Big bird in the river

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It was a cold December day in Switzerland.
I was hurrying back to Grandchamp after getting a video of the big fish jumping UP the waterfall (then they swim against the current, up the river to their yearly spawning ground).
I was alone, it was getting dark, the narrow path along the rushing river was slippery, and I was imagining how I could easily fall to my death in the freezing stream with no one around to save me.
Suddenly a white being rose up right in front of me with wings spread to a meter and a half!!
An angel??!
Regaining my wits, I backtracked to try to find where it had flown to.
There it was--a beautiful tall Grey Heron standing in the water.
It paused just long enough for me to get a quick snapshot.
It was a welcome sign that I was not alone on the path.
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Door in the window for an indoor/outdoor cat

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This cat and I were friends in Switzerland but only once in my two months there was I lucky enough to see her go up the cat ladder and into her humans' home.

Here she is jumping up to the first ledge.

Then up the ladder to her first-floor apartment.

And in she pushes through the ingenious cat door in the window! 
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(Linking to Camera Critters.)
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Centuries-old furniture still in daily use

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A is for antique furniture.
I think they might be from the 17th century and they are still in everyday use in the monastic community's refectory in Switzerland!

And you really must enlarge the photos to see the exquisite detail of ornate carving.

Are those numerals?  Do they really say 1663??

Two antique chairs flank an old clock.
The swinging pendulum and the loud ticking are almost hypnotic.
I soon learned not to sit near the clock in the semi-darkness and silence of early breakfast.
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday.)
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A blessing on your house!

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City Daily Photo bloggers have to choose one of their own photos at the end of each year as their Photo of the Year.
You can see who chose what at the CDP website.

My picture has a message for the new year!

PAX HUIC DOMUI  --  Peace be to this house

It is the wish and the blessing of all who enter this wonderful Swiss house built in the 1700s or maybe even earlier in the tiny hamlet of Grandchamp in western Switzerland.
Now the house, named l'Amandier,  is part of a monastic community of nuns from the Reformed churches of Europe.
I lived there these past two months as a volunteer.
See my room and the whole building in an earlier post.

On December 31, on Facebook,  poet Jan Richardson shared her poem-blessing  that seems to be speaking about my beloved l'Amandier as well as about the new year.
Here is what she wrote:

"A blessing for you, from me, in this turning of the year. May this new year hold solace and hope; may it—through us—hold welcome and grace. Deep peace to you."

THE YEAR AS A HOUSE
A Blessing

Think of the year
as a house:
door flung wide
in welcome,
threshold swept
and waiting,
a graced spaciousness
opening and offering itself
to you.

Let it be blessed
in every room.
Let it be hallowed
in every corner.
Let every nook
be a refuge
and every object
set to holy use.

Let it be here
that safety will rest.
Let it be here
that health will make its home.
Let it be here
that peace will show its face.
Let it be here
that love will find its way.

Here
let the weary come
let the aching come
let the lost come
let the sorrowing come.

Here
let them find their rest
and let them find their soothing
and let them find their place
and let them find their delight.

And may it be
in this house of a year
that the seasons will spin in beauty,
and may it be
in these turning days
that time will spiral with joy.
And may it be
that its rooms will fill
with ordinary grace
and light spill from every window
to welcome the stranger home.

—Jan Richardson

A wet, cold, windy welcome home

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The easyJet small-ish jet left Geneva promptly at 7:05 am while it was still dark.  A crescent moon hung in the sky as it gradually got lighter and lighter.

Snow on the Swiss Alps made the mountains visible even in the semi-darkness of pre-dawn.  

The pilot was happy to announce that with our strong tailwind the flight would take only 3 hours 40 minutes, but to expect some turbulence.  

Just before reaching the eastern end of the Mediterranean, our clear blue skies got full of clouds, and snowflakes rushed past my window. 

The pilot said Ben Gurion airport was experiencing severe weather and we would have to "hold" over the sea until a landing was possible.  
We flew slow and low over the water for some 40 minutes, just drehing around in that holding pattern. 
Finally the Israel coastline appeared and we went in on an unusual route I've never seen before.

The landing, thank God, was fine and everyone applauded.  
There were big puddles of water everywhere.  
When we walked out into the Arrivals Hall a tall crane was inside, and two men were fixing the ceiling panels.   
All it takes is a big rain (usually the first rain) to flood and paralyze this country. 
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Old stones stand strong

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In the previous post we saw the dazzling sunlight inside the upstairs chapel here at the monastic Community of Grandchamp.
But here at the entrance to l'Arche, on the ground floor,

where the nuns hang their warm capes before going upstairs to pray,

you can still see the original stones of the wall, from back sometime in the 1700s!

Just inside the door is a little corner with little boxes for writing your prayer requests (intercessions), so that the sisters will pray for the person or situation you mention in one of the four daily offices.
Enlarge the photo for the simple instructions in French and German.
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Dazzling light in the l'Arche chapel

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When we get a rare winter day of sunlight at the Community of Grandchamp, the noon time rays come through the colored chapel windows in a dazzling way!

Come in, the door is open to l'Arche chapel.

The altar -- the beauty of simplicity.

Me pretending to be the Hebrew reader for the readings from the Prophets.

The wonderful old roof, I think from the 1700s!

I hope we have sun again soon . . .

Here is the building from the outside.
Long ago it was part of the Indiennes dyed fabric production.
(More about that later.)
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(Linking to inSPIREd Sunday.)
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Fish jump up the waterfall to spawn!

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Watch my little video and see many big fish attempting to jump up the waterfall! 

The exciting phenomenon happens for just a few days every year (although some say it happens two times in a year).

I got to see it in late November! 

Swiss people come and line both banks of the River Areuse to watch.
They shout their encouragement or their congratulations when one of the fish succeeds.

The big Lake Neuchatel is just downstream.
The fish swim upstream, against the current, to reach distant gravel beds at the river's source.
There they spawn.

I think these are trout.

The water gets smoother just after the strong ones get up that waterfall.

The video and pictures were taken in very late afternoon. 

Here is a shot of the river in sunlight, taken in the time of colorful foliage a few weeks before the spawning:

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(Linking to Camera Critters meme.)

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Sunday fruit platter

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In Israel we take fruit for granted.
It is plentiful, varied, and not too expensive.
But here in cold Switzerland fruit is a big deal.

Here at the monastic Community of Grandchamp the nuns serve a platter of fruit -- as the first course -- only at the special Sunday meal.
(Special to me because that is the one day a week we get meat.)
It's hard for me to imagine how all that (mostly organic) fruit has to be imported.

The refectory (dining room) has six tables, seating over fifty people.
Often I get the job of setting the tables before the noon meal.
That's after I lift all the chairs onto the tables and sweep and wash the floor.
BTW, we eat meals in silence.
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The Grandchamp "tea wagon"

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Meanwhile, back at the monastic Community of Grandchamp in Switzerland, this is what I call the tea wagon.
Mid-morning it is taken from its parking place under the stairs.

In the kitchen a sister or postulant or volunteer fills the wagon with thermoses of  tisane, coffee, and tea and bread and butter and jam and tows it across the courtyard to our break room.

Here we take ten minutes from our work to sit down and enjoy a break, drinking and eating in silence.

I like how the wagons here (like in the garden) have a double handle: if the load is very heavy two sisters can share the burden.
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday.  W is for wagon.)
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Mirror on the kiosk wall

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Luckily the little Swiss cafe at the beach has a mirror on the outside wall.
It's easier than taking a selfie.
It is closed for the season so I normally have the seashore all to myself on these cold and grey days.

It also mirrors a beautiful old house behind a tall, mossy old wall.
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Finally, something for James' meme, Weekend Reflections.
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A surprise at the door

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I received a present (maybe for St. Nicholas Day today?) from an anonymous giver.
This is the way it is done in monastic fashion (at least here at the Community of Grandchamp). 
The item is quietly left on the threshold of your cell door. 
And in chilly Switzerland a fresh shiny tangerine is a real gift.
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UPDATE: I was amazed to learn the big ways St. Nicholas Day is celebrated in public in Switzerland! Pictures and descriptions in this article (and for customs in other countries as well).
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Welcome to my home away from home

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Where I am living this month and next.
A centuries-old Swiss house named l'Amandier, the almond tree (there are some out back, in the garden).
It is one of four or five big buildings here at the Community of Grandchamp. 
Down a bit is the cellar and the Salle d'Accueil (where Sr. S. is heading). 
This Reception is for guests and has for sale books, cards, and nice things made by Grandchamp artisan-sisters. 
Some elderly nuns live on the middle floor with an accompanying sister-nurse.
We volunteers, and sometimes a few guests, live on top. 
Enlarge the photo to see the house's pretty details. 

My room, called la Priere (prayer), on a rare sunny morning. 
For a monastic cell, it is quite big.
It has all I need and more.
The bathrooms are down the hall. 
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After the biting "bise" wind, a ray of sunshine

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This morning at 8:50 the first rays of some rare sunshine illuminated the roof of l'Arche, the main chapel of the Community of Grandchamp. 
"L'Arche," French for "the ark," because it looks a bit like Noah's ark.
It was built several centuries ago, but not as a church, of course.
I'll get some close-ups soon and try to explain what it was used for.
Meanwhile, I just wanted to show you how welcome a little sun was today, because yesterday we had the infamous "bise" wind blowing for a whole night and day.
It was like frozen knives piercing us.
Never been so cold in my life!
It even made it into the newspaper:
http://www.thelocal.ch/20161129/temperatures-drop-as-bise-wind-hits-switzerland
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Symbolism of the evergreen branches

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In yesterday's post we saw the new centerpieces being prepared in the cellar.
Today they are in place on the refectory tables.
And the first of the four big Advent candles is lit, on a bed of pine boughs.
One of the Sisters of Grandchamp explained to me that the branches are reminiscent of the palm and olive branches of the first Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, but because palm and olive trees do not grow here in Switzerland, the fragrant local evergreen boughs are used instead, now during the season of Advent. 
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First Sunday of Advent

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A sure sign that Advent is beginning! 
One of my assignments here as a volunteer at the monastic community in Switzerland is to gather pretty leaves, seed pods, flowers, etc. and to arrange them in little vases for the guest rooms. 
When I went down to the cave (French for "cellar") to look for secateurs yesterday, I got a sneak preview of the red and green centerpieces that the real flower-sister had created for the refectory (dining room) tables. 
And so last night Advent was indeed ushered in.
For my Christian friends, it is a beautiful and important time of  active waiting for Christmas.
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Cookie baking begins!

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The baking of Christmas cookies for the ca. 50 nuns, novices, and postulants of the Community of Grandchamp, plus many expected guests, has begun! 
And as a volunteer I got to help.  :)

Linking to Weekend Reflections.
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