Two weeks without writing... I nearly felt guilty and thought even more time had passed...! Now I have so much adrenalin moving through my veins that I have to write what happened 2day :)
Municipal plant nursery Merano and the gardeners showed us how they prepare the red and white carnations they fix on the eagle (the emblem of Merano). The eagle is in the domicile of the department for Municipal authority streets and infrastrutures, awaiting to be prepared for Sunday :)
the Goidnerhof - absolutely perfect and everybody happy :) These are the kind of expereinces which make my stressy job worth it :)
As I went lunch break yesterday, I couldn't believe at what I was seeing and feeling! The sun was shining bright in the sky and I could feel 30 degrees on my skin! We are at the end of September and it's still summer :) Cool :) So I went to the gym and decided that I couldn't stay indoors. I went jogging :)
Last Friday I got my fortnightly Biokistl. The Biokistl is a nice service which settled in South Tyrol some years ago. You sign in by Internet, choose the size of the "Kistl" (chest) you need and the things you absolutely don't want and those you could live at :) Then, they bring you the "Kistl" at home early in the morning, so that you're able to store them, before going to work. Of course also Merano is provided with this service. As I wasn't really a big fan of vegs and fruits, but I knew they are healthy, I found this solution to get accostumed to having some vegs in my fridge :).
On Tuesday I took my car and drove to Marling, a village on a hill just 5 minutes from Merano. I had a meeting with the president of the tourist office of the town, a very gentle man. During the last three years I called him to ask him if he would bring the carriage with the apple crown to the procession of the Grape Festival in Merano. This year I made him a surprise :) I asked him if he could dedicate me some of his time for a brief interview about the history of the carriage. As the carriage has been his baby during the last 15 years, he accepted with enthusiasm to make an interview with me. Also this carriage needs several days for its preparation. There must be at least three persons for three days to create it and you need one day to dismantle it. Over 500 kg apples and 14 kg nails!! Also this carriage has been created 1951 for the Landesmusikfest (the X-large version of the Merano Grape Festival) and Mr. Arquin could even find a picture of the carriage in 1951! I love history... :) After the Merano Grape Festival, the carriage is exposed in Marling for at least two weeks in the central place of the village.
This has been a pretty full week :) September is a stressy month for me anyway, but this week I had also some interesting happenings I can still hardly recall :)
The days are finally getting fresher now. As nearly every year September is wonderfully sunny :) It happens to have rainy and windy nights, after those the day appears totally clean - washed by the pattering water - and colourful.
Last Sunday I had a strangely intensive day. Actually I'm taking advantage of my new big passion for hiking and go any time I can and find some willing friends following me in some improvised excursions. By now I manage to go up to the mountains once a week on Sundays :) This time it was the turn of the "Meraner Hütte". We started from Merano, drove 20 min. till Falzeben and went up by walking. As we reached the "Rotwand" we decided to go further to reach the Meraner Hütte, it took us another hour. Close to our destination we met a group of blond horses, quietly browsing among people caressing them gently. I liked to see them, even if I'm deadly scared about hourses - and they know it...! After these 12 km we could enjoy a South Tyrolean meal, the climate - approx. 15 degrees - permitted us to eat dumplings even in summer ;)
The last but not least rally of veteran cars - touring through Merano - planed for this year, took place this week. On Thursday the old beauties from all over Europe drove through the "Lauben" in all their elegance. The drivers - friends or couples - had a colourful cap and seemed to enjoy it a lot. Fortunately the weather contributed too, unless the major part of the participants should have droven with the top closed over their heads ;) From time to time there was one of them driving too fast and the organizers had to make any kind of gesture to make them slow down in order to give them a little present :)
2day it was just so hot in Merano, that I didn't even want to go to the pool...! Who knows me, also knows that's pretty uncommon ;) I wanted to escape somewhere I could breathe fresh, healthy air. Called up some friends and went to the Pfossental, a small valley reachable from the Schnalstal. It took us 50 min. by car from Merano. In the car we already felt the temperature changing :) How good! We parked the car and started hiking up from alp cottage to alp cottage, along the way we saw many goats and cows on the steep slopes. As usual the cows enjoyed their time without bothering about our discrete passage.
Sunday will be the last concert day of the Südtirol Jazz Festival Alto Adige. The series of jazz concerts boasts a long tradition and brings the beloved genre all over South Tyrol.
We went through some small labyrinths decorated with amazing artworks and reached the horizontal labyrinth - which origin goes back to the ancient Greek culture - representing the personal development of people, making their way to the center of it. There we could experience a deep meditation moment. 
I decided it to be a moment for me only, in order to live an intense experience with myself. A nice guide told me some details of the project, then she met another girl and I continued alone. As I finally got out of the labyrinth I could reach the others up the grassy amphitheatre, from where I could see what I passed through.
What could be a better end for June, if not colourful performances of the Cambridge Morris Men on the Promenade and the exhibition of veteran Citroens all through the town center?
As I came back from Innsbruck 2day, I hoped it wouldn't be raining so much in Merano too. It's amazing to be able to cross from a nation into another, so different one, and having 10 degrees difference after an hour and a half trip by car! As I arrived, it was hot and just silently, gently drizzling on the trees, what doesn't impede plenty of leaves to fall so much earlier than they should... And now it's getting heavier and heavier, with some strong wind gust from time to time... 
I've brought my sunflower into the dining room again and hope it will see the sun again 2morrow.
I often really wonder what's all about June. They used to say that nothing happens in Merano in that period of the year, well, people still always say that nothing ever happens in Merano, but that's another story.
