Ronald and I had been associated with Leysin, the small Swiss mountain village in the Pre-Alpes, since 1988 when we took over the first floor apartment in a rustic chalet which Beth and her husband had rented.<\/p>\n
Both Beth and I had been on separate ILO \u2018missions\u2019 and we met up for a workshop in Arusha, Tanzania which brought together women leaders from agricultural worker organisations in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.\u00a0 While we were there, our husbands got together and concocted a plan which, when we got back, Ronald said he was sure I\u2019d approve of.<\/p>\n
Roger and Beth were moving as they\u2019d purchased an apartment Leysin.\u00a0 Beth had to agree as her daughter Marie was also in on the plan.\u00a0 Their apartment in Villa Rosa<\/em> was available at a very reasonable rental.\u00a0 Ronald negotiated the necessary with the elderly owner, Monsieur Weibel, who at 80 kept an abundant vegetable garden and rabbits at the back, presenting one in a delicious stew on special occasions.\u00a0 I was not yet a vegetarian, but their live siblings were snuffling around in their hatches at my backdoor and I preferred the gifts of freshly pulled salads and vegetables we found on our doorstep arriving on a Friday night, having driven the one and a half hours from Nyon for the weekend.<\/p>\n These weekends in Leysin during the late 1980s proved to be a tonic; a real respite after my compelling work for the ILO.\u00a0 I was developing a programme for women workers in the Tanzanian plantations (sugar, tea and sisal), and I felt very intense about the issues.\u00a0 In Leysin, however, we could breathe.\u00a0 The air was pure and the walks beckoning.\u00a0 We took advantage of the mountains, and in winter Ronald would go skiing on a couple of the black pistes<\/em> \u2013 more advanced ski routes for very experienced skiers, which he was.\u00a0 I went on long cross-country \u2018walks\u2019 with my poles and\u00a0 snowshoes through the silent forests.\u00a0 Silent except for the occasional thud of snow as it fell from the branches in a cloud of glistening snow crystals, sometimes brushing my face and sticking to my eyelashes.<\/p>\n We enjoyed a full decade in the Villa Rosa,<\/em> but then M. Weibel died and there was some uncertainty as to what his heirs would do.\u00a0 And we\u2019d also found our apartment in Thonon-les-Bains overlooking Lac Leman.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n When Ronald died, however, I knew I needed to reconnect more firmly with Leysin.\u00a0 The mountains were calling me.\u00a0 I needed to breathe that air and absorb the silence as well as the birdsong and cowbells.<\/p>\n There was a south-facing building at the very top of the village, which had always fascinated me when I walked that particular route.\u00a0 Thick forests lay behind it and generous views over the Rhone valley with layers of mountain ranges peeling away towards the Dents du Midi<\/em> in the Alps.<\/p>\n This building, Le Vagabond,<\/em> had a rich history and was known as Club Vagabond in the 60s when in the style of an early backpackers lodge, it was frequented by large numbers of young Americans and Australians traveling across Europe.\u00a0 Many would stay for long periods of time, writing poetry, playing music, telling stories.\u00a0 Playing and partying at the well-loved \u2018Vag\u2019.<\/p>\n When I began my search for the appropriate base, the \u2018Vag\u201d was being renovated into nine\u00a0 apartments.\u00a0 I knew I would need to be in the loft.\u00a0 This transpired and no 9, Le Vagabond became my new address, maison secondaire<\/em> in Switzerland, as I was still officially domiciled in France.<\/p>\n The loft apartment had sloping ceilings and wooden beams with exposed stone walls in some spaces giving it a rustic and cozy feel.\u00a0 There was one bedroom which had doors opening onto the covered balcony, which the kitchen \/ dining area also led onto.\u00a0 There was a huge bathroom, which in Club Vagabond days had slept four travelers in two double bunks, I was told.\u00a0 A long rectangular space contained the kitchen area, and this large space opened onto a beautiful luminous area with huge glass windows and sliding doors leading to the open terrace.\u00a0 From the terrace one took in the generous view of the Dents du Midi in the distance and the village of Leysin spreading out below.<\/p>\n The two \u2018rooms\u2019 flowed into each other creating a sense of spaciousness and the larger volume easily held the Bechstein 1956 \u2018baby grand\u2019.\u00a0 The piano was much younger than my beloved 1923 Bechstein in Thonon-les-Bains and was quite feminine in feel.\u00a0 She was of a honey-coloured wood and pretty.\u00a0 She had very unusual legs, bulging out like thighs at the top and tapering down to little pointed toes as if she was standing on tippy toes like a deer.<\/p>\n Serge, the owner of the building, was keen that I moved in and went some way to ensuring the sale.\u00a0 He laid a second layer of solid wood flooring across the entire apartment, which totally insulated the apartment from any sounds coming up from other parties, and the sound from my piano was effectively muted.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n After my reflective creative time in Kalk Bay, this was the Leysin I returned to.\u00a0 It became another retreat, a place to nourish my soul.\u00a0 And in addition, the Amani Harmonic Foundation was beginning to take shape and Leysin was to be its \u2018headquarters\u2019.\u00a0 It was time to get music and creativity back into Le Vagabond.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Finding my retreat in ‘Le Vagabond’ in Leysin and another Bechstein 1956 baby grand…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":574,"template":"","categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-573","episode_posts","type-episode_posts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-part-4-aftermath-and-afterlife"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/episode_posts\/573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/episode_posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/episode_posts"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylisteningheart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}