Most of the time I take photos of plants, gardens or landscapes where I attempt to share something beyond sense perception. That is my fun.
The other day, not far away, I found this sign. Tomorrow is when? Tomorrow never comes. Now isn’t that the funny truth?
And after all, it is not a stretch to say beer is the ideal people and plants linkage. Ethnobotany at its finest.
See you there tomorrow for free beer.
It happened last night.
Woke up this morning and winter had snuck in. Winter! And I had not yet even finished the requisite autumnal post.
Snow down to 3,000 meters. Above image shows in the foreground two valleys at 600 meters. The valleys drain the north side of the Jungfrau Massif, part of the Berner Oberland in the Swiss Alps. If you magnify, you can see Jungfrau, Monch and Eiger in the left center background.
If I could…and then the fairy appeared before me. Yeah, in my dreams!
If I could write with the emotion and mystery of these clouds moving ever so slowly but always with magnificent beauty, incredible balance.
And challenges. These clouds offer visual, emotional and intellectual challenges that encourage science to escape Pandora’s box, something I’ve never done.
The name says it all.
End of summer;
But, a last breath of spring-like beauty.
Did I discover the end of summer or the last remnant of spring?
The beauty overwhelms the labels.
Railing about what?
Once upon a time…and then it was yesterday…and you are reading this today.
In a land of mountain trains–funiculars, cable cars and narrow gauge cogwheel trains. They are slow and they get you high.
Why? Why get high?
I’ll let the following photos tell the story. You will be in the Bernese Highlands of the Jungfrau Region, the northern pre-mountains, above 2,000 meters in the Swiss Alps. Why build these mechanical contraptions to get high?
Here are the trains that get you high.
Passenger cars–note narrow gauge and cogwheel. Start at 600 meters, finish at 2,300 meters.
Passenger cars and engine–small and strong–electric power.
Engine close up–attached in front of the engine is a cart for transporting goods and construction materials.
Once you are high…the air is thin, fresh, cool and the distances…magical.
Mountains–Eiger, Monch, Junfrau with the Mannlichen gipfel amidst the clouds in the foreground.
Paths to explore, paths for discovering.
Discoveries.
Going deep in.
Can’t get enough.
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.
How can I find my way home?
Gentian Cluster
Year after year, I have searched for the invigorating blue of Gentian wildflowers in the Jungfrau Region of the Berner Oberlands. This year was banner.
Previous years I needed microscopic vision to find the odd one here or there. But this year…clusters everywhere! Left me breathless–how fortunate.
Gentiana acaulis at 2,000 meters above sea level in the sunny alps on north facing mountain ridges.
Swiss Alps, Bernese Highlands, Jungfrau Region. North side of range.
What more can I say?
At 1400 meters above sea level, amongst the forests.
At 3000 meters above sea level, above the tree line.
Maybe two photos will help you on your way
On your way to where?
Worlds within worlds in the plant world,
Start here.
And try to get here.
But you can’t. You can only get there if you discover the path in real life. 🙂
