04/03/2024
Excerpt from my IN THE WORKS second book titled, Wondering & Wandering.
without preface or context I share an unedited version of my continued dedication in sharing my heart through love, travel and most openly...my never-ending curiousity in life. My intention for this book is simple. To share what it was like when I did get to Priska Graf in Switzerland after my first book "A Feather in Time".
For thos who enjoy short reads, here is an excerpt.....unofficial chapter titled: Connie's and Paul Grüninger
*note ( this is about half the chapter, Paul comes in after what is shared ) i like to keep a little bit of suspense in sharing unedited excerpts :). Enjoy, about a 8-9 min read
..........
At 3:46 we punched in the address to our friend's apartment and left Horn en route to Connie's place. On the drive to,
A single bike rider climbs the hill in the bike lane through the Ruppan mountain pass.. To the left of the road edge a railway and a sturdy protective guardrail spans separating from the massive drop off where a beautiful view of the City of Sankt ( St. ) Gallen is seen. On the right of the roadway, a structured wall of granite rises. The bus in front of us passes this Rider taking most of the remaining roadway up. As we slowly moved past this Rider, I noticed branches and leaves of a small tree the Rider had stowed in his rear carry mount.
Approaching Trogen, we passed a Cloister ( Ministry, or Monastary ). On our left in this stretch of winding mountain roadway, a railway connects St. Gallen through and to Speicher,Trogen and then Appenzell and Alstatten. This railway at one point was commissioned to connect the Mighty Santis ( Switzerland’s and Europes highest prominent mountain peak ) with St. Gallen. After construction commenced and connection was made with Appenzell, more definitively Wasserauen. Wasserauen is in the Canton of Appenzell Innerhoden. It's like a launchpad to many areas and mountain peaks, by ways of not only railway and traditional personal vehicles, but by cable cars. The much desired railway project to reach Santis was discontinued.
Nearing our Friend, Connie’s apartment (wohnung),Priska and I found a visitor's (besucher) parking space and quickly pulled in. The incline and roadways in this neighborhood are fairly tightly packed. This being our first visit to Connies and unsure of the layout near her apartment, we decided to take the open parking space. Parking and “space” isnt so common like in the USA.
After a four to five minute walk from the parking space we located number 19 from the narrow roadway we stood on. The address number 19 was displayed on a parking garage, and to the right of the garage we spotted a concrete stairway leading up to a medium sized apartment building.
I’d say the distance to climb the stairway was at least one hundred feet. Along the left side in the grass of the stairway two giant pine trees reach to the sky and their spread branches rendered sight of an address number on the building useless.
We stepped back and took note of the building on the left next to the parking garage labeled 18 and then we peaked to the right of the stairway seeing a number 20 on the smaller single sized dwelling. We deduced the hundred foot climb would lead us to, 19, Connie’s place.
After the many steps up and already being welcomed into Connie's apartment with warm smiles and family style hugs, I felt into the moment.
I'm comfortably seated on a wicker style loveseat on her flower filled patio overlooking several easterly mountain peaks of the Swiss Alps. I can feel our altitude is much greater than our home location in Horn at the Lake of Constance ( Bodensse). Before coming, Earlier this morning I actually noticed the cloud cover along the peaks, to where we drove and where I sit now.…On a flower filled patio, IN, the cloud covering.
I breathed in the thick moist air hearing the dinging and ringing of the many bells on cows feeding in the grass all around.
Switzerland is rather amazing in how homes and farms, roads and bridges are built into these mountains. The Swiss, are Mountain Peoples, and the Mountains, are covered in grass. In between some of the homes and infrastructure there are many a stream from upland that naturally carves out a direction where many roadways are presently constructed. With my eyes closed listening to things, it's the sounds of bells from cows that ring…..periodically, hearing the sheep, and thier steady sing.
Im,
In a cloud coving
Cows bells ringing,
And sheep singing,
Hearing the Sounds
Of the mountain things.
After some reflections and writing on the flower-filled patio views, I moved inside and We enjoyed some tasty vegetable soup and I had the pleasure of eating Maroni for the very first time. Maroni, I had come to learn very quickly, is a common Swiss traditional food.
“What are these?….nuts?'' I asked Priska politely and quietly. Not having a German tongue is somewhat of a challenge to interact even in common activity. I didn't want to seem picky or anything like that. “They smell delicious” I continued.
Even though I was quiet and polite, Connie overheard and her son Taiko both looked at me with curiosity blended with excitement.
“You don't know what these are?” they both asked in their small wonder.
Priska then added in a smile of her own while scooping five warm Maronis onto my plate. The large bowl was positioned at the center of the table. The Brown tan nuts wafted a sweet and nutty aroma. On each nut, a distinct “x” was carved onto it. I learned that is part of the preparation. Maroni are “hot chestnuts” . They described to me where they come from. More accurately, Taiko, Connie and Priska spoke in German and then Priska translated to me. Hearing the translation, I immediately remembered seeing these.
A few weeks earlier Priska and I were camping in LiePvre, France and I recalled the brightly green colored prickly shaped fruits on a tree. I took a photo. After they were describing to me what they look like before roasting them, I immediately pulled up the photo and showed them. Photos sometimes speak more than my broken German. Way over in France I was unknowingly seeing Maroni. Sharing the photo with Taiko and Connie we all were able to understand together.
It's something when you are living in the environment you live in, and someone comes along who hasn't, and when you discover that something so known to you is unknown to another, how the childlike wonder births into excitement.
We enjoyed Maroni and spoke of the things we spoke of. Mostly I patiently sit trying to hear any single word at all to make any kind of sense of what is being spoken in German. Its strange not knowing a language. Through the time sitting and aimlessly following along, Priska looks over and rattles off a few english words keeping me somewhere in the orbit of whats being talked about.
The Conversation turned into a great suggestion of a particular water filter called the Katadyn. It filters at least 10K liters of water, and the following day, Priska and I went to Transa, an outdoor recreation shop in St. Gallen in hopes to purchase one. With all the weird stuff happening in the world we figured having a good water filter is an easy step to take in the event of any of the crazy mounting situations were to materialize.
The next day, unfortunately, The Katadyn was out of stock so we reserved one to order. After Transa we moved into the city center of St.Gallen and things became very interesting. We met Leo, serendipitously, after enjoying another traditional Swiss food and then Leo, introduced us to someone whose recent legacy will live far beyond his time in St.Gallen.
*end of excerpt
May Love and Blessings find you now!
