Spring has Sprung

 

The snow has almost all disappeared apart from a few die hard patches here and there.  The mountains are still holding on to it although even that has become patchy in the last few days and I think it’s probably the last of the snowsports.  Maciek has even packed his gear away (whaaat???) and has started out on his mountain biking already. 

Bye bye snow

It’s like the snow never was.  Hard to believe that a month ago the place was hidden behind walls of ice, and when the first bits of grass started to peep through it was quite exciting, as if we were seeing it for the first time!  People have been out sorting their gardens, all fences and fields, rooftops and rivers are fully visible and the first white flowers have lifted their heads to the sun.  I even had my first frightening encounter with ‘the first bee’ a month ago when everything was still buried deep in snow which was weird.  It ambushed me as I left the bank, waiting for me it was, the wicked little wasp!

Speaking of pesky insects, spring brings out the ‘ticks’ which live in the long grasses and in the forests.  They can carry a virus infects the brain and makes you very ill and I’ve heard of people who have died from it.  It’s apparently worse in other areas of Austria and not so common here, but everyone I speak to says they are becoming more common in this area and as we intend to spend time hiking and playing in the woods in Summer needless to say this has me worried.  There is an immunisation you can get to protect you against this virus but trying to find out the ins and outs such as side effects etc is difficult with the language.  But I have asked around as many people as I can and so we’ll be off to the doctors next week to get it.  I thought we left all the dangerous insects back in Australia!

The local brew

We have a birds nest in the eaves between our balcony and our bedroom and every morning with the first of the light one of them sits on our sill and tweets away.  Some might find this annoying but I love it.  It’s either that or Amelia and Noah fighting over a toy to wake me up, so I choose the bird!

The weather has been beautiful, a bit cold still in the mornings (-1, and we only have to scrape ice off the windows some of the time!) but warms up during the day and some days it’s reached as high as 20 degrees!  We walked through town on Thursday with some friends after school and bought ice cream, great value at E1.00 each for a delicious big scoop.

Damn you POO!

One thing that’s not so good about spring is that the farmers are back with a vengeance with their ‘cow poo spraying machines’!  The field directly below us was sprayed on Friday which meant we couldn’t even open our windows to air out the house let alone sit out on the balcony for our afternoon coffee.  I had to work late last week and to save maciek having to round up the kids again and pick me up, I decided to walk home, plus the sun was shining and it’s not like I couldn’t do with the exercise after months of hibernation!  Maciek warned me that it might not be so pleasant as the farmers had been out. ‘Meh’ I shrugged, and all was great until I reached the last leg of the hill that leads to our place!  Seriously, it’s like a cow has literally walked up to you, turned around, and farted in your face!!

On that note I shall leave you with greetings for a Happy Easter! Hope it’s enjoyable and delicious.  Until next time…..

Maciek boarding with Aussie mates

hot choc at mid station

The garden at school