Welcome back to another episode of A'lil Hoohaa's monthly photo blogging challenge.  Our prompt for the month of April was "Point of View". Point of view is nothing new. It has been a writing tool to describe the perspective from which a story is told: First or third person? Third personPOV: When a narrator is a voice outside the story. An omniscient narrator knows everything. He knows what all the characters are thinking and feeling, even in the future..  Limited person POV: A narrator outside the story, knows what the characters know. If the character doesn't know wh ..read more

For the letter Z I wanted to make this post about Japanese Zen Gardens in Switzerland. Turns out there are two official ones. Both in areas I couldn't get to within a reasonable time.  So instead I'll give you this neighborhood garden buddha statue: A Zen garden is a traditional Japanese garden style that originated in Kyoto, Japan, during the Muromachi period (14th–16th centuries). It typically consists of carefully arranged rocks, gravel or sand, moss, pruned trees, and bushes, all within a confined space. The design of a Zen garden is based on principles of simplicity, minimalism, a ..read more

This weekend I attended my high school class reunion that my two friends and I organized. This is is nothing like a big-scale event you know from the U.S. We usually do something cultural and then head to cocktails and dinner.  This time we visited an interactive museum on the subject of nature. Thought-provoking questions, such as  What is our role as humans in the world? are being asked. Possible answers: We are intelligent and therefore have a special responsibility. The world doesn't revolve around us alone. We should move ourselves out of the center. We are innovative a ..read more

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash Recently I have been seeing an acupuncturist in order to help with my various health challenges.  While I can report actual improvement when it comes to sleep and digestion, I wish he'd stop telling me his conspiracy theories / conclusions like "all these people I treat that suffer from infertility or blood problems, wouldn't have these problems if they didn't get the Covid vaccine".  Other things he's talking about, may be worth exploring, such as the interaction of Yin and Yang in terms of complementary forces that exis ..read more

Photo by Cedric Letsch on Unsplash Xerophytes are plants that are adapted to survive in dry or arid conditions, where water availability is limited. These plants have evolved various strategies to conserve water and thrive in such environments, such as cacti, Joshua Trees (love!) agave or succulents. I talked about them and their abilities in my post about the botanical garden. None of these beautiful and fascinating plants are native to where I live. I just had to get the letter X over with ;-)  This post does talk about plants though. And animals. Here goes ..read more

In recent months, three Austrians have been naturalized in my village without any red tape. The  men, dressed in orange, respectively blue, are "World Viewers" by profession, and their constant companion is a pair of binoculars. What is this all about? Members of our town's quarterly magazine I started working for, noticed that several buildings are guarded by such people.  To be precise, they are sculptures from Ottmar Hörl's "Weltanschauungsmodell" series of works, fifty of which appeared as part of a project in the city of Graz, Austria, in 2016. Today they can be ordered o ..read more

Vordergeissboden literally means "front goat floor", whereas "floor" for "boden" is not a great term. In the Alpine region, the term "boden" often refers to a plateau or a flat area in the mountains. It can also generally refer to a flat, open area or a plain in the mountains that can be used for agricultural purposes. I haven't found any reliable info on the name, but I have to assume that it used to be a place where goats were grazing.  Today it's home to a boarding school and in general it is a nice local recreation area, all year round, but especially in winter because the Zug ..read more

Sometimes the internet is really great. One day I read a recommendation about a special place where guests sleep in former wine barrels, and I had the presence of mind to write down the name. Usually I might forget that I wrote it down and forget about the whole thing. Or I would remember that there was this place I wanted to go, but where was it again? Not this time. On the same day I visited the market in Lucerne, I proceeded to explore this place. It's  located above a village where Colin often plays hockey matches. But of course we never come here in spring. Lokk at this stunning ..read more

As you may know, we spent a couple of days in Amsterdam, the Netherlands this spring.  Unfortunately, out of the three full days we had, only one was really nice weather-wise, so we wanted to spend this one day exploring the city from the boat. Canal cruises are part of the otherwise bus-operated Hop On Hop Off concept.  Meaning we didn't get to go to Keukenhof Gardens, which is one hour southwest by train and is the ultimate attraction for tulip loving tourists. I had a plan B though. I had heard of the flower market, and that's where I wanted to go. The "Drijvende bl ..read more

What does spring smell like? To me it's sweet, I'm thinking of pretty pink blooms I love so much.  In general, springtime scents are often associated with freshness, floral notes, and hints of greenery, like the  Fresh Cut Grass: The smell of freshly cut grass is synonymous with the arrival of spring, evoking a sense of renewal and nature awakening. Floral Bouquets: Spring is the season of blooming flowers, so scents such as rose, jasmine, lilac, lavender, and peony are commonly associated with this time of year. Citrus: Citrusy scents like lemon, lime, orange, and grapefruit can a ..read more