Autumn

Autumn has started again. This often means rain, wind, fog, falling leaves, shorter and grey days.

Nevertheless, I love spring and autumn. In both seasons there can be nice weather, without extreme heat or cold. And both seasons have, as a bonus, that in nature green or colours are competing. Here in Switzerland, the mountains with their green, red, yellow and rust-coloured walls are particularly impressive and magical.
Yes, for me autumn not only announces winter and autumn not only has disadvantages, but also offers a kind of visual compensation. Although I am still very auditory through the remainder of my hearing, colours also determine a large part of my life.
In autumn, Mother Nature shows herself from a colourful side and my eyes are happy about the colourful spectacle, while my ears take a "break".

Autumn also means holiday time for me, because my husband normally has his holidays in autumn, and we can usually watch this natural spectacle from close up. During the holidays we like to go for longer walks in the mountains. Since we choose our holidays outside the high season, our resorts are also less crowded with tourists and/or other holidaymakers. In the nature it is calmer and we can enjoy it fully.
For us the nature, the silence and the views have a very relaxing effect, even if the wind and my tinnitus think they have to overcompensate the silence and quiet. As usual I can ignore both disturbances and still enjoy my surroundings.

Thanks to my hearing aids, I can still hear the crackling of the leaves and the crackling of the snow. Nature has its own very quiet sounds and it is wonderful to spend such a day without the noise of everyday life.
And not much tops a hot chocolate when you have reached the mountain hut after a hike, knowing that after the effort you have reached your goal and deserve the reward.
Or if one is blown away by the wind and arrives back at the hotel a little rosy to have a short rest before dinner, or alternatively to have an aperitif.

Of course, the autumn also has its moods and it is always to be hoped that the weather is not too bad during our holidays. This year, we were lucky with the weather again. We were allowed to experience all kinds of weather, could still hike and had breathtaking views.
The highlight of our holidays was for sure a breakfast at 2500 m altitude. When we woke up in the morning and looked out of our hotel room window, we could see that it had snowed in the night even on 1600 m height, where our hotel was. Early that morning we went up the mountain with the cable car to be one of the first to admire the white splendour with its silence and tranquillity, the view and afterwards to enjoy the breakfast with view.

But also the fog was fascinating. On the mountaintop, we stood a few meters away from a high tower. One moment this tower was clearly visible, the next moment not at all. And that alternated the whole day. Snow and fog dampened also the noises of the increasing visitors ...
When we arrived back at the hotel in the afternoon, the snow had already disappeared and it got louder again.

Now the holidays are over and we can only hope that autumn will bring us a few more "golden days" before winter begins.