The battle of the Black Swans

If you remember some time ago I wrote about the struggle the people around the lake of Thun in Switzerland had to save their beloved Paddle Steamer, a struggle that lasted for 17 years and was won by the people over the owners of the ship that wanted it destroyed. Today the proud ship is back in service.

Well here we go again. In the late 1980s a couple of black swans appeared on the lake of Thun. They are native to Australia and are quite different from the white Swiss swans plentiful on the lake. The people took to these swans with gusto and took them into their hearts. Over the years, they have multiplied and had to be culled. No one complained, the culling was understandable and accepted.

Recently however, some boffins in the administration decided the black swans had to go as they are not native to the area. Well, now, here we go again. Numerous letters of outrage to the editors in newspapers  have appeared. A lot of letter call it racism!

"Black people are accepted in Switzerland, why not black swans" some wrote...

They are beautiful Australians, aren't they?

The question is: Will the black swans be allowed to stay? I'll keep you posted!

Tree Lopping

Living among trees has its dangers. Some of our trees were getting too closed to the house, so we called Lionel, our tree lopper who came with his two offsiders and solved the problem for us:

Branches are too close to the roof

At the same time the paperbark tree we love so much was starting to lift our driveway. Two gigantic roots had gone under the driveway to look for moisture during the dry we had for the last few years, so they had to go.

Lionel exposed the roots but they were too thick to be cut by hand so he had to fetch the large grinder

It needed two blokes to lift the machine

Then Lionel climbed up into the tree

to cut the offending branches

And finally they turned the branches into lovely mulch which will go onto the garden.

More pictures will be on Diane's blog

Carol-Ann sent me these pictures of the Grindelwald Region in the Swiss Alps

Our daughter Carol-Ann who lives with her husband David in London, has sent me the following pictures she took last week in Grindelwald in Switzerland where they both had a wonderful week of hiking, eating and relaxing. 

Under the Eiger mountain

On a hike from First to Bachalpsee

Carol was fascinated with the melting snow patterns

A Swiss mountain fence

So many beautiful alpine Spring flowers

View of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau

Carol loves taking pictures of interesting shapes and patterns

Another shot of the three famous Swiss mountains

A "Sennehütte" in a field of flowers

The Blümlisalp range

A cog rail line

The Schynige Platte cog railway

Fantastic view over the lake of Thun

Thank you Carol and David. You really are a lucky couple. We would have loved to be there with you.

Spring in the Swiss Alps

I get regular emails from nature photographer Fritz Bieri on Beatenberg in the Swiss alps. Mr Bieri takes beautiful pictures on his walks through his mountain region. The latest pictures he sent was on a walk just a week or so ago. The spring flowers are in bloom and present a spectacular view.

Here are some of his pictures:

A line of mist over the alps

A field of crocus flowers

more mountain flowers

Sunset over the Eiger Mönch and Jungfrau

Sunset

You can see more of Fritz Bieri's pictures on his web site: 

http://www.beatenbergbilder.ch/home/home_index_e_.htm

Brisbane experiences a deluge again

For the last few years, Queensland experienced the worst drought in its history. The city's combined dam levels dropped to below 15% and there was a real danger that Brisbane could have run out of water. In the last few months however rain has fallen and the dam levels have slowly increased.

The last couple of days, Brisbane experienced the best rain in over ten years and as of this morning, the dam levels are 73% and rising with more rain forecast for the weekend. Yesterday, Brisbane had more rain in one day than normally falls in a third of the year. The Premier yesterday declared the drought is officially over.

Here are a few pictures from the Courier Mail from yesterday. Unfortunately lots of areas around Brisbane copped floods and water damage. 

Birthday Bear travels to Townsville

The Birthday Bear traveled to Townsville for the weekend to surprise Chris at her birthday party ...

Townsville is a two-hour flight from Brisbane in far north tropical Queensland. 

The job is done....

The job is done, the deck is finished for another year or two....

The last coat is painted

 

A little bare without plants at the moment

Diane inspecting the job

Hopefully Diane will have time to put the plants back soon.