un bon weekend

It's been a great weekend!

Like Ontarians with their Fall Fairs, the Swiss love to celebrate the turn of the season.  On Saturday, Bill Lovell took the kids and I to a festival in Albeuve, in the canton of Fribourg.  The festival was fantastic - crowded, boisterous and steeped in alpine culture + tradition.   Decorated cows and goats paraded through the fair a number of times throughout the day,  bell ringers marched in formation, alphorn players entertained while flag throwers wowed the crowds.  Like all fairs, there were candy stalls and a "fish pond".  There were also lots of stalls selling local specialities - cheeses, salamis, bread, honey, wild boar paté, to name a few.  The best purchase of the day, however, was Graydon's.  Right off the bat, he eyed an original painting on wood that he really wanted to buy. It has it all - a river, snow capped mountains and a farmer with a horse. It now sits on his bedside table and will always remind him of our time in Switzerland.

The whole weekend has been, in fact, quite social.  We went to a lovely and lively pizza night at an Australian family's home on Friday + a BBQ today with a group of JFK families.  The BBQ was at the Arnensee, a glacial lake about 20 minutes outside of Gstaad.  For you Georgian Bay'ers, think the McCoy's meets Swiss Family Robinson.... Everyone brought baskets of food - sausages, baguettes, kebabs, salads, desserts, cheeses + salamis, vegies + hummus and of course, chips/crisps.

a public Swiss bbq which you find along many hiking trails.. it comes stocked with paper + wood, of course!

The kids found old fishing lours in the shallows, rigged up fishing poles and tried to catch some mountain trout.  Of course, there were a few that got away....

Most of the kids swam until their lips were blue and their feet numb with cold.   At one point, the 20 or so kids divided into 2 groups - one on each bank of the river that fed the lake.  They slung mud at each other for what seemed like hours.  Despite what appeared to be the beginning of a Lord of the Flies moment, every kid had a huge smile on their face and was having the time of their life.  

I thought how amazing that all these kids, some almost strangers with just a few weeks of school in common, fall into step with one another so easily.  Despite their differences in language, culture and backgrounds, they are all kids looking to create a great time on a sunday afternoon picnic.

I can't help but continue to be amazed by how lucky we are to live in this place. The people we've met and been fortunate enough to spend time with are interesting and interested.  Everyone has a different story.  Conversations meander from english to spanish to german to french to italian and back again.  It's truly fascinating and inspiring to be in the midst of such cultural and personal diversity.