Autumn shifting to winter is always a visually charged season, with dramatic color changes. This is particularly true in a country like Switzerland: the Swiss wine landscape holds mountains and rivers and lakes and gentle hillsides all in close proximity. Altitude adds another element. We veer from winter to autumn and back to winter in just hours.
I have traveled a good deal this year, to several countries, and my travels are not yet ended, with most of December to be spent in South Africa. But I love to be at home in Switzerland in October and November, living through the seasonal change.
Goats go down, fog spreads, water table smiles
This year we have had far more rain than usual, says Meteo Swiss, and the weather has been a little bit softer, as the Irish describe steady and gentle rains. In some places – poor Ticino! – this translated to record snowfall for November. The rain is good news for my garden but more especially for our vineyards because the water table needs these long extended rains.
Knowing this helps prevent early winter gloom, I find.
Here are some of the images from recent days back to the day in October when I harvested my last tomatillos in the garden. Join me for a short trip down a weathery memory lane. The goats were my neighbours for a week, as they made their annual trek from the high alps to winter meadows lower down. And yes, they do sleep standing up, at least some of the time!
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