shopping bags. It was too painful to look at each book that I had to part with as they had become a part of me. The books were collected over a 20 year period 20-40 years ago. As I was removing handful of books from the shelves into the paper bags, I could not help it to see some of the covers and could not help it to save some of them for Mathew. When I finally went to bed, I felt so bad and so nauseated that I had to go to the hospital. They kept me there overnight attached to all the machines. The diagnosis was that I was too dehydrated and my blood was too thick.
When I told Trudi not to throw out the books that I moved to the garage, as I would find a good home for my valuable books, she told me that nobody would want them and that the best I could do was to put them on the side of the street for a few days hoping that some people would take them. She ended up to be right. All the places that sold second hand books refused to take any English books. I got so passionately angry and sad that I ended bringing them to the paper recycling depot.
When Trudi told me that she was in love with another man, she also told me that she when I moved in with her 10 years ago, it had nothing to do with falling in love with me. She was so afraid about living alone, that she was ready to have taken in almost anybody. As much as that hurt to hear, I suppose I protected myself by denial. I thought that she was just blindly in love.
Actions are louder than words, and feelings are even more easy to detect. Any buried and lingering embers of love could be easily detected just by body language. It was revealing to see that I was living the past 10 years in a kind of false reality of feeling loved by Trudi. Her family that I admired so greatly were also disappointingly cold. As a minimum, I expected a sign of gratitude for having catered to Trudi`s needs for the past 10 years. The joke she often made to her guests of me being her butler when I cleaned up after the meal suddenly was no longer funny. Another joke she used to share was that I was like her third dog, which I found funny because it was actually true. Now I find the joke insulting.
Her friends whom I considered to be also my friends suddenly disappeared from my life. From them, the minimum I expected was to wish me good luck. That made me even more thankful for Ellie, Chris and Mathew for showing such concern.
Ronya lives in a somewhat remote part up in the mountains about 40 minutes drive from where Mathew now lives. Mathew had the great idea of both of us renting a place near where Ronya lives with Melani so that he can continue to have the arrangement he has at present of having Ronya half the time. When Ronya starts to go to kindergarten next year, Mather would have to move up the mountain. It would be a great opportunity for me to get to know Ronya, and for her to get to know me. After a month of looking, we were unable to find what we were looking for. As I had to get away and could not wait any longer, I looked for a place for myself and was lucky to find one right away.
I found a place in the next village. It has a large south facing roof balcony where the only view is of cow fields and mountains and no windows looking back at you. The re is a bus every hour to Bern and Thun, and it is right next door to a big store that sells everything. The owner who rented the place to me was very sympathetic and he allowed me to move in 2 weeks earlier. Not having to wait till the end of the month, and being just a few minutes drive away, moving was very easy and I was able to do it all by myself gradually. As I was packing, I filled the car and unpacked it in the garage I have with my new place. Chris and Mathew carried the boxes up the 3 flights of stairs up to my apartment.
Trudi prepared for me a few kitchen things. A frying pan so that I can have the eggs I like so much. She also gave me a few knives and forks and spoons and glass cups. As all her plates and cutlery belonged to sets and inherited as a family heirloom, she could not give me any plates so she packed a few packs of high quality plastic party plates. The only thing that I really miss is the coffee mug that I used the past 11 years every day.
Moving into my new place was most relieving and exciting and I felt like all my past moves. To Canada when I was 7, to home when I was 14, to my first home when I was 23.. I felt as free as I did when I sold everything and bought a backpack and realized the meaning of the song “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.”
For a few months I felt like a vase of flower that lay shattered on the ground. I felt people felt sorry for the flowers and the shattered vase. What people did not see was the water – the real me that was now free to flow away.
When I moved into my new place in Santiago with Anita, we ended up having our wedding in our little old house. Jose Pizzaro could not believe that I was using our bed as the table where people pick up their salads and deserts. With the wedding cake right in the middle of the bed. Jose thought me a bit disrespectful. He was right. If the people ever knew that the food table was our bed, I could imagine most of the guests from Anita's side would have found it offensive.
I got a very big table which is exactly the size of my matrace so I will use the table as my bed, and when I need to use it as a table, I will just remove the matrace, just like I did 38 years ago at my first wedding.
When I wanted to start my sprout again, I realized that I left all the seeds to sprout by Trudi. I called Trudi to pick them up, and to my disbelief, she said that she threw them out thinking they were too old.
I realized how much I left my lifestyle behind for so long when I started to think of what to do with the roof balcony. I envisioned a garden of Eden setting with a bucket for collecting rain water from the roof, to a pile of compost forming humus. The floor gets very hot when it has the sun shining on it the entire day, so I will make some wooden carpets like I made in Santiago living with Anita. My only complaint was that I was not sharing my joyous moment of being free with someone who I could be intimate with.
In our first 5 years, I introduced Trudi to my life. We bought a rubber raft and went rafting. But only once. We bought a canoe and went canoeing a few times until Trudi bought a car with a glass roof and was afraid the canoe would scratch it. We went to Canada and camped out a few times. We went to Hungary and even ended up going to Romania.
Elsa and her family bridged my alternate world with the more conventional world that Trudi preferred. That is why we all got along with each other so well. Eve, Elsa's daughter got very close to Trudi and Trudi got to see America in first class style. Then Trudi and I have been taking luxurious cruise holidays.
I feel very sorry for Mathew. He is such a good and dedicated father. Up to now, Mathew has been picking up Ronya and he has her for 50% of the time. He wants to keep that close relationship and realized that unless he moves up there closer to Melanie, he will lose it when Ronya starts to go to kindergarten next year. I really feel sorry for him. Melanie is now living with a boyfriend who has a criminal record. Mathew has tried everything to find a compromise with Melanie so that he has Ronya 50% so that she keeps and develops her contact with Mathew's side of her family. Melanie prefers to keep it to the every second weekend which is the norm.
Mathew is living with me temporarily and he is continuing to search for a suitable place for himself and Ronya close to Melanie. He works whenever he needs the money. Right now he took on a 2 weeks work as a gardener. He makes over 300 CHF a day, but works a long and tiring day.
Chris finally quit the job he hated so much. He has a friend who makes ice-cream and they sell it in Bern at a stand near a busy store next to the train station. I went to Bern once and he seemed very happy chatting with his customers. Chris is such a friendly soul. He took up paragliding and when the weather is nice, he takes the cable lift up to the top of mountains and jumps off and glides down to the bottom.
A new start
It is great to have gotten my life back. Once I am more settled down, I would like to take a river cruise down the Danube to the delta. Then I would like to take a ship to Istambul. Then to Athens and up the Balkan coast to Venice. What a tour thru history.
I opened a match.com account to try to find a woman friend to build a relationship on and claimed to search for a travel companion to make the tour thru history with. After a 2 month active campaign, I found 40 ladies over the age of 56 who lived close by. I wrote all of them that I would like to meet them face to face and if they set a place and time, I would “take care of the rest“. 4 of them replied.
The first lady from Zuerich offered to meet me in Bern under the clock tower. I waited an hour and was expecting to be called. I could not call her because she never gave me her number nor did I ask. When I returned home disappointed after the few days of excitement build-up for nothing, I had an angry message from her that she was on time and did not see me anywhere, and forgot my number at home.
The second lady was a “hot“ old chick that I would like to have met again, no matter how far away she lived. We had a very agreeable day eating and walking along the lake near where she lived. She told me that she was not really looking for a man friend, but her daughters put her up to it. When I returned home disappointed after the few days of excitement build-up for nothing, I could not find my phone. I had to get a new SIM Card and a new phone for it and re-upload all the Apps. A week later she called me to tell me that she found my phone in her car and will send it to me by post.
The third lady Nina was a very elegant 59 year old that looked more like she was 40. I asked her what she was looking in a man. She started off with honesty, love and tenderness which gave me a spurt of hope. Looking at her very exclusive petit purse with the big golden signature mark, she continued with the importance for her that the man buy her nice clothes, and accessories. Well that kind of was a red flag. When I told her how poor I was she started to noticeably loose any interest in me. At one point she even took out her phone and gave it a couple of swipes. It was a very hot day and she suggested that we postpone our diner for another time. I thought that I could save 100 CHF, I agreed. Sympathetic angels were there and someone came running after us with my apartment keys that have fallen out of my pocket. Nina asked me if I could help her get some beer she wanted to buy as a present for a party. We walked to the store to buy the 2 big cases of beer and before I knew it I was paying 98 CHF with my credit card for the beer.
The fourth lady and the last I hope for a while was 57 year old Madeleine. She suggested we meet half way and gave me her phone number. I called her and we had a very long chat on the phone. She spoke mostly French and I spoke mostly English and German, languages she knew well. We laughed a lot. When I told her how I lost my job and landed on welfare, she told me she sees a problem and hung up. I thought that our connection was broken and when I called her again, she refused my call. Totally confused, I wanted to send her a message thru the dating service we were using and found out that she had blocked me from communicating with her.
I suppose that a minute of explanation to end the long agreeable conversation on a nice polite note instead of just hanging up would have been better. Then I would just go thru the same old routine I went thru with the other 3 ladies. Building up excitement for a few days, spending a few hundred CHF just to return home disappointed and frustrated.
Now I can be more thankful that I wasn't played out in such a crazy situation any longer that that very pleasant phone conversation with such an unpleasant end.
It is claimed that moving is a great stress. For me, the time between knowing that I have to move to the time I actually started to move was a great stress. But once I was moving, it was a great relief. Building a new home was always very exciting and wonderful, much like finding a new friend.
I had my hand operated on. The collagen in my right hand over the last 5 years forced my fingers closed so that I could not stretch them out any more. I should not have waited so long, and reacted only when I could no longer use the computer mouse or properly hold a jar. The doctors suggested that rather than operate, I should inject some substance that weakens the collagen so that with local anesthesia, they could tear it free from the fingers. I expected that with the local anesthesia, it would be as uncomfortable as having a tooth pulled. All the digging with the needles to inject the dissolving substance the first day was just the preparation for the next day when the stuck in the many needles to inject the anesthesia. It didn`t seem to do the work, so they repeated it all a second time. Then they stretched my fingers straight and I could feel and hear the tissues tearing. The skin totally broke open and my hand was very swollen. They made a cast that kept the fingers straight and I wore it all the time the first week. I had to go in to have the bandages changed every second day. I am now in my second week and my hand is healing really well. I take off the cast during the day and try to use my right hand as much as I can. It is great to see the progress day by day.
Although I do not socialize, every one is very nice to me. The Swiss are very kind but very reserved. But when they open up, they are very friendly. I have made a few friends since I moved hear 18 months ago. Denise likes to practice her English with me. For luck her English is really good because we have great conversations together about everything. She lives alone on the way to the woods nearby where I go walking every day. She was into Buddhism and is interested in psychology. She has a son who is a cook. She is 65 year old, chubby, with a pretty face that smiles and laughs a lot. The janitor Andreas is a young father of 2 children. He is very friendly especially when I admire the beautiful flowers he plants around the 6 family apartment block. He likes to show me his private vegetable garden and to answer the many questions I ask him. He is like a scientists and mixes and prepares his own fermented fertilizer. He belongs to one of the many free church believers groups that are so prevalent. The churches are going empty while these groups meet in halls with the children for the whole day. Andreas the janitor has a friend who is a local farmer also called Andreas. His wife Doris likes to practice her English with me and I get to ask Andreas the farmer questions concerning the life of a Swiss family farmer.
I was happy living with Trudi. We both enjoyed having guests and we had many. Now that I am living alone, I miss the dogs and Trudi`s family and friends.
Trudi often told me that we make a great team. I openly admitted that she was right, and only because I let her be the boss. She took things apart, and I put them back together. She cut the bushes, and I cleaned up the branches. She cooked for guests, and I cleaned up the kitchen. She prepared the shopping list and I went shopping. If I would have been boss, I would not have changed anything. I respected her criticism that I was basically wasting time and money on my hobbies and I felt that she respected me for standing up to my rights. She was very critical about Mathew and criticized me for supporting Mathew.
Now without Trudi, I am my own boss and I never need to feel bad about disturbing Trudi when I do any of my projects.
My latest project is to put on line all of my books and to format them so that the are easy to read on an i-phone. By using the Blog platform, I found to my surprise that it is an ideal platform for publishing books. You can use as many pictures and figures in full color and you do not have to worry about page numbers. It is easy to manage and edit and you always have the very latest version available to download.
No comments:
Post a Comment