April 09

April was again a busy month! I was focused on rehearsals in the evenings for both my choir and with my singing teacher, preparing for an easter concert. Work wise my hours were long... actually they have been long for pretty much the whole of the year... Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review, Durban Review Conference... a continuous stream of meetings taking lots of time and energy. Sometime later on in the year I will get to use up the week or so's worth of flex I have built up. But spring really started showing off, with gorgeous flowers blooming in lawns and gardens. Tiny violets and jonquils sprang up seemingly overnight everywhere. On the way home from my singing lesson I snapped a photo of this odd plant. I don't know what it is... anyone out there know?

One of the highlights was helping my dear friend Janet with food design for her upcoming book. It was exhausting but huge amounts of fun, and I am very proud of how the photos (which I did not take, I hasten to add) look to have come out. Here are a few samples of my poor photography, but you get the general picture from them:

The week of easter itself was madness. Rehearsals Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, concert Thursday night. I got home to a phone call and message from my brother asking if I could spare space to take in his good friend Nisa for a night on Easter Sunday. hmmm... that did complicate things a little, but hey, Nisa is family. So Friday I headed up to Colmar in the very north of France, to meet up with my friend Gfried and his wife Kat, who were on their honeymoon, along with their mothers - strange but true.

I arrived in Colmar to hear that Gfried wasn't feeling too well, so after a bit of assistance getting him some medication, he headed off with Kat back to their accommodation, and I wandered around Colmar a bit with Gfried's mum. Colmar is quite absurdly decorative. Definitely a place to revisit with more time.

It was lovely to see Gfried, especially looking so well. We caught up a bit, and I kidnapped the mums a few times to give G'friend and Kat some time together. They were actually really delightful company. I persuaded everyone to take an extra day to get to Austria (especially with Gfried having not been well) and to stay instead overnight at my favourite odd hotel near Stein am Rhein. The family seemed to be as charmed by it as I am, despite its rather high price and we got to enjoy the amazing fountain.

We arrived in time to settle in and for me to kidnap the mums to visit the Rheinfall.

In the morning I kidnapped the mums once more to visit Stein am Rhein, giving Gfried and Kat the opportunity to drive ahead to go to a dirigible museum. I simply love Stein am Rhein, and so am always happy to show it off. It was good too to be able to snap some photos of things I had missed in previous visits.

All too soon I had to bid farewell to the happy families and drive back to Geneva. There, Nisa awaited. Nisa is, as my brother David told me, absolutely gorgeous, both in body and spirit. I was tired and so not the greatest of host, but we had a lovely evening. The next evening, my dear friend and ex-flatmate Christoph came to visit with his girlfriend. They were sadly only staying for the one night, but it was just lovely to get to spend time with him.

The next weekend (see my life never stops!) was the "France invades Geneva" couchsurfing event. A treasure hunt through Geneva, fondue, flash mob, a last fondue and a jam packed weekend full of strangers and fun.