leafe racking...

there is a big chestnut tree in our back yard, and lots of shrubs with leafs who have now turned brown and fallen to the ground. of course we had to go and play, gather and jump in those leaf piles.

it has been a long wait for all of us, as we were in california until last week...
i'm so glad we made it 0s`till on time for some fun.

thea's 1st birthday

last thursday was thea's first birthday, our first big celebration in switzerland...
what a happy girl. we are so happy to have her and enjoy every smile of her.


blowing out the candle was a bit of a challenge, of course the big siblings were ready to be her "blower-helpers" and the one little flame was blown out withing seconds by them. never the less,


cake is yummy, thank you grosi for the delicious dessert. thea of course was biting right into it, fork or spoon would have been too slow and to hard to work with.
for me, it was a day to remember last years november 12th, the birth of thea. that day when i cooked splitt pea soup and then welcomed our little girl into world rather quickly!

i just realized, i never wrote the whole birth story down on paper...
it's ok, i will remember allways, it was a spectacular birth!
her in a few quick words.

after dinner i took a warm bath to relax and figure out if the contractions are real and stay steady. they didn't really, they totally slowed down and i told the midwife on the phone that i'm doing just fine and we will see if maybe later or tomorrow i will come to the hospital.
just a few moments after hanging up i realized, that i had very strong contractions for a good 35-40 seconds. but i kind of didn't take them serious. though they would not slow down, i wanted to make them slow down again with some warmer water in my tub. it didn't help...
joel was just finishing up with bringing the boys to bed as i called him, that we have to go right now, and he should call the midwife! i guess i must have been yelling, he burst into our bathroom with phone in hand, trying to get through to our midwife as i felt the urge to push. knowing i should not, i could not hold it. yelling for m our friend in the house, joel on the phone with the midwife i felt thea's head crowning and apearing. now time for a ride to the hospital... and thea was born in our incy whincy bathroom, a waterbirth... (what i wanted but have given up, because of hospital policy). a few moments later, the boys came too and checked out how their new sister looked. months after that they both mentioned to me: "she doesn't look like an alien anymore."
that's what they felt like, i realize... that's ok though. we clammed the umbillical cord and elias could cut it! the very proud big brother.
thea was not even 1hour old when we gathered with our greenhaus people to pray and bless her with a word. thank you b.

of course there would be many more details and little moments, but this has to be enough for now.

not my own photo

slowly the things are getting more settled in our household. today i picked up with some blog reading...
i really didn't read a whole lot of the regular blogs over the past few months we were traveling. it was to complicated and we also were not willing to spend a lot of hours at coffee shops or books stores with wifi access....
so here we are and i stumbled upon my friend stacie's blog. you have to pay her a quick visit, she is such a great photographer and mom.
we stayed with her, her husband and three kids in denver a few days. back in august, when it was still summer. she took a few photos of me working on that yellow bamboo top for naomi, which by the way turned out great and naomi loved it and wore it on many many sunny days!

stacie's photo, which i absolute love, concentrated at work, with the babies intent eagerness of learning

the first couple of days...

we arrived in switzerland last saturday. touch down at 3:40pm after a bit more than 9h of airplane, it felt good and we were greeted by family and friends.
-thank you all for your love-
the new place had to be explored first by the kids, lots of running around the house and of course up and down all the stairs they found.
we enjoyed a quick dinner and got our sleeping bags out once more to camp out here at our new home.
our sleep is still a bit out of sink with everyone else here in switzerland, but that's ok and will soon be over.
as of today, we unpacked a lot already and are looking for some big book shelf's....
the kids are still without their mattresses but that's ok too. it will take a few try's at second hand stores to find a bunk bed for the boys. joel's brother is scouting for that one, thank you ph.
we are not organized enough to post photos yet, but it will be up in a few more days. as i write this post, i'm standing in our to be office and work space. joel put the mac up on a pile of book boxes, he is doing all he can to get us settled with the "wires".
and of course today is the first time the sun is out! yeah! the kids have been out a lot regardless, there is a back yard with a swing. then also a big space to play badminton... the library is on our schedule for this afternoon.

the last few days in america

we have not been on-line a whole lot, it's a big effort to find a free wi-fi source and having the whole family in tow, including house and all...
not much longer tomorrow is the big day. joel and the boys will return the rental motor home which we used the past three days. shasta has been sold including lots and lots of trouble but it is gone for good, the plates will be in the mail by the end of today.
dockweiler has become our second home. still, every day we discover new things be it at the beach, where elias and joel spend most of their time, or in the process of cleaning and packing our stuff for me. naomi and amos enjoy tons of time in "driving" the "house" to friends. which sounds something like: "you have to take a right at 5th ave., ok, then you go for two blocks and turn left onto yellow blv., it must be right there, o!! i see our friends. ok, i will help you back up into their drive way...." it is very serious and then of course visiting includes having a snack and gatorade (which has become amos favorite drink).
photos will be up on flicker by next week, it's a bit lame i know, but that's how it is for now.

the grand sequoias

we are back into civilization...
sequoia national park was wonderful. i felt like walking among angels being set in place by our God a couple thousand years ago. it is a magical place and i would want to go back just me and the stillness of those giants.

there are new pics on flickr
not much more. as for now we are heading to monterey aquarium and down the pacific coast, as well as trying to sell our shasta... (anyone planning a trip out west? this would definitely be a cheap way to travel..)

Joshua Tree

It was really nice to be "out there" again after the buzz of Southern California. We must have spent three days clamboring over the otherworldly shaped rocks at Joshua Tree NP. We enjoyed seeing the stars again, even through the 40cm telescope that one of our camp neighbors set up. The desert even treated us to an encounter with a tarantula and a rattlesnake.

Then it was back to LA, because we had promised our guest Franziska a few days of seeing the stars of the Hollywood/Beverly Hills kind. Of course it didn't pan out that easily, but Amos was excited to discover Dr. Seuss' star on the Walk of Fame. Took a tour of the Paramount Studios and immersed ourselves in the crazy scene that is the Venice Boardwalk. Elias, having decided to become a surfer changed his mind upon seeing the skating park there.

Today, we're dropping off Franziska at LAX. She acquired a healthy tan that will remind her of her last summer days of 2009 in the 35F/3C weather of Switzerland. In just three weeks, we will follow her on the same flight. Until then, we have to part with Shasta (aka. "the Shaz"), our hardy home-on-wheels. Anyone interested? A lot of folks seem to live in these things parked at the State Beaches.

(pics to follow)

heading for joshua tree

shasta is fixed and we are heading toward joshua tree national park...

the pacific!

after a night at "camp switzerland" in the san bernadino mountains, we made it all the way across the nation and arrived at the coast of the pacific!
it was wonderful and very special to see the sandy shores of california, south of los angeles. our first night was at doheny state beach, a wonderful little spot, where wave riding is as big as as it's white crested waves.
it didn't take us long until we owned a boogy board. since then it has been used a lot already. the water is much saltier here as i remember it being in boston. and it is also much warmer, this is good news for me, as swimming in the atlantic in new england was not my thing.
we also picked up franziska, and we enjoy her presence. it has gotten a bit more crowded in our house, but the weather has been great, so the house is really just needed for sleeping.
last sunday night i went for a walk at the beach at san elijo and met an other mom. we both had our babe's bundled up on our backs and realized quickly, that they were just one day apart.one more thing became quickly obvious, we both were home schooling our kids at some point...
they were planning to go to legoland on monday, as home schoolers got a special deal. although we realized, that would we would have had to sign up, we were able to hop along with two families and were able to get in for about a third of the regular prize.(which we would not have payed and skipped that fun). thank you s for the moment's together.
so today we have been stranded in san diego. shasta needed some love a knowledgeable hand of a mechanic...
we will be at the san diego zoo tomorrow...

uups

yes and uups, shasta is not fixed yet...
we are kamping in a kabin for one night... that's what the koa people call a little cottage on the camp ground. wow this is huge, we all enjoy a regular size bed! three rooms this is luxurious. joel and franziska are right now shopping for breakfast and diapers (a big shopping was planned for this afternoon, which did not happen). we still plan to go to the zoo, but with the bus. and hopefully by tomorrow night we have the house back.

Sin City, here we come!

After being pampered at the Page RV park (fast WiFi, indoor pool & spa), we were in for a contrast when we camped at Lake Powell's Lone Rock area: Pay ten bucks and park anywhere you like on the beach. Turned out that our spot was preferred by tons of German speakers. At least three neighbors on the left and right were either from Germany or Austria: "Hehe, ve camped in ze German row". Some of them we had met before, others we were about to meet again. Small world. But the beach was nice: Beautiful sand (easy to get an RV stuck in it though) and a straight walk into the water. And sun, of course. Lots of sun.

The next three nights were spent at the Grand Canyon North Rim. After realizing that it was 14 miles and 6000 vertical feet to the bottom, we (E & J) scrapped plans to hike down and overnight there, and opted for a more modest hiking regimen down the North Kaibab Trail, which was very nice.

The next day brought an impromptu stop at the Pipe Springs National Monument. The night was spent at the Sandy Hollow State Park in Utah. This is one of those "recreation areas" which is basically a playground for adult gasoline-junkies: Sand buggies, ATVs, jet skis, power boats and BBQ grills. Not really enjoyable, but we made the best of it. It was really quiet at night and the stars were spectacular. Also, since it is a man-made reservoir, it has nice cliffs where one can jump off boulders into the clear water. I goaded/bullied/teased Elias into jumping off of one that was standing at least 12 feet above the water. Awesome.

On the way back to the highway we drove by a development that had all the streets, trees, parks, even cast-iron benches and old-fashioned street lights, as well as dorky anglo-phile street names such as "Abbey Road", "Canterbury Street", "Windsor Parkway" etc. The only catch? Not a single house was yet built, save for the lonely "model home" on one corner. So we decided to have a little fun and drove through it as if we were visiting someone. We even tried out our fake British accents (which Amos is getting pretty good at) and got lost a little bit. We thought of renaming the neighborhood "The Stock Market Downs" or the "Recession Estates" or putting a $1 bid on a lot.

Anyway, our next target was Las Vegas, but before we got there, we visited the "Lost City" State Museum for yet more Anasazi history and archaeology, and drove through the "Valley Of Fire" State Park. Pretty.

Vegas is Vegas. Ah well. Exciting for an evening or two, and then we want to move to saner territory again. Yesterday we toured the "Circus Circus" complex, stumbled into the Adventure Dome, and each of the kids got to blow a quarter on a mindless game of chance. I hope they got the point. Today we're hounding again for FREE thrills such as the MGM Grand's lion habitat. More on that later. Perhaps with pics, but don't hold your breath. WiFi is atrociously sluggish again.

shopping and more

after dinner we decided that the time has come to go shopping for a to parts in regards to our shasta's plumbing. o yes and the fridge and pantry were almost exhausted.
i could not belief it but the time has come for a walmart shopping tour. it was the first time in my life to step into such a store. and o well, we found over one hour of entertainment! walking out with lots of yummie food and one of the needed plumbing parts.
everyone was allowed a treat, naomi picked half a gallon of "shamrock's" chocolate milk, amos a bag of sun chips "great mulitgrain taste", elias was totally certain of his choice being the best, a bag of jelly beans. joel picked some whole grain,good looking granola and i could not resist a bar of dark chocolate...
and o well i also got a monkey tripod, one of those really fun looking once, yeah!
this all after a drive through monument valley, long stretches of nothingness and a visit in shonto at their trading post. the shonto stop was fun as well as strange. it was at the outskirts of the town and had an oasis feel to it. sand all over, parking on a sand dune and the kids stumbling out of the shasta into the playground... of course sand all over, digging, throwing, watching, and to my surprise not that much complaining about sand in the hair, mouth, eyes etc...
anyway, i was able to send off the last five library books... yes no more ties to the JP library. a last good by note was stuffed in the packet with the books. thank you librarians for helping us to learn from books, love books and be a community.
as for today, we will be swimming in lake powell and are not sure yet if we also take a trip into antelope canyon...
right now, the older three kids are swimming in the pool of the rv park, joel reading some more barth and i should be preparing breakfast, thea just tasted a green felt marker, which she found in our "house", of course not just the taste, but also it's colour left "a mark".

at Sandy creek

i'm sitting on top of our shasta....

yes on it's roof, because of a quicker internet connection. joel has been playing the flute at the same time serving as a jungle gym for thea. the other three found a pile of boulders behind the rv park and seem to be content with all kinds of fort building efforts.

the view from up here is superb, a setting sun and the capital reef on my right. this is a big reward for an hour of bickering kids in the car... yes it was not an easy ride over here from boulder. but well worth the quiet moments now. at boulder we visited the anasazi state park, which was pretty interesting. not just ancient pueblo artifacts but also lots of fun to watch the anteater craters...
o and i almost forgot, we got lunch served for free!

there was a set up for cyclist's on their 10 day tour through utah and the chef invited us to cheese sandwiches, minestrone, bananas, apples, cookies and gatorade! a big hit with the kids. so, it's really getting dark and naomi needs some attention....

I'm hunched over my laptop on a laundry machine in the Cannonville KOA just south of Bryce Canyon NP. This has proven to be the spot with the strongest WiFi signal. We are sooo enslaved by our tech gadgets ...

On the brighter side, our RV battery has held up for a record 6 nights without recharging - a major bonus when staying at state and national park campgrounds, which tend to be "primitive" (meaning no hookups available). But it also means no blogging, and stealth late night trips to the bathroom outlets to recharge camera batteries and make backups.

So we've "seen" Salt Lake City, meaning that we took a guided tour of the Mormon Temple Square, which made for some interesting conversations with our kids. Stopped at the Yuba Reservoir state park for one night, then drove to Zion NP where we stayed for three nights and did lots of hiking. Two nights at Bryce Canyon NP, where Elias & Joel went on a 2-day, 20 mile backcountry hike. Now we're on our way to Escalante National Monument.

Oh yes, the pics:

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heading south

It's been more than a week since our last internet access, hence the blogging hiatus. We've arrived at Salt Lake City after an awesome time at the Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. Making use of a somewhat decent connection at the SLC KOA, we have a fresh batch of pics available, so I'll just let them tell the tale:

At Rocky Mountain NP:

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Driving from Colorado to Wyoming:

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At Grand Teton NP:

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At Yellowstone NP:

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As always, you'd do well to view the pics at Flickr.com

We finally left Denver on Tuesday and made our way to the East side of Rocky Mountain NP. What a lovely place! Did some light hiking. The boys had a blast translating the name of "Bierstadt Lake" to the chatty shuttle bus driver. Naomi spent the first 45 min. or so complaining that her hiking boots were too heavy. After I explained to her that they help her walk, telling her where to place her feet (where the water would flow, and not on top of every boulder), and carving her a cool hiking stick she finally came around. At the end she proclaimed that she really liked her boots. Yeah!

Wednesday we drove the windy (meaning much wind, and many curves) mountain road to the West side of the park. The bark beetle epidemic is really dramatic here - up to 70% of the woods consist of dead pines. Also, many Germans. And I met an American lady at the visitor center who not only knew Switzerland from Sweden, but had lived in Pfungen and gone to the Lehramt Gymnasium in Winterthur! In the evening, we spotted some Moose and Elk in the meadows of the Colorado river.

Thursday we woke up to the sight of about 10 Elk cows walking over the campground, as well as a Moose cow with a calf. The rest of the day was spent driving the hinterland of NW Colorado (Craig) and SW Wyoming (Baggs) to the KOA in Rock Springs. It's hard to imagine after Kansas, but the stretch from Craig to I-80 was considerably lonelier. Stunningly featureless flats changed into equally stunning badlands/canyons and back, without a single tree in sight from horizon to horizon. Did a walking tour of the many RV rigs on the campground with the kids. Despite there being more than 100 or so, we win the prize again for having the oldest/grungiest vehicle. I kind of enjoy being the gypsies among all the retirees with their $150k contraptions. We're usually the only ones with kids, doing our dishes outside, hanging a clothesline, and playing our own music.

Tomorrow we're off to Yellowstone. Sorry, our WiFi is so crappy that there won't be pictures today.

across the plains

driving on I-70 straight across the great plains fast! of course just as fast as our shasta was able to run! ~55 miles an hour. with this speed we were able to really enjoy the flat and treeless stretch through kansas. it is very impressive to see so much sky and flat fields of corn, soy, millet and sunflowers. o yes and of course grain. spotting a few towns which consisted of grain silos and a railway loading dock.
all of us welcomed the stop at limon, jumping into the cool water of the campground pool.
although the mosquitos were eating us alive! thank's to joel we have a table in our shasta to eat on. all bug screens closed we enjoyed the quinoua/broccoli dinner.
we then arrived yesterday at our friends house in engledwood (denver).
thank you s & z for welcoming us and hosting us for a few days.

travel log continued

Tuesday 8/18: 364 miles, Asheville NC to "Land between the Lakes", TN
Wednesday 8/19: 379 miles, LBL through KY and IL to Columbia MO
Thursday 8/20: 340 miles, having generator removed, Columbia MO to Ellsworth KS
Friday 8/21: 301 miles, Ellsworth KS to Limon CO

We have some new pictures up.
The states we touched so far: MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, NC, TN, KY, IL, MO, KS, CO

our travel log so far

Sunday 8/9: 270 miles, boondocking on I-95, NJ
Monday 8/10: 222 miles, 3 nights at the Sorli residence, VA
Tuesday 8/11: 30 miles, trip into DC for Air & Space museum
Wednesday 8/12: 22 miles, trip into DC for Natural History museum
Thursday 8/13: 145 miles, "Colonial" KoA, VA
Friday 8/14: 134 miles after Colonial Williamsburg, boondocking on I-64 near Charlottesville, VA
Saturday 8/15: 180 miles on Blue Ridge Parkway, 2 nights at "Rocky Knob" campground, VA
Sunday 8/16: 0 miles, hiking around "Rocky Knob", VA
Monday 8/17: 227 miles on BRP, "West Asheville" KoA, NC

Williamsburg pictures:

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Blue Ridge Parkway pictures:

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In case you haven't figured it out, you have to mouse over the bottom of the picture frames to get access to all the pictures in a given set. If you want to look at bigger versions, you have to click on "link", which will take you to Flickr.

two smithsonian days

While our "official" program for the past two days in DC included the Air & Space Museum as well as the Museum of Natural History, our inofficial adventure had us address an ant invasion and various Shasta-related dramas. A good time was had with our hosts Melanie & Gisle and their kids. Thank you very much for your spontaneous hospitality! Tomorrow morning we're off to Colonial Williamsburg.

the farewell party

thank you J's for throwing our good by party. thank you to all of you who showed up. it was very special to have so many friends over for a farewell. we enjoyed each of you.
it's been two days already, and we left boston on sunday after everything was loaded into our shasta. a final trip to castle island in the afternoon, and dropping my parents off at logan. because the propane on board makes us a "hazmat" transport, a state trooper escorted us through the tunnel to the surface road south.
spent the night on a truck stop on the new jersey turnpike south of new york city. arrived safely in washington dc in the early afternoon.

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new look

After trying a few other options, we have decided to re-fashion this blog a little to chronicle our transcontinental adventure. It's a new look and title, but the same old Daniela with the odd guest post by other family members. Here are some pictures from yesterday when all our stuff was whisked away in a purple truck.

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the garden

our little garden plot is now officially our friend e's plot. he is a great almost 11 year old boy who loves gardening. we went through it this morning, weeding and digging up bind weed... it is all under control now. there will be swiss chard ready to cut, summer potatoes to dig in a week or so. there is garlic ready in a few weeks and the tomatoes are gaining in colour. basil is doing well and we cut a few sprigs, this will keep on going. the same with the carrots, we pulled a few and he will be able to pull some every week. the last two beets will be finding their place on the table within the next two days...
it is really hard to load photos on our old slow lap top, so no photos today, please take a look at our travel blog, from now on we will be posting infrequent on that one.
the plan is to slow down and just be for the next three months, we will have a good by party tomorrow and hit the road on sunday. i will be back here sometimein the fall, early winter, then posting from winterthur switzerland!
see you later and enjoy the summer with all it's colours and warmth.

done for today

the movers were here this morning and all the boxes are now ready to be loaded tomorrow morning. of course they were using a lot lot lot of packing materials and i could not stop thinking of all the money we are going to pay for the over packing... $8 per cubic foot. although i just have to trust that things are done correct and needed to be wrapped in paper and bubble wrap for so many times.
joel forgot to pick the books he wants to bring along on our trip. he is going through some boxes as i write...
more on our travel blog, i guess i will write less frequently, and for now stay tuned, it will take a while until i'm able to get photos up loaded again.

the 8th birthday

a glorious morning with our birthday boy! we all enjoyed breakfast on the deck, and amos was very happy that his 8th birthday finally arrived.

for lunch his two best friends came over. thank you a & a for having birthday lunch and cake with us. it was a full day and a happy day for amos, lot's of playing and reading and enjoying friends.
my parents joel and i are still in the middle of sorting and figuring out what is going into moving boxes! today it was the oil paints, the shoes, some card and board games and the wooden train set. more tomorrow, or when ever, i'm very tired.

hitching the bike rack

a few weeks back joel started a travel blog. today was my turn to write a few lines, please go and have a look.

courageous

elias has been sailing all of july, he loved it and learned a lot. ton's of knots, lot's of words i don't understand...
it has become his summer life, being on a j22, being on the water. he could not stand to have dry feet anymore, and so he dangled his feet in the sea (of course with the shoes on, as he was not allowed to take them off). thank you staff of courageous sailing, you do such a great job in teaching the kids life skills, as well as sailing.

one more day

more of the same. it is fun and so helpful to have my parents around. they sort and clean and make me go through stuff. it's sometimes a bit daunting looking at all the little and big stacks of things, which i have to look through and decide what's happening with each little item...
i have to say though it is fun too and i like to look at things which have not been in my sight for years or i have forgotten about it.

joel has been hard at work sorting through piles and boxes of paper, which we kept for the past 12 years. and of course lots of those are "confidential". how do you get rid of those names and numbers without a shredder in the house, you use your grill and fire it up, sit there for hours and burn one sheet after an other!

naomi and amos did lot's of drawing. we still have two of those big drawing paper pads, just get the pencils or paints out and let them creat stories and figures. today i got to see how many many courious people were coming "to life". it's so much fun for the kids and lots of enjoyment for me to watch and hear stories.
a few more days and we are all ready to have the movers come in and pack for real! next wednesday that will happen, when we are all occupied with violin workshop!

an other day

lots of things going on in and around our house. thea seems to enjoy the busyness around her and of course being on the deck behind the house is one of her favorite places.

one of the enjoyable duties for the kids, watering the newly planted shrubs around the house. any cup or bucket will do and of course it ends up with everyone being involved in a water battle...

just before i wanted to call for dinner the kids asked me if they would be allowed to play with/in the little kids pool. i wanted to say no, as it was interfering with my evening planning, but i could not say no.
this turned out to 45 minutes of fun. everyone was happy and at the end clean! what more would i have wanted. -nothing-

the sorting and packing goes on, today joel sorted through his whistles...
he has now two sets, one ready to be taken onto our journey and an other heap to be shipped across the atlantic to our new place starting in november.

on the deck

yes we packed, we sorted, we washed, we hung laundry, folded laundry and enjoyed the sunny day. it was a bit warm so the evening rest was well deserved. my ma is full of energy, and sorted through all the legos with the boys, packed them up into boxes. sorted through books and random collected toys, it looks so orderly now. i don't really feel like taking lots of photos, but that may change. this one of me is by joel

watching him play...

after drum lesson amos enjoys watching his teacher play on the i-pod touch...
he doesn't even want to play, just look at the little (some would claim huge) screen.

and of course not two moments and the second boy is clued to the same little screen. it's great to see their enthusiasm, for a good moment. though soon a couple more kids come over and the watching b play gets real tough, too crowded and the ball gets taken out to do some real playing! yeah! i'm glad reality hit them once more and they are not stuck with this little surreal gadget.

brendan behan session

A fiddle, a flute, pipes, an ale, and of course - tunes!

at logan airport

waiting for our train...
the green st stop is fascinating, like so many T stops in boston. lots of climbing and of course amos is reading, waiting is so much shorter for him.

more waiting, there were so many flights coming in within 30 minutes, logan airport is truly international. every time we wait for friends or family to arrive at terminal E the kids enjoy the kinetic sculpture by george rhoads. it is a fun one waiting is made easier, but still, we had to wait ---

--- until the grandparents from switzerland came out the door after immigration. what joy, what great moment of seeing them.

after the "big" kids go to bed

thea loves her late nights....
yes she discovered that after the big kids are in bed there is some real quality time with her dady. sitting either in the music room and listening to his whistling, or all other kinds of music making. some times even friends come over for a little session, what fun!

ciabatta

a sunny morning and lots of time, because thea is waking up soooo early. i have been up at 6 or so for the past few days. this had me ride to canto 6, i had to get a loaf of warm ciabatta and a few rolls for the kids.
fresh bread is one of the foods i would not want to miss. a bike ride in the early wee hours of morning is something i don't do often anymore. i forgot how much pleasure it is, i have to do it more often. maybe tomorrow morning?

ein regentag

heute regnete es den ganzen tag, ne nicht ganz, ich habs grad geschafft mitte morgen schnell mit dem fahrrad einkaufen zu gehen.... doch auf dem heimweg hat's dann aber bereits wieder mit regnen weitergemacht.
kochen, backen, ein kurzer mittagsschlaf, diskutieren, instrumente ueben mit den kindern und dann wieder kochen, gaeste zum znacht, und kurz davor noch freunde die schnell vorbeikamen um uns tschuess zu sagen.
tschuess fuer immer? wer weiss, auf jedenfall sind wir immer am tschuess sagen und wer weiss ob wir all unsere liebgewonnenn freunde hier wieder sehen werden oder nicht. scheint recht viel endgueltigkeit zu sein im moment. wir planen nicht wieder hierher zurueck zu kommen, viele freunde hier planen nicht uns in der schweiz zu besuchen.
loslassen, zurueck geben in gottes haende was wir von ihm erhalten haben.

unser auto wird morgen auch verkauft sein, so musste auch das noch schnell unter den putzlappen um 21:30uhr... unser gutmuetiger volvo wird sein neues zuhause bei t & a finden, freunde aus der nachbarschaft. in den kommenden wochen duerfen wir ihn wenn noetig noch fahren. ist so praktisch, da unser neues fahrzeug ja bei freunden 20 minuten weg parkiert ist und wir mit dem shasta ja nicht wirklich in der stadt rumkurven moechten.... der wird uns dann seine dienste auf unserer 3 monatigen reise erweisen muessen!

keine photos von heute, hatte die energie nicht...

in the white mountains

it was a wonderful camping trip up north into the white mountains of new hampshire.
with our musical friends, lots of sunshine, and lots of good home cooked food.
we hiked up the zealand trail on saturday. it was just so nice, beautiful and refreshing sitting on the rocks of the waterfall. (no photos from that hike...)
thank you rocky nook people for being our friends.

this morning

i got an early start today, thea was just so awake and wanted to chat and play with me. in order to do that, i got up at 6:38am! it has been a long while since i got up so early. getting a big mug of tea ready for me, heating up the oven to bake bread (the dough was prepared yesterday evening). taking writing a to do list and starting to think about things for the weekend. we are heading north tomorrow afternoon, camping with our musical friends! i will be back here next week.

already at 7:20 naomi was painting...

and elias enjoyed a yummie breakfast, he missed yesterday's late night dessert...

o amos...

our hero he lost an other little tooth! there are a few more who have to wiggle themselves out.
we enjoyed a wonderful summer day, stopping by at our garden. loving to see the lettuce and tomatoes grow! picking black raspberries from the bushes around the house. playing and swimming, with friends, having friends over for dinner and really enjoying a slow day. at least for me and thea, and i need those day's once in a while.
now, there is live music in my living room beer and dessert ready to be served.

thank you m, m and t for coming over and letting me listen in on your passionate music making with joel.
one more thing, i braved the warm summer night to hang laundry tonight, in order to not having to get up early in the morning...

o and by the way i managed to book our flight out of LA in november, back to europe, one way!!! but until then there will be lots of traveling adventures.

spectacle island trip

yes it was bright and sunny this morning, exactly what we wanted for our "spectacle island" trip!
the photo above has been undergone with a "posterizing" feature of gimp, i like the bleak look of the shadows.

the view from the top of the island was gorgeous! this photo shows the view toward boston, what a skyline and this is so good for me. it's the last time i will see this for a long time, maybe for ever, as we leave boston on august 9th.

it was such a nice day and the kids enjoyed the trip. the boat was wonderful 30 minutes is just right to explore each corner and not getting bored with playing "walk tag"...
thank you kids it was a good trip and will stick with me for a long time. we had a lot of fun, playing with sea grass, smooth rubbed pottery, a ride on the island's caretakers utility vehicle (because amos had enough courage to ask and arrange the ride totally on his own).
on our way home, we passed through the rose fitzgerald kennedy greenway, a beautyfull park. i was just too tired to take out the camera once more and thea got a bit heavy in the moby all day... an other time, i have to go back and explore the different fountains with naomi and the boys if they are inclined to hop along.

"brown betty"

i have been making all kinds of old fashioned desserts lately, they seem to be loved in my house!
who does not love fruit, butter and sugar....
a few days ago a double-crusted cherry crisp got gobbled up in a jiffy. this morning i could not just cut rhubarb in the back yard, i had to bake vanilla short bread and use almost all up in a rhubarb and strawberry brown-betty.
i saved a few short bread cookies to pack for elias lunch tomorrow, as he is getting more and more hungry it seems like. i don't blame him, being on the sea all morning in a J-22 would make any boy or girl hungry.

i didn't bake yesterday, that's why the neighbors boys and naomi had to be happy with a bowl of popcorn. and of course it tasted a whole lot better under the table!!!

missed today..

we worked on the RV and ended up playing a Ticket to Ride.... a good day. lots of things got taken care of. maybe a list? i love list's but am to tired tonight to list all the little things which got done today.

recycling bin

as of yesterday we have new recycling bins in the city! wow and they are huge!!! it's the first city with single-stream recycling...
i should have had one of the kids standing next to it or climbing into the bin to show how humongous the bin is. but we are all for it, more room for recycling, a greater insensitive to collect things from the street. we have been dealing with two regular sizes collection bins and they constantly overflowed.

and they added items which we can now put in the recycling bin, yeah! even better no sorting no bundling of paper etc. i love to collect and do my best to recycle in the city.
in the spring and autumn the city also collects yard waste, organics...
a step into the right direction, lets keep walking.

der regen fuettert mein gemuese...

der krautstiel waechst ganz toll. ich habe nur eine pflanze im garten und die hab ich bereits das zweite mal geschnitten...

eine wirklich tolle ernte hat mir der regen in den vergangenen 10 tagen eingefahren. da ich beschlossen habe die karotten nicht auszuduennen bin ich nun jede woche am die groessten rausziehen... scheint sich zu bewaehren. die goldenen randen sind zu unserem favorisierten sommer-gemuese-salat geworden.

kochen-schaelen-in stuecke schneiden-olivenoel/rotweinessig/knoblauch/pfeffer/seesalz!

auch die knoblauchspitzen sind toll um einen salat zu bereichern... nun wartet noch ein grosser salat und ich hab nochmals vier pflaenzchen gepflanzt, mal sehen ob der sommer waermer wird und der salat dan staengelt, oder eben nicht.

und dann hat die naomi mir ganz fest geholfen mit schrubben. nun werden die karotten zu jeder zeit bereitliegen in der gemueseschublade...

cheese straws

a quick snack for everyone! kids as well as adults loved the cheese straws and i had fun trying a new snack.
they are easy to make, within a few minutes you have the batter mixed and 20 minutes later ready to be eaten, especially good when still slightly warm, yum. the recipe is from smitten kitchen a really good place to find good looking creations and the photos on the web site are intriguing, worth a visit.

the hat

thea got a cool patriotic hat for the 4th of july!
it was just so much fun to look at her. o those cheeks and chubby arms and fingers...

out in the woods

our RV, yes it will be our new home for three months. we did test drive it this weekend and it worked fine. we look forward to our big trip across the nation!

one of the first finds was an orange salamander... very very pretty.

oh all those tiny fungus, lots of them and all over the place. in all kinds of colours and shapes. those little ones i enjoyed looking at the most.

i love this photo. not anything else to say about it, peaceful or boring?
-two drummers sleeping-
as for me i was super busy with elias and naomi at violin institute! yes three full days of violin playing, orchestra, music mind games. it was intense and totally worth it.

1st of july

it's the first of july and it is still raining!!!
we still enjoy every moment without rain a lot! as soon as the sun seems to appear we all run outside, jump and play around. even when it is raining, the kids are not to be kept indoors. and that is fine with me. though the mornings are getting harder, i would often rather stay in bed and just doze off once more. naomi is preventing this from happening, she is up and running at the latest at 8am. she needs breakfast, as she has been telling me the past few mornings.
joel has brought the RV home again, as we are getting ready for our suzuki institute days... maybe a bit more tomorrow and then we are off until next week.