first stop: Switzerland

Late in the evening, yesterday, there was a knock on the farmhouse door. What the heck? We do not get night visitors. Ever. Turns out it was a person from the new development. A huge parcel had been mistakenly delivered to her house. It's for you, she said, and it looks sort of urgent. 

Trees. Large persimmon trees, ready for planting.

Did we order persimmon trees?

I dont remember...

We go through our various emails -- yes. There it is, an exchange between Ed and the tree nursery many months ago. Apparently we'd already planted persimmon trees (we've planted so many trees! who can remember!), but none survived. These are our warrantied replacements. 

Guess what I cannot help you with? Planting trees! There's more: I can't help with the planting of tomato seeds either. Sometimes we do it in late March, sometimes in the early days of April. I'm not here on either. It's Spring break.

Spring break travel: you love it and you struggle with it: is late March really a great time for a trip to Europe? The south is warm -- ish. The entire continent can rest under a cloud of rain. For days on end. The north? Well, if you like drizzle and cold all in one. The mountains? The snow has melted, but spring hasn't fully arrived. Try again in June.

And yet, I love it for what it is: a break. From the routines of a long winter. Before your spring planting duties mount. 

In recent years, I've taken Snowdrop, the oldest of the grandkids with me on spring break trips. I planned the destinations with her in mind: where will she learn the most without it seeming like an educational plod through endless museum rooms? But this year I moved things around a bit for reasons of convenience. So spring break travel is going to be not with her but by myself.

Well, kind of by myself. A few months ago, my younger daughter asked if I'd like to meet up with her and her family in early April, in France. Well of course I would! But wait -- I'd planned this solo trip at the end of March. What to do? The obvious and the easiest and the most pleasurable solution is to combine the two, staying in Europe after my "spring break," and joining up with them for part two of the trip: en famille.

The question that remained for me was how to structure the solo part of my trip. I'd already booked a handful of days in a mountainous spot in Switzerland and I decided to stay with that idea. I'd corresponded with the owners of the small hotel I'd picked for my trip and we had a plan going. Sure, March can still be cold, but the scenery promises to be splendid and an occasional muddy walk is still going to be invigorating and lovely. Afterwards? Oh, did I waver on those days! I booked one idea. I changed my mind. A few days later I canceled and booked something else. Honestly, I spent a good deal of my free time this winter jumping around from one plan to the next. It was not an unpleasant distraction from the chaos in America right now! I'll tell you about that part of my now extended spring break later.

Okay, so Switzerland is first on my list of travel destinations. I fly into Zurich tomorrow morning.

Ha! I should have remembered by last (and only) visit to Zurich: it rained. All the time. Never saw a single mountain in this city known for its stellar mountain views. Weather forecast for the whole week I am to be in Switzerland? Calls for rain.

The thing is, I do mind, in that I would prefer sunshine. But on the other hand, rain on a trip doesn't hold me back. I still wake up each morning excited and eager to head out. But the way I head out and what I do changes. I anticipate a heck of a lot of visits to coffee shops in the week ahead. People watching over a Swiss pastry. You tell me -- does that sound even a little unpleasant? Quite the contrary.

First thing's first. One last March walk to the barn...

And one final breakfast with Ed. This part is hard. I'm at the stage in life where I do not want to be away from him for what I consider to be a long time on this trip, but we do talk daily and I know his farmette days will look not much different, whether I am there or not. 

And now it's time to catch my flight to Atlanta. From there -- to Paris, and then onto Zurich.

If all goes well, my next post will be from there.

with so much love...