Sunday, May 25, 2014

Slackarse Sunday Selection

....It's nearly 5pm here in Switzerland, so it's already Monday in Oz, but with a year of ideas and photos and learnings, my brain has instead decided to stay in Sleeping in on Sunday-mode and not do much in the area of work, words or creativity.

It's been a while, but I remember loving the Sunday Selections weekly meme that is hosted by the living legend that is 'River' over at Drifting Through Life. 

Her rules are very simple:-

1. Post photos of your choice, old or new, under the Sunday Selections title
2. Link back to River somewhere in your post3. Leave a comment on River's post and visit some of the others who have posted and commented: for example:    Elephant's Child    Keep working through it    Kit Conn

Here are my iPhone orphans:


A bathroom mirror from IKEA.  Purchased to let me keep my elderly eyes on any stray facial hair.  I only noticed that it was called 'frack' when I got home and thought it rather neatly summed up what my reaction is at seeing my face first thing every morning.


At Milly's Meadow (officially known as Parc de Trembley), we found this rather clean sofa plonked right in the middle of the beautifully manicured lawns one Sunday morning.  It may not have been my preferred style but it was eagerly leapt upon by Milly.  Having a sofa of her own plus a long walk meant that all she needed to complete the ecstasy trifecta was a few slices of bacon.


I've revealed the Jovial Douche shower gel, Douche Parking, the Chateau d'Ouchy and Vadge Fresh to you before, but why not have some extra brain cells for those clever comebacks in addition to minty fresh breath?

Other brand favourites include our current shower gel - Douche Sensations (although I get enough of those 'sensations' just driving Sapphire to school amongst the never-ending road works, impatient horn honkers and the French Suisse's allergy to using indicators); Grande Cracks (biscuits for cheese) and 'extra dick' pizza bases.....


Parking perpendicularly is a selfish annoyance in the communal garage under our apartment building as it prevents not only the car directly being blocked from getting out but also the car opposite, as the space is too narrow to back out from.  If this car wasn't so adorable, it might - just might - have had a bag of Milly's butt nuggets placed under the windscreen wipers.


Last summer, the building's residential owners committee decided to invest in a robot mower.  Shallow channels were dug, wires inserted and carefully defined paths laid out for the green machine.  All went swimmingly until autumn, when the beast simply could not recognise or cope with wet leaves.  To the mower's mind, they were flat stickers on the floor, but to the aggrieved concierge, they were nature's litter and an unbearable offence to all who lived there.

However, just before they retired the mower for the winter season, Milly entertained the neighbours at the eastern end of the building with her never-fail, highly outraged lunch time reaction:

Yes, I guess that this is cheating a little as it's a video and not a photo, but imagine this performance occurring Every. Single. Day.....


.....within a fortnight she had several retired couples deliberately timing their balcony sandwiches and cuppas so that they could be entertained by our insane little orange dog.
The mower is back in business again, and so is Milly's pursuit of it.


Sapphire and I went zip lining with our gregariously gorgeous friend Gianna and her nephew Malachy in a forest just near Nyon.  It was then that my suspicion that French Suisse concerns for Health and Safety were nowhere near as stringent as that in Australia or the UK were indeed confirmed. 

Call it the Gallic shrug, or perhaps the fact that Gianna and I were the only people older than fifteen years old participating, but clearly the wooden platforms at each end of the lines were merely serving suggestions and not rigorously tested or secured.

Then factor in my 72 kilogram frame (easily being the largest of the four of us), a downward wire and momentum building to a level that saw my cheeks flapping back like a beagle's ears and my bulky bod was smacked directly into the trunk of an ancient oak tree and swiftly flung halfway back up the wire and smacked back into the tree again. And again.  Despite this - and the inability to walk home later or lift my arms up higher than my shoulders - we had a hoot.


The Swiss love a referendum.  Some of the topics can be incredibly controversial and have serious ramifications, such as the recent 'aye' to restrict international immigration; but others can be rather flighty.

This poster is advocating a 'yes' vote for extending the hours of road houses.  Yes, they want petrol stations to be able to sell sausages and other hot foods for longer hours.  

Not to be outdone, an opposition party went straight for the lowest common denominator - sex.  As in make love; not a trip to the servo for a sarnie!


Sapphire and I visited the Musee Ariana which features a huge collection of porcelain in a beautiful 18th C mansion by the edge of Lac Leman.  Part of the attraction was that it was a nice walk from our apartment and it was free: two winners for Geneva.  Luckily, it was easy to while away a pleasant couple of hours there, but this little triple gold lion-legged sugar pot with what appeared to be a rogue bagpipe painted on it left us pretty confused.


I'll leave you with these final two photos. The first is of Love Chunks' Big silver Bad Boy barbecue that he had in Australia compared to the tray of charcoal he has now. Both do meat brilliantly well. 



.....although the chef has a fair bit to do with it!

21 comments:

iODyne said...

But ... that big view compensates for the baby Barby.
love from Ballart

PS Sapphire getting too gorgeous.

iODyne said...

Aussie news update to exxplain my Knighthood: when the PM said he would bring back Sovereign Honours (so he could Knight all his idiot pals) many Twitterers instantly conferred Honours on themselves, saving him the trouble.

Anji said...

Great to see you back again. it's good to know that you are still finding these European ways a bit strange.

Did you get to vote today?

MedicatedMoo said...

Sapphire is indeed gorgeous, Sir Stacks, but I'm aware that I can't write so much about her any more, as she's now 15 and more online savvy than I am....

And yes, I'm following the Mad Monk and his muddled Men's policies and budget plans with dismay. No jokes from me here; just shame and shock.

Hi Anji! Not able to vote as we're not EU citizens. Ironically able to write about them though as I work for a specific organisation - let's just call it 'Bureauvision.'

Elephant's Child said...

Slackarse Sunday!!!!! You have to be joking.
Loved them all - and yes, Sapphire is truly beautiful.
I assume that Millie is truly exhausted after supervising that mower and needs a big drink and a bigger lie down. A dog's work is never done.
Thank you for eliminating word verification. Lots.

MedicatedMoo said...

My pleasure, E-Child. As I type this, Milly's found a squirrel to yell at - meters above her head and safe in a tree of course.

JahTeh said...

Kath, please tell me that you carried home that lovely lonely couch for Millie?
I'm not on Facebook and I miss the old days of furious bloggers raging about this mean monster of a government. I hope you read that the Speaker of the House, one very impartial Bronwen Bishop, has ejected 100 labor members for various offences but not one liberal member. I suspect the Mad Monk put her there so he wouldn't have to watch his back.

River said...

Cheating be damned! Insert a video anytime you like, I love watching Milly run around!
I've said a few "Fracks" myself lately when seeing myself in the mirror, because sometimes it isn't me, there's an old woman in there playing tricks on me. Little chubby woman who has lots of grey hair and eats too much.
Zip lining? not for me!
I remember when you bought that Bad Boy BBQ and the trouble you had because it wouldn't fit through the gate.

MedicatedMoo said...

Jah Teh, I left the couch there as not only would Love Chunks have killed me for lugging home more hard-rubbish, but I felt as though it 'belonged' there.

Sure enough, the next day it had been dragged under a tree and was accompanied by a coffee table and a floor mat!

Politics - you BET I have! Watch for an update soon about how I unfriended someone yesterday for their stupid "I vote Liberal. Always have and always will," comment that was supposed to 'explain' their comment!

MedicatedMoo said...

River, you're right - whereas the current BBQ is very transportable. In fact, the balcony pictured there isn't ours....

Now that I've got the hang of adding YouTube clips, I'm sure there'll be more of Madame Milly :)

drwife said...

Lovely to see you back!

I agree that the Swiss Frenchies can not or will not use their indicators. Very annoying in the roundabouts!

MedicatedMoo said...

Thanks Dr Wife - perhaps indicators are an 'optional extra' here and they choose air con instead?

Fen said...

Extra dick! Phwoar! Tasty.

At least Milly is keeping fit with all that chasing about. Good work.

MedicatedMoo said...

Fernstar, you may be less impressed to know that 'extra dick' was referring to the thicker pizza dough! :)

Jackie K said...

Love that video. I just played it here at home and it set my dog Harry off barking and rushing round outside looking for the barking dog :)

Jackie K said...

I also tend to say Frack! (or similar) every time I have to pull hairs out of my face. Which is often these days. Damn getting old!

FruitCake said...

Ha ha, Frack is an appropriate word for Frack!
Keep them videos coming!

MedicatedMoo said...

Jackie K, my personal view is that I'm still 26 years old, so it's a genuine 'frack!' of shock when the mirror tells me differently!

Thanks Fruitcake - I'll try with the videos but I tend to stand back and watch whatever it is and forget to whip my phone out :P

diane b said...

A good way for Milly to get her exercise. Glad to see you back blogging.

wilbo43 said...

Welcome back Kath, We missed you in blogland. BTW, How was Thun?

Cheers: Bill

MedicatedMoo said...

Hi Diane and Wilbo

LOVED LOVED LOVED Thun and Interlaken and revisiting the Jungfrau - with Milly along too, thanks to the hotel's dog-friendly policy. Post will be up soon....