Holy Cow!

Desalpe is one of the cultural events in our area that is held in several towns and meant to celebrate the cows moving from their summer alpine pasteurs to their winter quarters, I imagine in barns or something. I suppose it helps the cows moral to treat it as an exciting event. I know that is a tactic we use with our kids anyway, to treat something that is banal or unpleasant as something exciting. We decided to head to St. Cergue, a little village located about 20 minutes away from us, for their Desalpe, even if it is a little deceptive as the village is actually located in the Jura Mountains, which are to our north, rather than the Alps, which are located just south of us. In any case I had never before seen such decorates cows as the ones that were paraded by us. We had a great time just enjoying the spirit of it all, with all the ornamented animals and cultural displays.

I had Jonas pose for this picture, trying to be a discreet as my real goal was capturing these mens' rear-ends. I could not figure out what that thing they had strapped to them was for, until I overheard someone saying that it was a stool. A very convenient one, I suppose, even if I never saw anyone actually sitting on it.

Swiss music and dance performances were a ubiquitous part of the celebration.

We liked this little parade of Bernese Mountain Dogs. They were everywhere.

Brewing some soupe à la courge. I don't know exactly what courge is in English. It is kind of like a pumpkin. I had never eaten it before we moved to France, but now soupe à la courge is one of our favorite fall recipes. It is delicious!

We ran into some friends while were there, so we had a good time hanging out with them. We had a great time and the weather was perfect. Unfortunately Jaxon had an invite to a birthday party in the afternoon so we couldn't take advantage of it by hiking around in the area. Oh well. We don't live far.