A FEW too many days slipped by….

It has been WILD around here. We laid the lovely stork down on her back to put a steel back bone for her to be carried and secured to the base.

I returned to the mountain and secured my footers.

We visited the studio of a local artist. JeanClaude has a small but efficient studio. Check out that roof!? They use flat stones as shingles, attached with a clever hook system. According to our buddy Matt, they never leak and last as long as stones… I just want to see the raftering it takes to hold it all up with an added 5 feet of snow!

We had a stunning day at Art Basel, one of the worlds hottest gallery exhibits. This year they burnt all the records for sales on day ONE! We got VIP passes to be there. Basel was such a delight. Driving down the twisty road from our high alps paradise, through deep valleys peppered with castles, then on to the low flat lands of lakes and cheese on our three hour ride to the German speaking end of Switzerland - we got a renewed perspective of where we are — MAKING ART IN THE ALPS!!!

I spent a day making a hap hazard scaffold up on the mountain so I was FINALLY staged to cement… then waited for a day of reliable weather, a cement mixer, a truck to haul my materials and finally made the move…

I still have several days getting a finish coat and color on… but now I move on to FINALLY securing my last bit of steel and making rocks for my second piece.

Dona has been working TOO HARD> She has done two 2am nights in a row and still insists on getting up at 6. Last night i refused to stay up with her and woke up in a fright when she never returned. I strolled over in my PJs and recovered her. The work is huge and lovely. She will be forever proud and I am confident the helicopers will film her piece as a local landmark.

Speaking of helicopters, we work with two of the finest world class “off piste” (off groomed trails…) snow boarders. Matt and Jerome have been filmed and also film some of the areas most spectactular glacier drops on snow boards. Matt is a huge help - he knows everyone who lives here and can solve almost any problem. He speaks good english and it is so interesting to hear him go from steady calm English to the emphatic and expressive French. Same conversation - but French has a completly different approach use of intonation. It is built into the language.

Jerome speaks good but limited English. Working bilingually we smile and share a lot — and often miss a lot… but both these guys work like real heros.