1,111 + 1,277 miles – or 1,788 + 2,055 km – a long and winding road...

Yay!
Back from a glorious road trip down Scotland and England, and across France into almost the heartland of Switzerland, using motorways, A-roads, B-roads and two different international ferries, from Dover to Calais, and from Cherbourg to Portsmouth.
Caught up with family, friends, business contacts, celebrated old and young lives, grieved with an old friend for the loss of a son in his early twenties, felt proud of my Mum for having braved and recovering well from a year of major surgery including a new knee joint.
Last but not least, rejoiced in the sounds, smells and colours of spring and early summer.
The palette was bright yellow, yellow-orange, bright red, pale purple, pale blue, bright blue, every hue of green under the sun, every hue of grey in the sky, every shade of white, cream and pale pink on shrubs and trees that one can imagine. And every now and then there was a splash of bright, almost screaming pink – azaleas and rhododendrons and fresh-leaved blood beech.
Glorious.
Glad to be home, a bit tired, and needing to catch up.
Hoping to post some photos here, soon, or on flickr. Sadly, I'll never be able to bring you the scent of a field of rapeseed in full bloom, or that of pale lilac...
Still, watch this space if you will...
Hugs

Greenpeace and Spencer Tunick have done it again

Hiya

Remember my post on a Greenpeace/Spencer Tunick co-operation on the Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland in July 2007? Well, they have teamed up again to try and save the vineyards of France.

The following is based on information gleaned from the Greenpeace website on the subject, some of it in French (my translation):

On Saturday, October 3rd 2009, in a vineyard in Fuissé, in the South of Burgundy, 713 individuals joined together in a militant artistic installation organised by American artist Spencer Tunick to highlight the impacts of climate change being felt all around the world. In France, they are already affecting the wines and the vineyards. If we don't act here and now, humankind and its cultural heritage will ultimately be condemned.

For more than 15 years, Tunick has staged mass nude installations all over the world. His collective landscapes always question humankind's relationship with its environment.

Under a magnificent sun and in a wonderful ambiance, Tunick achieved four different installations, two of them involving all participants, and one each involving only the women and the men, respectively. The participants and the Greenpeace team were all very happy to be part of an event relayed to most TV stations in France and to many international agencies.

In July 2007 I participated in "a large living sculpture, [to] be a part of a body landscape expressing humankind's vulnerability to climate change." Why? Because, with all those other people, I believe that "Another future is possible." (Greenpeace)

Another great photo from the Aletsch Glacier is on that site. It brings back some magnificent memories ...

Talk soon! Peace.