Striving for that green thumb on my petit balcon

With Winter fading and a lot of spare time I thought I would try my hand at a bit of gardening - something that I've never really been all that interested in. The three generations of women above me have always been pretty natural at creating lavish, bountiful gardens but since I hadn't been all that interested in it, I never really tried it. Plus the fact that I've always lived in apartments that don't leave much room for gardens. Some of you might think, what's so different about this apartment? When we moved in, our friends who lived here before us left some gardening equipment so I thought, why not? We have four balconies so there's plenty of room for pots and such. They also left these roses.

I was out shopping at DIY stores with a friend and we were looking at the copious amounts of seeds available now that Winter (the month where everything gets turned to ice) was gone. I thought I would start my gardening adventure from the beginning - with seeds! I read lots of websites about growing "this type of seed and that type of seed" so once I finished a few tubs of yoghurt (to use the containers for seedling pots) I set about planting my new little babies.

I started with one packet first just to test the waters. After a couple of days to my surprise and excitement, my little lavender seeds were germinating. Success! I religiously watered my 'babies' for about two weeks and decided that I was ready to plant the other three seed packets that I bought. Slowly, but surely they started to germinate. I was rather excited at the prospect of mothering these little green babies. So a few weeks on, I'm a little lost as to when I need to transfer them to a larger pot. I don't want to be too rough when replanting them and I don't know whether outside will be too rugged for my fragile babies. So I'm just watering them and watching them until I'm ready to take the plunge.

I think somewhere along the line I was supposed to 'pick out' a few seedlings that I wanted to survive and turf the rest in order to give room for my chosen few to flourish. But I wasn't sure how many to take or how much room I was supposed to give the remaining ones so I think the rosemary got a tad overcrowded.

fernleaf lavender

strawberries

jalapeños (for Roy)

rosemary

In the meantime, I got a little impatient and decided I couldn't wait until my lavender grew big enough for my built-in balcony pot. It was in need of some colour. I caved in and bought two nice, little pots of lavender. I'll still keep my seedlings going, I'll just have to find somewhere else to put them.

If any of you have a much greener thumb than I, please leave a comment with some advice for my green babies. It would be much appreciated!

Alimentarium, Vevey

Yesterday I hopped on the trusty train that was heading to Geneva Airport and got off at Vevey, the home of Nestlé and the home of Musée de l'alimentation (museum of food). I timed my visit - not intentionally, with the bi-weekly markets that are held in the centre square. I had a quick wander around and admired the fresh fruits and vegetables available to purchase and pondered what I could create with all of that fresh, beautiful produce. The weather was perfect for a stroll by the lake. The mountains opposite were covered in a soft haze and the water in the lake was calm and clear. The best way to find the Alimentarium is to look for the fork in the lake.

I walked through the doors of the museum, purchased my ticket - a lot of people speak English in Vevey (because of Nestlé headquarters) so it was nice to have a small conversation with the lady at the ticket desk. I should have been practicing my French though... The Museum was nicely set out with fairly comprehensive exhibits that were suitable for adults and children. It explained the history of food, the nutrition or food and it also had very interactive exhibits for people to learn about their weight and energy expenditure and replenishment. My favourite exhibit though was a cluster of machines which tested your senses. I started with the machine that tests your sense of smell and taste. You insert a small, plastic cup and it dispenses a small amount of liquid for you to taste and identify one of three aromas.
Then I hit the jackpot... the machine to test your ability to discern textures of food. This machine dispensed little servings of Cailler (my favourite) chocolate and you had to identify if the chocolate was hard or soft. Another machine dispensed tiny cookies!! It's a good thing that the museum was quiet because I got a couple of turns on them 'to test my ability to identify the texture'.

The Nestlé room

The view from the Nestlé room

A vending machine

I learnt a few interesting facts whilst wandering through the exhibits. Firstly, there is a general rule in Switzerland when eating fondue - drink white wine, never cold beverages like beer or water. But apparently that's not really true - possibly a ploy to up-sell wine with dinner.  

"When we eat, the stomach contents quickly adapt to body temperature. The hydrochloric acid in the stomach breaks down the food. The process is unaffected by wine, tea, hot or cold. High-fat cheese and large helpings slow the digestion and a meal may therefore feel 'heavy'. What you drink with fondue is irrelevant."

Also, most stereotypical thoughts or pictures of St. Bernard dogs have a barrel of brandy around their necks, thought to give warmth to the victims that the dogs found.

"Alcohol dilates the surface blood vessels, inspiring the feeling of warmth. But it is a false sense of security: in reality, alcohol leads to a cooling of the body. Alcohol also dulls the senses; in cold climates, frostbite and a fall of temperature await  the unwise who think that alcohol will keep them warm. Fortunately, contrary to legend, the famous St. Bernard dogs brought succour (definition - help or assistance, esp in time of difficulty) but not a cask of brandy to lost travellers."

 I found this on wikipedia -

St. Bernards are often portrayed, especially in old live action comedies such as Swiss Miss, the TV series Topper, and classic cartoons, wearing small barrels of brandy around their necks. The brandy was supposedly used to warm the victims that the dogs found. The monks of the St. Bernard Hospice deny that any St. Bernard has ever carried casks or small barrels around their necks; they believe that the origin of the image is an early painting. The monks did keep casks around for photographs by tourists.

Another fact that I learnt -

"Today, throughout the world, 3600 cups of Nescafé are drunk every second."

That's a lot of coffee!

After I had learned all that I could learn in there about food and nutrition I went over to the fork and sat on one of the awesome chairs that are installed into the rocks on the shore of the lake and enjoyed the lovely views and a double-choc muffin that I packed in my bag for myself. Fantastic way to spend a bright, warm day.

Sunday

Roy and I decided to drive to Ouchy, Lausanne to ride our scooters along the esplanade and take advantage of the nice weather by the lake. As the days get warmer, the shores of Lake Geneva get busier with people riding bikes, roller-blading, strolling and having a nice sit down to enjoy the magnificent views of Lake Geneva and the surrounding mountain ranges. There's also a market at Ouchy on Sunday's - albeit a small one, but nice to have a wander and a browse. Today there was a small book fair with some rather overpriced, old books (not too many in English).

There's a regular store on Sunday's that stocks English treats which - luckily for us, stocks vegemite and a few other things we miss from Australia. We decided to indulge in a Crunchie. Mmmmm...

There are lots and lots of flowers around and the grass is super, super green. It's so beautiful here in Spring.

After we soaked in all the sun, lake views and scooter riding that we wanted, we scooted back to our little Panda and drove into the centre of Lausanne and went to a Design Museum to check out an exhibition of Stefen Sagmeister. It was really interesting and to see the stuff in person was great since until now, I had only been able to admire his work on the internet and in books. 

info about the "Everybody always thinks they are right" exhibit

After the museum we wandered some more around Lausanne and talked to a cat who was sitting on a nice little window cat ledge above us. He was looking around at the view below him and once he spotted us he watched us as we watched him and he talked to us when we talked to him. A very social cat indeed and it looked like a nice spot for him to be sitting.

The rest of our Sunday afternoon is being spent with the sun shining in the windows, a couple of beers, some Super Mario on the Wii, listening to the church bells chime through the windows and a bit of a lie in the hammock for me.

A pretty damn good Sunday if you ask me.

Chapelle du Scex

With the weather being pretty damn nice for the last few weeks Roy and I decided to go for an afternoon stroll up to the Chapel which is nestled in the side of the cliff that looms over St-Maurice. And because I've been lazy and haven't taken a photo of the chapel from down at ground level, I'll link to one I found on flickr. We set off at about 5:30pm which would be a weird time to leave for a hike but because it's Spring and we're now in daylight savings, the sun goes down at around 8:30pm. So there was plenty of time for us to make it up and back home before it got dark.

There were sculptures of people carrying a crucifix at various points up the path and small shrines with candles and flowers also. It was really nice to look out and admire the view of our little town from above.

This was a rose bush (tree) that was taller than me!

The St-Maurice train station

A huge bumblebee!

More Spring goodness.