Running on empty

This is all I got for you today.

Sunday

It’s been a long week. I don’t even know what to say at this point other than it’s been a long week but I made it through the weekend, which was the melt-down point the last time R was out of the country for two weeks, without anybody losing it.

I’ve even managed to find some of the shiny.

Self-portrait

(click on image for larger view)

Red

Sometimes things just fall in your lap. I was taking a walk today - more accurately put I was taking the Boychen on a walk today in a desperate attempt to force him to fall asleep in the stroller, something I haven’t had to do it quite a while. I was annoyed. I did not want to be taking the Boychen for a stroller nap, I wanted him to nap properly in his bed so that I could try to get some work done on this day when the Small Boy is with the Tagesmutter. But it was not to be, and I was taking the little one for a walk and I was annoyed. It was windy, and whatever direction I turned the wind seemed to blow into Boychen’s face, keeping him awake. Draping a blanket over the stroller as a wind-screen only annoyed him. Finally he started dozing off and the sun came out - ordinarily a cause for cheer but the sun was shining right in his face. I made a quick turn and walked down two shaded blocks I have never walked before in my life. Considering the many miles I walked with the boys during the collicky-baby-post-partum-depression nightmare that was January and February it’s amazing to me that there are two blocks near both the zoo and the river than I’ve never walked.

I turned the corner and saw this. I only had the point-and-shoot with me so the photos don’t begin to do it justice, but I literally stopped in my tracks and said, Wow. So thank you, Boychen, for fussing. Thank you for staying awake and hating the wind-screen. Thank you for driving me down those two blocks, and showing me this.

Bundeshaus (Swiss Parliament)

Snow, fleeting

It snowed last week (before Halloween), wet heavy snow though not much of it. Just enough to introduce the little boy to snow

and to remember how much the big boy loves the snow.

And to make this.

Autumn

Narcissus in the garden of the changing seasons

On the fourth day

Wednesday night at dinner we decided to cancel the yoga sessions for Thursday so that we could start out early on the hike that would turn out to be the highlight of the week: a five hour (walking time) hike from Arosa to Medergen to Sapuen Dorfli (which, may I say, is the cutest Dorfli in. the. world.) to Langwies. From Langwies we would take the train back to Arosa.

Our path took us past the Stauensee

and up through the wooded hillside on the other side of the See.

Once out of the trees, we passed by an Alp. In English, when we speak of “the Alps,” we’re thinking of the of the Swiss Alps, the French Alps, the Austrain Alps. We mean the whole horizon-swallowing mountain range. In Swiss, an “Alp” refers to the summer home of sheep and cattle and the small cluster of buildings, the Alpenhutte, required for their care. So we passed by eine Alp: one woman tending one hundred and twenty eight cattle through the summer.

The cattle were friendly - a hiking trail passed through their grazing grounds, they were accustomed to people - and well-cared for and remarkably clean. It is these cattle and sheep, these summer grazing ranges, that make the Swiss mountain meadows - the Wiese - so beautiful. The cattle graze down the grasses and scrub which then allows the meadow flowers to bloom.

Our path leveled out as we headed towards the moutain village of Medergen where we ate lunch - crisp green salads from the local gardens and Bergkaese (mountain cheese) - from the cows we had just walked past.

We sat outside in the sun. We ate mountain cheese and hand-made bread and drank coffee topped with whipped cream.

We lingered too long, because it was all too perfect, and finally tightened our laces and continued on our hike with a backward glance at Medergen that had fed us so well.

Between Medergen and Sapuen we passed through Alpine meadows and saw, at a distance not worth photographing, a cluster of elk.

And then we crossed a river, passed through a field, and entered the tiny village - the Dorfli - of Sapuen. There were four children playing in front of the school when we passed through and refilled our water bottles at the village fountain though the school was closed; Sapuen is not inhabited year-round anymore.

And two minutes later we had passed through the entire village and Sapuen was behind us.

We rested one last time at the edge of a meadow, drinking our mountain water and crunching fresh sweet apples. We were about to start the climb down to Langwies, back through the woodlands, out of these high meadows and unobstructed views of the mountains. We knew we had to press on to make the train in Langwies but we were all reluctant to rise. Reluctant to say goodbye to this view.

On the third day

On Wednesday I slept through the morning yoga sessions and took an easy walk on my own so that I could stop for as long as I wanted in order to take some pictures.