not again.

Pray for my hometown, people. It is currently beset by yet another giant, raging, terrifying wildfire that covered the same amount of ground in a single night as it took the last giant, raging fire to cover in a week. And that last fire--back in 2000--left 400+ families homeless. Thank the good Lord that nobody died. Forgive the terrible grammar, but those are the facts, kids, and now it seems to be happening all over again, starting with city-wide evacuations and ending who knows where. This is the town in which both I and my husband grew up, and in which my parents, one sister, my father-in-law and his family all live, and the town to which my other sister and her husband are (...were...?) planning on moving. Our roots run deep: I still call it "home" whenever we talk about visiting. The world community and media seems more concerned about the fire reaching radioactive waste--hey! now's the classiest time to take pot shots at the lab! at the (supposedly) unprepared firefighters! at nuclear research! at whatever about Los Alamos you don't like!--and I know how important it is to prevent that, but all I can think about is the fact that people may lose their homes, animals, livelihoods again. It might even be scarier for me, here, helpless, than for my family, there, watching and waiting to see when it might be their turn to leave town. Oddly enough, they don't seem terribly worried, but I guess that's because they've done this before. (It's truly no wonder the first wave of evacuations was so "orderly".)

This may be the most inappropriate time for a fire-related joke, and so you're all lucky that I can't access from Switzerland the NBC website to pull up old SNL videos...otherwise, I'd quote for you one of the gems from an episode in 2009, wherein Darrell Hammond-as-the-Governator was talking about trying to sell some of California's wildfires to the highest bidder in order to right the state's economy. When all I can do is worry and watch the news updates obsessively, at least there's still stupid humor to fall back on. Seems to me that Los Alamos (well, and the greater Southwest, at this point) would be set if they could just sell off some of these fires...and maybe the strong winds...and also the prolonged drought... Inappropriate, maybe, but it's fairly poignant for me.

Please keep my weird, isolated, but utterly beloved hometown, my family, and our friends there, in your thoughts.

cheddar: the finest of all cheeses.

Ok, so it's probably not, but it is SO nice to get a fix every now and then. I finally found a store near our house that carries this amazing white cheddar that our friend Jen introduced us to, HOORAY! And now we're having it on Mexican food for dinner. Yessssss. (FYI, the Swiss and French--and, I'm sure, to some extent, the rest of Europe--look down all their respective noses at our humble American cheddar...they think it's pedestrian, at best. So finding a good cheddar here is fairly exciting, and fairly rare!)

In other news, Tuesday our 8th anniversary, so Mike and I went out to dinner at this small-ish Asian place called Anthony's Kitchen. Their menu--and gimmick--is fairly simple: you either choose the multi-course surprise menu; you select your meat and they surprise you with appetizers and desserts; or you just order the meat. Naturally, we went for the all-surprise menu, and BOY was it tasty. Maybe not the fanciest food we've ever had, but quite solidly good, and the waitress was absolutely delightful (and English-speaking, wooo!). The first starter was a papaya salad with tomatoes, onions, and some sort of fishy flavor; next came the fantastic spring rolls with three sauces and candied ginger; then the dim sum dumplings (chicken, pork, and shrimp); then the fish dish (no idea what fish it was, but it was nice and white and well cooked and floating in this delicious broth with onions and carrots); then the meat dish (cubed beef in a tamarind sauce); and, finally, dessert: fresh diced mangoes in mango sorbet. YUM. Here are the two photos I actually remembered to take.

DIM SUM!! 

Fish dish. Fish dish. Fish dish.

In conclusion, a lovel dinner on a lovely little outdoor patio with a lovely waitress. A nice anniversary, indeed.  :)

Next up: Germany! Freiburg, to be exact. A little off the beaten path, to be sure, but quite charming. We made another one of our lightning-fast, overnight trips to a town not so far away, but this time on the bike. Wooo! I am so glad we bought that thing: it opens up all kinds of travel possibilities for us, not the least of which is being able to avoid the tourist hordes in places that are more accessible by mass transit. But I digress. Freiburg. A nifty little college town, right on the edge of the Black Forest, supposedly the most environmentally friendly town in Germany, with an OLD cathedral (dating back to the 1200s, probably). We meandered around the city, had a hearty south German meal (fresh local fish, Black Forest ham with apples, really good grainy bread, pork chops with black pepper gravy) at some cute little restaurant off of a street garlanded with wisteria, and had a generally relaxed and interesting time.

A neat feature of Freiburg: lots of the main pedestrian streets have these little man-made canals? brooks? running through them. Very cool.

Giant sandstone cathedral. Naturally, the spire was under construction when we visited.

Square around the cathedral.

If I'm not mistaken, this inscription dates to 1295. Seriously. The date is the only part I can read.

The entrance to the cathedral--lots of carved statues and arches and doors and things.

They had some amazing stained-glass windows. Really beautiful.

I love gargoyles, and this place had some doozies. (I chose not to post the slightly more lewd ones...)

One of the big tower-gates, under which the city's trams drive. (A few cars, too.)

I love these iron signs...they seem to be all over Switzerland and Germany. (I'm sure they're elsewhere, too...I JUST HAVEN'T BEEN THERE YET.)

You, too, can venture all the way to Germany to buy Native American jewelry. Awesome.

This building was some sort of cloisters, and then the seat of the Archdiocese. And it was all carve-y.

And it had these amazing green doors...

...with these doorknockers. I want them for my house in Denver.

The pedestrian streets also had these cool pebbly inlays: most were just random patterns, but here, a pretzel.

And beer. It is Germany, after all.

Pretty building. There were a handful of these painted ones scattered around, and they were ALL beautiful.

A sign that makes Mike truly happy. I just like the illustration at the bottom.

In the beer garden. It was quite lovely.

The other big tower-gate. The Golden Arches are sadly ubiquitous in Europe. (Why couldn't we have exported the good fast food, like Taco Bell or Wendy's? Or even Arby's? Good Times? Sonic, for crying out loud!)

Pretty river running through.

This mural wraps around the building corner. I thought it was pretty hilarious.

How European is this? They have a castle on their sewer covers.

If your'e going to have bars on your windows, this is the way to go.

Two cappuccinos, two delicious and fresh sandwiches, and one slice of Black Forest cake, all for the bargain price of 11 Euros. It's true: everywhere is cheaper than Zurich.

Just...pretty.

I liked this town. Plus, it was full of really interesting jewelry stores that were all closed for a holiday, so we may have to go back... and also maybe to eat more of that cake. :)

and now...to Italy.

Two things. One, on an entirely unrelated note, for those of you who may not have tried it just yet, I you all to know that apricot rosemary ice cream is seriously delicious. Mmmmmmm, Mövenpick. You must have some when you come visit.

Two, I have, to my great shame, done a terrible job in remembering what we ate in Italy. I have to apologize profusely: I firmly believe that Italian food, whatever region it's from, is some of the BEST FOOD OUT THERE, and I will do it no justice here.

And now...to Italy. One of the things I love most about living in central Europe is that we can be in four different countries in just a few hours, and so, a few weeks ago, Mike, Jen, Dave, and I rented a car and drove south, through the Gotthard tunnel and into northern Italy (in about 3 hours!). We were headed little Varenna, on the eastern shore of Lake Como. I've ever had We got a bit of a late start and realized a little too late that we were going to have to take a ferry across the lake, but we were lucky enough to catch the last ferry from Menaggio and found dinner at Ristorante del Sole, the only place still open in a town that small at 11:00 at night. They weren't the best pizzas we'd ever had, but they were certainly better than no pizzas. The next day--beautiful, sunny, WARM, unlike our last visit!--we got up and had some fantastic espresso at the only actual coffee shop in Varenna, meandered around town a little bit, and caught another ferry over to Bellagio. FULL of tourists, but not as bad as I imagine it is now! Had lunch at Trattoria S. Giacomo, and it was quite lovely. (We all split a cheese/salumi plate and a green salad with parmesan; Mike had spaghetti bolognese, Jen had ricotta ravioli in a butter sage sauce, I can't remember what Dave had, and I had fresh lake trout with salad. YUM.) Strolled through Bellagio, had some gelato, saw some ducklings, bought some truly fantastic wine, then headed back to Varenna for snacks on our hotel's terrace (a little prosecco and the best spicy salami and goat cheese I've ever had, with a little prosciutto on the side). Finally, dinner at Osteria Quattro Pass, and here's where my utter inability to remember the food kicks in. Sadly, and unfortunately for everyone, 'cause this place puts on a good meal. (We ate there last fall when we first found Varenna, and had to go back. SO good.) What I do remember is that Mike and Dave had this amazing lobster pasta, each with an entire half lobster, and that I had ricotta ravioli with some sort of super mild lake fish in it, in a cream sauce. I suspect Jen may have had lasagna. I had panna cotta for dessert, and then Mike and Dave ordered espresso, which they served with these tiny little fresh-baked homemade double-chocolate-chip shortbread cookies. WOW. Unbelievably tasty. Jen told the waiter that we loved them, and he brought us more. WHAT A FANTASTIC MEAL. Too bad I can't remember anything else about it! (Note to self: must start writing these things down.) Anyway. Had more delicious coffee the next morning, then drove back home over the Gotthard Pass, where we stopped, took some pictures, and ate more salami picante, prosciutto, goat cheese, and some other cheese I don't remember. Tasty, anyhow.

To the photos!

Varenna, from our hotel's terrace.

The terrace.

Looking south from Varenna.

Church on the main square in Varenna.

Yessssssssss.

Bellagio, from the ferry.

Bellagio is purty.

Bellagio.

More Bellagio.

Lake Como.

Strolling through Varenna.

The "do not panic" instructions in the lifts up to our hotel rooms. We were WAY above the lake. I, personally, am not a fan of rickety old "inclinators" that take one way up the side of a mountain and come with instructions on what to do should said inclinator get stuck, hanging out over the side of said mountain, with the potential to go crashing back down at any second. But that's just me. 

View from one of the hotels in Varenna.

Nearing St. Gotthard Pass.

A rare moment in which I allow myself to be photographed.

At the top of the pass.

Lunch on the pass. BEST. GOAT CHEESE. EVER. (Note Dave's trusty Swiss Army knife, as well.)

So. St. Gotthard was also apparently used as a fort and had these weird little buildings scattered up the side of the mountain. Mike and Dave were compelled to go and check this one out.

Very sneakily camouflaged door into the mountain.

Lovely, lovely trip. I can't wait to take the bike back down there and ride through all of the little villages along the lakes. Italy is awesome, Europe is awesome, the bike is awesome, etc., etc.  :)

What I'm reading: finished up Water for Elephants...meh. I don't see what all the fuss was about. The portrayal of life in a traveling circus during the Depression Era was somewhat interesting, but the love story was formulaic and predictable at best, and not terribly well developed. Blahhhh. Also finished In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson and completely, utterly LOVED it. It's sort of a travelogue/history book, and just a fascinating description of his road trips around Australia. What I love about this book is his absolute and unbridled glee at discovering all sorts of strange little bits of history and natural wonders, and his pure enthusiasm for the country and its people. This is not to say that it's an imbalanced portrait, merely that he loves the place, and makes me want to go there and love it as well. I highly recommend this book: hilarious, interesting, and a really good read. Next up: I think I'm going to stick with nonfiction and read The Monuments Men, about Allied soldiers attempting to recover art stolen by the Nazis during WWII. Is it my fault that it's hard to find good fiction these days? I submit that it is not.

And next time: the Black Forest and Germany.  :)

another day, another German test.

Once again, I'm pretty sure I didn't fail. Yaaaay...?

In other news, I was supposed to go to Paris tomorrow or Friday to meet Mike, who is on his way there, right now, to help with the office there...but that fell through. So. Because I'm feeling sorry for myself, I'm going to subject you to 8 or 10 million photos of things other than our recent trip to Italy. I'll post those when I'm good and ready and not resentful or irritated. Here we go.

First, plants and garden-related items.

Back around Easter: this beautiful little church yard full of flowers. The ground looked like it had rained pink from of all of the flower petals fallen from tree. It's kinda blurry and tilted 'cause it was dusk and we took it with Mike's phone. But really beautiful.

These should look familiar: columbines! They have quite a few colors here that we don't in the Southwest. And the ones here are a little less elegant. Still, though, a taste of home.

Ahhh, gentian, how I love you. Reminds me of climbing mountains.

And now, to the Botanic Garden! They have there SO many things that I've never seen! This weird little trailing plant, which looked like some cross between an evergreen and a succulent, suddenly had these CRAZY crab-claw-shaped flowers on it. Neat.

Slightly more colorful than the last photos I posted of this place.

Foxglove almost as tall as me. Amazing.

The carnivorous plant enclosure. I can only presume that they're locked in here to prevent them from eating small people and/or animals.

GIANT pitcher plant. Who knew they had actual flowers...?

Sundews. This photo is terrible 'cause it's through glass, but I love how you can see the teeny little sticky hairs on the plant leaves. Take that, bugs.

Of course...Venus Flytraps. I didn't know they produced flowers, either. So pretty!

The little guys in the foreground are a type of Pinguicula, or butterwort. Basically a succulent with sticky leaves. And also pretty flowers.

Maybe also some other sort of sundew? This little guy was actually outside the cage. Joggers, beware.

No idea what these were, but I love them. I think because they look like candy to me, and I love anything edible, and anything resembling something edible.

This was about the size of my palm, and there were TONS of them on this tree.  

The Swiss flag, planted in verbena and Edelweiss. Nice touch.

Roses that look like they've been attacked with pinking shears. Finally. Someone went ahead and did what I'd been thinking.

This photos is for my sister, Grace. Super deep purple irises.  :)

Maybe my favorite flower ever. Giant blue poppies. Saw them at Longwood and thought they were unique to the conservatory, but no. Here they are. Sigh.

This cat has a collar and is therefore someone's, but I've seen him roaming the gardens now at least 3 times. Garden kitteh.

I love the pond with the frogs.

And I'm guessing this is why the tadpoles were suddenly and drastically reduced in numbers over a week or so...

More blue flowers. I'm a sucker for blue flowers.

These poppies were fantastic because A) they had fancy edges; and B) they were larger than my entire hand. WOW.

And now, assorted miscellanea.

I saw this driving on the sidewalk one day on my way to German class. So awesome.

HA, HA. I love this sign. Some people have a scenario, but these guys have a salad.

Our friends Sarah, Tom, and Ian. This was Tom's and Sarah's goodbye picnic: they have just moved to the San Francisco area. Note that Tom is drinking out of Sarah's shoe, and this is early in the evening. We didn't get a chance to get to know them very well, but we will certainly miss them!

No, your eyes do not deceive you. This is, in fact, a gas station/high-end kitchen store combo. Awesome.

Ha, ha. Toi toi. Isn't that what you call it when you're potty-training children...?

This is what 9:30 at night looks like, in late May, when you're this far north. It's downright weird. Will post again during the summer solstice!

Ned and Stewie on the new cat tree. It's official: we're those cat people now.

View over the Limmat River from the Lindenhof. Old-town Zurich: love it.

The Grand Dolder hotel. This thing is GIANT and is near the top of the mountain east of our street. We had no idea it was there.

I've seen lots of these, and I can only assume one thing: they're fire escapes. I might just take my chances with the fire, thank you.

Our living room, as it stands now. Yaaaaaaaaay, purple carpet!

My wee balcony garden, before I maybe possibly did my best to kill the hydrangea. At least the jade is still happy.

And last, but certainly not least, my super-dignified cat, Stewart. Napping with style since March 2011.

What I'm reading: just finished The Count of Monte Cristo, which was maybe the longest book I've ever read. Or at least, it felt that way. It was super long, and much darker and more melodramatic than I was expecting, and, once again, mostly nothing like the movie, but still a pretty good read, especially once Dantes started revealing his true identity to his friends and/or victims. That was the good stuff. 

Next, finished Bossypants--Tina Fey's book--in two nights. Also a good read, but not quite what I was expecting... I think it was maybe because I was expecting NBC-grade Liz Lemon, and got the R-rated version instead. But she is, in fact, 100% Liz Lemon, and her storytelling skills are pretty fantastic. (I especially love any story involving Amy Poehler, who is my current hero. In real life, he's married to G.O.B., for crying out loud!) 

Next on tap: Water for Elephants. I held out as long as I could, but when I saw the movie preview set to that song Cosmic Love (by Florence and the Machine--no idea why, but I am a sucker for that song!!), I kinda broke down and decided to read the darn thing. It's gotten fantastic reviews, anyway, so we'll see how it goes.

Oh yeah: and one more teensy little thing. Mike's new baby is here.

It's not the best photo, 'cause I took it in the dark, but you get the idea. We love our Bimmer bikes.  :)  And don't worry, Mom: we'll be as safe as always. We have temporary gear now, and will bring our regular stuff  back with us in August.

And that's a wrap, for tonight. When I'm not feeling so petty, I'll post Italy photos. Sorry, kids, but I gotta wallow in a little self-pity, for now. It'll all be better tomorrow when I can go out and buy chocolate. TTFN.