Happy Spring

We live where other people take vacation!  Tourists come from far away to ski in our town, and this year the ski lift was operating until the 14th of April.  But those who live here were very glad to see the last piles of snow disappearing...
 http://www.entlastungszug.de/fun/verruecktes-langlauf-skigebiet  (with a few exceptions like this man)

Yesterday I read the directions for the packet of American brown lettuce and it can be sowed  directly in the garden in February, and the Swiss chard in March.   So we're getting a slow start this year, especially with waiting until snow melted to plant trees in the forest
Without the long, cold and dreary winter we wouldn't appreciate Spring like we do!  People streaming out of their houses to walk in the sunshine; everywhere busy with rakes and hoes in gardens; children playing ball and riding bikes -- and all wearing summer clothes!  I even found my flip flops and our son was scrambling to put on shorts, declaring the end of undershirts.  Even though temperatures are between 9°C and 19°C and predictions of cold 1°C for the weekend.   So the only reason I'm sitting at the computer is that I'm eating my lunch and waiting for my son to come home from school so we can decide if he wants to help plant bushes with the green club or go to another town to buy shoes... because he has no summer shoes that fit.   

We have new neighbors, and they had found an old pair of inline skates in the attic that fit our son so that he could join in the fun.  It was only a few weeks ago that he had jumped at the ski-arena and at about 5 meters in the air he noticed a boy lying in the snow at the place he was to land.  So he managed to miss landing on the boy by twisting himself in mid- air, but crashed on his back.   What a stiff neck and sore back -- and worried mom he had.  Just this week he learned how to use inline skates, and went along with the kids who decided to try out the skate park nearby, which looks kind of like this:

May I add that none of the children wore helmets or knee and elbow protectors.  But their argument:  the neighbor boy broke his finger and had to be taken to the hospital -- should he have worn finger protectors?  And my boy came home with scratches and a bruised bottom -- should he have worn a cushion on his bottom?  Well, I'm just glad I wasn't watching.  

Our new car

We are celebrating a new car!  I'm very happy with it, though still try to save fuel by walking whenever possible, (or I admit, whenever the weather is so beautiful).   Already there are footprints of the enemy -- a stone marten on the car.  They especially like the taste of new car cables, and cause a lot of business for mechanics.