more broken glass

I was woken up suddenly last night at 4am by the sound of a giant crash and breaking glass. As I was alone, I got up, wandered sleepy-eyed around the apartment until I came upon this mess in the kitchen...

Funny that I didn't even think for a second that it would have been a window or that I would have been in danger. Ahh, Zurich. I immediately felt for my upstairs neighbors, who must have heard the racket, but were thankful that they did not come downstairs inquiring.

In my quest to make the apartment more homey, I have been on a 'hanging things' kick. I have been wanting to do this since we arrived, as I brought a good amount of things to hang on the walls from the US, but it just has not been a priority and I hadn't wanted to hang things all on my own - meaning that I wanted to consult and consider my husband's feelings and creative input too - such a nice wife, I know.

Also - it was not a priority for him and he was a bit concerned with not making a mess of the plaster walls - which I understand and also understand that he is a planner - but this was taking too long for me and I - the 'run and gunner' had been patiently waiting for months ...

So I hung some stuff while he was away on business - things we had already discussed and agreed to the placement of, etc... I was careful - even using a measuring tape to make sure things were spaced evenly and a level to make sure they were straight ... that is a lot for me! I got the right kind of hooks and made a go of it.

I was v. pleased with my accomplishments and looking forward to showing M when he returned from the UK.

I wasn't concerned about the sturdiness of any of the items - I had even used a stud finder (insert giggle, here) to make sure I the heavier things were secure when hung.

I had hung this fabulous poster I got when I was in the Soviet Union in 1989. When I was home in NH, I spent more $ than I should have on getting framed nicely. Mark and I both love it and love travel and old political posters, but were unsure where it would really 'go' in this apartment. We agreed there was this big, blank wall in the kitchen that would work well, so that is where I hung it. And that is from where it took a dive at 4 am.

I couldn't deal with cleaning it up at that God-forsaken hour so I returned to bed knowing I'd be facing the mess in the morning. As you can imagine, morning came, I walked to the kitchen and found the scene, much to my horror, as I had (of course) forgotten all about it ... great.

But there we two good things about it: (well, one good and one cool). 1. Mark was away and did not need to deal with it at all, which may have made him a bit cranky and 2. This piece of glass got stuck into one of the cabinets by the force of the fall - like a pencil that gets driven through a tree during a tornado ... cool.