Gardening in High Heels

I am back at Swiss gardening boot camp. Yes. My 75-year-old Swiss neighbor is doing my gardening in her high heels. Again.

Yesterday, she knocked on the door to ask my husband to help her with driving directions but since we all know she has a GPS, this was really just an excuse to get inside our apartment.

Anyhow, after getting the directions, she went onto our balcony and analyzed every bush and plant that needed weeding and every concrete planter that needed shining. Then she started yanking out one of our dead plants by its roots.

“I love doing this,” she said, grabbing at the dead evergreen while never once wobbling on her high heels.

We are now borrowing (not out of choice, mind you) her pressure washer, her hand held weed wacker, and her little garden saw.

Her tools are better than ours, we are told.

A New Love for Lawn Art

I used to think lawn art was tacky and stupid, but that was when I was in the U.S., when more often than not, it consisted of a bunch of pink plastic flamingos or a few lighted Biblical figures. This kind of plastic city was considered festive by some, but let's face it, it wasn't exactly subtle and often took the spotlight away from any shrubbery that dared get in the way.

But then there are Gnomes. These little creatures are in a class by themselves. They hide under trees or among flowers and seem much more civilized than a bunch of hot pink flamingos.

Before I came to Switzerland, where gnomes were born in the tiny town of Grafenroda, I never gave gnomes much thought. But now, after seeing them everywhere, I have finally fallen in love with something that could be classified as a decorative garden accessory. With a new found appreciate for lawn art, I bought my own little gnome, who now proudly sits where he belongs, between a pine and some pink geraniums.

Swiss Gardening Essay in The Christian Science Monitor

My essay, "An American at Swiss Gardening Boot Camp," that ran in the November 20th print edition is now online. You can read it on The Christian Science Monitor website.

Freaking Out

Despite my lack of formal German class right now, my German vocabulary seems to improve by the day, especially since I now have a German boss at work and am forced to speak it more than ever before.

Still, more words than not go completely over my head, but then there are those that just stick right away. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on how you look at things) the more negative the word, the more chances there are that it's memorable.

My favorite of the week is the verb "ausflippen". It means "to freak out."

It was an especially appropriate theme for the week, not just because of crashing markets and bankrupt countries, but for my neighbor's critique of my garden. Yesterday, she went so far as to bring over rubber shoes, throw her hose over the divider, and personally "spülen" my gutter herself.

Yes, she literally was "flippt aus" about my entire balcony. The moss on the concrete planters. The overgrown lavender. The muddied gutter. She really took my lack of gardening personally, and so I tried to make amends by picking up a few stray leaves.

This however, was unsuccessful, and now I am informed that she'll be returning on Saturday to really clean up our "Katastrophe" (another great, well-themed word for the week that I bet you can guess the meaning for.)

Ich flippe über die Katastrophe aus. (German readers, please correct my preposition and cases.) Yes, thanks to neighbors and markets, this week has been perfect for my affinity for negative word learning.