Lately, when my mind was still and free to let ideas flow during a yoga class, the topic yellow jumped to my mind. I acknowledged it and focused on yoga…

But yellow stuck in my mind and I thought to give it a chance keeping it there for a while. And then, when we went for a little hike on a weekend, I saw and looked for yellow everywhere :-). My hubby said he would dream of yellow things so much a theme it was that day.

A lot of flowers actually come in yellowish whitish nuances. Especially, those early ones now flowering in the forests.

Having some ideas in my mind on how to fill this topic, I went through my archive of photographs and was overwhelmed by the sheer number of flowers and photographs I found. So I decided to post quite some images of all kind of yellow things I found and took photos of. Still, it is only a fraction of what actually exists in yellow all around us. Who knows, maybe you see yellow all over the place after reading and looking at my posts. The socks of your neighbour? The wallet of your boss? The ticket to your favourite theater? The most used ingredient in your kitchen? Whatever it is, I am very interested in reading what you stumbled over. Please feel free to comment or send a message my way.

I would like to start with some early bloomers.

For the first time ever, we saw this cute forest bottom dweller you can see in the following images. Its leaves remind me of hemp, but it is of course not. As biologists, we not only own the 1616 pages strong Flora Helvetica field guide (or lounge guide rather as it is way to heavy to bring outdoors), but luckily also the Flora Helvetica app on our smartphones, which makes it quite easy for us to quickly specify species while out and about. So this one is called Kitaibel’s Bitter-cress and does not occur very often in Switzerland. It can be mainly found in the northeastern part (as you see I feel more comfortable with directions in this part of the world ;-), read here – if you haven’t already – how it is much more difficult for me in Lanzarote).

The topic yellow kind of takes us around the globe. We stay in Switzerland for a little longer before flying back to Australia with my friend – the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and slowly coming back North via some countries in Africa and Europe. And do you know what the best part is? You do not have to pay fuel charges or extra seat costs. Just easily stretch your legs, sip your most loved tea or coffee, listen to your favourite music as loud as you like, and enjoy. Be it in your pyjamas or suit. You have to move your finger over the mouse or pad, though.

Have you ever thought about what comes in yellow? Clothes, fruits, flags, birds, insects, timetables, money, musicals, ski dresses (Swiss cheeeeeese ski dresses), flowers for sure, whole meadows actually, ice cream, nail polish, of course: road signs, aha! the sun, did I say cheeeeeese?, art, socks, cars, books, the very Swiss Postauto (or PostBus as they call it in English), passports maybe (ours is a bright red, so you will always know who is Swiss when checking in somewhere), uniforms, safety jackets, smartphone cases, backpacks, leaves in autumn, forms, and so on and on.

But I promised photos…. Where are we? Still on my home turf. It is nice here, there is just NO ocean! That is why we go up the mountains. In yellow.

The amount of stunnning flowers in the Swiss Alps is just blowing my mind every time I witness it. Here is a small selection of some with yellow hints:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hiking, depicting species’ names in English, Latin and German – and taking pictures for that matter – makes thirsty and one needs a pit stop from time to time….

Especially, if it is the last possibility before entering new terrain…

continue page