green street

it's supposed to be spring, but today was particularly bleak...
never the less at green street there are some very fun and cheerful sculptures on a fence. not that they have been put up just yesterday, no they have been up for some years, but i still think they are intriguing and fun.
there are a few more on that fence, and we often walk by, read all the words and enjoy them very much.
i hope this family will put up an other one this summer. as the lot is empty and a nice back drop.

new fabric

the package arrived yesterday and i'm so excited about the new fabrics i got!
the lime green linen is for pair of spring pants for myself. the darker green is not assigned anything yet, maybe a pair of spring paints for naomi... who knows. the one with the four leaved clover will be worked into the back of the quilt in the works. maybe i will use some of the darker green to frame the quilt, just a thought.
and of course the wonderful orange with the tape measure print will be for anything fun!

abendmusik

es ist eine all abendlich wiederkehrende musik, sie gehoert unterdessen zu joel wie so vieles. ja diese musik gehoert zu unserer familie, ist uns immer mehr am praegen. ist schoen und bin froh darf ich sie taeglich einfach als gegeben hoeren. am montag geht joel an einen floetenworkshop und da sollte er noch diese fuenf neuen "tunes" ueben, ist im moment eher anstrengend doch ist toll wieder so ganz neues in den ohren liegen zu haben. fuer solche die es eben doch noch hoeren moechten, da muesst ihr euch noch etwas verweilen, doch bestimmt erscheint der andere dann mal auf youtube oder auf joel's blog...

my rocking chair

this rocking chair has been transformed! yes i got it from a friend, i loved it from the beginning and was so very happy about it. though it was not usable as there was no back and the seat was falling apart as well. i did the back with this lovely upholstery fabric from white lotus, i don't think they are still carrying this one (i bought it 5 years ago...). somehow the chair's seat just didn't get done for the past 2 years, but i felt like i had to, after my husband pointed it out to me. (he never says anything about what i should be doing, or he thinks needed to be done, but it was just an eyesore and i guess dangerous to everyone not knowing how to sit on the 1/2 broken chair).

i got the fabric and fishing line out, a needle and a pair of scissors. to my surprise within 3 hours i was done! yes and it looks lovely, is safe and comfortable once again.

tulips

i got a bunch of tulips from amsterdam...., i mean new leaf on center street. a very nice little flower shop with great customer service. my kids walk out with each of them holding a flower in their hand as a little gift from the shop.
yes they are wonderful and just very enjoyable to think of spring, as it seems still a bit of a wish. although today it's warmer then the past few days and the wind is not blowing that sharply. we already went to the library and milk shopping in the morning. although it was good to have a hot chai latte at sweet finish and sit at the window to enjoy the really warm sunshine behind the glass. that is to come, yes spring will come and summer too. i'm yearning for it and have a hard time waiting, i do need the warmer temperatures and the oil bills to subside!

first part done

yes i'm done with the first part. thank's to my parents! they took the kids to the aquarium yesterday all day, so i got to quilt. it's coming together and i decided that the quilt will be for our godchild. we will be celebrating her 1st birthday end of may and this will make the perfect little gift. i'm very excited about how it is coming together, some more photos will be posted later. and i just ordered the backing and decided that i will be hand quilting. i don't know yet what i will use to finish up the border, but that will eventually be figured out.
it has been tremendous fun to be working on this piece and just play with the fabric, piece it together creatively and enjoy what's happening.
so, it's sunny outside and we will go for a walk.

naomi's eier...

ich wollte euch diese bilder nicht vorenthalten, irgendwie sind sie einfach untergegangen....
drum also heute nochmals ostereier, diesmal von naomi unserer passionierten malerin.
sie war so ueberzeugt, dass sie malen wollte und nicht wie alle anderen mit krauetern oder gummibaendern, hat sich selber einige der gekochten eier geschnappt und die acril farben hervor geholt. das resultat war wunderschoen, und natuerlich hat sie ihre eier weiterverschenkt! eines wollte sie selber behalten und alleine fuer sich essen am sonntagsbrunch.

eierfaerben

alle sind wir um den kuechentisch gesessen und haben eiereingepackt. mit gummibaender, kraeuter und faden wie in guten alten zeiten und natuerlich haben wir es uns nicht nehmen lassen auch rotkabis grad mit einzubinden um eine verstaerkt violeter farbton zu erhalten.

den sud hab ich aufgekocht und 30 minuten stehen gelassen, zwiebelhaeute von gelben und auch roten zwiebeln und wasser. rein mit den eiern und aufkochen, fuer ~9 minuten koecheln lass und die eier wieder rausnehmen. unter kalten wasser haben wir sie "entbunden" und das resultat war begeisternd.

hier nun also unsere gefaerbten eier. bereits ist ein grosser teil verspiessen, da wir es uns nicht nehmen lassen konnten zum brunch eine eiertuetschete zu machen. mama hat uns alle "geschlagen" mit ihrem "starken" ei! war natuerlich eindruecklich fuer naomi, dass man einfach die eier gegeneinader taetscht. ich geniesse es so wieder momente aus meiner kindheit aufleben zu lassen und ins leben meiener kinden zu bringen. traditionen sind fuer kinder so wichtig und natuerlich, sie unterstuetzen den rahmen und die atmosphaere des seins. da es in unserer kurzlebigen gesellschaft ja so wenig gibt an dem sich kinder festhalten koennen.
da bleibt mir nur noch zu sagen: "christus ist auferstanden, ja! er ist wirklich auferstanden!"
HALLELUJA

ostersamstag

ja es scheint als ob der fruehling nun am ankommen sei! joel und amos haben alle fuenf fahrraeder in stand gestellt! "abgestuabt", geoelt, gepumpt, gerichtet.... und was da noch alles dazugehoert, sogar naomi's kleines violetes fahrrad wurde aufgemotzt. sie musste es sogleich ausprobieren, natuerlich auf dem deck und in den sandkasten fallen. den mut verliert unser maedel nicht so schnell, da wird in den kommenden tagen noch viel probiert, bis es dann auf einmal geht!
morgen dann mehr uebe unsere eierfaerberei, die photos sind in der kiste doch die zeit rennt und ich werde morgen weiterschreiben.

good friday

we solemnly celebrate good friday today. our wooden cross is covered with a black cloth, since we came home from maundy thursday service yesterday night.
we will be unwrapping in on easter sunday morning. it's kind of a long wait for all of us, but a good one. remembering our lords death.
we attended a tenebrae service at our church. elias was the acolyte, very carefully doing his duty of extinguishing the seven candles, one after each of the seven last words of christ on the cross.
i'm glad he got the opportunity to take part in the service. it will be a lasting memory for him, as we do not get such wholesome experiences of worship very often in the protestant church.

we have been at the lab...

we went once more to the "lab". that's what we call it! harvard's laboratory for developmental studies in cambridge. the boys were both participating in a study about ownership of things and thoughts, with the spelke lab. kristina was greeting us and worked with the kids. it was very interesting to sit in and listen to the conversations.

after the "test" we had the following conversation:
i asked them how they liked it and what they think of the questions. amos promptly said, they want to know what is in your brains. elias was very clear about him not wanting to let them know what he is really thinking. he burst out saying, i answered exactly the opposite of what i thought was right. i don't let them see into my brains. so there we go.... lots of wrong "results", though i have to say, i'm sure he didn't do this really.

i'm quilting...

i'm too busy to write, even too busy to take pictures....
you will see and read later.

immigration

my parents arrived from switzerland yesterday night. after a very calm flight form zurich to boston they got traumatized by immigration!
there is to mention, they speak very little english, but have been visiting us a few times over the past ten years an managed well traveling all over the world.
immigration officers can give you a hard time if they are in the mood to.... and that's what they did to my parents. every tourist entering the us has to fingerprint all his/her fingers. this did also apply to my parents, of course. my dad is missing the left pointer and this totally threw the officer out of the ordinary routine. after trying to explain, but not being understood by the impatient officer who could not find a translator for them. the officer deciding to run after a swiss flight attendant to help out. at least this solved some issues. now they had to go to a special office where an other officer would file a report about the missing finger. of course this was not the end. being escorted an other area, were already other people had to unpack their suitcases, my parents had to open all their luggage and the officers searched for what however they were looking!
my mom was of course intimidated and a bit scared, that they would have to leave all their chocolate easter bunnies and cheese fondue at the airport. but even worse was the thought, that the wonderful white scooter for naomi would have to stay at the airport too! it didn't happen, the officer searching her suitcase smiled when she saw the mounds of deliciouses chocolates, even a sheep milk chocolate (for joel) was among the goodies.
this was definitely the most interesting immigration adventure for them. spending just about 50 minutes worrying what will happen to them...

samstag

ein trueber samstag war's heute. doch zumindest fuehrte dies dazu, dass wir vieles erledigen konnten im haus. so wurde geputzt, nicht nur im bad sondern auch die buben raeumten ihr zimmer wiedermal gruendlich auf. und dann war da noch das buero! ja das buero... wir werden es in den kommenden zwei wochen als gaestezimmer brauchen und drum musste auch da endlich mal wieder ans abbauen von den dutzenden von stapeln angefangen werden. morgen solls dort noch weitergehen, da doch heute abend die st. patricks party bei jerry stattfindet und joel dort spielt mit den rocky nook leuten. da duerfen die verbleibenden stapel und die staubflocken nochmals eine nacht durchatmen, denn morgen geht es auch ihnen an den kragen.
genug geblabbert, wir freuen uns auf den besuch von grosi und opa und gotti margrit.

online games

that's what my guys do on late afternoons...
playing online games, the fun, i think in all this is, that they play it together and talk all the way through it and cheer for each other as well as being sad about being eaten, falling from obstacles, crushing into hot dog stands with their bicycle.... i just keep working on putting the dinner on the table. i love the entertainment right there where i am, it is so much fun to be part of a "gaming community".

the harmonious mess

mess tends to help a system fall into harmony with its environment and with otherwise elusive sources of information and change, deriving useful influence from them. neatness tends to insulate a system from and remain at odds with such influences.

this a little excerpt of the "a perfect mess" i'm reading. it has been good and inspiring to me, but i have certainly not reached to turning point in my life! i will keep you posted as i'm working my way through the book.

gebackene doughnuts

ein regnerischer nachmittag hat uns animiert zum backen. den vorschlag doughnuts zu backen war sofort auf resonanz gestossen und die kinder jubelten und waren voll tatendrang. ueber mittag entstand der hefeteig und um vier wurden die doughnuts dann ausgestochen. anschliessend nochmals fuer eine stunde an der waereme zugedeckt ruhen gelassen damit sie aufgehen konnten. die herausforderung war die richtige groesse ausstecher zu finden fuer das loch....

wie ihr seht ist uns dies nicht 100% gelungen. das naechste mal ein groesseres loch! doch das gebaeck schmeckte wunderbar. am allerbesten direkt aus dem ofen, in butter und zimtzucker wenden und in den mund! mm das werden wir wiedermal machen. und auch alle unsere greenhaus mitbewohner waren begeistert von unserer backerei, rundherum erfolgreich. so ein nachmittag ist enorm wohltuend, grad wenn es draussen grau ist und regnet.

two kind's of readings

my library book for this month is a challenge. it's fun to read how people are living in that state of mind that neatness is important. i guess for me it's just the way i'm wired and it comes very natural to me. though there are some areas in our house which are not very neat and orderly. i feel ok about them and would not want it different. there must be room for creativity and ideas to pile up and fly around the place we life. with the reading of this book, i would like to gain some insight into people's existence which are not "neat freaks". i do life with people who love piles of books, papers, toys, craft materials, wood, cloths.... i love those people with all my heart and would not want them to change.
one of joel's piles at the moment is a book pile. he is getting ready to work on a paper. he will have to read and write his paper by the end of april. there will soon be some more books and notes be around his work place. it is an exciting process of papers being written by him. long and slow and sometimes in bursts. it will be done this time, as it has been done in the past... waiting for the right moment to start writing. more reading and even more reading and finally it will be very very close to the deadline and the paper will be done. it will be on time, i know.

ice skating

we decided to enjoy this wonderful afternoon on the ice. so first there is this changing thing going on, especially amos has to strip everything, because he is hot. (i'm sure he is hot, as we had to walk 15 minutes to kelly rink, and he usually runs). as you might know putting on ice skates is not the easiest thing, so my help is needed by all three kids, but within a reasonable amount of time we are usually all on the ice. hurray!

at kelly rink is the big attraction the milk crates! most of the time we skate at an indoor rink and they do not provide crates, so this is a fun toy for all of the kids. not that they would need them, but pushing "shopping carts" around the ice and collecting stuff is very entertaining. as you also get to "steel" stuff from other "shopping carts".

i do like the way rachel is using her crates. this is much more appealing to me then the pushing around....

disappearing world

i was blown away with this book! just so wonderful to see all these photos and little maps of the earth's most extraordinary and endangered UNESCO heritage places compiled in one book.
leaving through the most incredible places on our earth. traveling without polluting or damaging what history has given us. of course i would like to go and experience the ancient city of petra in jordan. or feel the water of lake baikal in irkusk, the deepest freshwater lake and there are even freshwater seals! an other place i have been wanting to visit, but i do know i will never go, is the kathmandu valley in nepal. this place must be magic, surrounded with all its high mountain peaks. and then there is the historic town of zabid in yemen. what a piece of art with its stucco decoration built in AD 820. this for my sunday afternoon musings, with a cup of mate and a lemon poppy seed muffin at my side.

internationaler tag der frau

international womans day. yes i do remember the politicized day! we were all wearing some purple, at least a bandanna or a ribbon. there is one year i remember i guess it must have been 1993 in zurich lots of women took the day off and went to the streets to protest for their rights of equality. mainly to the get the attention to the rights of women for equal opportunity in the business world as well as the right of equal wages. i was not marching in the streets but observed the happenings from afar.

then in 2005 i encountered a very different tradition, being observed at womans day.... our romanian friends introduced me to the tradition of their homeland. the husband is going to the woods to pluck a bushel of "maieriesli" for his wife. it was such an enjoyable moment to see ruben going to franklinpark and get some maieriesli for his wife oxana. it was not easy as here in new england spring is not quiet here in early march...
international womans day
International museum of women
petition gegen frauenhandel

tongue out day

of course first all the cookies have to be devoured. and yes they were very yummie! thank you mama! for baking oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies.
and soon thereafter all three decide to just keep on sticking out their tongues at me.... it was fun, even for me as i tried hard to get a few good pictures in my box.....
i guess i should have taken a self portrait too ;-)

comix

comix are arriving in our house.....
the boys are looking/reading them for a while now, mostly in the library. the favorite has been tintin. we have a longterm guest in our house and he brought along a few 'asterix & obelix' they are in german. yeah! this will help especially amos to improve on his german reading. he is all into books now, which is exciting and for him a very good way to relax on the sofa. we will see where this comix mania is leading us...

wednesday

yes it is one of the slow days in our week. and we did take it slow paced today. i enjoy it very much, not having to rush through breakfast and running out of the house! but instead the kids are able to take their leisure before breakfast. today amos was reading books in bed and elias enjoyed to do some doodling before he got up. naomi and i got dressed and she was in a good mood, singing all the while. this really made it a happy morning. and the day went on like that, thank you to our heavenly father for this blessing.
this has been short, i will post some photos later...

winter walk

elias took his pocket knife along, he loves it and has a good grip on it. from carving pikes to sawing off branches from our christmastree and pocking holes in cardboard boxes...


elma lewis playhouse at franklin park, one of the many treasures in the park which is not well known! we love to climb and enjoy the stone walls. once we came to a jazz concert, organized by franklin park coalition, in the middle of a hot summer in boston. it was amazing fun and a cool breeze was refreshing us all the while. as for today, it was cold and breeze but the sun was out and warmed us up.

of course joel had to take his boomerang along to get some good troughs at the playstead. this open field is very likely the best place for such activities. not many people were out that day but we really enjoyed it. we have seen cross country races in this area of the park. been to multicultural music activities during summer vacation and often just strolling around.

we made it! the old bear den's. one of the prime spots in the park. the kids really like to play among the old cages. they are huge and with lots of old gates and even some tunnels to hide in.

this is as elias calls it the "penguin cage" with almost all the spikes still there, but lots of them bent and crooked. it's a bit creepy and the kids do show some respect in regards of climbing around these spikes. there is a talk coming up about the conservation of the area.

we of course had to check on the elias cache one of our kids geo caches..... this has become a fun and sporty activity over the past years. every time we check on a cache it's very exiting and fun.

books....

we stopped at two libraries today, our jp branch as well as the connolli...
yes almost unbelievable but we did. tough it was because of picking up the MFA pass to take elias's coop to the fiber art exhibit tomorrow. the kids were hanging in there, it definitely helped to have our friends the kims with us. the boys were unstoppable in finding "treasures" on the side walk, single gloves which at the end of winter is i guess prime time to find those. rusty screws and wire pieces, a cd, pencel, some interesting hardware stuff, ribbon, and "many more stuff".
i carried lots of books home from both places, a few of them here....
kids at work, lewis hine and the crusade against child labor, by russell freedman. this is a wonderful photo book with very insightful texts illustrated with black and white photos.
i spy colors in art, by lucy micklethwait, a wonderful book to foster a love of art through observation an "spying" on ancient as well as contemporary paintings from all around the globe.
spring is in the air, at least i'm hoping for it to come soon. that's why i couldn't stay away from two bird books, robins songbirds of spring, by mia posada and birds a field guide, by maria angeles julivert for some more in depth knowledge about birds and helpful hints how to spot and draw birds.
naomi picked a few small board books, she still enjoys the small size books to "read" when she is resting at noon times. she also picked better not get wet, jesse bear, by nancy white carlstorm, she loves rhyming books. amos found once more his way to the classics!!!! curious george makes pancakes, by margret & h.a.rey's as well as cucumber to the rescue! a busy world of richard scarry book.
elias is still working his way through tales from the odyssey, by mary pope osborne's, a little six book series, we will go out for dinner as a family when he has read all six of them.

DI

it's coming up.... just six more days until DI competition day!
elias is so excited and all his friends are looking forward to next saturday, their competition day! we are all cheering and send our good wishes along, for this last week of changing the last little bits, adding a few more ends to where there is a need.
as i type the kids are working hard and they will once more on tuesday night. and not to forget, thank you julie for taking them all on this adventure of group processing.....

breakfast "chuechli"

joel's birthday was two days ago..... i didn't feel up to bake a big round birthday cake. but never the less felt like making something small and delicate. those little "chuechli" ended up on our plates for breakfast! who would have thought i would serve cake for the first meal of the day! o well i did and all of us liked it.