The first few days back in Switzerland have been a potpourri of sleepless nights, busy days and a hint of spring in the air.
If there was one thing I missed this week, it was enough sleep. The combination of jet lag and a full moon is definitely not ideal. I lay awake for several hours every night and was therefore not really rested in the mornings. It started with the flight from New York to Basel on the night from Sunday to Monday, which I spent in a daze, but I didn’t really sleep for more than two hours. Arriving in Switzerland seemed correspondingly unrealistic at first. New York City life one minute and now suddenly the tranquil, relaxed and clean Swiss way of living. A moment that I always enjoy, like when you finally arrive home, have a shower and can go to bed to fall asleep, the roar of the jet engines still in your ears.
Arriving in Switzerland
Points of view
The weather in Switzerland was gray and rainy. From sunrise somewhere between Ireland and England until we landed in Zurich, I was able to enjoy the intense blue of the sky above a clear white cloud cover. A great contrast to the atmosphere that prevailed below the clouds that we broke through over the southern Black Forest. How much one and the same thing changes depending on which side you look at it from. The gray, uncomfortable days are at the same time the peaceful, soft blue-white sunny days, just a few miles above us. Invisible from our perspective, but they are there. I have to remember that when the gray takes over. It’s the same the other way round. Whenever it gets uncomfortable on the plane, when there is turbulence and everything is shaken up, I always imagine how the planes fly peacefully and gently across the night sky. Like twinkling stars, they glide over our heads on their routes to distant destinations.
The same seen from different points of view
The power of the beginning
Arriving in the Swiss reality always means being confronted with my work here again. The days of the first week are filled with appointments, mountains of mail to deal with, encounters and reunions. But it’s also a kind of new beginning and that’s what I really like about living in two such different places as New York and Basel. Every new beginning is full of hope and enthusiasm and I look forward to the coming weeks and their challenges. Despite all the organizational and administrative work, I have found some time to work on new paintings, but nothing is ready to go yet.
Walking the streets of Basel
Harbingers of spring
Although the days were still wintry and there was even a bit of snow one morning, winters in Basel are a lot milder and shorter than in New York.The anticipation of the first days of spring, which I love so much, is already in the air here.The days are getting noticeably longer and brighter and the hazelnut bushes are blossoming everywhere, delicately bringing back some color. Crocuses are sprouting in some places, promising even more obviously that spring will soon be here and warmer days that I can hardly wait for.
Early signs of spring
