The mountain dweller

Yes, our blue skies are back again. I know I’m rubbing it in, but being English means that I have been endowed with a lifelong fascination with the weather. I just can’t stop talking about it. Think of it as an inherent need that us Brits have, to prove to the rest of the planet that we too have the right to some sunshine. And as I happen to live in a corner of the Alps which possesses its own micro-climate, I get to boast about near perfect weather conditions all year round. Sorry.

Even though spring is some way off and most of the vegetation is still a murky brown, I couldn’t resist this shot of the farm yesterday. I know that I am lucky enough to reside in a place that most people would only think about when choosing a holiday destination, but contrary to what you might think, life’s not always a ball here. Living in an isolated, mountainous community does have its difficulties and peculiarities.

Of course, having said that, a decent view en route to the local supermarket does go a long way in taking some of the grind out of grocery shopping.

Even though they live in a sheep barn that’s big enough to play rugby in, the lambs always seem to snooze piled on top of one another. At night they will seek out their mothers for company, but during the day they have slumber parties where the sole aim is to cram in as many kilos of lamb per square metre, without suffocating those on the lower levels.

I suppose the human equivalent would be to squeeze as many people as possible into a phone box and then have them take a short nap. Not my idea of fun, but somebody, somewhere has probably already tried it.

And when the lambs aren’t dozing, they’re climbing and any ewe is fair game for this particular sport. Ewes that are lying down make for an easy target. Standing sheep imply a slightly more athletic approach by the lamb, including a run-up and inelegant sprawl on their back, followed by a desperate scramble for a foothold in the wool and the inevitable slide back down to the straw.

P.S. After hearing your howls of injustice about how I bask in 300 days of sunshine a year, I just wanted to reassure you that today we had the same weather conditions as most other people in the northern hemisphere. I took this photo a while back, but today was identical. Even the rainbow made an appearance.

So I shall leave you happy in the knowledge and smug satisfaction that it is raining here too. In fact, at the moment it’s pouring.

Hope that makes you feel better

There’s no place like home. Even if I was born in a place that is as flat as Illinois and with a similar climate (well at least as far as the rain is concerned), there is no beating the 300 days of sunshine of my adoptive home in the Alps.

We don’t have any tornado warnings here, or winter storms or even much snow considering the altitude that we live at and I suppose that climatically speaking, weather conditions are a little dull compared to the meteorological excitement in St. Louis.

But nothing can match the near certainty that most days the sun will rise and set in a perfect azure sky.

.

And if France had its own Sunshine State, then I’m pretty sure it would be here.

From this…..

to…

well, if I hadn’t forgotten my camera leads you would probably be looking at a photo of beautiful rural Illinois by now, or on second thoughts, maybe just a picture of Walmart.

After much discussion, my husband and I have decided to go global with the sale of our lambs and of course, we can’t hope to conquer the world market without first convincing the American public and their stomachs that our Alpine lamb is amongst the best on earth. I am not far from St. Louis and have an appointment arranged with the managing director at the local Walmart to discuss sales.

No, I’m sorry if you believed that. In fact I’m here to visit my sister, it must be the jet-lag and 22 hour journey that is making my mind wander. I do have an appointment with Walmart though. In the Alps our biggest local supermarket would probably fit into the pet food section of the building that I can see across the field from here. I think it is time to do a 9 ’till 5 stint there and see if consumerism is all it’s cracked up to be.

And while I’m at it, I might also have a look at the lamb. Just to see what we’re up against.