FALL CAME FAST

It seems like only two weeks ago that all the trees were still green with no color and then, as if overnight, the colors appeared and some trees have dropped all their leaves. It snowed already on the Jura (the low mountain range that I see from our front window). Wow! Everything changed quickly. I'm more used to the rich colors that develop slowly in North Carolina and stay till almost Thanksgiving. It's not that way here. This morning when we got up the temperature was in the low 30's. (Fahrenheit, not Celsius) It did warm up to the mid 50's, but coat-less days are gone. As we approach our one year mark here in Switzerland I can see some progress in the communication area. Our "only-French-speaking" neighbor feels like she can talk to us in simple phrases now and knows we will understand and respond in rudimentary French, but she seems to understand. A lady on the bus next to me told me something in French and I knew exactly what she said. It would be so easy here in Geneva to just depend on our English to get by, but then I would not feel like I had taken advantage of a real opportunity to learn something new. We have met many wonderful people at our church and are enjoying more social activities with some of them. Our experience here, so far, has validated my view that you can learn to adjust and be happy anywhere. There are still holes that only children, grandchildren, dear friends and perhaps a dog can fill. Aside from that we consider ourselves very fortunate for the experience we are having.