Review October
I don’t know why, but I have never been a big friend of October. October definitely separates summer from winter, light from dark, warm from cold. Though this October was a bit different.
It’s 2022 and nothing is like it used to be in this year. October was no exception. He decided to stay on the summer side, bringing us beautiful and warm days. In fact, it was the warmest October ever. In my childhood days, when I was California dreaming, fantasizing of living in Los Angeles, I would have been perfectly excited about this fact. But in the reality of global warming we are going through, the high temperatures are more concerning than relaxing. One positive thing though is, that we didn’t need the heating yet and saved gas and power without suffering restrictions.
Treasure hunting
Sometimes unspectacular Sunday walks can end in something quite unexpected. That’s what happened to me on October 2nd, when I set out a bit bored because I just wanted to get some exercise before Sunday was over. While strolling through the beautiful St. Albans valley, a little path came to my mind that I always saw from the Schule für Gestaltung when I was screen printing there. I decided to continue my walk in such a way that I would somehow get back home via this little path. And so this Sunday afternoon got an exciting note and I discovered once again something completely new in the oh so familiar hometown. Because at the end of that little path I suddenly stood in the garden of the property Zur Sandgrube. Countless times I drove past it carelessly and had no idea that it has such a beautiful and quiet interior in which one likes to linger. And all this not 500m away from my home. Wow.
The surprising discoveries of an ordenary Sunday walk
Hiking Time
The October hiking highlight took place on the 16th. Since it was a rainy weekend a week earlier, we initially postponed everything by a week. Actually, I wanted to go to a party that weekend, but to stay up all night and then go hiking is not a good idea – especially not at my age 😉. So I went to bed early on Saturday and got up at 4am. Some neighbors just came home from their outing. It was still pitch dark when I left the house. Streetcar to the station, train to Interlaken, change to the train to Lauterbrunnen, there to a bus to Isenfluh, where we took the cable car up to Sulwald. I am always quite touched by how seamlessly public transportation works in Switzerland. In Sulwald, under still cloudy skies, we started for the Lobhörner, our destination at 2566m. By the time we were above the tree line, the clouds dissipated and we were hiking under a strong blue sky that perfectly complemented the yellow-green mountain mats. I like these warm colors, they let you recharge your batteries for the gray and dark season ahead. In sight were always the majestic four-thousand-meter peaks of the Bernese Oberland. Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau and Co. A wonderful day for which it was definitely worth getting up early.
A great fall hike in the Bernese Oberland
Colorful October
I want to correct myself and make it clear that I don’t think October is a bad month. I just like the mood in other months more. But October holds many things, for example, the intense colors of the last flowers in combination with the dying leaves of the trees.
The last blossoms of the season meeting the dying leaves
October in the studio
I’ve been mostly busy with bureaucratic work. Am in the process of setting up a new online store with Shopify, through which FineArt Prints are available for purchase. I am also revising the store system for Qunstwerk, my second website through which I sell framed art here in Switzerland. Newly introduced frame options make this necessary. The showroom in Basel has been outfitted with new works and I am in the process of making postcard sets featuring the Birds of Fire Island. So, I am getting ready for Christmas season.
Artistically, I am still processing my experiences of the hiking vacations in September. The colors and shapes of the mountains. I am working on new pictures, playing around with new techniques that come to my mind. I’m currently more in a development than in a production phase.
A day at the lake
Once a year I get together with all my cousins on my mother’s side for a weekend. It’s a tradition we’ve been doing for a few years now. This year we met at Lake Constance in a hotel. While the first day was rainy and foggy, we had beautiful weather on Saturday, which we enjoyed at the lake in Überlingen. Wonderful views of the nearby Alps completed the beautiful weekend.
First the rain and fog…
…and then the sun again
End of the month
In the last days of October, the last crane at the Roche construction site was dismantled, while on Münsterplatz the Ferris wheel was erected. The city is ready for November and although warmth still prevails, the colors and light have changed. The sun is lower in the sky and the days are getting noticeably shorter.
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