Well after many many weeks its gone. Our own lake in the farmers field has finally gone. We’ve had many of these lakes in our time here but not one this big or so long lasting. It’s provided many photo opportunities and we have grown very fond of it.
It will be back. Hopefully not during the next few months. If I does then Spring and Summer have been monumentally bad.
Until next to our unnamed lake, enjoy the rest.
It’s Sunday so it must be time for our weekly trip to Alpine heaven. A land which we haven’t been able to visit since the summer of 2015 but which still has a special place in our hearts.
Time for a bit of Switzerland love.
It’s school half term week here. If life had turned out differently then there would have been every chance that the next time we visited here would have been at this time of year maybe in 2017. Wasn’t destined to be. Maybe a much smaller family will try in 2022? Always hope. Switzerland is always there.
Our little part of the world has been rather cut off from civilisation. The occasion delivery person and the daily postie have been our only visitors really for months. Well that’s not strictly true. We have daily visitors. The birds.
Well when I say daily there was one exception to this. The weekend of the national Birdwatch garden survey. We sat for hours and guess what. Our daily visitors decided to give us a miss that weekend. No amount of food could tempt them. Yet as soon as they Birdwatch was over they flocked back again. Pesky characters they are.
But I will forgive them for messing my survey numbers up. They provide so much joy. Over the many months you start to recognise the individual birds. Many having really unique personalities and habits.
One really odd thing is the ‘pecking order’. Small birds first, big birds second. As soon as the food is put out the small ones arrive. The larger hooligan gang start to gather in the trees. After the small ones start to fly off the hooligans arrive. Then it’s about an hour of them squabbling. A few wiser ones just feed while the others are distracted.
That happens like clockwork everyday 363 days a year. Rain, sun and snow…. They obviously take two days off for the Bird Survey. I will grant them that especially as they like my baking. That’s got to count for something.
Not bad mobile camera work given I was bouncing on a trampoline. Who needs to be 7ft tall or balance precariously on ladders…
Yep it’s still wet and that farmers field is a tad damp under foot.
I must admit to being still a bit of a kid at heart. I know it’s not my trampoline but it’s there so why not have a bit of fun. My childhood as deprived of such fun. We never had a bouncy trampoline. Not one of my friends had one. The seaside Yorkshire town never had a public one. The first time I ever bounced was when I tested this one out before Hawklad would venture on to it. I finally have a use as a crash test dummy.
Not only is it fun and can take me back to childhood feelings but trampolining is a great exercise. Not many exercises which are actually fun doing and this easy to do. Plus when I fall and I always fall, it doesn’t hurt. Now it’s a photographic tool. But there is more. It keeps on giving. It’s a great safe store for things like balls. It’s so far been storm and pet proof. AND it’s such a comfy place to lie down on. To cloud watch and to star watch.
Just had a thought. For Pancake Day maybe it’s a super place to get really spectacular pancake tossing going.
I love Hawklad’s trampoline. That’s another little thing to be thankful for during these months of lockdown and isolation. Although I might give it a miss right now for some reason….
It’s Sunday here in Yorkshire so it must be time for our weekly virtual trip to beautiful Switzerland. A place which is so special to our family. Four generations now. Due to life we haven’t been able to visit since 2015. Since then our family is much smaller but hopefully we have many more alpine holidays still to come.
Recent months have been so constrained. Often so hemmed in. That’s why photographs are so important. They remind of a world filled with beauty, amazement and adventures. Evidence that this still can be a wonderful life. No better place than Switzerland for demonstrating this. That’s why we love this place so much.
Thank you Switzerland.
It’s Sunday so it must be time for our weekly visit to a little piece of alpine heaven. To a stunning country that our little family has not been able to visit since the summer of 2015. It’s time for Switzerland.
On every visit we would find ourselves spending a few minutes window shopping. Window shopping at the Property Agents. Looking wishfully at all the houses for sale. Dreaming of what could be. Definitely thinking about buying maybe one lottery ticket or suddenly finding that hidden masterpiece in the loft. What a place to live. A place to really live.
It’s Sunday so it must be time for our weekly visit to beautiful Switzerland. I’m writing this sat just under a 1000 miles away from this unique piece of alpine heaven. August 2015 was the last time I stood in those alpine meadows.
Back then we were a family of 3 making plans for our next few visits. Time in St Moritz. Visits to Lake Constance and Lake Lugano. Wander round Gruyeres. Creux de Van. So many more places to visit. That’s the thing about Switzerland. It’s a relatively small country yet it just has so much to offer, so much to experience.
We are now a very different family. It’s a very different world. But Switzerland is still there. There is still hope.
It’s Sunday so it must be time for our weekly virtual trip to beautiful Switzerland. This wonderful little country has been a special holiday destination for our family for a couple of generations now. Life has happened and that family is much changed now. Much smaller. Now the baton of Alpine Trips is really just lies with Hawklad and me. We must find a way of keeping that tradition going. Why?
Because family tradition is so important. Once it’s gone it’s gone….
Because Switzerland is so special and so worth it…..
Sadly 2021 doesn’t look like being a year where we can venture those 1000 miles again. It’s been 5 years now since our last trip. So let’s keep those memories strong until life opens up again and once more a family trip to alpine heaven can happen again.
Sorry going to milk our temporary farmers field lake for photos while it’s here. It does make such a difference to the view.
Time does make a difference. Look at schools. On Monday morning our PM said schools were completely safe and parents should send them there right away. Monday evening suddenly according to the same PM schools were clearly vectors for transmission and had to close immediately. Then on Tuesday the very same PM said schools were completely safe again but unfortunately staying shut. Having said that he has a track record of this. The man who championed Brexit to become leader likes to forget that before that he said “I would vote to stay in the single market (EU). I’m in favour of the single market”…..
So things can clearly change. One day I was one of two parents, the next I crashed into single parenting and the world of bereavement. Things can change.
But here’s the thing when they do change THEY CAN ALSO CHANGE FOR THE BETTER. That’s why there is always hope. Good things can still happen. So yes I’m struggling through a period or depression. Yes it feels like Groundhog Day. But it can change.
I can do this. We can do this.
I would vote to stay in the single market. I’m in favour of the single market
It’s Sunday so it must be time for a trip to Alpine Heaven. To a place which has been close to our family and it’s heart for years. Life has happened and we haven’t been able to visit here since 2015. I give you stunning Switzerland.
Our family looks very different these days. Life has definitely happened. Now the only ones who will carry on the Swiss tradition are Hawklad and me. So that’s what we will do. Virtually until life shifts again and then we can once again step on those alpine slopes again. That day can’t come quick enough for me.
