Waiting for better times

To deceive and pass the wait for the long night and the ritual new year's eve dinner, I convinced my son Flavio to take an aperitif walk on the snow, letting him taking my DSLR for some photos, thus taking advantage of an unexpected day of sun.

I'm not a good teacher. I simply let him use it and make trials. I only took care of informing him that I'll be here, willing to give him explanations, whenever he had questions to put. He answered that he already googled some topics and got the answer he was looking for. I must confess that I felt somehow proud of it.

Regarding the title: after all that happened this year, looking at its last sunset, should it have been otherwise?

(this was taken with my mobile cam)

For the very last day of the year I wanted to put up some numbers to recap the closing year on this pages. I've been able to post 213 times, including this one. That means a ration of about 0.6, almost two posts every three days. No tricks. I simply started using the blog as the mirror of my IG account, duplicating here (and when possible commenting) those pictures that I deemed worth of memory. 

Cycling in the snow

Cycling in the snow

Cycling in the snow

Empty Pockets

Reasons to celebrate

Buon Natale

A view from the bridge

A joint view

Keeping ourselves healthy

I'm taking long walks in the fields around my job place in the spare time left by the countless end-of-year meetings of this week. Last time, given my daily schedule, I had to make my minimum seventhousands steps early in the morning, before stepping into my office, and I found not being the only one interested to my health. I was surprised to see many young moms in gym suits pushing a trolley uphill.

An unexplored path

Wood Stock

Wood Stock

At the cloister

Lunch break

Mass Test Morning

A the dam

A view from the window

A view from the bridge

Becoming "Steirisch"

In the hunters' lair

The week that's ending today has been very busy and full of events. At work, the group I'm managing passed an important project milestone with just one week of delay, compared to the date planned six months ago. Very remarkable! Something that I did not wait to comment in public as a source of pride for them and myself.

On the other hand, this has also been the week with the so-called "worse managers' day": the day when all managers are put together are called to rate the performance of their team-members (though I prefer saying "mates") and decide who to appraise and who ... not to. A real fight, whose consequences will last for the entire coming year. A good reason to reserve moments for a break and do some stress-down activities, like sport. Great and simple! Well ... actually not.

Given the humid weather, the shortness of daylight and a temperature constantly below zero, cycling has become almost prohibitive. Hence, I planned to start the winter season with a little jogging. But after my very first night run on the river banks, nearby my office, I had to re-frame my ambitions. Six thousands kilometres of road on the saddle didn't prevent a hamstring strain, causing me so much pain, to the point of barely being able to walk.

So, I redirected my attention to hiking and started taking long walks on the hillside around my working site during lunch breaks.

At Schwarzy

This way

Schloss Weyer

Schloss Weyer

River Crossing

Out of the fog

Just behind the corner of the city northern gate, where the river Mur slips through the steep sides of two opposite hills, the pillow of heavy fog that's sitting on the city center since few days vanishes. The light veil of haze that persists in the flat of the northern district paints a landscape with mysterious and imaginative views. I'm not doing the best of all my training sessions, today. I'm distracted by the scenery and stop from time to time for a snap.

In the middle of nowhere

Nowhere

Nowhere

Initial Frost

I've got some thoughts about this picture but I'm not sure whether I'd better keep them for myself or not. I just feel that my thoughts are more and more often accumulating like trees cut down and left rotting in the undergrowth. I just keep putting off the moment when I'll write them down on, until exhausted I forget  about them. A huge mass of rotten ideas lays on the ground, making up a fertile humus that never gives life. The incoming winter frost will keep everything safe under a lying ice sheet.