The upcoming Lac du Cygne (Swan Lake) exhibit that will take place from 23 September 2021 for one year, is all about the importance of the local swans to our Lake Geneva.
The lake without its swans?
Yet, not so long ago, the swan was an exotic animal. How did the beautiful white bird become the most photographed bird on the lake? Why has this large bird adapted so well to the shores of Lake Geneva? With its majestic silhouette, the way it glides over the water, and its majestic appearance, it embodies purity, love, and fidelity. A caring parent and a perfect companion, this bird is gifted with all these virtues and is loved by all, or almost all.
Call for Swan items for upcoming exhibit
Put your items together and contribute to the upcoming "Lac du Cygne" exhibit at the Musée du Léman in Nyon planned from 23 September 2021 through 18 September 2022. In preparation for the exhibition, they are calling for loans of any of your swan items.
The Museum says, "We realized that in almost every home there is some sort of swan. Look around your home, in your drawers, your cupboards, and your attic; there is surely a swan hidden somewhere. Small or big, kitsch or classic, pretty or ugly, whether it is made of porcelain, crystal, or even crochet, they are all welcome in our exhibition."
Know-it-all passport and our sister site, knowitall.ch, have partnered with the Living in Nyon website for many years. Catherine Nelson-Pollard now has one foot in Switzerland and one foot in the UK and was fortunate to come into contact with Mandy Bronsil last year. Mandy has jumped into the website and article-writing with her own style of enthusiastic dynamism... and after meeting with her, and finding out about her other company, we couldn't wait to introduce Mandy Bronsil to our readers.
Tell our readers who you are and your background
Although I am originally Dutch, I grew up in Spain and came to Switzerland originally to study at the Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne. After coming and going from Switzerland for a short time after graduating, I finally moved back here in 2009.
I have a professional background in career development and recruitment, mostly in the Swiss French part of Switzerland. In 2019 I founded my own company called B-inspired Partners where I support people positioning themselves clearly and confidently in their careers through an online course as well as creating individual “career roadmaps” with them.
I took over as the editor of Living in Nyon at the end of the summer due to the fact that Catherine, the website’s previous editor moved back to the UK with her husband.
What has been the inspiration for you to take over LIN?
Aside from working, I’ve always been active in committees and I really enjoy contributing to a community and connecting people or businesses. Living in Nyon does this wonderfully and I am very lucky to have the opportunity to take over a website that has been up and running for 11 years and was created with that exact same spirit. It really felt instantly like it was something I wanted to carry on with.
When you don't know how you are going to do everything on your "to do" list done by the end of the week, or can't figure out how to organize your tax papers, or are not well enough to take your pet to the vet, or any other situation that overwhelms you, then please read on. Marie Davies, Head Angel™ from Leave it to me™, along with her other Angels™, Lory Da Costa and Shirley Temple, spoke to knowitall.ch about their services. No job is too big or too small and she has created a fantastic menu of services and transparent pricing structure that can suit anyone. She is even offering a whopping prize to one knowitall.ch reader... check below.
What has been the inspiration?
Working as an Executive Assistant, then in facility management for a large Swiss company, I decided I would like to take my skill set and set up a business helping new arrivals. With a background in hospitality and the service industry, this job is perfect for me!
As each client is different and never knowing what the request is going to be, keeps us on our toes and makes this one of the most interesting jobs I have ever had! I am curious by nature, love learning new things, and have different challenges everyday.
Have you been working on this idea forever?
I am a natural doer, problem-solver, doing this just seemed like a natural step into the next phase of my life.
What are the biggest obstacles you have had to overcome?
I think the biggest obstacle was in the beginning when we were all set up and raring to go; building a client base, getting people on board with our concept. The first break through client opened doors for us to a huge clientèle and was a major turning point in the company!
Also, I should add that we learned a lot by error; I realised spending lots of money on advertising didn’t really bring in any clients, it was word of mouth, you are only as good as your last job!
And finding the right people to become Angels™ is not as easy as it seems! A lot of time and devotion is put in for each client; you really have to be dedicated and really earn your wings day after day.
Obviously, if you saw the above sculpture on top of a pole in downtown Geneva, you probably wouldn't have even stopped to admire it. It just looks like a bunch of distorted oversized wires. But suddenly, as you walk this way or that, the juxtaposition of these wires start to play with each other. They start to mean something. As you try not to trip over the curb, you don’t want to take your eyes off it, for fear of missing a millisecond of the new shape emerging! Amazingly, on one extreme you can make out the word OUI in French. On the other side of the square, you make out the word NON. It is quite amazing and brings to mind other works that the artist has worked on in the past.
The artist, Markus Raetz, entitled this work simply OUI/NON. It was finished in 2000 and erected in 2001 on the Rue du Rhône (at Place de la Fusterie) in downtown Geneva. Markus Raetz works on the real and unreal of the negative/positive and the perception and the deformation on shapes in a mirror or facing each other. He invites the viewer to interact, because many works by the artist reveal themselves only by the movement of the viewer in front of the sculpture. Markus Raetz was born in the canton of Bern in 1941. He is one of the most renowned contemporary Swiss artists.
Photo: www.unsplash.com
As spring is in full swing, thunderstorms and rapidly changing weather patterns are to be expected. One of the trademarks of spring weather includes hail; and hail is not easy to measure. However, diameter and measuring are essential for verifying and improving forecasts. Now you can help MétéoSuisse measure hail through an App.
The labels "coffee beans" and the "tennis balls" are two of the six size categories that users of the Météosuisse App can report as observed hail sizes. Thanks to the collaboration with the Laboratoire Mobilière de recherche sur les risques naturels of the University of Bern, a hail report option was introduced in the App in May 2015 and facilitates one of the greatest challenges of modern research: observing and measuring hail.
