As free as a bird on Friday

Bearbear and Piggy go to nursery on every Thursday and Friday. On these two days I usually fill my diary with appointments to see the masseur, doctors, friends and do my weekly food shopping.

But today, a Friday, I was absolutely free! I had no appointment at all!!

What a luxury. You will treasure this kind of freedom when you have kids. Somehow you need a break from your kids, although you do miss them terribly when they're not around.

With all the time in my hands, I could manage to take my sweet time to cook myself a very good lunch instead of having the usual spaghetti with Bolognese sauce from the jar.

Voilà, here's the end result - Pan fried beef entrecote with tomato salad. Simply delicious.



↑ Pan fried beef entrecote with tomato salad


It was a hot day today. 26℃. So I decided to have my lunch on the terrace. While eating, mom called from Subang Jaya.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Malaysia, Subang Jaya is a township next to Kuala Lumpur. If you don't know where Kuala Lumpur is, then I don't think you want to know about Subang Jaya. Anyway, it was a wonderful surprise to hear from mom and I was so glad to know that she was safe and sound.

Mom was here during the summer of 2005 but she found Switzerland a bit too cold, too quiet and too boring. I remember a conversation we had during her stay here.

Mom: "It's as quiet as in the grave yard here. How can you live here for so long?"
Me: ..............



↑ Close-up of the beef entrecote with tomato salad


In order to avoid having the boring bread/pasta/rice, I chose to have sweet corn as my side dish instead.



↑ Boiled Spanish sweet corn. Very sweet indeed.


Cherry is in season now. Why not have it as dessert?


↑ Fresh cherries, handpicked from the local supermarket Migros


After such a heavy meal, I couldn't be bothered to move anymore. Where's my deckchair? It's time to lie down, put my feet up, have a light lemon chilled drink with ice cube and enjoy my weekly dose of The Economist.



↑ My favourite deckchair on the terrace


The Economist arrives in our letterbox on every Friday, as punctually as a devoted lover.


↑ How to get him out? Good question.


When I felt too sleepy from the heavy meal, I let myself doze off on the terrace. Gentle breeze from the lake was caressing my skin. Today was such a bright sunny day. Zurich Lake was extremely blue. The hill on the other side of the lake was greener than green could be. A few sail boats, aimlessly, floating on the lake. I was suddenly exceedingly moved by the beauty of it all.

And I knew, mom would disagree with me.



↑ Zurich Lake in summer


As I glanced towards Zurich city at the far end of Zurich Lake, an ordinary day didn't seem so ordinary anymore. One could easily be mesmerised by the blueness of the lake.

Summer time in Switzerland is like poetry in motion. And life is sweet.



↑ Zurich City lies at the northern tip of Zurich Lake

Of Porsche, Ferrari and Superwoman

↑ My mom is a superwoman

Bearbear has just turned 5. Sometimes he totally amazes me with his words.
Overheard while Bearbear was playing Lego with his good friend Manuel.

Bearbear: Meine Mamma ist eine Superfrau. (My mom is a superwoman.)
Manuel: Wirklich? (Really?)
Bearbear: Sie kann meine ganzen Spielzeuge reparieren. (She can repair all my toys.)
Manuel: Du bist sehr gluecklich! (You're very lucky!)

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↑ Bearbear's dream car - just like Sally in the movie "Cars"

One fine morning, while driving Bearbear to the day care centre, he spotted a white Porsche on the road.

Bearbear: Mama, when I'm big enough, when I've enough money, I want to buy a white Porsche.
Me: Good idea. If you can afford a Porsche, that means you're doing quite well. Mama'll be very happy. Not everyone can afford a Porsche you know.
Bearbear: Yeah, after buying the Porsche, if I still have some money left, I'll buy you a red Ferrari.
Me: Oh Bearbear you're so generous.

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↑ What do you like to watch tonight - Tom & Jerry or CNN?

While watching TV together, Bearbear started the following conversation with me.

Bearbear: Mama, do you like cartoon?
Me: Yeah. When I was a kid, I liked Micky Mouse, Donald Duck, Tom & Jerry and Woody Wodpecker. I still do actually.
Bearbear: I like all kinds of cartoon and CNN.
Me: I can understand why you like cartoon. But why CNN? It's all about news.
Bearbear: Then I know what's going on in the world.
Me: .........

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While clearing Bearbear's school bag, I found a piece of paper written in broken German "Ich ha dich ser gern", accompanied by drawing of hearts and stars, signed by Melanie. Obviously it's a love letter from his little girlfriend who is 6 years old.

Me: What're you going to do with this letter?
Bearbear: I think I've to take Melanie as my wife because she likes me very much.
Me: What about Laura? I thought she liked you too....
Bearbear: Yeah, but I think Melanie likes me more than Laura does.
Me: Bearbear, you know, you don't have to take someone as a wife just because she likes you. You have to like her too.
Bearbear: I do like Melanie!
Me: OK. but you're only 5. You'll have to wait until 18 before you can think about taking someone as a wife.
Bearbear: What? 18? How many nights do I have to sleep before I become 18?
Me: Many many many.....nights my dear.

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