This morning Dad drove to Emmenthal some 40 km southeast of our capital Berne while I went for a Covid 19 test having had 6/12 symptoms for the past two days. Since both Mom and Dad have been fully vaccinated I didn't mind catching the virus but for the second time this past year the test came out negative. Dad went to Rämisgumme a hill known for its vast crocus fields. He was about 10 days early with only scarce buds sticking out of the old grass that had been covered with snow only 10 days ago. The view of Emmenthal from above is delicious with many nuances of green. He told me he would return in one to two weeks. Stay tuned for that!

A couple of hundred meters below the peak there were large fields of wild daffodils and a yet another couple of hundred meters further below, the first cowslips were out in masses. He had to stop to shoot one of his favorite animals, two German speaking cocks.

Dad then drove southwards to Kandersteg to catch the train that runs through the Lötschberg tunnel, arriving in Löschental in Wallis where there was still lots of snow and no real sign of spring yet besides skiers in shorts and T-shirts.

Down in the wide valley, the apple and apricot trees were blooming. The wind was strong and it was difficult to use focus bracketing and get focus perfect when shooting wide angle macro.

Hidden under the grey plastic deep in the ground you can find one of the most delicious products grown in this part of Switzerland. It's white with a violet tip. Guess what is really worth waitng for. It's on sale from early May at the same time as the first strawberries.

Back home, our fruit trees were blooming since yesterday and the first leaves on our Kiwi tree had exploded over night. The black olives are from last year. I should have harvested them just when they started to turn dark last December. Stay tuned for more adventures!!

This morning I took a long walk with our Basset hound Carl Douglas. I brought my Fuji medium format camera with the Laowa 15 mm f4 lens and a shift function. This gives a super wide angle of view and permits taking wide angle macro photos with much greater depth of field than with a regular macro lens and without using focus stacking. In the Pully harbor just downstairs from our house there are a couple of magnolia trees that are in flower just now so what could be a better training object than their magnificent flowers. One needs to be careful of how the background presents since the environment behind the object you are shooting will show up, although out of focus. Below are some examples of my training shots.

The temperature this morning had dropped at least 15 degrees compared to yesterday evening and a chilling bise from northwest was blowing. Stay tuned for more adventures!!

No we did not use our hot air balloon this Good Friday to travel to the southeastern-most part of the canton of Berne some 200 km from our home in Pully. We were on the road already at 07.30 having about 2.5 hours of driving which got us to the Aare river canyon before the holiday crowds arrived. There is a beautiful waterfall in the middle of the canyon that we wanted to see when the morning sun starts to light up the interior of this deep canyon.

On our way out of the canyon we met the crowds that filled up the passerelles along the river. We were hungry and looked for a grocery store having forgotten which day it was. After having found an open bakery in the town of Meiringen we drove to lake Brienz some 30 km west for a take-out pizza on the northern shores of the lake. Could you really find a place with a better view for your meal??

Our goals for the afternoon were the waterfalls in the Lauterbrunnen valley, leading to the Jungfrau mountain with its famous winter resorts Wengen, Mürren and Grindelwald, still open for skiing. There are in all some 70 waterfalls along this valley. Some of the most spectacular ones are the Trümmelbachfälle, a series of 10 waterfalls within the mountain. You can walk along these cascades inside the mountain with sparse light creating a really mysterious atmosphere. All photos are taken handheld with a 7-14 mm f2.8 lens, without flash thanks to the image stabilization of the Olympus em-1X camera.

It was above 20 degrees outside the cool canyon and crocuses were in flower. We drove by some of the more spectacular waterfalls along the valley, all well over 100 meters in height on our way back home

We were two tired travelers arriving home at sunset after a full day of cascades still ringing in our ears. Tomorrow temperatures will drop markedly and in the middle of next week we expect snow again where we live. Stay tuned for more adventures!!