Red locomotive

As I looked back at the last few posts I noticed that the color red appeared in all of the photos so I'm going to run with the theme.

20081003

Redcurrants

Another old photo while I sort out my schedule.

20070708

Wildflower: Scarlet pimpernel

I've only ever seen two of these plants. Anagallis arvensis (Acker-Gauchheil) is also known as the poor man's barometer as the flowers close when the atmospheric pressure falls.

200707 Nikon Coolpix 950

Bonfire by the stream

Another bonfire from the 1st, this one down by the stream that runs behind our building. Since I don't usually get to do any night-time shots - they would just be a black rectangle for most of the village - I'm dwelling on these for a little bit. An old post about the stream:
The stream in the backyard

20070801

Maize, two weeks later

When I did my first corn/maize post, one reader, Moi in Florida, asked if I would show a photo when it started budding. I waited too long, and these silked many days ago. Wikipedia on corn:
Maize

20070719

Through the window at Hirschen

Looking out through one of the windows at Restaurant Hirschen. Of course they, too, have red geraniums in their window boxes.

We usually make a point of ordering their seasonal dessert sampler, but this time we simply had no more room! A photo of our appetizer can be seen at the other site:
A Hirschen appetizer from Summer 2007

Other Hirschen posts:
Restaurant zum Hirschen (with a poor quality photo of the dessert we had)
zum Hirschen

20070706

Red geraniums and green shutters

Red geraniums, white lace curtains and green shutters on Hauptstrasse.

20070626

Daily photo theme day: Red

Geraniums, especially red ones, are very popular in window boxes in Switzerland. You might be familiar with photos of the dark brown mountain chalets with copious red blooms in the windows (links to photos at other sites: 1, 2, 3). This particular window box belongs to a house on Hauptstrasse. Over the course of the week, I think I'll show you other windows.

This month, nearly a hundred DPers are participating in the theme. See red all over the world:

Shanghai, China - Mumbai, India - New York City (NY), USA - Manila, Philippines - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Hamburg, Germany - Stayton (OR), USA - Los Angeles (CA), USA - Hyde, UK - Oslo, Norway - Brookville (OH), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Stavanger, Norway - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Joplin (MO), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Selma (AL), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Chandler (AZ), USA - Stockholm, Sweden - Seattle (WA), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Arradon, France - Evry, France - Baton Rouge (LA), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Boston (MA), USA - Grenoble, France - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Greenville (SC), USA - Hilo (HI), USA - Nelson, New Zealand - La Antigua, Guatemala - Brisbane (QLD), Australia - Singapore, Singapore - Tel Aviv, Israel - Hong Kong, China - Sequim (WA), USA - Paderborn, Germany - Saarbrücken, Germany - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Tenerife, Spain - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Sydney, Australia - Naples (FL), USA - Cologne (NRW), Germany - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Mainz, Germany - Toruń, Poland - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Singapore, Singapore - North Bay (ON), Canada - Jakarta, Indonesia - Montréal (QC), Canada - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Baziège, France - San Diego (CA), USA - Prague, Czech Republic - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - New York (NY), USA - Kajang (Selangor), Malaysia - Sharon (CT), USA - Newcastle (NSW), Australia - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Nottingham, UK - Villigen, Switzerland - Chicago (IL), USA - Torquay, UK - Brussels, Belgium - San Diego (CA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Cape Town, South Africa - Paris, France - Seoul, Korea - Manila, Philippines - Milano, Italy - Austin (TX), USA - Chennai, India - Madrid, Spain - Seoul, South Korea - Wailea (HI), USA - Toronto (ON), Canada - Ajaccio, France - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Zurich, Switzerland - Sydney, Australia - Budapest, Hungary - Moscow, Russia - Auckland, New Zealand

Cherries!

Cherries have been ripening around the region and they're on the market now. Our local produce stand has had some, and I bought 2 kilos of them on a whim. Cherry pie recipes, anyone?

20070617

The Chapel, summer edition

Last seen in January (20070131).

20070603

The post office as seen from the hill

On Sunday I went up to Besserstein, the hill you've seen many times on this blog (click on the Besserstein label below to see some of the other posts), to take some photos. There's not a lot that's new here: the post office, the bus station and the kartoffel.ch sign were all visible in the post from 20070420. What are new are the chess board and the bench (in the lower right hand corner, look up from "kart"). Some of you might recall my "men at work" theme day post where I showed you this area and told you that I didn't know what they were working on. Well, this was part of it. There's also a new house further to the right.

20070603

An exuberance of flowers

Lovingly tended by a resident on Hauptstrasse, this predominantly rose garden is visible from our kitchen window. For a look at what it looks like from the window (this is a ground level view), please visit my overflow site. I didn't mention it yesterday, but yesterday's photo was taken from our guestroom, which also serves as my work room. I've posted many photos that were taken from that window.

20070602

Reminder for die Einwohnergemeindeversammlung

About twice a year there's a village meeting. One of the items under discussion and up for voting is approval of citizenship of foreign residents (Ausländer, like me). In Switzerland, things are organized at a very local level, and for the most part, foreigners become citizens through the community in which they live. Exceptions include citizenship through marriage, in which case the community that confers citizenship would most likely be the community of the spouse rather than the community in which the couple might reside in at the time of application. Switzerland doesn't grant citizenship jus soli, so there are many individuals who, although they were born here, have to meet certain requirements (of residency, etc) and then apply for citizenship if they so desire. These laws are under frequent revision and also vary from locality to locality, so things are always changing as they are in many countries around the world.

The Village Council recommended several individuals for approval at yesterday's meeting. I hope it went well for them -- I'll find out in the monthly village newsletter.

Addendum 1 Jun: The newsletter arrived today and all the people applying for citizenship were approved.

20070530

Red car in the Geissberg vineyards

Someone was tending to the vines yesterday morning and had parked his or her car just above the vineyard. This photo is from our balcony and I've uploaded a zoomed out photo showing the top of the hill, and also a close-up photo of the 2CV, on the overflow site. For a few other views of the hill taken at different times, but from a similar perspective, there were these old posts:
Early morning snow (20070320)
Early morning fog (20070319)
Blue sky over Villigen (20070209)

20071125 Edited to repair one of the links

20070526

First yield of the year

I bought a strawberry plant at Ikea several weeks ago and it has been very happy on our balcony so far. Here is one of the two berries that were ready yesterday. A photo of an unripe one can be seen here: Balcony strawberry, unripe. I also noticed that one of our tomato plants is flowering! Seems quite early to me, though it has been warm enough.

20070525 Nikon Coolpix 950

Poppies in fields of wheat green

It is really quite lovely, to see the bright red spots in the green fields which surround us. Usually the flowers are clustered around the edges, but it is possible to find a few in the middle of the field.

I had a tough time deciding which photo to post although they're all similar shots. I couldn't even narrow it down to just two. The reason I chose this one is that I like how some of the stalks are lit while the rest are in shadow. The three others that were contenders are at the overflow site: as always, I would be very pleased to hear what you all think.

To those of you who were interested in the apiary shot from yesterday: I'll try to get some more photos, to show how and where the bees actually have their hives.

20070513

Apiary

These bee apartments are scattered around the fields in the area and we have local vendors who sell the honey. I wrote about one in the post from 16th May.

20070307