What?! It’s nearly September…
I sort of know - but scarcely want to admit it - how it’s been so loooong since I wrote about Freddy last January. Many excuses - but hey, that’s how it goes. And if you want to know - Freddy - and his lookalikes - are thriving.
But what else has been happening this year?
Freddy, Hibernating and Planting
Freddy is using his time wisely so that come the first ray of warming sun into his crack in the rock where he’s sleeping, he will be re-energised…
Sunlight and Shadows
My previous blog about what you can expect (to see, feel and hear) when you visit A Little Cabin in the Alps, month on month received good response. So a couple of weeks ago when I was in the cabin, I thought I would screenshot the sun’s position over the next few months and share this here.
These images are taken from the doorway of the cabin - so looking out on a SE/S direction.
Twelve months make a year…
Since I bought alittlecabininthealps, I’ve stayed for some or all of every month in the calendar year except December and January.
With those two months, you are pretty much guaranteed sub-zero temperatures that freeze the water supply to the cabin (remember the cabin is at +/- 970m or just over 3100' altitude). In addition to probable snows. Lastly the sun doesn't come above the surrounding mountains so, whilst not quite an Arctic Circle feel to it, you get the idea...
That said, what can you expect when you stay in alittlecabininthealps for all of the other 10 months?
Flower time
Spring is giving way to early summer. Notwithstanding - or maybe because of it - the huge rainfalls in the region throughout May, the Alpine hillsides are alive with butterflies and flowers.
Springtime!
ALCITA has attracted a number of bookings for this year which is nice. Coming with that of course is the necessary upkeep and maintenance.
Some quick snaps I took a couple of weeks ago of the early Spring conditions with more to follow next week.
Loitering with Intent - and -Retreats...
To what extent you can engage with the essence of retreats - whatever your philosophical or religious background - in a motorway Starbucks is questionable. Sean Tucker suggests you just get away - even to your local café for a few hours and read - to be of value. It's certainly better than nothing and in all reality, may be all that you can afford to give in terms of time and money.
What does “time-out” mean to you?
Maybe it’s the network I’m LinkedIn with, but a day doesn’t go by that I don’t see at least one post – usually many more than one – covering something on the above lines. There may well be studies looking at which areas of work are generating most burnouts, quiet-quitting and resignations but from my knowledge of NGO life, it wouldn’t surprise me if that sector was “up there”.
Buying a cabin in the Italian Alps
My process in buying a small cabin in the Italian Alps. Where I looked for a small place in the mountains, how I looked, what I found, how long it took me to find A Little Cabin in the Alps and what the process for buying it was. It’s all here!
Thinking of a place in the mountains
Call it being romantic. Call it wanting to be closer to nature. Or even just to have a getaway. But the reality is that many of us aspire to owning a small cabin “away from it all”. Insta is full of cosy cabin pics idealising the lifestyle – like van life – of living in a small space in the depths of the wilderness. Heck entire YouTube channels exist because of this aspiration.