Brütten Rocks!

To help alleviate the boredom during lockdown we have begun a painted stone trail around the village. To start, my youngest daughter and I found a selection of interesting stones which we have hoarded from various beaches across the globe over the years. We scrubbed them throroughly and got our acrylic paints together. Then we took a long hard look at each shape before painting to see what each would reveal in the way of ideas. One of them revealed a seated polar bear, which is definitely our favourite!  I'm very excited about children finding and enjoying these and hope the stone trail will grow in the village with additions from other sources.

Participants can post their finds on my Brütten Rocks FB page here.

Postcards with love

It has taken a long time to get my head round the whole Coronavirus Lockdown thing and now, three weeks into it, I am finally feeling a little more relaxed about it all (with a gargantuan effort) However, it seems the local schools were extremely well prepared from the off.

The Friday before Lockdown, the girls came home with their school iPads and a load of books and on the Sunday night before their first day of online school, we had emails, with a detailed schedule for my 13-year-old secondary school daughter. This schedule involved days beginning online at 08:30 and finishing between 16:30 and 17:30. My Mittelstufe 10-year-old daughter had a more relaxed schedule, with a list of work needing to be completed each day by herself but which involved online work and online messaging with her other classmates.

But the very best thing was a delivery on the first week from school into our mailbox of 20 franked postcards. Every week, each child is given the name of another classmate to whom they must write a little positive letter. She loves looking for her postcards each week and reading them. She keeps them in pride of place on her wall, in a growing collection of positivity.

I thought this is a wonderful way of connecting the children during quarantine. We have also done cards for family in the UK and on Monday I sent two parcels to a friend in Switzerland who is really struggling to work from home with her little ones onboard. They were just parcels made up of things my children have grown out with, including a Wallace & Gromit DVD, which I know they will love. She sent me a gorgeous little video message with their glowing faces and thank yous.

As well as Facetime and Zoom apps perhaps we can also return to snail mail at this time. It’s such a lovely way to keep in touch and there is nothing better than getting a personal letter or little package in the post. My children love it – even my normally moody 13-year-old can’t resist her pleasure at receiving post.

So yes, I’m still struggling with this weird Coronavirus twilight world we’re living in but focusing on small details of love is helping enormously.

Squeaky Cheese & Peas Curry

This is an amazingly simple little curry, using traditional indian cheese called paneer (available in the vegetarian chilled section of Coop) You get the frying pan nice and hot before browning the cheese on all sides before throwing into the curry to soak up the spices.

Ingredients

1 onion

half a chilli

2 cloves of garlic

Thumb-sized knob of ginger

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ hot chilli powder

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground coriander

1tsp ground cumin

½ pt veg stock

1 x tinned tomatoes

125ml red lentils

½ pint veg stock

1 tblsp white wine vinegar

Pinch of sugar

A handful of frozen peas

1 packet paneer cheese
Fresh coriander (Optional but well worth it!)

Finely chop 1 onion, half a chilli, 2 cloves of garlic and a thumb-sized knob of ginger and fry for 5 minutes. Add spices and cookout for a further two minutes. Add tinned tomatoes, white wine vinegar and sugar. Add stock and lentils and cook for 25 minutes. Cut paneer into 2cm cubes and fry in a hot pan until golden on all sides. Add to curry and cook for another 5 minutes. Serve with basmati rice, a soft tortilla and a good glob of mango chutney on the side (both available in Coop) A handful of fresh coriander on serving really bumps this amazing dish up another notch ;)

International Women's Day 2020

Clara Zetkin founded IWD in 1910

Many women are boycotting demonstrations today due to the Coronavirus pandemic but we can still celebrate International Women's Day (IWD) by writing about it and celebrating the huge successes of women despite the odds.

It’s laughable when I see a multitude of online comments from men - and women - saying ‘What’s the big deal? I don’t care if a movie/book/play, etc, etc is written by a man or woman – as long as it’s good! But the point is, it is still a man’s world, men still get paid more than women for doing the same job and women are still abused, tortured and belittled around the world purely for being a woman.

Only 20 or so years ago, J.K Rowling didn’t use her first name on her first novel because it was thought less children would buy it if it was written by a woman. It wasn’t until 1991 that all women in Switzerland were allowed to vote. Crazy.

So yes, there is still a great deal of work to do. And how did IWD, now a UN-recognised annual event, come around?

The seeds were planted in 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York demanding shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote. The Socialist Party of America then declared the first National Woman's Day a year later.

In 1910, Clara Zetkin began the process of marking the day across the globe by making it a suggestion at the International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. There were 100 women there, from 17 countries - and they agreed unanimously. In 1911, IWD was celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland and it grew from there.

Clara's idea for an International Women's Day had no fixed date. It wasn't formalised until a war-time strike in 1917 when Russian women demanded ‘bread and peace’ - and four days into the women's strike the Tsar was forced to abdicate and the provisional government granted women the right to vote. The date when the women's strike commenced on the Julian calendar, which was then in use in Russia, was February 23^rd. This day in the Gregorian calendar is March 8^th - and that is why it is celebrated on that date today.

So March 8^th has become a date to celebrate how far women have come in society but also to protest and raise awareness of continued inequality throughout the world. It is a national holiday in many countries, including Russia where the sales of flowers doubles around this time. In China, many women are given a half-day off work as advised by the State Council (although many employers don't always pass the half-day on to their female employees) In the US, the month of March is Women's History Month. A presidential proclamation issued every year honours the achievements of American women.

The past few years have seen the women's movement reach an unprecedented scale. In October 2017, millions began using the hashtag #MeToo on social media to speak out against experiences of harassment and sexual assault, and to denounce their widespread prevalence. In 2018, the #MeToo conversation grew to a global scale, with countries such as India, France, China, and South Korea joining in the conversation to demand change. In the US, a record number of women were elected in the midterm elections.

Last year saw abortion decriminalised in Northern Ireland and the repeal of a law that controlled how women acted and dressed in public in Sudan.

This year a giant portrait of Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg (see below) has been unveiled in West Yorkshire to mark today. Pupils chose the 17-year-old as the woman who had most inspired them for the 60m long artwork on a playing field at Hebden Royd Primary School in West Yorkshire in the UK. 

60m portrait of Greta Thunberg is unveiled on a school playing fireld

Ider at Albani Music Club

I am ashamed to admit that I have lived in Winterthur for six years now and last night was the first time I entered the Hallowed Grail that is the Albani Music Club.

However, I am very happy that my first experience of Albani was at yesterday’s Ider gig. We were gutted to only catch the end of Ider at last year’s Winterthur Music Festival when we arrived to see Metronomy. We loved what we saw so I was thrilled to see them return for another gig last night as part of their debut tour to promote their first album Emotional Education.

My husband and I were pretty early to arrive so settled into some comfy armchairs in the mezzanine and had a pretty spectacular vantage point of the stage below.The atmosphere was buzzing. A DJ was playing all our favourite tunes – from Soft Cell to Jet - and the Albani acoustics are top notch – not too loud but with the most amazing bass line which boomed its way into our heart and soul. The backdrop was set wonderfully and when Ider came on they did not disappoint.

An hour and a bit of sublime pleasure followed listening to the breathtaking harmony of the two girls, Meghan Markwick and Lily Somerville. Highlights were provided by Brown Sugar with its resounding heartbeat and dreamy chorus and You’ve got your whole life ahead of you, with its moody resonance. A cameo appearance of my personal favourite Pulse was received by an appreciative crowd with its sensual beat and breathlessly spine-tingling lyrics and we were treated to a sensational capella section at the end of Baby Love when the girls faced each other in a physical evocation of the magical connection that has produced such an original and beautiful sound.

It was emotional - like a big warm musical hug - and an education – I cannot recall ever hearing harmonies so exquisite. Believe it when I say Ider are on a one way rocket trip to an illustrious future – and Albani Music Club provided them with a leg up of acoustic magnificence.

New piece of work

It’s been so long since I last updated my blog. I have been so busy with the summer holidays, having my wisdom teeth out (ouch) and getting creative. At Morgenland I have created my most favourite piece of wood carving yet, seen above. This was the first time Erwin has allowed me to use a piece of wood in his offcut collection. – oak! I felt honoured to be able to carve such a beautiful piece of wood. The tools literally glided through the surface. So satisfying. I was truly in the zone doing this piece. And I think it shows. Even Erwin said it was my masterpiece! He also suggested it looks like a green fish in a smart coat which I like. With this in mind I think I'll call him Dapper.

Well done Luca!

I must say a big bravo to Luca Hänni who secured a whopping FOURTH place for Switzerland in last weekend´s Eurovision Song Contest. Luca is a 24-year-old talent with slick moves, a well honed bod and a baby face from Bern. Not only did he wow the monumental crowd with a polished, live performance on the night but he also wrote the song! Together with my 12-year-old we must have watched the performance a dozen times. I´m hoping he will be putting in an appearance at this year´s Winterthur Music Festival...anyway, here is the performance for me, sorry, you, to enjoy :)