Wednesday 30 July 2008

The new wine fridge has been delivered


and we spent a couple of hours filling and sorting it out last night. I am sure that it will be great and now we just have to work out where to put the second one. It was a good exercise to go through some of our better wines to decide what should be in the fridge and it will be an even better exercise to drink a few bottles of Rockford on Friday. Swiss National Day is on August 1st and when I return from the office, we will light the bbq and cook up some dinner for our guests.
I have had a terrible week with the camera- it has been frustrating wandering around but unable to find much that really interested me, hence not a lot of joy with the July project. I guess that I would rather have 20 good shots than 30 mediocre ones, but a lot of the time I couldn't even pull the trigger.
Feeling fitter again after a spinning class this evening- they are tough enough (especially when it is hot) but the motivation from being in a group is terrific and helps me to push myself beyond where I would go on my own. I hope that the weekend is nice and I can get out and spend a few hours on the road- if I want to ride the Zuri Metzgete I will certainly need to get some more road miles on board.....
P.S. Thanks to Family Moose for the postcard that arrived today!

Sunday 27 July 2008

Carlos Sastre brought the bag home


and won the Tour de France today in Paris. It has been an interesting tour, sadly marred again by having high-profile riders tossed out for doping and there was another close finish. Evans should be proud of his performance and with a stronger team he might have been able to go on and complete the job. Sastre was in the lucky position of having a very strong team who were all willing to give their all for him and combined with his great individual efforts, it was enough to get across the line.
Catherine and I were out for a bit of a ride this afternooon- we had to deliver a key to some friends on the other side of the village, so we took the opportunity to do a quick 40km round trip and get in some training while we were at it. Catherine did pretty well although she was already stiff from her ride with other friends on Saturday and she is even keen on the idea of going for a good ride next Sunday morning!
The Mooses are back in Singapore after their holiday visit to Vietnam and the first reports all look pretty positive. Great photos and it sounds as if a wonderful time was had by all.
We are in for a short week- Friday being August 1st (Swiss National Day) and also known as Rockford Day in certain parts of the world, is a holiday although I will be in the office. If the weather is kind, I will take the chance to ride through town to the office when there is minimal traffic and then ride home in the evening to light the bbq for our visitors (and open a bottle of Rockford or two).

Wednesday 23 July 2008

I was honoured this evening


to be introduced to Patricia's mum when I was in The Chief's sushi bar. Patricia is our favourite waitress and has been good to us for a number of years, so this was very special!
Today was a very big day in the Tour de France with a couple of heavy climbs and the finish at L'Alp-d'Huez. Carlos Sastre did well and won the stage taking the yellow jersey in the process and Cadel Evans is lying in 4th place 1' 34" behind. With a long time trial still to come, things are very open and I still have my fingers crossed that we will see the Australian on top of the podium in Paris come Sunday afternoon.
My spinning class this evening was tough- it is always 90 minutes on Wednesday night but tonight seemed a lot tougher than the last couple of Wednesdays that I have attended. Hopefully this is a sign that I am getting fitter and am able to push myself somewhat harder, hence the bigger struggle towards the end of the class.
Summer weather has returned and we are looking forward to a few warm sunny days to take us through the weekend. Hoping to go for a ride or two and sit on the balcony and have a relaxed meal or two.
Best wishes to Katy and Simone who are both expecting babies- Katy in the next week or so and Simone in another 6 weeks.
P.S. Many thanks to John Chase for the e-mail. Good to hear that all is well with you, mate.

Sunday 20 July 2008

The fairy tale is over>>


and in spite of his best efforts, the Shark was unable to complete the triple at Birkdale. He was certainly in the mix for the four days and whatever Chris Evert puts in his sandwiches, I want some!! Although I am a little disappointed with the result, it is nice to see Harrington defend his title and I can imagine that the Claret Jug will have another busy year in Ireland.
Cadel Evans gave up his gold jersey today- not necessarily a bad thing as it will take a little pressure off him in the next few days and I have my fingers crossed that he can get through the tough stages in the Alps without giving up too much time. The long individual time trial should be right up his alley and give him a chance to win back "the sack".
We had a very pleasant bbq at home last night. Almost unbelievable that we invited friends to come around on a Saturday evening for a bbq and the weather was good! It was a Coonawarra evening and we enjoyed a Shiraz and a Cabernet blend from one of Australia's great red wine regions. Congratulations to Sparta and Sabin on winning the golf tournament in Bad Ragaz and many thanks for the shirt.
I managed to get into the gym today for another spinning class- it was a bit of a struggle, but well worth it in the end. Hopefully there will be some more riding this week...

Wednesday 16 July 2008

Cadel in gold!


It was great to see the Australian cyclist Cadel Evans take the maillot jaune in the Tour de France this week. He is not blessed with such a strong team, but as a stong time triallist who can also climb we can only hope that he is good (and clever) enough to hang onto "the sack" until they arrive in Paris on Sunday week. There are a lot of miles to go and with a few tough stages in the Alps still ahead the race is very much open but Evans has as good a chance as anybody at the moment. Another Spaniard was dragged out of the race this morning after a positive EPO test- maybe it is something in the water down there (or perhaps even the jamon?!?).
We are looking forward to the weekend and entertaining again. The bbq will get another run on Saturday with a few guests coming around- fingers crossed that the sun comes out and we can sit outside and take it easy in the evening.
I am trying to take plenty of photos this month (although today wasn't terribly inspired as you can see) and my project is coming along nicely.

Sunday 13 July 2008

Sunday evenings are made for leftovers


and tonight was no exception. We tackled the next instalment of our pork roast out of the freezer- the pork was shredded and stir-fried with red capsicum, spring onions and bbq sauce before being tossed with some noodles. I added some chilli sauce and it was a fantastic dinner!
It has been a pretty quiet Sunday here- we were invited out for a great dinner last night and were both a little slow getting started this morning. At least I managed to get to the gym again for another spinning class and I can still feel the benefits of my efforts.
The Goodies are off on holidays in Vietnam- so we will be looking forward to hearing about their trip and seeing some of Nicole's photos. I think that The Moose was most excited about the idea of $2 beers......
My month-long photo challenge is coming along nicely and there are some very talented people contributing to the whole thing. It is always great to see what other people decide is worth photographing- I very rarely come home with the obvious shot, so it wouldn't make much sense to send me out as a photojournalist :-( but I do like to shoot things to please my own tastes (and in the end that is what it is all about, huh?)

Wednesday 9 July 2008

It's a beautiful day, Bob


and it was nice to be wandering around in the city this evening for an hour waiting for my gym class to start. I managed to take some photos and saw lots of tourists- I just hope that they were leaving plenty of cash in the stores as they made their way up and down the Bahnhofstrasse!
The spinning class was great again this evening- I am feeling stronger after each one (surprise, surprise!!) and I am becoming more motivated each week. With luck I can get out for a ride tomorrow evening while Catherine is at her office party and then continue with my training over the weekend. The Tour de France is underway and the local favourite Cancellara was disappointed with his efforts in the first Individual Time Trial. He said that he didn't manage to get comfortable on the bike at all and struggled for the entire 51km. There is still a long way to go and I have my fingers crossed that Cadel Evans can live up to expectations and come home with another strong finish.

Sunday 6 July 2008

Chef Giorgio, Claudia and the gangstas are coming >>


for lunch today before Julien needs to pack his bags next week and head off to LA for a visit. I don't remember having holidays that exciting when I was 13 years old..... Fingers crossed that he has a great time and arrives back home safely without too many stories to tell.
I survived another spinning class in the gym yesterday and am slowly starting to feel a little fitter and stronger- it is still a long way to go, but with the Zurimetzgete only a couple of months away I will really need to suffer some in the meantime. It is also a priority to strip off a few excess kgs- certainly don't need to be carrying any excess baggage up the hills on September 7.
God-daughter Jacqueline was on the phone yesterday saying "I am not very happy about my head!". They had removed the protective bandaging from her forehead after last weeks golfing incident and she wasn't overly impressed at all with the results. 20+ stitches in a 4cm cut is a lot of work- even though the vast majority of them are internal. Fingers crossed that the healing process is not too long and that the scar becomes almost invisible.
We tried a bottle of Rockford's Hoffmann Shiraz last night- what a pleasure! A great meal of "trofie" with a meat sauce and a bottle of red - just what I needed (forgot about the need to lose weight there for an hour or so).....

Wednesday 2 July 2008

I wear black on the outside, because black's the way


I feel on the inside........ Sitting in the train this evening on the way home from work and I realised that it is far too long since I last sat down and had a good listen to Morrissey and The Smiths! Catherine bought me a copy of "Dig, Lazarus, Dig" by Nick Cave and while it is suitably dark, it is not quite as musical as the lads from Salford.
The sun has been shining here and summer has well and truly arrived- it might have something to do with Spain having won the football on Sunday evening. It was their first major triumph in 44 years and they certainly played in style and deserved the victory. As much as I enjoyed watching the football and discussing it with friends (my knowledge fits on the back of a beer coaster), it is nice to have a little more time again.
For the month of July, I am taking part in another photographic challenge and am looking forward to shooting plenty of frames and hopefully even a few worthwhile ones :-) It will be a busy month- Catherine is off to a concert later in the week, we have guests coming on the weekend and will also be trying to get out on our bikes again.