I’ve been very busy for the last couple of days – hence my absence here. It was Bazaar time!

Since I moved to Switzerland almost 22 years ago I’ve been an active member of the Anglican Community in Zürich – it’s really the only ex-pat type thing I’ve ever dabbled in and St Andrew’s in Zürich has always been a little bit of home from home to me.

Imagine if you will a small but very English church right in the middle of a Swiss city. Actually you should really imagine a church that is rather like England was about 40 years ago…we are possibly slightly in a time warp and as long as I’ve been there not much has changed. We have a choir in blue robes, flower arrangers and coffee rotas, carol services and nativity plays….and every year we have a church bazaar.

Now the bazaar is somewhat special. It is a bazaar on a scale I have never seen before. It’s a bazaar that involves our entire church community, or actually probably almost the entire British community in Eastern Switzerland. It’s famous far and wide…and I would chance a guess that it may actually be the biggest earning bazaar in the whole church of England (or maybe even the world….). It’s certainly a huge event for the English-speaking community in this part of the world. The recession has hit us a little, but yesterday we still managed to have takings of Sfr 63,000. That’s about $65,000 or £42,000!

Which is a lot of money from fruit cakes and Christmas wreaths, from home-made marmalade and lemon curd, from Golden Syrup and  Black Treacle brought over from England, from second hand English books, from Christmas puddings and mincemeat, from scones and cups of tea, from the White Elephant (bric-a-brac) and the Nearly New Clothes.

So Friday for me was full of baking the scones for the teas and on Saturday I ran the accounting room (with a team of 8) – the one time in the year when some of my half-forgotten accounting skills come to the fore.

It was exhausting, but brilliant as always. It is wonderful to be part of a community of young and old, all working together, laughing and catching up with friends that we don’t get to see all that often, putting the world (and the church!) to rights as we earn the money to keep the roof on our old church.

A very good day was had by all – just what I needed to lift my spirits!!

Helen

The photos are from early in the morning before we started…by this stage, an hour before opening time, there were already about 50 people queuing outside in the rain waiting to come in. If I’d waited till we opened you wouldn’t have seen anything for the crush.

Yesterday I decided that come hell or high water I was going to sew…..and sew I did. (we won’t talk about the state the house is in and what I should really have been doing instead – enough to say that I won’t be winning the Swiss Housewife of the Year again!)

I managed to finish my the Backyard Baby tote that I started last week – spurred on by envy for all those Mouthy Stitches totes that are floating all over blogland at the moment. The design is all my own – and before you ask, yes the 1/2″ sashing and the 1/2″ green squares were a bit of a faff – but I love the way they turned out. The dark grey fabric is a heavier weight cotton, which will make the bag a bit more robust (and should show dirt less than the lighter fabrics. It measures 15.5″ x 14″ x 4″ – a pretty useful size!

Here’s the inside for good measure – although I think I like this just as much as the official outside!

This is actually destined for under someone’s Christmas tree, but I’ve fallen so in love with it I think I’m going to have to make another couple so I can keep at least one for myself.

Helen

A huge heartfelt thank you to all who have commented over the last few days. So many of us seem to be going through the same teenage issues I’m dealing with or have done so in the past – each and every one of your comments helped me and I will get back to you in the next few days. The path is long, but as with all things, this will pass…..

(My own generic sock pattern, Sock Hop Yarn in Aqualung by Crown Mountain Farms)

I’ve been taking one day at a time, doing little things that make me happy and knitting really easy socks which require almost no brain engagement whatsoever.

And I’ve been learning that there are times when I can’t solve problems – I can control and change myself and how I behave, but I can’t control what other people do. I’ve been learning to let go, to compromise, to accept that sometimes people will make bad decisions and I can’t stop them from doing that. I’ve reached the point where I have reached out to ask for professional help and I’ve felt the relief of feeling that just a little of the weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

It’s about hope and fear, trust and disappointment. A whole bundle of emotions that have been brewing for years and have exploded, dominating my waking moments, immobilizing my creativity, pushing me towards a lethargy where things just come to a juddering stop.

But I’m doing what my mother always taught me. I’m taking one day at a time. One little step after another. My head is above the water and I’m in a better place this week than I was last. I can’t give you the details of what is going on, but those of you who have parented teenagers may have dealt with some or all of what I’m dealing with. Nobody has died, I’m not sick or divorcing my husband (who, by the way is lovely and who I’m glad I married every day). This time will pass and we will be stronger as a result. I just need to keep seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks for your good wishes. It helps hugely to know that I have friends out there who care.

Helen

Just to let you know that I haven’t fallen off the planet…I’m just dealing with some pretty weighty issues at home at the moment, which are rather dominating every waking moment. I will post when I can, but for the next few days I may be missing more than usual.

I will be back once things calm down a little.

Helen

Today was my day to help with school lunches at my son’s school in the Zürich old town. I go in a few times a year and as the little helper I’m responsible for buying and prepping the salads, making the salad dressing, then serving and helping with clearing up. You’d think I would hate it, but I love going, seeing the kids (who are always incredibly polite), saying hi to the teachers and having a laugh with the chief dinner lady, Brigitte (that’s her in the background!).

Today we were feeding about 70 – various salads, followed by white wine risotto with ratatouille and then fruit salad. Absolutely everything is prepared fresh in a tiny kitchen – and it’s really, really good. I only managed to take pictures of my salad buffet – after that there was no time. It says it all that every single child voluntarily takes at least one salad, most take more and they come back for seconds of the main course until the pans are scraped clean.

And I didn’t see one overweight child…

It’s a very long way from the spam fritters I ate at school as a child!

Helen

PS I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed and sending positive vibes for all those suffering because of Hurricane Sandy. Proof again that there is not a lot we can do against the might of nature. Stay safe my friends – we’re thinking of you.