On the 1st of May I decided to head down the valley for a walk.. Drove 5 km’s and then headed out of foot.. From St Jean D’Aulps Village… Past the Abbaye d’Aulps

Walked to Baume village, up the other side and then looked back on this beautiful view of Baume church and the Jotty dam

and then on to Seytroux, admiring the beautiful spring countryside before walking back up the valley along the river!!

The next day I decided to drive 5 kms up the valley and walk to Col du Cou with snow shoes on. I walked passed Fitterolles and the Fitterolles cross

I walked through an amazing white wilderness with no one around for 4 hours

looked out over Switzerland

and returned back to Lac Min d’Or where there was a little life!! Some ducks and a very serious fisherman…

Can you believe the difference in seasons just a few kilometres apart between up and down the valley!!

There is something so final about the day the ski lifts close for the season.. In fact it creeps up on us slowly as in the last 3 weeks resorts all around one by one start closing and All that’s left for the final week is Avoriaz… Even during that final week certain runs are closed and due to avalanches falling more runs close and then finally it’s Sunday.. The last day!!!

And what a miserable day out there it was. The first runs had us rising above the clouds into blue blue skies before the mist set in and visibility was minimum. Thank Goodness for the champagne breakfast organised by a friend at the bottom of the run with scrambled egg and salmon, jams, cheeses and croissants. I did go back up and being led by the blind I did quite a few more runs… Just one more for the road, – absolute final, – another one for the road and so it went on!!

I remember skiing with some guests on one occasion and after the first few runs the clouds descended.. I had to get them to their lunch restaurant and thank goodness I had practise in no visibility.. OMW one guest went off piste over the side unintentionally, was found and we made it to Chez Babeth.

It was the first time ever I spent the whole afternoon wining and dining!! Not so much of the wining for me as I still had to get the 6 of them after plenty wining, skiing down the last slope surrounded by thick cloud and snow falling!!

And then more than half of Morzine departs.. All the seasonaires leave.. Half the Chalet owners return to England. Most the shops and restaurants close for their annual holidays and here a few of us get left behind.. 1 week down the line and I just wish I had guests to keep me company!!!

I have managed a few walks round the lake and watched the ice melting on a daily basis..

The fisherman are already out there

and some spring flowers are bringing colour that looks so amazing after months of WHITE, Blue skies and brown.

We now wait for summer activities to start!!

We have had a fantastic season, it is still white everywhere and when the sun does come out it’s paradise!!

I had given up Chocolate, bread and croissants for lent so really enjoyed some chocolate and bread this morning!! Croissants kept for later in the day!!

I get over 300 emails a day from wordpress spam on my blogs and dread opening wordpress.. How do I stop this!!

This is the home of a Shepard from years ago tucked away on this mountain side

This is one of many of God’s homes dotted around the country side close to where I live

These little villages high in the mountains, where home to people years gone by.. You wonder how they were built all those years ago

These homes definitely had the bestest views of all!!

I have found the panoramic setting on my camera so have really enjoyed taking these amazing views. This is near the top of Mossettes a long blue run down into Ardents

This was taken at the top of Chamoussiere after a short hike looking out towards Mont Blanc which is below the sun on the right of the picture.

This is taken from Chamoussiere looking in the other direction

The top of Coupe de Monde in Avoriaz

Pointe de Nyon, one of my favourite views!

and Les dents du Midi looking out over Switzerland

What a blessing to be surrounded by such beauty and have the eyes to see it all and the health to go out and experience it myself…

Where I live, Mont Blanc is most often Beyond!!!

Beyond in the mountains creates interesting depth

This one puts steep into perspective!!

It’s been such a long time posting it took me over half an hour just to remember how to log on to wordpress.org so I could write a post..OMW and happy 2013 to all of you too… May it be filled with lots of laughter and good health…

My renovations were finally finished the day before my first clients were to arrive and one would never have believed that all that mess could have been cleaned up in 24 hours.. but it was.. My rooms went from this

to this…

and finally… I am really happy with the results…

Of course the renovations have not ended as the plumber, electrician has had to be called back on numerous occassions for leaking water, noisy radiators and toilet flushing issues.. all solvable thank goodness but all added to the gray hairs and long absence from blogging..I am still waiting for a next problem solving visit as all things are still not working correctly. I have had wonderful guests who learned to turn off noisy radiators in the middle of the night and just took off toilet cistern covers to help with the water flow. Other than that, Chalet looking really good and it is warm, clean and cosy.

The season started with amazing snow falls and a host of new clients staying with me for the first time. I just love meeting new people, taking them out skiing and just looking after them at all times.

I seem to have gone colour blind recently and kept sending guests to the chalet with red shutters

and the restaurant with green chairs… OMW can you imagine the confusion when we just were not standing outside the same place at the given time.. At least it was a small area!!

I am back now and here to stay… Missed all of you, your stories and theories and pictures so will be catching up over the next weeks and I look forward to that!! and just to let you know that the beauty of my surroundings have not changed.. just the colour somewhat!!

Coming to the end of major renovations been done in my chalet…so just at the not sure whether to panick stage…;-) Green a good colour to get my mind off white walls and wooden doors, window frames, wooden beams and architraves!!!

In the country there is nothing like spring after the snows that herald in renewal!!!

I found this use of scrap metal an interesting idea on renewal…a second chance on life!!