Time in a Bottle and Light on Film

My rose colored glasses are steaming up from hot breath in cold morning air.  The mountains have that delicious pink light dripping down them and, though all I want to do is walk out into them, duty calls.  It’s time to shake off this long and lovely holiday and go back to work.  Departure from routine is necessary.  Evolution of a routine is inevitable. 

The manic highs and lows that come with about fifty 5-day work weeks in a row is a stark contrast to the undulating waves of free space that interrupt the daily grind here in Austria.  The routine was so much tighter in my past than it is today and, after a year and a half, I am just now getting my sea legs.  I could talk forever about how much more humane it is to have this kind of free time but that will probably only serve the purpose of making my fellow Americans envious and my fellow Europeans chuckle at how young and green behind the ears we Yankees are at the art of living.  That said, I digress…

The end of my holiday was pretty weighted with sliding down slippery slopes…whether that be me, myself, or men clad in shiny spandex suits.  I left you last somewhere in the Neil Young infused songs of my hangover, wallowing in the joy and melancholy that is New Years.  What I neglected to mention was that a day or two before the New Year, I headed up to a hut called Kemater Alm on the Southern side of Innsbruck.  2 hours up to the Alm zum fuss, dragging my sled, was pushing the limits of my ability to enjoy the sport.  A waft of the fire burning inside helped carry me the last 15 minutes…and what laid beyond the hill before me was amazing.  Really.  The kitsch and charm and fairy tale that you know dots these Alps is what I found waiting for us…

 

It felt more like the Dolomites than the Tyrolean Alps…and all fairy tale.  The käseknödle had nothing on that of Jufien Alm but the view and the bahn were totally amazing.  If you want to see a few more pix of this glorious day, click here. 

Ok.  Insert the New Years mayhem somwhere around here.  The only slipping down slopes here were the metaphorical slopes of my sobriety and good sense…no snow was actually involved.

More rodlen was in order on Saturday with friends up at the Birgitzer Alm.  Talk about hot spot…this is like the Bungaloo 8 of Alms in the Tirol.  See and be seen.  There were so many people that, had we arrived an hour earlier, it would have sucked.  Lucky for us, though, it didn’t suck.  It didn’t suck at all. 

The translation of this sign is apt…it would seem as though I have found love in the Alms of the Tirol.  My tradition of käseknödlesuppe and a schnaaps for the road propelled me out into the most beautiful aubergine sunset and then it was time to roll…or rodle.  A goal of mine on the next rodle adventure is to work on my low-light snow photography.  It’s the most subtle and elusive light and I haven’t once been able to really capture it.  Like time in a bottle, I’m sure it’s not possible to preserve this light on film but I am going to keep trying.

 

 

 

The theme from Rocky was in my head most of the way up that hill so, naturally, when I arrived home I downloaded Rocky I through V.  We made it through the first 2 and then I fell asleep shortly after Hulk Hogan appeared in III.  I’m *absolutely* hopeful we can continue the marathon soon…

The last bit of slip, sliding, snowy madness was a brief and FREEZING sojurn to the Bergisel ski jump yesterday.  Somewhere around 15 or 20 thousand Innsbruckers clad in red, white and black climbed the hill to watch a ski jumping competition.  My only real knowledge of it was seeing Eddie the Eagle so I was curious to see it live.  Sadly, our seats sucked and the chronic shade made it impossible to stay warm so I was only there for about 2 hours.  Either I will score a press pass next time and shoot it like a pro or be smart and watch it from my couch with friends and beer.  All was not lost, however…I did get some QT with Niamh :)  Wanna see more Bergisel?  Click here.  Again, my low light snow photography leaves a lot ot be desired (blue blue blue) but trust that I am working on my white balance and exposure, really I am.

That pretty much wraps up the holiday from my end.  It seems overrun with activity but it really was very relaxed if you ask me.  Plenty of free space to cook, paint, sleep sleep sleep, chill with the buddies and catch up with my friends.  The whole evolution of the routine thing that I was talking about before occured.  The line between week and weekend is blurred…between thinking about it and doing it.  I have found more space in my day, more energy for the things that make life outside of work fun for me, and I anticipate that this will see 2009 more fluid and less manic.  Today, I work and then head to pmk for some rock and roll…whoever said you can’t have your cake and eat it too?

Here’s one last photo for the road…The Dooz.