Recycle

The old camper seems to serve as lodging for sheep.

20080818

Under a willow sky

Living willow structures seem to be rather popular. Do you have any around you??

Update: Since I've now had a few comments from people who haven't seen these, I'm adding this link to a website run by an 'environmental artist' in the UK. This is about the best illustrated site in English that I've been able to find on the topic. Enjoy!
New Living Willow Sculptures

20080801

PSI and beyond

The village in the far background is Würenlingen. The big buildings at the rear belong to the PSI (click on label below see other posts related to it.) The twin side-gabled buildings are some sort of farm buildings. The rock conveyor for the Holcim cement plant is visible to the right of those.

20080801

View beyond Rein

A view looking beyond the village of Rein. The church tower to the left is the same as in this old photo.

20080810

Yes, there are people in this village!

I have no idea what was going on, but I caught at least three horse-drawn carriages traveling down to Hauptstrasse a couple of afternoons ago.

20080809

Sheltered farmhouse

Another view from the hill. A nicely sheltered farmhouse on the outskirts of Villigen. Distant mountains visible in the back.

20080810

Wildflower 15: Hemp agrimony

A walk up our little hill Besserstein provided a few photo opportunities. Eupatorium cannabinum. Gewöhnlicher Wasserdost.

Moth: Jersey Tiger. Euplagia quadripunctaria.

20080810

Excursion: Details in La Chaux-de-Fonds

Artistic details permeate through La Chaux-de-Fonds. This is a dog leash hook on the exterior wall of a restaurant. For a few more photos (a new shopping mall, an old bank building and an apartment building with a mural) please see my other blog:
La Chaux-de-Fonds II

This is the last in this excursion series. We shall return to our regular programming tomorrow.

20080806

Excursion: Le Corbusier and La Chaux-de-Fonds

La Chaux-de-Fonds was the birthplace of a few people known by many such as Le Corbusier and Louis-Joseph Chevrolet (the Chevrolet bow-tie is said to represent the Swiss cross.)

Le Corbusier (1887-1965) spent only a small part of his career in Switzerland and there are only two of his villas in La Chaux-de-Fonds itself. This one pictured here is the Maison Blanche (white house) which he built in 1912 for this parents. It was his first project as an independent architect. The official website has an English version: Association maison Blanche. A couple more Corbusier related photos from lCdF on my overflow blog.

20080806

Excursion: La Chaux-de-Fonds in Canton Neuchâtel

Next to Le Locle lies the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds, population 37,000. As with Le Locle, watchmaking was established there early on and La Chaux-de-Fonds remains the center of the Swiss watchmaking industry. An example: Rolex was registered there in 1908 though it is now headquartered in Geneva. Movado, Omega and TAG Heuer are some of the watch companies that are still based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. There is something weird about seeing the buildings carrying the company logos, right next to grazing cows.

Unusually for a Swiss town, La Chaux-de-Fonds is built on a grid plan, with wide boulevards as seen in this photo (the view in the other direction can be seen on my overflow blog.) How come? A devastating fire in 1794 burned down most of the town and the city planners decided to rebuild it this way, with special consideration given to natural light (important for the watch making process), resistance against the spreading of fire and space needed for gardens to grow their own food. (Much of the garden space now seems to have been taken over by parking spots.)

La Chaux-de-Fonds on the Swiss tourism website.

20050731 Canon Powershot S410