fruit tarts in our kitchen

we all love fruit tart dinners, there was time, there was the leisure and there were cherries in the freezer as well as some apples in the shed... the eggs are not anymore our own, as elias' three hens stopped laying for the winter. we were surprised though that they were still laying strong until the beginning of the month. lets give them their rest and look forward to the warmer and longer days of spring and summer.
there were a few cherries which did not fit into the pie dish, so i put them in little single serve fire proof bowls with egg, sugar and creme, a yummy pudding for after school snack, it was eaten before i could turn around.

and then there was snow, jut a dusting of it, covering everything this morning, i love it. everything looks like it just came here to this earth from an other place. everyone had to bundle up to head out for school, except amos felt like it's ok not finding his gloves and left without them. i do surely hope we will find his gloves until saturday as we are planning to go skiing...

an other birthday card

with a scrap bag from a friend on my desk and a birthday of my friend coming, i could not stop putting little pieces together on a nice piece of linen. it just so happen and i love those little moments when all i do is sit there and let my hand to what they love to do. finishing up the mini collage on sunday night, as we were sitting in the living room with a glass of wine and letting the calm and quiet of the house be the inspiration. it reminded me of a couple months ago, when i was working on a similar little project.
it's already in the mail by tomorrow morning, to it's birthday friend of mine...

{this moment}

A Friday ritual.
A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by SouleMama. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

pause and take a cup of tea

there was some hick up in my quilting roll. i didn't really anticipated it but it was also not disturbing  me from having lots of fun sewing and ironing and looking at the blocks with lots of happiness. there will be more of it, i feel like it needs some kind of border and then of course binding... let alone the quilting. though i'm taking it easy and will be pondering about how to quilt and what colour to take for the binding, i'm prone to buy some felted wool, as elias really likes his a lot.
and then this morning we had to go to the library in the city, as we are missing a book...
we both had a lot of time on hand and nothing to hurry, as a friend was preparing lunch for me and the kids. we took the liberty and went to a little place i have been wanting to visit, the "teekult" it is a tea room with an exciting variety of tea, not just to sit down and take moment of leisure to sip on a cup of tea, but also to buy and enjoy a cup of it at home. it is a wonderful tea room, the walls are historic and kept very nice, painted wood. a place to stay and enjoy and look out the window, as it is on the second floor with a nice view down into a pedestrian street of the old city center.
definitely a place we will be going back, to pause and sit and ponder for a moment in our often very busy life.

loulouthi quilt

i got jumpstarted with a new quilt, the fabric was ordered long ago, sitting on a shelf waiting for me to pick it up, it's anna maria horner's lououthi. i already got much farther than i assumed within the past two days...
it is so much fun, the cutting sewing, ironing and again cutting and sewing. i'm not sure where it will take me there is an initial idea taken from here.
the moos-green ran out so i added an additional solid colour into the mix, it's a dark bordeaux, which adds a bit of zing to it. and that was needed, i didn't expect the moos-green to mellow the colourful prints down as much as it did. more photos tomorrow, i can't stop going...

a fun afternoon with needlefelting

 

of course there is no school free afternoon with naomi, without having done a craft...
we were felting balls quite some time back and so with the needle before. naomi was felting a picture with the bare hand some water and soap at a friends house a couple months ago and liked it too. though this time she was determined to use the needle again. felting with wool roving is wonderful, regardless with or without needles.
i got her started with a little hand-felted ball and she added to it what ever she wanted. there were smiling balls created, some with "long hair" and dotted once too. thea was very happy with the products and as soon as the boys came in the door and saw her working, they of course wanted to get into the action too.

i remember as my mama was buying wool roving in big bags, she also got some still undone and we were able to card our own roving with those special "combs". we were spinning the roving into yarn, we kids mostly did this by hand spindle and my mama was using the wheel. who knows what the girl and i come up doing...
maybe i can find the spindles in my parents house...

the puzzling weekend

there was lots of puzzling going on over the weekend. at the spur of the moment i decided that we should take out one of our 1000 pieces puzzle instead of watching a movie. of course that was not received well by all, but never the less an hour later when the girls were in bed, the rest of us was working with lots of excitement and some other folks living in our house helped too. it is definitely still winter, long evenings and beside the music making which is going on almost every evening it's good to "create" something else together.
thea has been working on her own puzzles lately, she is doing fine, often i'm her helper and now and then she ventures off to do them on her own. i'm glad for her enthusiasm and love of "working". the two of us have gotten used to play memory at least once a day for the past couple weeks. she is getting more focused every day and of course challenging me by this to also pay more and more attention.
elias has started to make music together with thea, this is very nice to see happening. the focus of the both of them, on getting the songs right in melody as well as rhythm...

{this moment}

A Friday ritual.
A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by SouleMama. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

sunshine on my needles

 

 

i'm working on a little hat, a baby's "pilot hat" with a wonderful sunny bamboo yarn. it's for a summer baby, and thea call's her future cousin(e) baby sunshine... and this is just so fitting. i have been wanting to try this pattern for it's looks and yes it is a quick knit. of course there is also the useful aspect of this baby hat pattern, as the hat will definitely not slip over the little ones eyes and o that is one big reason for using it. i remember having to move back their little hats many times and often i didn't even realize that they didn't see anything being bundled up on my back...

the last time i was working with this bamboo was very special. it is now over two years back, when we traveled across the usa in an old RV and i knit a shirt for naomi. i wanted to link to an old post, though he photos are not appearing. this is a mistery to me i will try to figure out what's causing this non appearance, though for right now, there is just that one family photo with naomi wearing the shirt...

the moon

 

yesterday morning while i got the tea kettle started i spotted the moon. it was just that very perfect waning moon. just about a week ago i noticed the full moon one night, as i put the kettle on for a cup of tea. though it was in a very different place in the sky and it was a very different time of day and a very different moon, it was the same awesome moon. up there in the sky so far and so close, so perfect to see and admire.
most likely it's joel, who catches the moon, here, here and here, and of course many more times over...

this morning i gave it a try, and later he could not stand back and had to go out too, just quickly before running to catch the train to go to work.

it's cool to see the moon, i'm grateful every day when i look up there into the sky and spot it. and even if i'm not able to see it clearly, or not even one bit, i know it's there and it's perfect.

cheese tasting with the family

joels parents invited for a cheese tasting at a local cheese cellar. a very special place indeed, especially with some wonderful people enjoying such yummy food together. it was the first time we got together without the kids. usually we love the big family gatherings with all the little once being a big part of the fun. though this was going to be a bit different, and indeed not having to watch out and feed four more people on the side i absolutely enjoyed the wonderful people as well as all the cheese.
hearing stories of local cheese makers, like christa egli at girenbad and a big selection is seen here at natürli. i also got to appreciate and learn a lot from the fabulouse sommelier maitre frommager stefan böni. lots of little insights into the politics of the "butterberg" here a little bit of old news (sorry both of these links are only in german). and of course the lesson about the cheese of the cows with horns has been not less interesting and involved some biology too, an interesting link for the cow herders reading my blog, you guys know how your are...

of course sitting at one table with all of joel's siblings and their partners is pure enjoyment. it has been an evening which i'm treasuring and for sure think back a lot.
at the home front, i knew, even with thea still coughing a storm, my ma was taking good care of all the little and not so little once. it was late when we got home and as i assumed everything was quiet and there goes a big thank you to my ma for looking after our babes.

finding friends

 

visiting friends near by and bringing our mud pants along was on for yesterday. o how i love those visits, going to other peoples houses, being greeted with some yummy food on the table, the kids meeting their friends too and head off to new places to play. it is one of the first times, since we are in switzerland to really dive in and get to know new friends.
of course it's not the simplest thing to invite a family of six over for lunch, i understand and that's ok too.
and maybe that made the experience even more special, our new friends have been in the USA for six months last year. the kids picked up english more than i would have expected and this makes it fun. we talk and chat in either language with them and all of us understand each other. they got a little peak into american culture and have some understanding of what we laugh about out of a swiss context. they share the passion to be outdoors and live simply.
i'm so very thankful to have found them.
we had the best time together four adults, seven kids, a rope, matches and lots of energy and ideas...
thank you ch & s & kids for your hosptitaility

{this moment}

A Friday ritual.
A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by SouleMama. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

tending the sick

the days are getting longer again, o this is good news and we so long for the sun to send her rays to us. it was gray and cold the past few days and then this afternoon the blue sky and the warming sunshine, i had to quickly head out and soak it all up. while i was out big brother was watching the coughing little girl in our house.

thea is not feeling well so we have been brewing tea and reading stories to her.

i even got the chance to sit by her bed, knit and sip on my own tea last night. i even kind of enjoyed the moment of sitting, and watching her sleep. the coughing and waking up every now and then was definitely not welcomed by both of us, but she was calming down quickly, knowing i was right there.
such slow down moments might be just alright with us, they are needed and our bodies will say thank you to the slowing down with getting better soon. it is all a matter of perspective...

today at our breakfast table...

starting the day out with a brithday is perfect. naomi turnes eight today, such a special day, all even, totally absolutely even she calls out! and joel is going along 2x2x2, 2x4, 2+2+2+2... o well it is the most even number in all our minds by now. she convinced us of that.
we love her with all what she is and dares to become. we embrace her fierce spirit, sometimes this is harder and other times it's the best we can experience.
thinking back to the day she was born... it was super cold, the grandparents were visiting to be with the boys, as joel and i rushed to the birthplace. it didn't take very long, we left the house at 7:10am, arrived 7:30am and i didn't even have the time to enjoy the tub as planned as naomi was born 14 minutes later. we were home for lunch. my mother in law was cooking spaghetti and we all loved it. o and it was too cold to go out for a walk with the boys... it was a cold spell as i had never experienced it on january 10th 2004 it was -3 in boston (and this is in fahrenheit, which makes -19.4 Celcius). i will never forget the cold icy wind outside as we stayed warm and cuddly in the house with our girl in my arms.

a good afternoon

there are those afternoon, when the drizzle is not going away, when the fog doesn't lift and we adults decide the kids need some time in the back yard...
there is a fire pit in our back yard and this often leads to some good activity either for one or all four of them. it's a process of even just making naomi believe it is good and fun to be out side with her siblings, let alone to convince the group of them to work together and not just one person can take over the making and tending of the fire. with some help though we got a bunch of happy kids working together and loving their marshmallows, even singing and dancing around the fire in unison...
plus, papa gets to sit down in the warm living room and read, without being interrupted to many a times. what a good afternoon we had!