What do YOU see here?
Healthy vegetation? Plentiful water? Rich soils? Successful human endeavor? Life? Inspiration?
It’s all there.
Giessbach in the Spring
Tag Archives: Brienzersee
Squeezed at the edge
In my last post, I referred to winter towns squeezed between the mountains and the lake at the shore line. Upon closer examination, they are not squeezed–they just fit. Like we’d all like to fit…and not be squeezed, not be forced.
I think, winter spring, summer or fall, I would have fun walking this village, don’t you agree?
I crossed the line
Late December 2020 in the northern range of the Swiss Alps.
I crossed the line.
What? Which line?
Did I stop wearing a mask?
Did I stop supporting local populism?
Did I walk the wrong way on a one-way-street?
No.
I stopped seeing winter as cold, naked and heartless. I stopped seeing winter as death to be abhorred.
No leaves? No problem. No sun? No problem. Huge landscape? Big time. Mountains, sky, lake. Along the shoreline in the middle ground and background, the big landscape squeezes three towns into mere nothingness. And, by God, I saw beauty. I had crossed the line.
Fall2020
I looked out the window today. Fall had snuck in, big time. Nearby a huge old linden tree was freely droping leaves. It made me think of snow flakes, large snow flakes drifting down on a day with no wind.
1.European linden, Tilia x vulgaris
It was mid afternoon. There was still an autumnal warm sun. I had to take a walk.
2.I wanted to take my peeps for a ride on the nearest lake; but along the way, I became distracted. This image made me think, if I was looking at a city, would I be looking at something as diverse as this? Then I thought green ferns and gray rocks. Such a pleasant combination. Then I headed to the lake.
3.When I showed my peeps the boat, they said no way. Not sea worthy.
4.Then they pointed to the ship they wanted. I looked. Instead of the ship I saw the fall color in the backgroud forests.
5.I followed the forests along the lake edge until I saw this town. Then I thought, no need to go out on the lake. It would be more fun following paths in the forest.
6.Ahhh, yes, this was my pleasure in the Lauterbrunnen Valley away from the tourist route.
7.And as usual for me, I had to look not only at the large forest landscape but also at those life forms that were sheltering under the forest canopy. And as I examined, I was unfortunately forced to ask if this was a diverse village. Upon closer inspection…one bite makes you larger and another makes you small…
It was time for me to get back home for dinner.
Presence and Absence
The presence and absence of sunlight…
…on earth, water and air.
Upper Balconies
Deep in the back row of the upper, upper balconies, which are all full today, you can do whatever you want because no one will see you. Can you hear the sonata?
Clouds fill the upper balconies.
Recharge
Fog.
This is not fog.
What is fresh air?
Settled science? Humans and animals–oxygen in, carbon dioxide out. Plants–carbon dioxide in, oxygen out.
In cold weather those are small clouds coming out of our nose when we breathe.
Does the earth breathe out clouds like we do?
Mountains, creeks and lakes come together with temperatures just above freezing and a light drizzle from cloudy skies…that makes my day.
The play of air, water and earth can be visualized best by observing the visual interplay of low level clouds–they appear and disappear with a rhythm and frequency that reminds me of my own breaths.
On a calm day, the very low clouds come and go as if breaths from a huge giant–the earth itself.
What is fresh air if it is not air that has been filtered by plants …or filtered by earth…or filtered by both.
Think about it the next time you inhale a deep breath of fresh air.
Think about it the next time you exhale a cloud.
Clouds often arise from creek beds like this.
Cloud arising from adjacent forest.
Clouds arising from the earth via forests and creeks have a scaled up size and time span not dissimilar in proportion to small individual human exhales. They appear…
…and they disappear.
For me, the action is at the cloud edges.
Inhale…exhale…repeat…more slowly…more deeply…recharge is real.
The unpredictable dynamic mystifies.
Making Civilization
I love to see an agricultural community in transition. Everything counts. Nothing is wasted.
People still remember that everything counts and, for security, nothing is wasted.
Had to Catch a Bus
Had to catch a bus today. Once a week I have therapy and I get there by bus. Well, on the way…it is mid-March in the Berner Oberlands and March came in like a lion with Russian wind and cold from Siberia. The first two weeks felt the harsh results.
But this morning, on my way to catch the bus, I saw the promise of spring realized. I had to stop and photograph.
Is today the day? For sure.
And even I was still 10 minutes early for a bus that is always on time. Temperature had risen above 50 degree fahrenheit. Mild for mid-March. I sat down and took one more photo before the bus.
Deep breath of fresh water lake air. No chill. Yes, spring.
Coniferous Infrastructure
The snowfall on the branches tells me the story of coniferous infrastructure.
Water, flowing up and down the trunk road interstate, branches off to the regional limited-access freeway, then via highways to cities and on to local neighborhoods until arriving at each needle, each home…pausing at the stomata, before finally exiting to begin its mystical cycle again.
Water supply infrastructure for these conifers.
Big time flows.
Big time pipes.
Ground water.
Rain.
Snow.
Energy.
I love the feel.
Beautiful.