Just Humans Being...

The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison. ~ Ann Wigmore Keeping our immune systems strong is the key to good health & those of us with autoimmune system disorders know just how important this is. I truly believe that for me - the food I eat or choose not to eat has made a huge impact on my health... I vividly remember being told by numerous endocrinologists that I would never recover from Graves Disease & there was no way a vegan diet would make a scrap of difference, in fact one of those medical experts told me that being vegan would make things worse...Incredible! They constantly bullied me & tried to push me into taking extremely drastic measures to "cure" my thyroid. They believed (& probably still do) that the best treatment for an over-active thyroid is for the sufferer to drink radioactive iodine. They would all try to convince me that it was the right path to take & not...

We spent a perfect weekend in Brittany last week, the north coast continues to fascinate us - so much so that we will be returning again soon. Somehow our work has just become crazy, even though we only look after one holiday let these days... A few of our regular local customers have also had relatives staying & so our job has become one big clean up. Along with 2 second homes needing to be blitzed, ready for their owners' arrival... It all just seems never ending, especially when in the mix - Bebe is agitated about this, that & the other. So just over a week ago, we both felt like we needed to escape... Bebe going into respite just wasn't enough, staying at home is nice - but we know that we will carry on doing stuff, things that need doing & which don't get done because we are either working or caring for Bebe. We were both exhausted & needed to be completely away from home, so for us - the perfect pick me up is to get our French fix! Neither ...

We've spent the last few weeks in a bit of a whirlwind. Catching up with the kidlets & friends, celebrating Sime's birthday, caring for Bebe, working, working & working... Late nights & early mornings, but with lots of fun sandwiched in between! Last week, we managed to get 2 days out walking, which was fantastic in such beautiful weather & on Friday, it was so hot - we even went for a swim down at our beach, well Hemmick that is! Cleaning in such heat is not easy, especially when folks don't like windows & doors open, but we've got through it & the heat has died down a bit for now... We're off to France again at the weekend, Bebe's going into respite & we are feeling the need to escape... Just a cheap 24 hour deal, but we're really looking forward to it. Here's where we picnicked last week...  Just a few miles down the road - on The Roseland. Sime being Sime & not realising he's taking a video, a...

It's very easy to end up on a mountain pass in the Valais region of Switzerland... You think that you're just off exploring a nearby village, when all of a sudden you realise that you're actually climbing a steep, petrifying road & the village is in fact the scary looking collection of houses you saw earlier. All precariously balanced on the edge of the highest peak possible or so it seems... And like most passes in the area... There's no going back! The Valais is an incredible sight, such a long valley filled with villages, towns & cities. If you look carefully, you might be able to see another zig-zagging pass on the left hand mountain... Mountain village... It's actually a ski resort... I wouldn't like to come up that pass in the snow though! Near the top was a lay-by with these poor girls next to it. Their udders were full & they all had huge bells around their necks... Beautiful girl! The cows & th...

The end of the Lotschental Pass... It was such a hot day, so we sensibly waited until late afternoon to get out walking. We had gone as far as we could in the car & we really wanted to see if we reach the snow. The last sign of civilization, so we thought... These troughs are dotted all around the mountains - the water tastes really good & is ice cold! Sime likes the yellow signs... White rapids! Looking back towards the opposite end of the pass. There was a choice of paths - we chose to get into the woodland for some shade. Out the other side of the woods... We found out later that it had been over 30 degrees again, no wonder we were feeling hot... So much so that we abandoned the idea of trying to reach the snow. Instead we dipped our feet into this freezing lake & enjoyed the view... And spotted this building, which we discovered is  Anenhuette  - an ugly, but eco-friendly hostel. ...

Just above Goppenstein Station the Lotschental mountain pass continues...  The scenery is just stunning & we felt that we'd chosen the perfect time to visit - it was very quiet & yet the weather was amazing! We decided to have our picnic in this beautiful meadow & the butterfly joined us... We were so happy that we accidentally discovered Lotschental & decided to continue on foot... More tomorrow! Kay & Sime xx

On the day we discovered Goppenstein Station, we had actually been heading to Zermatt, but on spotting an intriguing tunnel symbol with the word "Open" next to it... We just knew we had to investigate! It's a Smith family thing - we just love tunnels! We still get as excited now as we did when the kidlets were young & we just whooped it up... And another one! Yay! On the way, we kept seeing the symbol with 2 cars on an open truck & on arriving at Goppenstein - we discovered what it was all about... Car on a train in a tunnel... Now there's an exciting thought! Kay & Sime xx