Snow on the peaks

Had to love this sunset ....snapped this shot from Doug and Cheryl's living room as we joined them for a cheese fondue dinner...

Lots of smiles... Life is good!

Riding with Bob

Picked up Bob in Morges today and we did a 30km loop of some touring, but mostly shopping and errands.

Bob drafted behind me the whole ride, never once complaining but never taking the lead either.

Our first stop was COOP where there was a large wine sale ending today. We stocked up...

then we hit Conforama where we picked up a nice office chair for Aubrey. From there it was a pleasant ride home.

The nice thing is that Bob carried all the groceries and purchases, leaving me to just pedal. And when we stopped for a break, Bob held my bike up, playing the role of a hi-tech kick stand!...

Who's Bob? See below...and sorry if I've misled you!

I think this is going to make the car-free life just a bit easier...a year and a half of carrying loads in my backpack is now history!

Bob with an empty sack and playing the role of a hi-tech kick stand...I'm also told that if you flip the trailer over, it can work as a small table. We'll have to see...this could be nice on a long touring ride! The trailer mounts to the rear axle and removes and installs in seconds.

Bob, all loaded up with chair, case of wine, and groceries!

Riding home with the full load!

Now where's Djerba?

Here you go!

Tunisia Bound

Wasn't sure it would happen but it looks like we're good to go. Sweet...after a week of snow and rain we're ready for a break!

We'll be taking a 1 week vacation on the island of Djerba. Our uncertainty on this trip was linked to getting Brenna and Aubrey's passports renewed prior to our departure date. Originally the passports were to arrive 1 day before our flight. We thought, no big deal, we have cancellation insurance...

However, on Saturday we learned that delayed passports are no excuse...so if they were late, we would forfeit our prepaid vacation. Ouch...

I sent an email on Monday to the US embassy in Bern and somehow got a real response from a real person. She tracked down the renewed passports and got them delivered to our house today... Unbelievable!

Originally we had wanted to go to Greece or do a cruise down the Nile river, but we quickly learned that you must reserve 6 months ahead of time to get the real good values...

Our local travel agent highly recommended some R&R in Tunisia so there we are! I think we'll spend most of the week just relaxing on the beach, but we'll try to get a few excursions to learn a bit about the surroundings. Among other things, Djerba is the 1977 location of the Mos Eisley exterior scenes in the first Star Wars movie...The desert excursions and outdoor markets are on our list..we'll keep you posted. In the meantime, we're seeing nice weather here, longer days, and gotta love the day light savings time...just wish it lasted all year.

Cheers, Dave

Cheers, Dave

Cossonay visit..

Sunday was the first day of sunshine after a week of snow, sleet, and rain. So I took a ride out to Cossonay and checked out the local sights. Was feeling super tired so just went easy and mapped out some of the nicer routes. It's a nice ride, with great blacktop and some good climbs. Nice architecture to boot...so a definite 'must do' when some of my biking buddies come to visit!

;-) Dave

Flaine Ski Day

Mont Blanc up close!

Just got back from a full day of skiing in Flaine, France! It was a great time, shared with many of my work colleagues and most especially, lovely Diana! We enjoyed lots of skiing together though we did get separated for a few hours when we made the mistake of riding up a mile long spring loaded Poma lift. This consists of a cable pulled, suspended platter that you place between your legs and hope for the best as you get pulled up the slope. I have seen these on bunny lifts, but never on top of the mountain black diamond runs! About half way up, my ski caught an edge, and next thing I new the little platter sprung up and I sprung down! I though I was near the end of the lift and attempted to hike up the hill...but after 15 minutes of slipping sliding with skis and poles in hand, I realized I was nowhere near the end...So I skied down, waited in line and tried again...By the time I got up, Dedi was long gone! But we met again for lunch and from there to the end of the day, no more mishaps...

The views were spectacular. What an experience to see Mont Blanc up close after looking at it from afar on the few days/month when it is not hidden by clouds!

rrrrrrr....rrrrr

Rrrrrr.......rrrrr...rrrrrrr.....rrrrr....these were 22 month old Jonas's first words and as legend has it, expressed the beginning of his growing fascination with cars, wheels and eventually all things with moving parts. In his visit yesterday, it did not take him long to find all the wheels around our house..every free moment he managed to find a new set of button or knobs to push or turn. We thought it was quite cute despite Margaret's warnings of the consequences of VCR's getting reprogrammed into microwaves.... We thought nothing of it at the time...

Well sure enough we experienced the consequences early this morning. .It began with a 3:00am symphony of alarm clocks, beginning with our Oregon Scientific Weather station...(wild...didn't even know it had an alarm funciton! ) This was later followed by four more alarm clocks, all programmed to new wake-up times. Had us jumping around this morning a bit confused and unsure, especially with rumors that the US has already sprung forward this year. ....Now what time is it?

Swiss Company

Today our friends Jan and Margaret, now moved from Colorado Springs to Zurich, drove up with their family for a visit to our neck of the woods. We enjoyed a nice hike along the lake while the four girls went off on their own and caught up on 'everything'!
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Dedi getting the picnic going...















Wine, bread, and some good Gruyere cheese!













nice view.. .












Jonas taking a break from his puddle explorations!

A saucer with my cup please...

I still see myself as a Colorado guy, loving the mountains, the outdoors, mountain bike rides and big mugs of hot coffee...thus my surprise this morning as I found my self searching for a saucer to place under my freshly brewed expresso. Not that I needed the saucer for sugar cubes or a spoon....I just like placing my cup on a saucer. Is that bad or what?

Buried Bones

This week, in the never ending quest to make life better for our apartment-bound dogs, I started giving them bones to chew in the morning. This has worked wonders. They're teeth are sparkling and they've been model apartment dwelling citizens. However, I was perplexed by how quickly the bones disappeared.

Today the mystery was solved. Upon vacuuming under the sofa cushions, I found a week-load cache of fresh and partly eaten bones!

Never mind that the sofa is strictly off limits to these canine creatures, or that I have yet to find them actually perched on this forbidden surface... When the coast was clear, for lack of a yard, they have cleverly buried their treats deep in the sofa folds! Talk about improvisation!