CH

This posting - written at a wifi hotspot at Keystone Cafe two blocks from our vacation rental - will be somewhat uninspired. This is of our CH holiday (Conferation Helvetica - ancient Latin term overlapping with modern day Switzerland).

Anyway, we landed in cooler weather

which turned to this everywhere we went. Same miracleworking power seemed to follow us in Salzburg and, now, in Washington.

Walking to church

after a tasty hot chocolate. The Swiss consume more chocolate per capita than anyone in the world; a statistic Jack surely contributed to two years ago.

We began Sunday AM by visiting All Saint's, where a Swiss couple shared of offering meals for hungry refugees.

First Father's Day brunch at the Montreux Palace, with visible signs of recession - less pricey offerings at this pricey venue. CH has been relatively insulated from the downturn, but their banks have investments in riskier European countries, which has been driving up the value of the Swiss franc.

We stayed on the port of La Tour de Peilz, a super-charming village between Vevey and Montreux, an international outpost for Brits and aristocratic Europeans since the mid-19th century. Nestle is headquartered here. Carolyn and I spent our honeymoon here eons ago. It's nice to go back to places, returning with an income, rather than a L'Abri worker taking in the considerable riches of the on the cheap.
More and more Swiss are converting their homes into vacation/BB rentals for independent travelers wanting to cook their own meals and, most importantly, DO LAUNDRY! "Self-catering" is the British term.

After church, Ann and Julian and kids came down to visit. The had moved to Oron to be near a private church school - a relatively new movement in Switzerland, where public education is solid.

Poster for the Food Musuem. CH is the design center of Europe. Modernist architect, Corbusier, as well as this kitchen classic...

including the Mondaine timepiece designed for Swiss Rail stations (in the MOMA collection) are also CH in origin.

The bread from Freddy's bakery always inspires me.

It was World Cup time, as the national flags and public screening venues and just plain lots of intermittent yelling during the day and night attest.
The hysteria in Europe surrounding this sport is quite something; I guess the US city-based team rivalries might compare, but soccer always seems like a preeminent fascist sport to me, referring only to the intense, national identity galvanized over this play. Hitler loved the Olympics, important as a staging device for his collapsing of national identity with theater.

M&J occupied while visiting Schaeffer's apartment.

Memories of the past carefully placed: China Inland Mission documents, family reunion photos, L'Abri kitchen ware; antique dollhouse, favorite tea set. Affirming the ongoingness of material culture, rather than resigning to the ephemeral nature of life under the fall.

We are meant to be here, to outlive things, not unravel, but deferring the eternal and embracing it is a balancing act. All I know now is that the one thing we have - and don't have - is time.