Gina

Now that you have met Gina. Here are two more pictures of her.

Gina in black & white

Waiting patiently for someone to join her for a picture

The Saint

To owners of St. Bernards, they are known as saints. I have been fortunate to have had four wonderful St. Bernards. Unfortunately, all have passed. At the moment, I am unable to have a dog, due to my schedule. I so deeply miss their friendships.




Two years ago when we started going to Verbier, which by the way, is near the Great St. Bernard Pass in the canton of Valais, I met China/Gina. I am still not sure of the correct spelling of her name. I think it should be Gina, but when you pronounce the name in french, it sounds like it should be spelled C-H-I-N-A. For the sake of writing I will use Gina.




Gina is a 5 year old St. Bernard. Her job is to take pictures with skiers during the winter season and hikers in the summer season. The first year we went to Verbier, I had my picture taken with her. Every weekend we are there I look to see her. I stop by and say hello. Obviously, Gina can not speak, so I talk to the photographer. The last weekend we were there this season, Gina was near Ruinettes. Usually she is at Attelas. Since I was not skiing, I had taken my camera with me and I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to take my own pictures.

Spring

The question is has Spring sprung here? Early in April it was quite warm, but as we moved towards the end of the month it has been raining a lot. This is typical Spring weather for this part of the world. I only hope that we do not enter a long period of cold and rainy weather. Often I am missing the warm/hot Springs of the southern US, but the views of the Alps in Spring are irreplacable.


We can be in the mountains early on the Sunday seeing the beautiful peaks of the Alps and then drive home and see flowers blooming everywhere.



The first signs of Spring were devloping in the mountains. Small blooms were springing up around the village.


I am not an expert on flowers so I have no idea what these are called. All I know is that these mountain flowers are less robust then those in the valley.



Each year we try to put some flowers in this large planter. This was my selection this year. Please don't ask me the name. I selected them based on their beautiful colors.





What is also nice is to see the same pictures in color and then in black & white.

First the color view



The black & white view




We also have a mirabelle tree in the yard. I had never heard of mirabelles until I moved to Europe, but it is a fruit that is available in summer, around July. Here is the tree in blossom. First it is all white and then it turns green and eventually the mirabelles are there.

Easter Weekend 2009

We came to the mountains for Easter as we have done for the past three years. Last year Easter was early, the end of March. It even snowed then. This year it has been sunny and warm. The snow on the pistes (slopes) is melting fast. I skied on Friday, but that was it for me. There were too many beginners on the slopes, not like I am a pro, but I do believe I am a bit more advanced than a lot of them.

The weather has been mixed. It has been grey and cloudy in the mornings and sunny in the afternoons. I wanted to take a lot of diffent pictures, meaning with different light, but that has not been so easy. I have taken quite a lot of pictures and will post them later. While the scenes are the same it is the lighting that is different and interesting.

This is our last "winter weekend" here until later in the year. We don't visit as much over summer as we do in the winter. It is with mixed emotions that we leave for the last time this season.

Here are a few pictures from the Easter Weekend.

Clouds moving in

Clouds over the Alps


The Alps in sepia

The Alps

I must admit I am new to blogging, so there will be fits and starts, but I am going to try to make some comments on various photos. I really would like for this to be more of a photo site than a written site. However, it seems a bit cumbersome to add the pictures, so I'll see how it goes.

The first pictures that follow are from Verbier, Switzerland. They are taken from infront of our apartment. These are late afternoon shots as the sun is setting in the Alps. The Alps are so beautiful at all hours of the day.

At the moment, I am interested in monochrome, so there might be a few pictures in black & white, sepia and cyanotype. Also I have not decided on a special subject. I like nature, animals, and sports at the moment. Currently, there are not many opportunities for sports, but I will still keep it in mind.