melev

I was out of town for the past week, enjoying some time with my family in Switzerland. We had nearly perfect weather for which I was delighted as I wandered about, Nikon in hand. For this blog entry, I'm going to share all the floral pictures I took. I don't know how many of these flowers exist in the states, but I don't see them here in Texas... so hopefully you'll enjoy them as well. I don't have names for most, but if you happen to know a few I'd be happy to update this entry with any submitted.

Not all of these are flowers, I should add. But still plant life.


This little pot was actually a display piece set upon a suspended shelf in a small display window of a shop. The pot is maybe 4" in diameter.



Each day in Marktplatz (similar to the Farmer's Market, although translated directly it means Market Place), you can purchase flowers from a few vendors. By evening, their booths are gone.



At my grandparents' grave, wild strawberries. She loved these, so it seems justified to have them crop up in this spot.



There was a little rainfall, at times.



I saw lots of honey bees and bumble bees.






This plant caught my eye. It was a nice gentle mixture of colors.



And this looked like one of the most hostile Christmas tree-like plant I've ever seen. It screamed leave me alone.





I was told this flower is used to make Opium.Another use for them is color, of course. The Swiss have them everywhere.



Various unknown flowers, both intentionally planted as well as some wild ones.















This was a beautiful Orchid in a family member's home. Having tons of daylight coming in helps.



The ivy makes a little courtyard more pleasant.



A few more random flowers.














This type of effort is visible throughout Switzerland. Everyone seems to enjoy decorating their homes and businesses with flowers of every type.




My mother happened to notice the blue pine cones in this tree only because of the way the sunlight hit it.





I thought this was a type of flower until I got closer. It seems to be more likened to the pine cone family though.




This plant was sprouting a flower of sorts. You can see it just to the left of the concrete structure.




This pine-like bush or tree was two-toned.




One of my favorite treats are roasted chestnuts served hot, sold here from street vendors during the wintery months. This time of year, the trees are already displaying some, although they won't be harvested until the fall. We rarely get them in Texas, even when I request them at the supermarket. It is so seasonal an item that we may have them during a single week here. In Switzerland, you can enjoy them for weeks on end.






This is my favorite type of pine tree. It's a little droopy, and reminds me a bit of Charlie Brown's sad little tree. These grow to be quite immense though.




Here are the last of the flower photos.







I took over 500 pictures during my trip, so there will be more blog entries about my trip over the next week. The weather ranged from 60° F to 80° F, a welcome reprieve from the 105° F Fort Worth suffers from presently.