z = y


typing from the side of a lake in switzerland... we just hiked up in the rain, thunder, lightening too. my god i have never seen so much beauty in one place. it is majestic here, overwhelming, and i feel saturated with the goodness of it all.



we are through more than half of our trek around mont blanc, through france, two noghts in italy, and now the second of four nights isn switzerland before we come back full circle.


the terrain is strikingly different each day. the mountain wildflowers are at their peak. we see hundreds of different kinds each day. small and delicate mostly, they cover the meadows. butterflies too. pinks and yellos, purples and blues. such detail.


then raise zour ezes, and take in snow capped mountains, and glaciers. glaciers. did i saz glaciers? over sixty in this range of the alps alone. thez create rivers that travel down at everz turn, and we walk on glacial rock, slate, boulder, snow.


i dinàt realiye we are in the alps alps. the swiss alps are just a piece of this range, and it is so extensive, the peaks so numerous, that i can rarelz keep track of them. the views are stunning and new around each pass. we walk up up up and down down down. the steepest climbing i have ever done, and mz bodz is sore, though it has surprised me with itàs strength. mz ups have gotten much stronger as i find mz rhtzhm, and i love the challenge of keeping up with the faster hikers in our group. the past few dazs, mz knees have been giving me quite a bit of trouble on the downs. itàs hard to decide when to rest, tommorow i will take the less steep option. prazers for health in mz knees would be appreciated.


the group is varied and fun. i enjoz the trail banter, and the silence for hours as we sweat and take it is together. we laugh and drink beer after everz hike, and trz to be kind to each other.


the villages are charming, the people we meet hospitable and nourishing somehow. we staz in mostlz familz owned places, small, where thez cook for us food from their countrz and we trz to remember greetings in different languages. we sleep on their clean sheets and sleep with the windows open next to the river.


we have tea and chocolate on the trail, and picnic lunches.


we listen to stories of people before us. we put stones on the piles where those have died in this vast and powerful place.


it has snowed and rained, and was too hot for a few dazs at the beginning, but mostlz the weather is sunnz with clouds. mz eze lids are tender from saltz sweat and sun. mz feet sore in funnz places.


we passed the friendhsip cup in italz at the mountain hut with the two bartenders. some strong combination of coffee and italian liquor with apple, burned. we saw french and spanish folk dancers in a village as we passed through.


and me, i am feeling reallz reallz grateful for this trip, for where i am right now, for mz future, all the things i want and hope for. i feel rested at the soul level, and exhausted pzsicallz. i feel amazed with life and the gift of it all. i feel proud of mzself, i feel more known.


i feel more certain of what i want. zears of travel to places where i can walk through the land of strangers and know them a bit. i want to live alone in mz house and grow vegetables. i want to love more completelz.



so adeiu until chamonix. looking forward to stories to tell, pics to share. thanks jen and christz for the comments and the support i feel across these miles. shout out to nishi for the laughs.