Wayyyyy behind!!!

Everyone should be born into this world happy

and loving everything

But in truth it rarely works that way.

For myself, I have spent my life clamouring towards it.

Hallelujah, anyway I'm not where I started!...

Mary Oliver

The angel in the train station in Zurich….

I have less than a week left here in Switzerland.

I have been doing my best to savour every moment,

and yet my spirit has begun the journey back.  I 

can feel it.

I haven't put anything on this blog since I returned

from the mountains three weeks ago.  Somehow, it

became less important than reading and studying, sitting

in the sun, going for walks, meeting friends, musing

over dreams and eating chocolate.

One of the wonderful things I did was to go to the

Rietburg Museum in Zurich with Irene and her son

Lucas.   The museum has been open since 1952,

starting with a collection from Baron Eduard von

der Heydt, a German/Swiss banker, art collector and

patron of the arts.  It exhibits a gorgeous collection

of art from Asia, Africa and "ancient America".

The piece that really struck me was in the "lovers"

section, and I didn't write down the details so I

can't remember when it is from, or exactly where -

India for sure.  There were no postcard photos of

it in the shop, and there were no signs saying not

to take pictures, so I went back and took a few photos

of Shiva and his beloved.

Erotic...

Sacred…..

Passionately holy….

I spent a day with a friend from my course, we met

at the train station and she showed me a part of Zurich

I hadn't seen before - a little rougher, lots of ethnic 

restaurants, funky shops, and the BEST shoe store…

if you want to check it out, google: Peter und Vreni.

This is what I was looking at as we had lunch...

Me, waiting for lunch….

We went to an amazing second hand store, in the most

beautiful old house….some of the furniture was very

high quality, and low priced.  If I were living here, I

would go browsing there regularly.  This was the first

thing I saw…

All these records!!  And a place to sit and listen before you decide to buy….

I think I took the boat home that day….or maybe this was

another time….

Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn I am taking the

train to Milano with Irene.  We are staying one night and 

coming back on Saturday…I am looking forward to this

last fling before starting the long journey back…

IN THE MOUNTAINS

Here are a couple of pictures from my 6 days in
the mountains near Giswil, in the canton
Obwalden.  It's just across the lake from where
I do my course.

I just loved the light in this one...

A "selfie" to prove I really was there!  For myself, as much as
anything…it was like a dream….

I took about 10 pictures of this view - every time I looked at it, it was different.  I had a good pair
of binoculars, and I watched the hunting birds - probably eagles - and I searched out the houses
high up in the mountains, where the farmers take the cows for summer grazing.

This is a photo (not mine) of the Alpabfahrt, which is when the farmers bring the cows
down from the high meadows for the winter.  They are adorned with flowers and carry
those bells around their necks, and they walk on the road with the farmers and families of
the region.  I saw one of these on my way back to Kusnacht after my course in September,
which is when these gorgeous cow processions usually happen.  Isn't she beautiful?