Riex

This is the beautiful Lavaux wine region on Lac Leman.  It is a World Heritage site.

This area has been continuously occupied since prehistory.  Romans may have planted the first vines.  Cistercian monks built many of the terraces and stone walls about a thousand years ago.

And this is Riex, a beautiful medieval town in the middle of the Lavaux.

It was a hot day when we visited, and the village was shuttered and very still.

Every where we go in Switzerland, we find cool fountains.  As long as there is no sign saying, "Eau non potable," you can drink from the spout,

or make boats out of flowers.

My boy chased, and caught, a lizard.

My husband and I went to Riex on Friday night, and tasted Riex wines sitting on a little terrace below the ancient clock tower.  Then we strolled to Epesse, and had dinner on a terrace overlooking gardens and vineyards below.  I glowed with happiness.  Hills of ripe grapes, beautiful old buildings, the sun sinking over the lake and mountains, my husband's warm hand in mine, tasting the wine which comes from this very soil.  I want everyone I love to experience this, too.

L'Armoire Magique

I have read this book many times in English, as a girl, and as a mother, to my children.  Knowing the story well helps me read it in French.  It's by C.S. Lewis.  The illustrations are by Pauline Baynes.

Here is an illustration of the wardrobe which takes Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy to a magic land called Narnia,

and brings them back home again after a wonderful adventure.

Here is my own magic wardrobe.  I bought it for my son because his room doesn't have a closet for his clothes.  It's a junktique.  It's nothing special, at least, not yet.

It has a key.  Turning a key is the way adventures sometimes begin.

After I scrubbed the horrible black attic dust off of it, the wax turned white.  I kind of like the way it looks.

The inside holds three shelves, which I removed for cleaning.

This string was stapled to the inside of the door.  I wonder if someone hung notes or cards inside.  What do those penciled numbers mean?

Did cups hang from the large hooks in the ceiling, or clothes hangers?

I'm going to paint it sky blue and perhaps use this painting I did in acrylic, (copying a fairy tale illustration by Russian illustrator Boris Zvorykin,

and changing the people in it into my husband and daughter.)  For me, this beautiful place is the Valley of Love and Delight, which we sing about in the Quaker hymn, 'Tis a Gift to Be Simple.

It also looks a lot like Switzerland.

Or, perhaps I will paint Robert the Bruce or another wonderful armored hero for my son.  I think he would like that.

Grindelwald

 One of our first trips, once we got to Switzerland this late summer, was to Grindelwald.

 The river in this dramatic gorge is fed by a melting glacier.

 Water rained down from high above.

 The forests around the gorge were lush.

 We eventually climbed to the top of the gorge and looked down.

 We were tired after our long hike, and stopped in this little inn for some drinks.

 My boy drank Ribella, which is a drink made out of whey.

 On our way back down the mountain, we saw that a nature artist had wrapped twigs around tree trunks.

We love Switzerland, and already feel at home!

Moving!

I haven't been tending Acorn Pies much recently.  We are in the middle of our move to Switzerland.  Once I get settled for the summer, I should be able to post a bit more, and then things will be back to normal in September.  Now go outside and play!  Have a wonderful summer.  love, Beth

Go Letterboxing!

Off into the woods we went with a young friend, to try letterboxing for the first time.  What is a letterbox?  A letterbox is hidden "treasure," and there may be a letterbox right in your neighborhood.  We looked online and found that there are quite a few letterboxes in our state.  Some of the letterboxes required that we puzzle out some clues.  We chose some with storybook themes, recognizable starting points, and straightforward directions.

Unfortunately, three out of the four letterboxes for which we searched were missing, probably because they were too close to a well-traveled path, and had been purloined!

Then, inside a hollow tree, hidden behind some rocks and pieces of rotting wood, we found the fourth letterbox!  It was a firmly-sealed tupperware container.

My little boy opened it to see what was inside.

It contained a little book to sign, an ink pad, a dragon stamp, a geocaching medal, and some pens.  Geocaching is letterboxing using a GPS.

Each of the letterboxers pressed the dragon stamp into his own little letterboxing record book, and wrote the name of the letterbox with it, and the date.  Apparently, many letterboxers hand-carve unique stamps, but this was a store-bought one which suited the theme of the letterbox.

Then each added his stamp to the record book in the letterbox, and

a note or signature, and the date.

The boys repacked the letterbox, resealed it, and rehid it well in its special place, so others could have the fun of finding it.  I'm thinking of planting a letterbox in Switzerland some day!