Besitz showing school and thatched home of Stebens family

Ian Stehbens, on June 2, 2007, said:

Besitz is a small village on the edge of West Mecklenburg. Its history is one of being a community of free farmers, but it has always been, even to the present, a place from which people have dispersed, its population generally therefore being static. A delightful welcome awaits those who enter into the lives and hearts of the locals.

♫ Swissmay, on October 7, 2007, said:

Beautiful photo, Ian! I like the soft colours, the serenity on the scenery. It must have been in early Spring. Very pretty! Strange name! You must have been nearly everywhere except in Switzerland. :-) May

Ian Stehbens, on October 7, 2007, said:

Besitz is one of the many Slavic names of the area. There are a number of place names ending in -ow or -itz which come form this history.

Yes May, I have been in Switzerland a couple of times in the flesh, but many many times in my heart and thoughts. Along with Austria and Bavaria, Switzerland will always charm the world with its majesty, colour, serendipity and design!!

And I love your latest couple of pics that look across the peaks from above the treeline and the clouds.

One our visits to Switzerland was shrouded in thick pollution, much of it emanating from aluminium smelters in the valleys. However, as it is an axiom of photography every circumstance of weather or mood is an opportunity for the photographer. I must dig out a pic I took looking out from the foreshore park on L. Geneva/Leman for you.

♫ Swissmay, on October 7, 2007, said:

Thank you for all the information, Ian! May I complete it? "Besitz" is a pure German word, meaning "propriety, possession, tenure, holding".

I took the 2 pictures from the same community, where I live, from 1100 m above sealevel. The treeline is much higher. Yes, there is or was a alu work in the Wallis, the Rhone valley, if the wind doesn't move, they have had this pollution, because it's enclosed in the valley. It must be quite a while ago, that you've been here. You should have gone a little up in a side valley and you would have had the purest air, light and view, you can think off.

The pictures of the vineyard village, which I have put recently is only very little above the Rhone valley.

Ian Stehbens, on January 1, 2009, said:

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