Progression

Compare with this photo from early May. A different time of the year and a different time of the day giving a different kind of light.

20080628

Excursion: Arosa VI

One last look before we leave Arosa.

The white flowers are Ranunculus aconitifolius. Eisenhutblättriger hahnenfuss. Same family as those flowers known as buttercup and fair-maids-of-France. While the flowers are poisonous to cattle and taste bitter and cause blistering of the mouth so that they're generally left alone, they become safe to consume when they're dry (source).

The yellow flowers are probably from the same family but I didn't get any close up photos of them and am thus unable to identify them with any confidence.

20080623

Excursion: Arosa V

Weisshorn at 2653 m above sea level.

This is the destination for the cable car seen in yesterday's post. I didn't realize that the lifts were running until it was too late (it was a day trip that we made). I'm rather sorry that I didn't get to see the views from up there.

20080623

Excursion: Arosa IV

Arosa Luftseilbahn.

A couple of days ago I had pointed out the pylons or support towers behind the chapel. Here's one of the cabins gliding along to the top.

20080623

Excursion: Arosa III

I think this is a small blue (how original!) aka Cupido minimus (source). Any input on the identification is appreciated.

Anyway, there were lots of butterflies flying about in Arosa but due to some technical difficulties I wasn't able to get many photographs. In case anyone is curious: my camera's display and even the EVF are almost useless in high illumination situations and a tiny moving target is nigh impossible to capture.

Incidentally, Pfiffoltra is the word for butterfly in the Swiss German dialect that's used in Wallis (the German-speaking Oberwallis, not the French-speaking 60% source) and I have to mention it because I've always found it such a lyrical word in a language that generally sounds very hard to me. As for in Graubünden, here are some of the words for butterfly (and/or moth) in the dialects of Romansch spoken there (source):

- spler (Grischun, Puter and Valader)
- tgiralla (Grischun)
- tschitta (Grischun, Sursilvan and Surmiran)
- bella (Sursilvan)
- bula (Sursikvan and Sutsilvan)
- pula (Surmiran)
- chüralla (Puter)

20080623

Excursion: Arosa in Graubünden II

The little chapel up on a knoll.

Pylons for ski lifts are visible in the background. The lifts are in operation during the summer and people can ride them up to the peak, then hike down as they please.

20080623

Excursion: Arosa in Graubünden I

Two huts in an early summer green landscape in Arosa.

Long summer days are great for day trips. This week I'll show you some photos from Arosa, a village (town?) at 1800 meters above sea level in Canton Graubünden to the east of us. The summer season just started out there (takes longer at those elevations). There are some lovely hiking trails in the area.

20080623

Small Swiss village

Although I found it very photogenic, I don't know the name of this village. It's in a valley one over from ours, past places like Schinznach-Dorf. Maybe one of my local visitors can help?

20080619

By the river in Lauffohr

Just downstream, after the three rivers (Reuss, Limmat and Aare) merge into one (Aare). But still a couple of kilometers upstream from Villigen at this point. This area is becoming one of my favorite areas to photograph.

20080620

Picking strawberries

Today, I found a couple of people harvesting strawberries at yesterday's site. These wheeled seats roll along the spaces in-between the rows and above the plants. They can also be fitted with a sunshade to provide shade for the person.

20080621

Farmed strawberries

A patch of strawberry plants in Lauffohr. I was hoping to capture some harvesting activity, but it looks like I went at the wrong time.

20080620

Wildflower 12: Wild strawberry

Interspersed with the trefoil from a week ago are wild strawberries. Fragaria vesca. Wald-Erdbeere. Makes me think that I should watch the movie again, it's been a long time since.

20080618

Basket in the vineyard

Keeping the vineyards clear of weeds looks like back-breaking work. Sometimes, when I'm waiting for the bus, I see people working at it on the slopes.

20080613

No tanks

There's an army training area in Brugg that's in the woods and next to the river Aare. Most of it appears to be open to the general public to hike around in. Notice the green Robidog garbage can for dog excrement at the far left corner of the bridge (old post about Robidogs here). The pretty building in the background is a restaurant.

There have been a handful of fatal army training related accidents in the last few years and a very recent one involving a boating exercise left four participants dead and one missing (swissinfo story here).

20080615

Hillside with vineyard

20080612

Fence

Yesterday's sheep hang out on the other side of the fence seen here.

20080612

Sheep sleep

Nap time for the sheep -- for us, a respite from the tolling of the bells that hang around their necks.

20080612

Preparing and planting

Seems that seedlings were being planted. I think the tree in the foreground is a cherry and the fruits look like they're starting to ripen!

My local insider thinks yesterday's butterfly is a Pseudophilotes baton. Here's a website, in English, about European butterflies with some information and lots more photos.

I would also like to acknowledge a piece of freeware called Exif Untrasher by Carsten Blüm. It allowed me to recover the photos in yesterday's and today's posts: I had deleted them from my camera thinking that I had downloaded them to my computer when I hadn't. Exif Untrasher brought them back! So, if you run Mac OS X and encounter a similar situation, try it out.

20080612

Wildflower 11: Trefoil

Lotus corniculatus. Gewöhnerlicher Hornklee. Supposed to be an important source of nectar for many insects and it also serves as good fodder material. I was so delighted by the butterfly that I've uploaded a larger-than-usual photo for this one. If you know what kind it is, please leave a comment with the information. Thanks!

Update: My local insider thinks the butterfly is a Pseudophilotes baton and that seems quite reasonable. Here's a website, in English, about European butterflies with some information and lots more photos.

20080612

Zu Offen

Shiny valves and cranks on one of the antique fire trucks that were on display at the alley festival at the end of last month (related post here). This one was built in 1898.

20080531

Curve

20080502

Library courtyard

There are not a lot of statues in my area and this is the only one that I've noticed so far. She's in the little garden next to the public library in Brugg.

20080605

Droplet

We've had a lot of rain the past few days.

20080605

All in a row

20080525

Garden with dumpster

The garbage bin almost fits in!

Today I'm trying out a new (for me) image manipulating tool that's completely online. It's called Picnik and offers nine language choices at this time. I used it to do all the processing for this photo, including adding the border. If you're wondering: I have no ties to the company and gain nothing from this 'plug'.

20080530

Disrepair

This barn looks like it's on its way to being decommissioned. I wonder whether there was a concerted effort to break each pane of glass.

20080525

A house on a corner

Another view of the house with Alice's door, orange lilies and a net.

20080525

Mower gnome

Looks ready to lend a hand.

20080531

Badi

The entrance to the community swimming pool. A lot of advertising for the ice cream company that's known as Lusso in Switzerland. I got curious about it, since the logo is one that I've seen in the US (and also on the blogs of other CDP bloggers!) Turns out that it's part of the behemoth Unilever's Heartbrand (Wikipedia entry here). Unilever also happens to own Ben & Jerry's ice cream now, and perhaps that is the reason my local Coop supermarket carries it. There's just something odd about that -- Vermont ice cream in Villigen. A question for you lot (since many of you are in the US): how many of you have partaken of a Vermonster?

20080601

frisch und freundlich

Our little village shop is actually part of a chain: Volg concentrates on small communities. They must feel fierce pressure from the two giant chains, Coop and Migros, and I wonder if their days are numbered.

The object with the sign is a bike stand. On the left is a receptacle for PET bottles (Wikipedia entry about the recycling of PET bottles). The cartoon instructs people to flatten the bottles before depositing them. I took this photo from behind the store, looking out towards Hauptstrasse. Do you see the sheep grazing on the slope?

By the way, freundlich stands for a long list of adjectives. See here.

Today, as all first-of-the-month, is theme day for the daily city photo blogger community. Please visit the portal to see examples of "my local corner shop" from all corners of the world.

20080601