Christmas, Alpen style

Since it was just going to be the two of us for Christmas (at least in December!), Bob decided that we needed to go away somewhere. And where else would you go in December in Switzerland, but to the Alps.

Bob found a small town adjacent to a ski area that looked very promising. Turns out it was. The town of Samnaun (pronounced Sam-noun with the "ou" being emphasized), was like many ski areas in the Alps, at the end of the road. If you wanted to go any further, it had to be on foot, which we did the second evening under a clear sky and bright moon. The first picture includes a view of most of the town, as it is nestled in a narrow valley. (We were glad to see all the avalanche fences on the mountains around town! Given the fact that all the buildings appear new, we wondered if the avalanche fences were there so that the town could be rebuilt or just built initially.)

We arrived on Friday afternoon. Saturday dawned bright and sunny and after a leisurely breakfast (**This is new for Bob, ski days used to mean at the slopes so that you were at chairlifts when they opened!!**) we headed for the slopes. A short shuttle bus ride took us to the world's only double decker gondola, which we took to what seemed like the top of the world.

What we didn't realize until we arrived and saw the map of the ski area was that you could ski two ski resorts that were connected, one in Switzerland and one in Austria. We skied all day and never skied the same trail twice! (They never asked to see our passport either!!) The skiing was very good, again the wide, groomed trails san moguls, but there are no "out of bounds" area, so you could ski anything on the mountain. The trails were just fine by me. The vast majority of the slopes were intermediate, with even the advanced slopes not being extremely difficult.

But it was the views from the top that were breathtaking. Every direction you looked were magnificent mountains! Sometimes I just wanted to stop and try to take it all it. There was this sense of wanting to laugh, cry or break into song, all at the same time, which out of consideration for my ski partner, I didn't.

At the top of most every lift, Bob stopped to take some more photos. I am so thankful for digital cameras, otherwise we would be developing hundreds of pictures. If you want to see more photos, just email us. ;-) Believe me, we have more than you would ever want to see!

"By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea; Who establishes the mountains by His strength, being girded with might..." Psalm 65:5&6

Popular posts from this blog

Oh good! It's red!!!

Image
 Since I first learned of the concept of leaders and enders,  I began incorporating them into my sewing. At first not with a great plan. But that's progressed with time.  First I saw the value regarding having something already under the foot when I added the next pieces in. Rarely does anything get grabbed down towards the bobbin.  But the real value comes from basically making a second (or third or fourth or fifth 🤣) while sewing your up your primary project. At the moment I have 5 leaders and enders going  1. The second bunk bed quilt. (Pictured is the first one while I was working on it.) I will need to cut more pieces for this soon as I only have one block cut.  2. County Clare. This year's l/e challenge from Bonnie Hunter. I have quite a few blocks done, but not enough for the size I want to make. I'm at the point I need to cut some more scraps the correct size  3. A quilted bag made of selvedges to carry rulers in when going on a retreat or to ...
Read more

Slow and steady...

Image
 It may not win any race, but it will make progress on the quilt(s). The wedding quilt was finished, washed and gifted. We're not in town for the wedding, so I was glad to get it done before and gift it to the bride.   I finished quilting the 2 quilts for our group donations that I will pass onto someone else to add our label and finish the binding. No photos.  I had the opportunity to help a gal who is new to sewing begin her first quilt. I was able to finish a couple more blocks for the bunk bed quilt while she was sewing. No photos (Hmmm. I see a pattern. 😆) Since my last post, I was able to finish up the red portions of the Crimson Christmas. It's so fun to see it grow!! This week was also a sew day with friends. Always fun and productive! I worked on the mauve potion of the Crimson Christmas quilt.  There was a section mis-sewn, but some picking took place and finished up.  And then at home, I was able to work the next few steps:  I've really enj...
Read more

What's on my design wall.

Image
 I haven't done much blogging recently. I'm finding that much of my quilting time is spent work on quilting up projects that have been made by others that are heading out for donation. I don't tend to photograph those, since I'm just finishing up the work of others. Also, having had some back issues, my sewing time has been more limited.  But I have enjoyed experimenting with different FMQ designs as I work with these.  This one was fun! I will most likely use this again on another square quilt. (Photo was taken just as a record of completion...) The quilting design does not show up as well on this one as I used a color that blended in. But this flower pattern is easy to work with. This project keeps making it's way on and off my design wall as I work on projects with a deadline. I originally saw the pattern on the YouTube channel of the Questioning Quilter. She called it "Top of the Stairs." It's a disappearing pinwheel. It went on my bucket list of q...
Read more