It was a long, wet winter here in Heidiland. And is has been a cold, soggy, hypothermia-inducing spring. Down in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, Lago Maggiore is brimming over. Around here the farmers can’t plant their potato crops, because the fields are too muddy for their tractors to till.

We’ve had some isolated days of sun, so magnificent and clear that I pinch myself and wonder why anyone would ever consider leaving such a place.

Then we’ve had a lot of the other kind of days, the rainy days, the overcast, middling-cool, not-very-remarkable days. Like today.  Because I have lost a contact lens, I’m stuck wearing my glasses. And until I manage to reconnect with my feet in this new optical configuration, I figure it’s a good idea to walk instead of run. I don’t really want a closeup of the gravel path as it meets my face…

Maybe it’s because I’m only 2.5 months from leaving Switzerland, maybe it was because I was walking instead of running, but I was struck by the gorgeosity of my surroundings (yes, that’s a new word. I use it in my novel, too), even on a middling-to-boring day. Luckily I had my phone on me, so I could share this moment of beauty with you.

Lausanne on a “paradise” day is all clear skies, magnificent backdrop and a total absence of annoying insects. Two out of three ain’t bad. Here are some photos from this ordinary day in paradise.

Note to copyright trolls: these are my photos, taken on my iPhone. No, I’m not interested in trying to make money off them. Go away. Crawl back into the stinking hole from whence you slithered. (Long story).