Early Spring Blooms

 Before Spring Even Arrives

It isn’t officially here, but our first Spring flowers are up and open. Crocuses and snowdrops come first.

The cyclamen have been blooming in the greenhouse most of the winter, so now they are finishing their bloom in the sunshine. Three colors.

Primulas (primroses) pop up in everybody’s lawns in the spring. 

Our Singrüeni (vinca minor) is happy in the sunshine on the slopes.

Tiny little blooms are peeking from otherwise-still-bare flower beds.

Except in a few spots, which are showing their colors.

With more to come in time for Easter - maybe. 

Or before.

The Countryside

 Driving

We went driving to find a little town with a woodworking shop - for reasons. We went the scenic route, literally. The skies were clear, so the mountains were very visible. 

(Sorry about pictures through the windshield, but one does not stop on these roads - in facts, one hopes mightily that cars stay on their side, and motorcyclists don’t try to pass, and you won’t meet a big Post Bus on one of the switchback curves.)

Sometimes the mountains were obscured by trees on the steep hillsides. There are no guardrails - I was informed it is better to go properly straight off the cliff into the stream below - if one is set on leaving the road by going too fast or slipping or falling asleep - rather than hitting a guardrail and being flipped upside down into the stream dozens of feet below. Indeed. 

And then the town - 

Note Easter tree

Note the jolly Buddha

Note the angled windows

This was one of the things we came away with (not what we went for). It was carved by an old man in Tirol, who had no successor for his craft, so no more of these will be made. It is a small rare Baroque Holy Family from one block of wood. Note the tiny cherubs, the owl, the lantern, and the tree - not things one sees in typical Holy Family groupings. 

Going out of town, a different way, we saw this fortress above vineyards. 

‘Twas a nice day for a scenic drive - and we survived. 

Happy March

 Looking Like Spring 

Inside, the first Sunday in Lent. 

Outside, flowers blooming in the little German town of Wangen. 

Fasnacht

 Parades

Before Lent in Europe, there are various festivals as a last party before the solemnities (or what used to be solemnities) of the pre-Easter season. Here it is called Fasnacht. People dress in outlandish costumes, play carefully off-key music, and throw things. Like candy. And colored confetti. 

This is what one finds in one’s driveway and yard along parade routes. 

You will still see it months from now. 

And, on another note, how is this for winterizing? 

Doubles

 Amaryllis 

Yes, they look like the others, but two sets of blooms on one bulb is remarkable. 

A February full of flowers!

And these are blooming more, as we got another big snowfall. 

Tiny Daffodils

 From the Greenhouse

These have been calling for spring. They started pushing out new growth after the deep cold. They are re-blooms in their little bird bowl. I brought them into my kitchen to enjoy the tiny flowers. 

Sunday Snow and Sun

 Snow

Valentines night brought snow. Enough to obliterate the road. Did I want to go driving this morning? I did not. Did we anyway? We did. Church day. And I had to play the music. Music-playing son was just getting back from South Africa. 

Sun

Down in the flatter lands, there was no snow. And after church the sun came out. So after dinner, we had sunshine for our hike back to the town where we have church. The route is through fields and forests, and up and down hills. And it went along a barricade of tank-stoppers and bunkers from WWII. (I forgot to get a picture.) The area is close to the German border. The Germans were not foolhardy enough to try to invade Switzerland. Only the Americans “accidentally “ got lost and dropped some bombs on Swiss cities,

Restaurant 

We passed a homestead with an ostentation (yup, that’s the collective) of peafowl, 

A hunters’ cabin

Beside this cabin was a sign post with some fine poetry about being quiet, keeping your dog on a leach, and taking your trash with you. I was told the sign was very old, and the poet probably dead by now. Sigh. I think forest signs should all be in poetry.

Happy Valentines Day

 In Roses

Re-Rooting

 New Growth

Last summer we grew a big crop of Wirz. This is a cruciferous plant, like cabbage. It was more than enough for two people, so some we left in the garden bed in the winter. It winters well. Eventually, piece by piece, the heads came in to the refrigerator. Today I noticed new leaves sprouting on one in the refrigerator. It is growing new roots on the cut stalk.  So I put it in a window to see if it will produce some chlorophyll and green up. 

Valentines

 Pretties

Don’t we like to decorate for seasons or holidays, even a one-day one? I have a couple of little trees that I like to decorate for seasons.