Blogger Tset's Villigen overflow

The location of the willow structure

2009-03-15T10:26:00.003+01:00

I wrote about a living willow structure on my main blog (click here) and I was asked about its location. The village of Villigen is at the top of this image. The red arrow at the lower left marks the location of the structure. There's also a restaurant (Restaurant Hasel) and a "zoo" in this area.

Bern Bahnhofplatz canopy, more of

2009-01-25T11:13:00.003+01:00

This post is related to this day's post on my main blog, Based in Villigen. A closer shot and details about the construction can be found there.

20090122

Purple berries

2008-11-08T21:39:00.005+01:00

I can't remember where I took this photo, so I can't go back and check the plant, but I expect that the leaves have all fallen off by now and only the berries remain as in the photo on my main blog.

20081012 Nikon Coolpix 950

Enclosure around the refuse containers

2008-11-01T22:08:00.011+01:00

Above: A photo to illustrate the roundness of the posts or logs used to make the enclosure for the garbage and compost containers of our apartment building. Related post (with comments that motivated this post) is here: First snow of 2008 on Based in Villigen

Below: An old photo from 2005 of the enclosure when the posts were covered with ivy.

20081030 Nikon Coolpix 950
20051022 Canon PowerShot S410

Brugg's Partnerstadt Rottweil

2008-09-01T22:41:00.000+02:00

This post follows from an earlier post on my main blog where Julie, one of my readers, asked for more details. Here's a link to that post.

I don't know how the seal is affixed to the wall. Maybe some sort of cement or glue was used after all. It also looks like it might have been subjected to some vandalism... Is that charring and chipping the result of a flame?

20080805 Nikon Coolpix 950

Excursion: La Chaux-de-Fonds II

2008-08-13T10:23:00.004+02:00

A new shopping mall attempting to channel the spirit of the Art deco era?

The cantonal bank building as seen from the rear. I rather like the way the addition was made to accomodate an elevator shaft and stairs.

Murals can be seen all over the place.

20080806

Excursion: Le Corbusier and La Chaux-de-Fonds

2008-08-12T11:07:00.005+02:00

Plaque marking the house in La Chaux-de-Fonds where Le Corbusier (born Charles Edouard Jeanneret-Gris) was born.

There is no Rue du Le Corbusier in La Chaux-de-Fonds, but there is this one. Modulor was a system developed by Corbusier based on human measurements. More about it on Wikipedia.

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Excursion: La Chaux-de-Fonds

2008-08-11T08:56:00.003+02:00

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Excursion: Moulins Souterrains

2008-08-10T11:17:00.008+02:00

A few photos from the underground mill at Col-des-Roches, near Le Locle in Canton Neuchâtel. If you haven't landed on this page via my main blog, please visit the post there from this post's date for more information.

A drawing depicting Col-des-Roche at the museum on site. Pretty much on the other side of the pass in the rocks is France.

The mills installed in the cave were primarily used to grind cereals. Given the climate of region, only hardy crops were viable. Here are examples of Dinkel (spelt) and Gerste (barley.)

There was also a sawmill in the cave, at the lowest part of it where the water power was the greatest. As one might imagine, getting the lumber into and out of the caves was no easy task. An attempt was made to install the sawmill outside the caves, but the losses in energy in the transmission were too great: it was put back in its original position.

A close-up of the teeth on the wheels. They were made of wood and there was an advantage to this. When a lot of water came through, such as after heavy rainfall, the increased flow delivered a lot of energy to the system. As the weakest parts of the mill, the wooden teeth broke off before any serious damage was sustained by the other parts.

20080806

Wildflower: Black vanilla orchid

2008-07-17T19:03:00.003+02:00

Photographed near Moosalp in the region of Visp in Canton Valais. More on my main blog (check the post with today's date).

20080710

Bellicose cows

2008-07-14T18:41:00.003+02:00

The black fighting cows of Hérens in Canton Wallis/Valais.
An old post of mine related to these cows and cow fighting, Swiss style (not to fret, no gore):
Excursion: near Saas Almagell in Valais

These cows just get into spontaneous fights. See how they're grazing with other cows in the meadows through which the public road passes:

20080710

Bundesplatz in Bern

2008-07-11T21:15:00.004+02:00

The Swiss Parliament building with the Bundesplatz in the foreground.

Fun on the Bundesplatz.

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Bär-Lauch blossom sprouting

2008-04-30T20:49:00.003+02:00

20080430 Nikon Coolpix 950

Modern, from a different angle

2008-01-16T17:54:00.001+01:00

Related to this post on my main blog. The placement of the building amidst the others makes it difficult to photograph.

20070414

Weihnachtskrippe

2007-12-18T16:51:00.000+01:00

Nativity scene at the Form+Wohnen home furnishings shop in Baden. Sorry about some of the terrible croppings.

20071217

Edelweiss

2007-12-15T17:44:00.001+01:00

200607

Four little birds

2007-12-14T17:24:00.000+01:00

20071214

Snowy peaks from Würenlingen

2007-12-09T16:45:00.001+01:00

A slightly different lighting condition brings out the facets of the mountains. Compare with the photo on the post with the same date as this one on my main Villigen blog.

20071208 16:37

The snowy meadow in context

2007-11-14T22:17:00.000+01:00

20071114

More of the prayer flags

2007-10-09T15:36:00.000+02:00

Note the clothes drying rack on the right.

20071008

Hiltl takes on Zottel

2007-10-06T14:16:00.000+02:00

Zottel is the mascot for SVP, the far right political party in Switzerland. They're infamous for their controversial election campaigns. To read my posts related to them, click here.

Hiltl is a vegetarian restaurant in Zürich, a place I like to go to a lot. They have interesting ad campaigns (see here), and they commissioned this Zottel-on-a-skewer postcard to show what their opinion is of SVP. It reads For once we're happy to offer meat: Grilled Zottel.

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Homes: the making of

2007-09-29T00:00:00.000+02:00

Four different construction projects are depicted here. Clicking on the image will open a 1600 pixel by 1200 pixel file.

several months since the start of 2007

More coffee machines than you can shake a stick at

2007-09-26T00:00:00.000+02:00

And this was just half of it...

20061002

Rooftops uncropped

2007-09-22T23:53:00.000+02:00

20070909

Aida

2007-09-19T23:56:00.000+02:00

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Papageno

2007-09-19T23:55:00.000+02:00

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Covered bridge and the Limmat

2007-09-08T00:00:00.000+02:00

I think this photo showing the river rounds out the wooden bridge post.

Added: I was wrong, this photo rounds out the covered bridge post:

I cranked up the exposure in iPhoto to highlight the wood.

20070828

Sunday in Villigen

2007-09-03T00:01:00.000+02:00

This trio (adult and two kids, click on the photo to expand to a 1600 x 1200 pixel version) just finished cutting and raking a patch of grass and wildflowers under a row of fruit trees. Here they're getting on the tractor and fixing the gathering equipment for the piles of grass.

In the background, the slopes of Besserstein are visible with houses and vineyards.

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Sunday morning bike ride

2007-09-02T16:52:00.000+02:00

A family out on a ride on Sunday morning. The littlest one and Mom are on a tandem bicycle. Here's a link to a interesting article about getting children to ride with adults.

This photo has a few things you've seen before if you visit my main blog. Tickets with your chainsaw? about the powertools shop. The yellow house on Hauptstrasse about the yellow house. On the left most edge of the photo is a sign (Birnen - pears right now) for the produce stand that I've mentioned a few times, e. g. damsons, cherries, and the green MGA.

We also have elections coming up, hence the candidate poster on the lamp post.

20070902

Baden station, way back when

2007-08-31T10:00:00.000+02:00

The Baden station is the oldest in Switzerland. Photo of Der älteste Bahnhof der Schweiz Richtung Schlossbergtunnel, 1847. J. B. Isenring. From the permanent exhibit at the Baden Historical Museum.

20070828

SBB Treffpunkt in Bern

2007-08-29T11:37:00.001+02:00

20060624 Canon PowerShot S410

Baden cat ladder II

2007-08-27T12:46:00.000+02:00

The lighting made it difficult to photograph this one well -- the camera just can't handle the contrasts as well as the human eye.

20070825

Badenfahrt 2007 supplement

2007-08-26T14:36:00.001+02:00

Balloon-figure maker, puppeteer, singer, musician, busker. His monologue was a mixture of American English and heavily accented Swiss-German dialect. Very peculiar!

The clump of people is the crowd around the balloon-maker. Notice the beautiful blue sky. It's been gorgeous this weekend. So, why am I indoors, writing blog posts?! One more photo for the day, and I'm off.

One of at least three Native American groups busking on Badstrasse.

20070825

Schifflände with Besserstein in the background

2007-08-13T07:34:00.000+02:00

20070812

Swinging bee, the whole story

2007-08-06T06:36:00.000+02:00

Wetterbiene = weather bee.

20070805

Going to the dogs

2007-08-05T07:53:00.000+02:00

27 May 2007 at Restaurant Die Waid in Zürich. Don't even ask!

04 July 2007 on Bahnhofstrasse in Zürich.

21 July 2007 on the bus from Brugg to Villigen.

I wonder what the moon saw

2007-08-04T07:51:00.000+02:00

12:35 am on 2 August 2007 from Hauptstrasse, Villigen.
1/250s f/5.6 ISO80 full digital zoom

Hans Christian Andersen's What the Moon Saw at Fairy Tales Collection.

White eggs and blue carton

2007-07-31T07:32:00.000+02:00

The eggs that I usually buy. The Naturafarm symbol, owned by the supermarket chain Coop, is supposed to be an assurance that the hens were fed an organic (Bio in German) diet and were treated "well".

20070730 Nikon Coolpix 950

More of the blue car

2007-07-22T10:05:00.000+02:00

The second photo has the worst quality of the lot, but the composition is actually my favorite. I like the gauges on the dashboard. And the pears on the tree.

A close-up of the radiator grill with an emblem. What car is this?

20070721

Greengages for sale

2007-07-21T15:00:00.000+02:00

Reineclaude (Prunus domestica 'Reine Claude', Queen Claude in French) is another plum variety. You might be more familiar with the name greengage (Wikipedia). The cultivar was developed in France and was imported to the US in the mid-1700s where it was grown by both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington on their plantations in the lower mid-Atlantic states.

20070721

More straw bales

2007-07-20T19:34:00.000+02:00

These smaller, rectangular bales were taken off the fields as soon as they were put together.

20070715

The bales that are stored outside are wrapped in plastic. Usually white or green. Some of them have designs on them. I think they look like monster marshmallows in this photo.

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Blue sky and power tools

2007-07-15T08:45:00.000+02:00

20070714

A sunny July day

2007-07-14T11:20:00.000+02:00

Here's the wheat -- I think it's the wheat. Any objections?

A photo of the Zürichsee from around 10 yesterday morning. I was at a location close to where Richard in Zürich must have taken his 12 March 2007 photo of Ganymede. I don't go to Zürich that often, and these mountains are visible only on nice, clear days so seeing them is always a treat for me which is I had to post this. Clicking on this photo will open a 1600 pixel version.

20070713 Nikon Coolpix 950

An appetizer from the Hirschen Summer 2007 menu

2007-07-12T07:51:00.000+02:00

I don't know if it really was the Summer 2007 menu, but it was different from in the Spring. My photo doesn't do justice to the way the dish looked or to the way it tasted.

20070706

Fountains from 1878 and 1854

2007-07-11T02:16:00.000+02:00

The Kein Trinkwasser tag on the 1878 fountain is clearly visible. In the background, with its crown of red geraniums, is the 1854 fountain.

Notice the white/grey sky. We've had a lot of it recently.

20070719 Nikon Coolpix 950

Around fountain 1878

2007-07-10T07:40:00.000+02:00

(After the comment by Richard in Zürich). The label is just above the spigot. Kein Trinkwasser = not drinking water.

The iron fencing.

Hydrangea, up close and personal.

20070709 Nikon Coolpix

The garden with the watering can

2007-07-09T05:07:00.001+02:00

20070708

Planting seedlings II

2007-07-08T07:47:00.000+02:00

20070707

The landscape around Villigen

2007-07-07T20:54:00.001+02:00

This street leads to Hauptstrasse as it enters Villigen. The hill on the left half of the photo is the hill in the maize/corn post on the main site.

20070707

Saint Bernard Museum in Martigny

2007-07-06T08:29:00.000+02:00

The sign for the train at the Lausanne station, the third train in my itinerary after the Brugg-to-Bern, and Bern-to-Lausanne stretches. Vevey (where Charlie Chaplin lived until his death) and Montreux (home of the Montreux Jazz Festival) are on Lake Geneva. Bex is home to the oldest salt mine in Switzerland.

The museum is located in a former military warehouse. It was a rainy day when I visited, so the usually grand views of the mountains are missing.

One of the windows at the museum.

Inside one of the pens in the kennel area. They're mostly glass sided, and set up in a way that the visitors can't come into contact with the dogs.

Resting.

The Great St. Bernard Hospice, an article in an early edition of Scientific American.

A section is devoted to the representation of the dogs in cartoons.

Addendum: Claude, one of my readers, mentioned Barry (1800-1814) and I realized that I should have said something about him. He's possibly the most famous of the rescuers, with at least 40 rescues to his credit. Below is an image of a poster for Fondation Barry, an organization that owns the kennel of the hospice of the Grand Saint Bernard.

20070703

Wisteria and palm at 48

2007-06-30T08:20:00.000+02:00

20070626

Tree gnomes

2007-06-29T08:50:00.000+02:00

The apple tree that is home to the tree gnomes.

The big setting.

An alternate view from April. I think there have been some changes in the placement of the gnomes. Maybe they go and help people in the night, like the elves in the Grimm fairytale about the shoemaker.

Cow fighting in Valais

2007-06-25T11:57:00.000+02:00

The spectators ringside. Note the families with little kids.

The cows walking around.

One seemed to be eager to get on with the business of going up to the mountain meadows.

There was only this one water trough for the 30+ cows, which I thought was insufficient. The cow herders kept having to guard some of the ones taking a drink, to prevent a few other feisty ones from disturbing them while they were drinking.

The toilet for the biped masses.

The movie clip (just under two minutes long at 320 x 240 resolution):

20070623

Artwork on the Aare bridge at Stilli

2007-06-24T15:14:00.000+02:00

A view of the metal sculpture on the bridge.

20070617

The one that's ready and the one that's waiting

2007-06-10T06:50:00.000+02:00

The crops that I've been showing are almost all along the main road that becomes Hauptstrasse when it enters Villigen. Lots of variety in a small space. The village visible in the background is a neighboring village called Rüfenach.

20070608

Golden crop of another sort

2007-06-09T07:01:00.001+02:00

Fewer awns than on the one on the main blog.

Some statistics from 2000 from the Swiss agricultural unit. Update: try this new page here.

Out of 88,419 hectares used for human consumption:
Winter wheat Winterweizen 85.3%
Summer wheat Sommerweizen 10.2%
Rye Roggen 2.2%
Spelt Dinkel 2.0%
Emmer, Einkorn 0.2%
Mischel 0.1%

Out of 78,139 hectares used for animal feed:
Winter barley Wintergerste 45.9%
Corn Körnermais 27%
Triticale 16.5%
Oats Hafer 5.7%
Winter barley Sommergerste 4.5%
Mischel 0.4%

20070608

Parking the green car

2007-06-07T06:11:00.000+02:00

20070603

The garden II

2007-06-03T08:50:00.000+02:00

This is what the garden looks like from our kitchen window. Maybe they should take inspiration from the painted fire hydrants in Stilli (1, 2, 3) and do something with that utility box.

I couldn't resist posting another street-level shot of the garden.

20070602

A house fit for a Hobbit

2007-05-30T06:33:00.000+02:00

A similar shot to the one from yesterday. Did you notice the bird sculpture in the left half of the photo?

20070420 D

The entrance with the greeter.

20070420 E

Ready for his close-up.

20070420

Red car in the Geissberg vineyards, II

2007-05-27T07:16:00.000+02:00

20070526

Addendum: Seen along Hauptstrasse. For M. Benaut in Adelaide who collects photos of 2CVs (deux chevaux).

20070527

Balcony strawberry, unripe

2007-05-26T07:36:00.000+02:00

20070525 Nikon Coolpix 950

The old and the new (VI)

2007-05-25T07:56:00.001+02:00

20070519

The white goat: the big picture

2007-05-24T06:02:00.000+02:00

The zoomed out view from the street. I took this photo from a moving bus, which is why it's a little bit blurry.

20070523

Going through the receiving line II

2007-05-20T10:46:00.000+02:00

Notice the man with the baby at the far left edge. Just the booties are visible in the photo.

20070519

Farms viewed in the early morning II

2007-05-19T06:52:00.000+02:00

20070516

Poppies and wheat fields, multiple takes

2007-05-18T07:10:00.000+02:00

This was my first choice for a while.

I like the way the background is out of focus in this second shot, but then my point was to also highlight the wheat, so that's why I eliminated it.

What I like about the third photo is how the flower is lit from the back and it's face on.

20070513

Pink flower with bee

2007-05-16T04:15:00.001+02:00

Surely someone will tell me what this flower is called, and what type of bee this is ...

20070512

The fountain across from Vogt, full view

2007-05-15T06:55:00.000+02:00

20070512

Cat and cat ladder, with herbs

2007-05-12T18:57:00.000+02:00

Just because. So far I've photographed four different cats around this house. The first appearance of this ladder, with a different kitty, can be found here:
Cat and cat ladder, with lavender (20070309)

20070510

The obligatory cow post, take III

2007-05-10T22:28:00.000+02:00

Richard in Zürich suggested that the original photo I had posted on the main blog be cropped some more, to highlight the expression on the cow's face. So, here it is. I do like this better.

20070429

The obligatory cow post, take II

2007-05-10T05:53:00.000+02:00

The cows I've encountered have been inquisitive creatures. As I was photographing this group, these three stopped eating and started to walk over to me. I fled the scene!

20070420

Restaurant Blausee in the Bernese Oberland

2007-05-05T09:36:00.000+02:00

The interior of the restaurant at the Blausee.

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Ephemeral

2007-04-01T19:01:00.000+02:00