The last of Valnontey, Italy

Some final snowy pictures from our trip to Valnontey, Italy.

This creek that meanders alongside the village and walking trail was fascinating to me. Each day it changed as it froze, melted and refroze.

A few times I carefully negotiated the ice to get close to the water and take some pictures. (Yes, I was that tourist - you know the one you see doing something really dumb to get a good photo. In my defence, the creek was only ankle deep.)

But the ice was just so pretty. I would've given my left arm for a macro lens. (I shoot with my right one, so it would've been okay.)

Our last evening there I went for a walk, hoping to catch that evasive ibex on film pixels (no luck). Without the family the hush was incredible, just the gritty squeak of my boots through the snow and the occasional icy clump geronimo-ing from a tree branch.

Twilight slowly edged in as I came across this respite hut at the end of the trail. I walked around it in thigh deep snow and took some photos (good workout).

Then I started looking at those shuttered windows and the slightly ajar door and imagined going in there...and completely freaked myself out and ran away. (It was really quiet and the light was really eerie and did that shadow in the doorway just move...)

By the time I got back to the bridge I'd retied the straightjacket on my imagination and all was well. I took a few more pics then headed back to the hotel to have a nice German weissbier with the mister.

That's it for the snow pictures for this year.

We are at the end of our second week of school holidays here.

Still awaiting the Falling of the Tooth; it's been wiggling around in there for ages.

A little pillow has been made with some felt and left over polar fleece from a blanket. I wouldn't recommend the polar fleece - it's stretchier than my lower abdominals and makes for a bit of a misshapen pillow. I edged it with piping and used the original blanket's stitched edge for a strap. The felt tooth is blanket-stitched to the pillow with the top edge left open to create a pouch for teeth/euros.

Lumpy, but she'll do. 

And finally, here's a little French pop to take you into your weekend - a catchy little tune by Coeur de Pirate. I love the videoclip and doubt there's a girl in the history of high school who hasn't wished she could do this. (Here's the link to it in case it doesn't do its thing outside of France.)

Bon weekend, tout le monde!