Les Signaraux revisited (yet again)

Juan arrived back from Spain on Friday, after a satisfying but draining trip. I was almost as tired, after a day of shiatsu at the MCPA, and neither of us could stay awake beyond 9pm. It raised questions about how viable our lifestyle is - we sometimes feel burned out with the non-stop planning, whether it's food supplies for Juan and his toing and froing to Switzerland, his work trips, my trips to the UK, me going to Switzerland for weekends - forever planning. This sounds feeble and spoilt-brattish.

Anyway, it's Saturday: a sunny day above Les Signaraux, a route equally suitable for rando and nordique skis, and the blissful liberty of making our own path across an almost empty landscape - and life is perfect.
This place always makes my heart sing - something about the familiarity, the scale - I know it well and feel safe in the gentle hills and valleys.

man in red

At the top the wind howled - as it usually does up there - and blasted us with stinging gusts of powder snow. But it meant that the atmosphere was blown clear of the smog that has hung low over the whole region for much of the winter. Wonderful to see in crisp detail the surrounding peaks.

man in blue

And then, coming down, we found a sheltered spot at the edge of the cross-country piste to picnic...

We then headed down, off-piste again, on difficult, icy snow - and I didn't break anything. We were way too speedy - it was all over in a couple of hours. But it meant we could enjoy the rest of the lovely sunny day in the garden. How to bottle up the memories, to last me through the ups and downs of life between blog entries...

At the end of the weekend we walked around the garden and Juan said goodbye to Vaulnaveys for 3 weeks (I will be in CH next weekend and we'll be away for the Easter weekend). Will he see the forsythia and magnolia stellata poised to flower? I think not. Choices choices...