19 - 25 November 2012

The river that runs through Maria Alm is called the Urslau, from the Latin Ursa, meaning bear, a legacy from a former large population of bears. Bears threatened the survival of struggling farmers with little livestock, and since the wealth of the ruling classes relied on the farmers working their land, the hunting of bears was encouraged, until, by the 19th century, they were all gone. Following public outrage in the 1970's when a migrant Slovenian bear was killed in Southern Austria, support grew for the reintroduction of bears to Austria. Beset with problems, including a rogue bear who destroyed 50 bee hives, killed 20 sheep, pulled the plug out of small ponds to drain the water and eat the fish, and enjoyed a rabbit supper while children slept in a nearby tent, this project has been managed over the last 20 years by WWF Austria. The project appears to have mostly involved an 'emergency bear' swat team shooting rubber bullets at bears who are becoming human-habituated. This year, they announced that brown bears are extinct again.

12 - 18 November 2012

Having somewhat idled through the summer months, Simon and Justine are planning to make hay while the sun shines this winter. With a tally of ten different jobs between them they are grateful that the dog should be house trained by December, the children can make toasted sandwiches, and the winter only lasts 15 weeks. Bring it on!

5 - 11 November 2012

As we head into our sixth winter, just 5 more than we had planned on spending here, annual events are becoming very familiar. This particular week in November is the week of the huge, unmissable, second hand winter sports equipment sale in Saalfelden. The night before, at the special late night shopping and discount evening at the local sports shop, Justine and Simon, with complimentary wine and nibbles in hand, enthused about it, and persuaded those as yet uninitiated to sell their old equipment and pick up a bargain, until they realised they were being quite ungracious to their hosts.

29 October - 4 November 2012

Justine is relieved to read that the trend in Salzburg for decorating graves is tending towards a more 'natural' look. On All Souls Day, 2 November, in preparation for the traditional blessing, graves in Maria Alm are extravagently decorated with flowers, candles and angels. Justine hopes that the 6 priests' graves that she and Simon tend, another Messner responsibility, will be recognised as 'natural' rather than unkempt. Simon enjoys embracing all the Catholic traditions, Justine struggles and welcomes a little step along the road towards (undermining hundreds of years of Catholic tradition and) making everything just a little more practical.