Orchids and Lillies on Mannlichen

A gentle stroll up Maennlichen today. Encountered at least seven different orchids, here are a few of them.
The others included the Black Vanilla Orchid, the Burnt Orchid, the Birdsnest Orchid and a new one, to me anyway, I believe to be the Coralroot Orchid.

Then quite amazingly I came across a whole field of St Bruno's Lillies.

Beautiful. And the whole trip I was accompanied by a cuckoo.

Here is a Regemolli, as promised.

The cows went up to the alp yesterday. The first lot waking us up nice and early at 6.30 ish with the clanking of the bells.
This is quite a stressful trip for the cows and can lead to injuries and mastitis. The alp farmers need to be quite careful about looking out for problems, especially as they don't as yet know the individual animals or their health.
The first few days of milk, after this event, therefore, is made into a raclette cheese. This cheese apparently being able to take a higher level of bacteria.

Salamander's return.

Just quickly....on a hike up to Maennlichen this morning I saw 8 'regemollies'. This is a black salamander that is usually seen on wet days only. Hence the local name containing the German word for rain. Yes, it was drizzling nicely this morning.
Not long ago these little lizards could be seen regularly on a wet day in the village. It would be a rainy day pastime with toddlers to go splashing in puddles and searching for 'regemollies'. But then I started to see a lot squashed, probably due to increased traffic. Now they are rarely to be seen in the village.
That's why I was so excited to greet eight of them on my walk. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, so no pictures to show. I'll try to post one up soon.

Finally Spring

At last, after 23 years of being in Wengen I've actually experienced spring. I arrived back home in the UK 21st April, the day that European flying space opened up again, volcanic ash having stopped play for 6 days. The bluebells weren't even out, the daffodils were just about to open and the trees were still in bud. How lovely to see the magnolias bloom from start to finish along with the cherry blossom and apple trees. Delightful.
Usually on leaving Wengen end of April, spring is about to begin. But in UK it's almost over. This year winter was very cold for a long time. Wengen didn't have the quantity of snow that it ususally gets but due to the continuing cold weather the snow stayed beautiful, right to the end.
Now back in Switzerland since 12th May, I'm enjoying spring all over again, fresh green buds on the trees, blossom, daffodils and tulips, and of course the early orchids.

Scenes of Winter 2010

Wengen

Mannlichen

Lager Chair

New Eigernordwand Chairlift

Top of Honegg

It's Cold

What a cold March we are having, minus 19 on Mannlichen yesterday, and minus 8 this morning. With a tiny dusting of snow too. The piste conditions continue to be perfect. This does make my life easier as teaching on ice and slush, which is usual for March, is not a wonderful experience.

My apologies for lack of communication here. I met a couple of Irish friends the other day who mentioned that they missed the regular updates. It's been a sad time for me as my mum died quite unexpectedly at Christmas, luckily I was at home then. I just haven't felt like doing anything since. Just getting myself out of bed and to work has been enough effort in itself, fending off the anxiety and the wish to pull the covers over my head and forget everything, an overpowering desire.

I still have plenty such moments but gradually I feel I am coming back to life.