Another Birthday Celebration

We have just come from Centrepoint where we had a party to say farewell to Anne. BUT, Roger almost stole the show again!! Not that it was his fault, mind you. Stewart and Katja presented him with this gigantic Anzac Biscuit for his Birthday and sang 'Happy Birthday', etc. We didn't have the camera with us, so had to take a photo when we came home!!

What a Birthday WEEK he has had.

Yes Carole, in Australia we celebrate our Birthday all week.

But you know we are not in Australia!!

Roger's Birthday

Roger celebrated his birthday in style yesterday. He woke up to cards from friends, a parcel from Cheryl, spoiling over breakfast by moi and then a ride in a Mercedes extra large stretch limo (bus) to Kandern where we met friends who took us on an hours car ride to the lovely little village of Riquewihr in France (we're in love with this quaint very old village). We arrived and immediately had lunch then a walk around the village, into the shops and a stop for coffee/hot chocolate as well. We eventually arrived home around 8.00pm to many messages on the phone and lots of Facebook messages!!

A very special day indeed for us both. We just shake our heads and say to each other "how blessed are we".

The cake is a Lumberjack Cake which I baked for the Hiking Group from Basel that came to lunch on Monday. We led the walk from Maulburg to Schopfheim, about 2.5 hours (our usual one we lead) and afterwards there were 11 of us for lunch - zucchini and chicken and leek soup (yes, most had to try both), lovely olive and garlic bread, I made Honey Joys and the Cake. We finished a lovely time together with Roger's special coffee's for those who requested them, tea and chocolate.

Thanks to friend Louise for the collage photo. She's a whiz.

Celebrating our 34th Honeymoon

We feel very spoiled that some dear German friends paid for us to have a 3 day trip into the Swiss Alps last Monday till Wednesday. We left home at 9.35 and arrived at our destination in Chur around 13.30. We immediately changed trains and went on a trip to Davos. On the weekend prior to our visit there had been a snow fall, so it was very pretty, but rather cold! Also it was raining every now and then. We stayed 2 nights in Chur at the Stern Hotel and were treated to a Superior Room, red wine, fruit and chocies! Yum. Also a lovely note from our friends. We were a little disappointed that we didn't have time to explore Chur because we were too busy riding the trains!

On Tuesday we wanted to take a day trip to Tirano (10 hours turn around), but the weather was not good so we decided to go as far as Pontresina, find somewhere for lunch and then get an early train back to Chur. As it was we left at 9am and didn't get back until 18.30! A huge day for us both.

Wednesday we went on the best trip, an hour from Chur to Aroso. W O W ! ! ! The scenery was spectacular even though the weather wasn't good. When we got to the top we could see the beautiful lake and Alps, but by the time we left, 1/2 hour later, it was all clouded over and raining. It was a shame we didn't get to see any wildlife. One of the conductors told us you often see wild animals close to the train on this route. We got back to Chur and then took the train to Disentis/Muster. A nice trip, but not the best we had done.

We arrived home Wednesday trained out and very tired!! Wanna see some photo's?!!!

One of the many viaducts we went over

Amazing to think people live here. Would love to go back to this little village. It has the cutest restaurant right on the river. We kept passing it on our many trips. The village is called Tiefencastel,

Look at that wood pile. They always look so neat!

It has given me a real taste to want to see more, but that is not going to happen any time soon!!

E N J O Y

OUR TUESDAY 11 MAY

We've been out all day today. Firstly we headed into Basel to celebrate Lily's 2nd Birthday. Lily was born at 500gm so she really is a little miracle. What a lovely time we had seeing her and catching up with lots of our other friends at a Cafe in Basel.

Then we headed by bus across the border to France. While waiting at the bus stop we watched a lady be most helpful to a young lady with a pram. Very special. We had to visit the Railway Station in St Louis to change all our internet train tickets for REAL train tickets. This was done with the minimum of fuss by a very efficient employee of SNCF. We then visited the Post Office. Now remember, neither of us speak French, so it's always interesting to visit the Post Office. We wanted 20 .85c stamps!! To complicate matters, I asked for 'pretty ones'!! Although the man didn't speak English, he knew exactly what I meant. He only had 6 pretty ones so off he went to find some more! Some of you might benefit from this little visit by receiving pretty French stamps on one of my letters!! These little incidents always give us warm fuzzies inside as we think of kind people.

Whilst in France I just had to buy Self Raising Flour and real brown sugar!!

Then we headed off to the movies to see 'The Blind Side'. Roger was given 2 movies tickets for his Birthday last year, so they were able to expire!! There wasn't a lot of choice. We really want to see 'Invictus' one of these days. It's just about finished at the theatres in Basel but is on at 11.00 on Sunday's!! Not a good time for us.

The movie was great. Sandra Bullock sure is a star. It started to absolutely bucket down just as we arrived at the theatre, so we were glad to be safe inside!! A great way to spend an afternoon.

Then it was home safe and sound and feeling rather tired from a lovely day out. Tomorrow I really must get some serious work done before we celebrate Ascension Day holiday on Thursday. Hopefully it won't be raining and I can get a bike ride in as well. Also need to do some baking to take to friends. Fun, fun, fun!!

BIKE RIDING

Gaynor is on a 'mission'!! I don't think I've mentioned on my blog (for fear of raging jealousy) that Roger and I have planned a cycling tour of the Loire Valley in France. Here's the link if you want to have a peek! May I just say that this adventure has been on the top of our 'bucket list' and it seems unbelievable that it is only just over 3 weeks away. We leave by train for Paris on 22 May and on the 23 May we meet up with Joshua and Jayne (Roger's nephew from Sydney and his wife) and we will travel to Tours together. We are VERY excited, as you can imagine. We have organized a tandem, so I might even be able to get away with less leg action - oops, don't tell Roger!

http://www.cycletours.com/bedbike/france-spain-greece_along-loire_86.php

As you can imagine, one can't just go on a cycling tour without some physical preparation! I have never really enjoyed bike riding. Roger LOVES cycling and almost lives on the bike. What I am getting to is that I am particularly proud of myself at the moment. Yesterday and today I have been on a 10km bike ride and it has felt great. Bottom is a bit sore, but could be worse!! The idea is that I try and do this at least 5 days in the week until we go on the tour. Then I just might pension my bike off!!

Here are some highlights of my bike riding in the last couple of days:

• Traffic stopped as I crossed the intersection near our home (embarrassing!)
• Gentle climb going out of town along the Weisse River but nothing I couldn't handle
• Saying 'Guten Tag' to everyone I passed!
• The eagles soaring overhead near the golf course
• Bike path fantastic so no cars to worry me once I got on it
• Coming home a nice tail wind and slope to help me make it back
• A very good feeling that I can actually do it all by myself without Rog!!!!!

Sorry, no pictures as I was too busy cycling. Besides, I don't exactly look a million dollars when I get on the bike! A bonus is that this is helping to get rid of my 'winter warmth' in a nice kind of way (plus being very careful what I am eating for a couple of weeks). So far so good.

Filling our days

Spring has arrived and we can't get the smiles off our faces!! Gone are the heavy coats, scarves, hats, gloves, socks, etc!! Even the heating has (just about) been turned off!! The trees are getting lovely new green leaves, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom and the tulips are bursting forth. We have so much to smile about.

Although life for us has had a big turn around with Roger's ALS, we are trying to remain positive and are doing pretty well. No one wants to see a long face, or to see misery, least of all us! The friends that surround us here in Schopfheim and Basel have been incredibly supportive and helpful as we face the uncertain future. But we all need to realize that we only have one day to live, and live it we must, to the very best of our ability. Our faith in God and trusting him for each day is the highest priority for us.

So, here we are having just climbed a rather tough 'hill' at the back of our home in Schopfheim, but the view is worth it, as you can see. We were with new friends Alan and Sandra, Fabiano and Debora. We were rewarded at the top with various drinks all round. I settled for champagne (!!) and Roger for a large glass of beer. Then we were ready for the walk down the hill.

EASTER ESCAPE WITH RUTH and ANDREAS

I have no excuse for not uploading these photo's sooner and putting them on my blog. I have had gentle reminders from several quarters about my lack of blogging these past couple of weeks. I'm not liking the computer very much at the moment! That's the only excuse I can give.

Roger and I travelled to a little village called Huels where our lovely friends Ruth and Andreas live. We left on the Wednesday before Easter so that we could get cheap rail fares. We had a wonderful trip up (just love train travel - I'm always saying this), taking about 6 hours and a great week with our friends. We did all sorts of lovely things together, but most of all relaxing and lots of talking. Here are just a few pictures of our trip.

A small castle where we had afternoon tea whilst visiting Essen

Andreas loves to photograph old trees, so we had to get in the act as well!

It has been an Easter tradition that we have Easter Day lunch at Maria Karsten's home. We come away very well fed and not needing to eat for the rest of the day.

l-r Phillip, Stefi and Jan tucking in!!

Easter Monday we visited Cologne - a very beautiful city

We had a good walk around on a very pleasant Monday. Lots of people around
because the weather was so nice.