{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.

music and food

the first time since we moved to switzerland, joel got his musician friends together at our house. the plan was, to learn some new tunes and have a good evening together. i really didn't plan to play a big role that night, though what i was able to contribute would be some delicious appetizers.
savory puffy pastry rolls and the wonderful fig and walnut  tapenade with goat cheese and thin slices of baguette. there were also a few brown bananas which needed to be backed into bread, so that i did.
of course the beer couldn't be missed, i got a hop beer from the area a "stammheimer hopfen braeu" and some yummy fruit juice for the ones who just don't drink...
i loved the evening, the guys too and the boys were sitting with them for a bit too. i could not convince elias to play along... would have been too nice, though he loved the listening. i'm so glad we can experience the music making right here in our house, as a family, each enjoying their part in it. thank you to joel and his friends, for letting us listen and enjoy it.
they do play sessions on a regular basis in affoltern a. albis at the "dublin city", usually the last wednesday of the month.

the linden tree and learning from family

we spent the past weekend at my parents and it just so happened that the linden tree at my childhood home was in full bloom and ready for harvest. my brother cut some branches down, so my mom and could pluck the flowers. they will be drying under the warm and dark roof of the farm house, and be ready for tea brewing coming the colder season again. lots of memories springing up right there, plucking linden flowers with my oma, when when i wasn't even in school. not that i plucked a lot, but i can still see her clearly, sitting under the tree in the lovely shade with a kerchief covering her head. she was one of those hard working, never resting farm woman. not all the memories i have of her are sweet and lovely. she had alzheimer's deseas and i was her scape goat, if the house key could not be found it was me hiding it. i learned to live with all the accusations. my parents knew it wasn't me and in retrospect i'm thankful for all the learning i was able to do. of course it wasn't all the times in this light, as i see it now. frequently i was getting very upset and was angry toward her. though over time the good memories heal so many wounds. and i wouldn't be me if i would not have been shaped by oma for that matter.
funny how the linden tree is bringing this back to me right now, surfacing just now. live has it's own ways to make it's imprints and carves us in it's ways. seeing this moments in the light of forgiveness, of gentle nudging toward the love and kindness we want to nurture in our family, it's magical and i do not hesitate to say, God given. wanting to teach my children the ways our ancestors walked, letting them become part of the learning i did, my parents did, my grandparents did. following the calling of life the Lord has in store for them, for each of us. sharing our lives passionately.

week 6::and more

here the finished squares for week 6.
still loving this project, slowly i'm getting the hang of it and naomi is starting to catch on on...

i'm also thinking i would like to start an other quilt, as well as a dress for thea and maybe a skirt for myself (the yard sale wrap skirt), will see what's going to happen within the next couple weeks.
there is lot's going on in our house and the kids are still in school (in switzerland there is just a 5 week summer brake, starting mid july). though the kids do lots of fun trips with the school, which they totally love. tonight is a tune learning session taking place, a few things to prepare for the musicians, like muffin baking by amos and some other little foods will have to be made ready. running out to get a white t-shirt for elias, as his school-soccer team is printing a new shirt for the soccer tournament next week (thank you to that one very initiative mom doing this project every year with the gang of boys). a garden party on thursday, and an other bbq we are invited to on friday. of course those will be wonderful events, preparation and all involved we are looking forward to this weeks unfolding. maybe not a lot of extra knitting (i just picked up my lace project again, while listening to this book on tape, when all kids are sleeping and the house quiets down), relaxing...

"hoher kasten"

joel, my mom and the three younger kids went up to the "hoher kaste". this peak is part of the "alpstein" the mountains of the district of appenzell a very special spot in switzerland. it's very rural, mountainous and a little paradise for hikers. with our guests from abroad we try to visit the highest peak in that range, the saentis, which is so spectacular and a treat each time we are high up there and look down into our lovely lands.
on top of the hoher kasten is a new restaurant, it's a turning restaurant.... so the party sat down for lunch and while enjoying the meal, the sight changes and within the hour the whole panorama has been enjoyed. this of course was a great experience, besides doing all kinds of artistic and creative things with the straw the kids all got with their drink!

a little bit of walking around had to be done. so the exploration of the mountain herb garden was fun to see and especially interesting for my mom. joel and amos really liked the birds, lot's of alpine cough's.

on my part, i stayed home, as the my parents car just fit 5 people...
though first i was a bit sad, i quickly settled in a garden lounge chair and within a few minutes was deeply immersed into a book. it has been a long time, since this happened to me, and i absolutely loved it. didn't remember it that reading for hours can be relaxing and fun.

{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.

on the stove and from the field

there are meat parts which we are not very used to eat. though as we get the meat straight from the farmer (my brother), we get the not so common to see on the table parts too. this time it was the liver. elias doesn't mind it, amos and naomi don't like it, though every time i prepare it everyone has to try a bit. i'm still hoping the ones not liking it will acquire the taste. even if it doesn't become a favorite it will be a wonderful skill to be able to eat whatever comes on the table.
i learned this at a young age, and yes i do remember some odd things like lung (the lung of a cow) or utter cold cuts (you  read correct, at we didn't know it was what it was until after the fact) by the way that one was very tasty, until to day i like tongue with capers to just name a few. bone marrow was a special treat, just sucking it out of the bone after it was cooked, of course there was some good fun at around  our family lunch tables too.

o well right now the favorite in the kitchen are big buckets full of fresh strawberries. i went to the field at rikon (toesstaler erdbeeren infoband 052-383-1237) on tuesday monring and it was wonderful, they taste sweet and sunny. 25lbs came home with me, lots of them already eaten, some in the freezer and each and every one has the opportunity to keep eating. naomi loves to take a little container along for school snack... what better could there be, i'm so happy to see her face when she prepares her little snack box before she run's out of the house in the morning.

::treat::

yellow and the orange crutches

yes we have a boy on crutches.... since tuesday evening. he stepped on a hazardous piece of root, sticking out of the earth, after having cut off all the greens of the bush. it is my fault for not having cleared off the remaining trunk-root pieces of it last summer. so far it has not been a problem, we all maneuvered around it and no one has even stumbled. playing soccer in our little back yard, is of course heating up the kids and their spirits were flying high on tuesday evening, no time or even faint thought of having to watch out where one steps.
amos got himself a pretty deep cut in the foot, by stepping on it. we had to consult the doctor, the good man he is, (he didn't send us to the ER), he told us to quickly stop by the practice and he will take a look. of course it was not just a look, he did some thorough cleaning and sending amos home with us with crutches and the very clear order to not go to school, to rest the foot and not put any pressure on it. this is not easy for a 10 year old boy who is jumpy and energetic. though the love for books is of course a big help right now.
this morning i was at the library with thea, we got a good big bag full of treasures.

i also have gotten some sewing done, the weather is hot and humid and plastic is not nice on his skin so i got some fabric scraps and sewed those little covers. he loves them and i'm happy enabling him to go on a bit longer excursions with the crutches.
in all the adventure of this injury, he was wearing his bright yellow t-shirt, which reminded me strongly of the wonderful sunflowers. a happy flower to keep me cheered up and i still feel i'm on the sunny side of life.

week 5 and a bit of history

it's already way into the "grannie square afghan sampler" project, and i love it a lot. i'm drawn to the simplicity of this project so far, just yarn and hook, and some good written squar instructions. i love the fact, that i can't go wrong with colour, just using up all those little balls of wool and yarn from earlier projects. being reminded of what i have been creating in the past couple years makes it even more fun. and i added a bag of leftovers from my mother in law. a nice notion to incorporate family in my work, my mother in law is a pro at handy crafts, be it sewing or knitting, in the house i met my now husband, just about 20 years ago, all the curtains were lace knit ones. beautiful and so exquisite, i still admire her for it. her housewarming gift for us were also lace knit window decorations for our kitchen window. with lots of love and passion. thank you e for all the love and kindness you showed me as your daughter in law.

wie wir leben, christliche gemeinschaft feiern

wir haben unsere christliche gemeinschaft gefeiert, wie jedes jahr im sommer, so auch gestern. viele freunde und familienangehoerige kamen um mit uns zusammen zu sein in unserem garten unter der kastanie. einen kleinen imbiss, spiele und ganz einfach zusammensitzen und geniessen. auch wasser konnte nicht ganz weggelassen werden, da es so heiss war, eine ganz willkommene sache mal etwas nass zu werden...
ich habe ganz einfach das ganze genossen, so viele leute im garten zu haben die uns in unserem projekt  unterstuezen, die uns mutmachen. da ist einfach viel dankbarkeit und freude die in meinem herz behalten moechte. eine solch tiefe und geteilte freude die wir mit diesen menschen teilen.
leben in christlicher gemeinschaft, einander so annehmen und akzeptieren wie wir sind. leben teilen und glaube teilen, wachsen und veraenderung erleben.
solche nachmittage behalte ich fuer mich, denn die tage kommen, an denen ich zweifel habe und mich frage warum wir hier und so leben wie wir eben leben. in jenen momenten ist es gut diese dankbarkeit in erinnerung zu rufen, die freunde im ruecken zu wissen die mich staerken und unterstuetzen in unserem tun und leben als christliche gemeinschaft.

{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.

in my kitchen

yesterday was a busy day in my kitchen lots of cooking, new summer potatoes with parsley and sea salt, broccoli right from the field with cooked eggs and pine nuts, of course some wonderful french dressing goes with that salad. and then the vanilla creme for dinner. of course not just plain, although that would have been received with a loud hurray too, it was for a traditional "goetterspeise" (it's a kind of trifle). we layered biscuits, strawberries, vanilla creme and rhubarb compote and loved it big time. everyone took seconds. i'm sure this dish will come back within a week.
and yes it was a few days of tea in our house. lots of rain and cold winds made me flee to drink tea again.
though i hope this is over soon, which might be already today, we hit mid seventies again and it will get warmer each day for the coming weekend.

and on the main course front, we are eating pasta every day, our friend brought a huge amount of pasta over last sunday evening, after a mountain bike event, where she was providing for the youth racers. she totally over estimated their appetite so we got a wagon load of "al dente" cooked pasta and i'm preparing them in all kinds of fashions, any thinkable sauce is being tried this week...

granny sampler week 3 & 4, plus

here we go i'm hooked, yes i really enjoy this project of the granny sampler and besides the once i show you here. its the week 3 and week 4 squares. i did a few more on my own. i discovered this book (it is also available in german), just perfect to venture out on my own. and as it is a sampler i'm working on i'm sure there is room for such creativity.
i'm already curious about friday's assignment, we will see. i also started to work with different other materials, it's fun and so quick and so exciting to see how the squares appear in my hands.
i kind of put my knitting project aside, it's lace knitting and it just takes so much focus. with the kids in the house there is no way getting anywhere with that project. it will come back i'm sure.

visiting the horses

visiting grandparents is fun, the kids love to take the train to wila and of course as almost all the time the vehicles had to come along. this has it's advantages, i can walk a considerable pace without the kids having to run and get exhausted too quickly, and of course they love their two wheels, be it the little bike for thea or the scooters for the older ones.
and then we can go on walks with grandpa, he loves to go on adventures with the kids, this time we had to visit the filly with it's mother and the two donkeys at home in the same stable.
a lengthy discussion of how horse lips feel to the skin was held. it was the first time for naomi feeding grass to such a big animal. and she was nervous about being bitten, as her hand was small compare to ther horses mouth. i love the nuzzling of the soft lips and the animals were super gentle. what a wonderful experience, we loved it and thea made sure to stay away and watch and comment all the action.

i love that scenery, walking through the saw mill at the edge of town, there is so much to see and the smell of wood is wonderful. naomi brought up a discussion on how to treat wood in order to not catch any splinters. of course grandpa was ready to explain how those bare planks have to be made plane with hard planer and it can even be made smoother when it is sanded. that pleased her, as she is very aware of catching splinters, having them pulled out and then be patient with the healing process.
thank you e & t for the lovely stay at your place.

the ballett weekend

it was a weekend full of ballet, elias was having his two performances and joel was helping back stage at the city theater. it was fun watching the cinderella story being danced by the "dance center winterthur" where elias has been been dancing the past 2 1/2 years was fun. all of the dancers have improved so much. i love the diversity and the fun spirit of the dancers. they seem to absolutely enjoy what they are doing.
it will be elias last performance with the studio as he is going to dance academy starting after summer brake. he is very excited, but also sad to say good by to his teachers, simone and dmitry cheremeteff.
it was such a happy time, for elias and we will see how he moves on from here, clearly wanting to dance every day and all day for the near future.
once more it is letting go of that growing boy of ours. helping him to find ways of living his passion and still keeping some what of a balance in this boys life. leaping further, jumping higher, it is very exciting.

{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.

the project of the past days

and voila, over and done with it, my parents picked the invitations up this afternoon and will send them out tomorrow...

it was a collaborative sort of project we have undertaken over the course of the past few days. i got started with some ideas of vines and the colour green. though it was looking rather sad and instead of cheerful and inviting. and so we discussed mathers over the phone and figured a whole vine with it's fruit dangling. a first draft was drawn and sent to dad to look it over.
it was interesting to hear his comments: "the roots of the vine are all totally burried in the soil, please don't show them, but rather put some grass there." ok easy enough, "one more leave and at the top a reaching shoot, as the vine is yearning to grow", and one last comment, "please add a trellis stick to support the vine." of course there were many clear reasons given, why he wanted those details this way. i'm glad that he appreciates my work and also thinks about it, makes it his own, which very much is what i desired.

and then of course there had to be some colouration and fabric involved, just a little hint of creativity and collage, a bit of my passion for texture. joel was kind enough to give me helpful comments and guide me through some computer programs...

we both, my dad and i are very happy to have the final product in our hands and send them out to family and friends. it is hard work, it takes time, it takes a sense of adventure and putting one self out there. i'm glad i have taken the opportunity to do so and feel blessed and grateful, seeing my father's face light up today as he held the invitations to his birthday party in hand.

transit of venus

joel and amos wanted to get up early and see venus pass the sun, this morning. we did already know last night, that it very likely isn't possible to work out, as the clouds were there all day yesterday and even in the evening the wind was not fully able to move the clouds away. the forecast was not promising either.
so this morning at sunrise they quickly got up to see if the sun was going to be seen...
no luck, back to bed and no fretting. of course it would have been most amazing to see venus pass in front of the sun. that "little dot" makes it's way to be seen in an eclipse again in the year 2117, so we are out of luck.
reading about the the transit of venus made me excited though as said, we were out of luck.

and life goes on

pic's AFP