a monkey

a hungry little monkey has been joining us this afternoon....

pita bread

i had to try this! home made pita bread, sounds just too good to not try. so i did and it turned out nice. the whole family as well as our friends we had over for dinner savored it.
i will make an other batch today, as we head out to the woods. elias will attend the twin state suzuki institute and we will all stay at a camp ground near by.
we will be back on monday......

prepare the bread dough, and give it plenty of time to rise. divide it up, and form little rolls, let them sit again and cover with a wet towel.

flatten the rolls with a rolling pin, use flour, so the dough doesn't stick to the pin or the surface.
roll them out just as needed.

and then bake them in a super hot ~480F oven, on a stone put at the lowest rack. bake for just 4 minutes. they puff because of the hot bottom heat that produces vapor, it's fun to watch and delicious to eat.

1/2 warm water and 2tbsp dry yeast and 1tsp honey, dissolve yeast in lukwarm water
3 cups all purpose flour (i use 1/3 whole wheat and add some bran)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 cup lukwarm water
coat large bowl with olive oil, cover dough with damp towel and let dough rise to the double or bigger of it's size (it may need 3h of rising time).
make rolls and let them sit and rise again.
preheat oven to 480F, including baking stone.
roll each ball into a circle about 5 inches, 1/4 inch thick, put on hot stone and bake for 4 minutes. take spatula and gently push down puff.

water collection

so much fun, the kids did have a lot of fun running around in the rain. it was not just a rain, it was a big down pour, a thunderstorm at it's best. no arguing, the swim suits had to be put on right away and out there they went. all kinds of containers and buckets, tubs and sand toys! all the water had to be collected and poured into the little pool, to have a good soaking after the storm, as if there is not enough wetness around here.
i'm so glad we are able to do those things, regardless of the day or time, one more experience of home learning, what a privilege!

berries

we have to wait a bit longer...
it is a lot of fun for all of us to have a few different kind of berries around the house. even in the city, without really a garden, we try hard to have some natural environment to see eatables grow and ripen. this are black raspberries, we have a bush in our front yard and in a few weeks we will start harvesting. the bush is full of yet unripe fruit. i have also planted a few more raspberries, but this time red ones. it's a trial, i have put them around the house, to see where they like it best. so far they prefer a spot behind the house on the west side. the plan is, to put all of the red berries in the spot they like best. in hopes of a good harvest next summer.

foxglove

what a beauty! we have two of these gems in our front yard, and i'm so happy they popped up.
it is the first year for them to grow, my guess is, that they were in our wild flower seed mix. i have put that mix out last year but the foxglove didn't grow then. maybe it did grow but need one year to establish itself.

there is also the white columbine, it's in bloom for 4 weeks now and looks stunning. i planted a baby plant very early in spring.

plentyfull summer

i'm so pleased with the way our front garden turned out. it's now in full bloom!
a bit wild i admit, but we like it non the less. naomi loves to pick "bouquets" for me... and i like to be able to just get some flowers and they will not be missed in the garden.
the blue alum is a very delicate kind, and so special with it's strong blue, i'm glad i got a dozen or so bulbs last fall from fetco. the light blue larkspur has come in strong, i'm very happy about that one too. the lupines are mostly gone by now, but we enjoyed them, after the one year gap (winter 2005 was to warm, the millipede ate almost all roots), but it seems as some of the plants recovered for this season.
there are a few more blooming right now, but i have to take some more photos...

library

a trip to the library revealed that we haven't been for a bit over a week.... 29 books were waiting of us and the kids each picked a few of their choosing.
i'm very excited though about a good pile of renaissance books, that's the next period we will be studying. we just finished with marco polo, which was so interesting. the boys really loved to listen to his travel stories to kublai khan's court and that far away country of china.
of course i have a few parenting books in there... "feeding the whole family", by cynthia lair and "the creative family", by amanda blake soule, there is also the "i love dirt!". i realized, that every time i look at it and leave through it, i like it better...

unser freitag

was wir alles erlebten heute wuerde buecher fuellen....
doch hier in kuerze:
8:05 aufstehen
8:25 d, fruehstueck zubereiten/e, rechnen/a, lesen
9:00 fruehstueck in der morgensonne
9:15 geschichte: marco polo's aufenthalt bei kubli khan
9:40 bibellese
9:50 zaehneputzen
9:55 e, geigen/a, englisch/n, zeichnen mit alicia
10:30 mit dem T zum labor fuer entwicklungsstudien von harvard
11:30 n, spiele um linguistikern zu helfen was 4 jaehrige fuer verben verstehen und benutzen koennen
12:00 a, vocabular testen um in einer vergleichstudie mitzuhelfen
12:35 mittagessen in einem mexikanischen grill, mit sport fernseher direkt im gesicht....
13:15 uups wir treffen auf shannon (sie arbeitet in cambridge und zufaellig war sie auf dem weg um sich ein dessert zu schnappen)
13:25 mit dem T zurueck nach JP
14:25 wieder zu hause, mittagsruhe fuer die kinder
14:30 ich werde interviewed vom sicherheitsdienst der usa, auskunft ueber einen freund, der fuer den staat arbeitet (routine sicherheits check up, nichts aussergewoehnliches fuer den freund)
14:50 endlich die verdiente dusche fuer d
15:10 ein brief fuer pascal auf die post und ein paeckli fuer eine freundin in colorado
15:20 ein kurzer schwaez mit einer freundin vom hatched
15:35 e, englisch/a, piano mit d/n, noch im mittagsschlaf
15:50 e, deutsch mit d/a, lesen/n, wacht auf und kommt runter auf j's armen
16:15 alle spielen auf dem deck
17:00 e, weiterarbeiten am deutsch/a und n, spielen mit den nachbarn
17:30 aus dem haus auf den T zur downtown crossing
18:02 genuesslich zeit verstreichen lassen mit strassenmusik
18:13 e, mit shannon ins museum of fine science/a und n, unterwegs mit cindy/d und j, durch den park laufen und ein abendessen geniessen mit freunden
22:25 wieder zu hause, a und n sind am zaehneputzen und ins bett gehen
22:45 e kommt auch nach hause
23:07 e geht nun doch auch noch ins bett
so ruhe kehrt ein und j guckt sich die letzten minuten des fussball matches tuerkei:kroatien an und ich hoere dem buch "saturday" von ian mcewan, und schreibe nebenbei an diesem post...

peonys

some more photos from our garden in front of the house. they are now all gone, but i could not resist to take a few photos. they looked very nice and bright, it's so pleasant to see them in a still not yet summer garden. very colourfull and big in contrast to some other littler flowers.
but now they are gone, i just have not taken the time to get a few photos of the summer garden. as it has now arrived. lots of white and yellow with some other pink. i didn't manage to get a good photo of our climbing rose. it's too late now but i will keep the scent as well as the full flowering bush in my memories.
this for the moment, some more an other day.

platte clove

we all really enjoyed the few days spent with our friends at platte clove community (former called bruderhof). it was such a treat to be in the green lush mountains of the catskills and this together with friends who cared so lovingly for us. joel and i got to help in the shop, and the kids where so happy in their groups. naomi was so very happy with her new friends, wandering around the woods and picking wild flowers and strawberries. amos made some new "best friends" a & a, he wanted to play with them after group time and we managed to have breakfast with their family, which was just the best thing happening to amos. elias discovered once more how much he loves to work in the garden, digging compost and fixing up a shingles on a shed who needed fixing up.
now we are back in the city at our own little community.
it's good to belong and be part of a wider group of people who do feel and believe the same. although often that can manifest itself in very different ways, which is even more interesting. i'm sure we will be back at platte clove and every time we visit it is an adventure, a challenge as well as a shower of love and compassion.

end of last week

we went to our little garden plot late afternoon last thursday, just before we left for our extended weekend trip. enjoyed some sweet strawberries and just the joy of a green-growing garden. we got one of our salad heads and left the other three for our friend to harvest. she volunteered to water and pick ripe fruit and cut the rest of the salad heads.

the other part of our afternoon plan was, the pick up of the first veggie share from brookfield farm. a happy activity, we really enjoyed the walk under the hot sun! it did not deter us from our mission!

my feet

i'm trying to get a few photos of myself. starting with my feet...


we will be out of town for a few days, taking a trip to visit friends in the catskill's of up state new york! it will be hot up there as much as it has been in the city by the sea. though we will enjoy visiting this community of friends which we have not seen for over one year. and the landscape is so nourishing and wonderful to just sit and enjoy. i will let you know how much we loved it once more, when we are back.

a cool tile floor

it has been very hot for the past four days, so we stayed indoors for a bit in the afternoons. our kitchen tile floor came in very comfortable.
amos can't be seen without books lately. one of his favorites is "akiko", a comic series. sky pirates sleeslup worms! ice cream trucks in outer space! these are juts a few of the wild and wondrous creations that await you in this series....

naomi is taking up the drumming, as she would love to go along with amos to his lessons.... but she is very creative and puts a tape in with some loud music to drum along! i usually leave the kitchen by that time!
and of course do you notice the notes she has taken on a clip board on the chair, that is her music, her composition as she mentioned to me.

strawberries

finally the season is upon us!
just a little patch in our community garden is devoted to those deliciously sweet fruits. but as for the moment we are more then happy, picking through the plants every other day. elias is keeping a log of how many pounds we are going to harvest, so far twice 2lbs and a few single berries a week ago.
i'm the happiest gardener for the moment, as it seems not just the strawberries are wonderful but tomorrow we will harvest the first few salad heads! the tomato plants are growing in a very rapid pace, so are the onions, broccoli and brussels sprouts. o yes i almost forgot, we also cut a few garlic tips, they are such a delicious topping on any salad!

brook day

it was day three in the hot series of june 08...
but we really enjoyed it, we took the opportunity to explore and play in one of the brooks at the arnold arboretum. together with our friends, cooling of was nice. running and jumping in the very low water. because it is still early summer there was some water and it was really cool.
even i put my feet in and enjoyed it. as you can see from the first photo, we were surrounded by rhododendron, it was lovely. and the bigger hemlock provided a wonderful shady canopy for us to sit and be.
this was today, tomorrow is an other hot day, maybe library, maybe sprinkler park, ice creme parlor, or an other few hours at a brook? we will see...

hot days

it's just hot hear!
we still went to "bikes not bombs" festival at stony brook, and it was fun!
it was so encouraging to see the many different stands promoting one or an other kind of less consumerism, conscientious decision making, some fun music and story telling, etc. and of course the card board slides were there too, next to the smoothie stand! once more, we are happy to live in JP!
about the photos.... my last batch was sucked up into the black hole.... yes i know it's a real bummer....

Fussball EM

we were not really planing to watch the opening game of the european soccer championship in basel. after a phone conversation with my brother, who told me how they are all getting ready in front of the tv to watch the opening game of the i guess now they call it uefa euro 2008. the 4 year old wearing the swiss soccer uniform, the 6 year old daughter waving the swiss flag into everyones face, and himself wearing a swiss cap! i guess it could not have gotten more exciting and so we figured it could not hurt to check espn's listing of their broadcast...
and sure there it was, switzerland:czech republic! so we ended up watching the whole thing....
opening ceremony, which was hilarious but still fun to watch and the game seems to entertain our boys. even though they have never watched pro sport soccer.
i'm glad we get to enjoy a bit of the fun the swiss are having now. but we do miss out on the swiss soccer uniforms, the kids would have loved to dress up and cheer in them. to bad, but they are just not available in the us!
to me it is very interesting to see, as our boys call them selfs american's. they argue, that this is the country they were born and that's what counts. fine with me, but....
yes there is that thing of dual citizenship! yes you guys are swiss too! it's not just a yearly 4 week vacation land...
we will see if it helps for them to bond with our homeland over soccer!

quilting again

yes i'm sewing once more...
it's so much fun. this time it will become my daughters quilt, a king size colourfull piece. i'm very excited and pleased with the squares i found already cut. the fabric is a batik cotton in the colour range from yello-orange-red-pink. i'm using all kinds of small print fabrics to frame the squares. a second framing is done by an off white (egg shell colour).
i'm so excited to see it growing and taking shape!

1st thursday

this was the first sight you were able to spot of the suzuki kids, playing at boing. being part of the 1st thursday event along center/south street, the toy shop boing "displayed" violin playing kids in it's window! it's so much fun to live in a lively neighborhood! about a dozen kids and their parents helped to move the shop a few doors down the street. everyone joined with a wagon to load a few boxes full of toys, pull them half a block and unload the "treasures" at the new shop location. than you elaine for letting us take part in this!

for all the brave people who dared to step inside, there was some great music to hear. thank you bekka for teaching our kids, it's great to hear them play and see them beaming happily while playing songs and minuets.

even the cows were stunned and could not move there legs one step further...

breakfast in the sun

no those two photos are not of todays rainy morning!
they are a few days old, but i just liked them a lot. they are so much alive and that's what greenhaus is. especially since the sun is out early and we enjoy to start the day with breakfast on the deck. often at different times there are any number of people out eating, playing, reading, or just enjoying the sun rays warming the soul.

some more flowers

here are some more of my front yard treasures....
this year we got a wonderful group of purple balls blooming. it is just so refreshing to see those spikes coming up and go into bloom earlier then most of the other purples.
this "jack in the pulpit" is one of my favorites. hidden under the now booming black raspberries, i love them soo much. i got a few "offsprings" plants from a friend and forgot about them during the winter. i got a few more bulbs of "jacks" and they all came up. even better they are a little different then the baby plants from last fall.
o my lupines! how wonderful they came back after last years disaster. the winter a year ago was not cold enough and some little critters were eating all the perennial roots. as i realized this spring, not all! yeah, and here they are again.
lovely blue/purple, as you can also see in the wonderful picture book about "miss rumphius"

disguise...

amos was invited to a mystery birthday party. so he was determined to find some good disguising cloths.... of course his face had to be hidden somehow. after ruling out an animal-, a clown-, or a fairy mask, we were stuck with the idea of a robber or magician, maybe a detective. this is what we agreed upon, and i have to say the investment of a few moments of sewing payed off. he loved the zorro's mask and felt like a real magician and went to the party like he was the guest of honor.
the party turned out to be great, one great activity and the kids all loved to solve the mystery of the "stolen cake".