The plan was to head out into the wild and to explore the world around for a whole day, to find a vantage point from where I could shoot some incredible Red Super Blue Moon shots that would blow my mind and yours, and to generally be a productive creative.

As you may guess, it didn’t quite happen.

After a rather gruesome night - thanks nightmares, a strange anxiety attack, and persistent hip pain - and an unusually early morning, by the time I would’ve had time to head out to do that amazing hike, I was pooped. The sky turned towards a dull layer of grey anyway, so this amazeballs historical moon would evade my eyes anyway. Yay.

Ahem.

The whole point of the exercise was - and remains - to make me a bit more sane again.

I miss travelling and generally getting lost.
As I have now oh the dread! settled and share my life with not only a loving husband but also an incredibly sweet dog, I do not tend to simply set off and vanish for a few days, weeks, or months at a time. I suppose I could, but I won’t. It wouldn’t be fair on either of them and I like to think of myself as a somewhat considerate person.

This doesn’t mean that the travel bug has subsided, far from it. In fact, I think the very fact that I don’t travel as much as I used to has induced some sort of internal fever, which drives me to the brink of mental disaster every few weeks.

As Christmas 2017 approached and I hadn’t had a “break” from my idyllic little home for months, I was constantly angry and hated everything about this life I have kindly chosen for myself. I was busy hatching an improbable escape plan from my life as we drove an hour and a half to my parents’ but then noticed the anger, anguish, and anxiety slowly dissipate as we moved through the landscape.

So that was all it took.
A bit of landscape shifting.

break of dawn over Dicken (SG, Switzerland): black silhouette of hills and a wide sky with a thin layer of clouds - a contrail lit up by the sun pierces the sky.
Break of dawn - as seen from my house.

Knowing myself, this needed to become a regular but feasible event in my life. At first it was going to be a weekend away from home, once a month, but, let's be realistic, that’s never going to happen. So, how about just the last day of the month?

And here we are: today is my first last day of the month.

While the day was not spent discovering the world anew - thanks busy health-related scheduling - I did spend an hour in the morning discovering a place I knew nothing about. It was simply wonderful.

It may have been a short hike but it was one that found me grinning with joy, and that really is the only purpose of this whole new mini venture of mine.

I hope you enjoy the pictures I brought back as much I enjoyed taking them with me.


Drei Weieren / Weiärä / Dreilinden

Location: St Gallen, Switzerland

Black silhouette of hills and a wide sky with a thin layer of clouds which are partially lit up by the rising sun.
I missed the sunrise at home as we had to leave pretty early...
A long clear contrail on a dark blue sky on one side and a thin layer of clouds on the other.
... where are they off to?
A reflection of a morning sky and the surrounding forest on a lake.
Reflections on one of the five artificial lakes on the top of a hill above St. Gallen.
Picture of bare trees still in the shade and others lit up by the sun with the blue sky as a background.
...
Two trees intertwines with a forest as a background.
Locked together... for better or for worse.
Reflection of bare trees on a pond.
The three main swimmable ponds are surrounded by a walking path that meanders along a forest on one side and overlooks the city on the other.
A platform leads into a pond which is surrounded by trees and a few buildings.
The Frauenweier - the women's pond - and its adjacent restaurant and sauna complex (more information in German here).
A high contrast image of bare trees and the tower of an old building.
The tower of the women's bath (Frauenbad) has stood here since 1895.
Bare trees reflected on the surface of water.
Last year's leaves are but a forgotten memory...
Layer of fallen leaves below a shallow body of water.
... a memory which lies resigned, just below the surface.
Reflection of bare trees on a pond.
Reflections on the Buebenweier - the children's pond.
A platform leads to a pond surrounded by bare trees and an old building.
This summer, you may just catch me jumping off this little platform...
Read more about the ponds here.