{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.

got tickets and candle dipping

so here we go, the first show we will see from Taz, the school elias is studying ballet. ballettwerkstatt-pas de deux at the "theater der kuenste"
i'm glad i was able to reserve tickets via the phone and didn't have to run outside, its super yucky. cold wet snow, very heavy and bleak. there has not been a bit of a ray of sun today. though hope is up that we will see some sunshine over the weekend. and instead we light candles and i'm tempted to light a fire in the fire place too...

we have been candle dipping next door, and oh what excitement it was, especially amos has caught the bug and is doing all kinds of advanced decorations.

waiting for dinner

naomi was visiting the grandparents and came home with her own "cookie-adventscalendar". she must have been baking all afternoon with the wonderful grandma. of course the stars had to be strung and made ready for the first of advent to come, yes it will be saturday, this saturday already! there is a sense of getting ready for the wonderful exciting time of advent to come in the air. each child has also had in some way a project to prepare for their advents-calendars in school.
naomi's class will be opening windows with each of them containing a drawing or painting of one of the kids. the window panels are all so beautifully decorated and each of the windows has a unique shape chosen by the child making it.
amos has not given away what his class is doing...
elias' class has chosen to come up with the idea of casting lots and each child will be making little presents to one other child.
for myself, i'm in the middle of wrapping the little presents we will have in our advents-calendar pockets. we are keeping with our old calendar, just new little presents for all the family member to enjoy.
and yes thea has gotten her own advents-star, by her godmother. i'm so glad there are friends stopping by and visiting on such a bleak afternoon as today, sipping on a cup of hot tea and enjoying her company, even reading some books together. thea savored all of it and i guess that's how it should be.
the later afternoons are long, even after the visitors left, there was over an hour before we would be sitting down for dinner. and i'm so very glad, that not just running and stomping and chasing has been chosen as an activity, but sitting and playing an "elfer raus" a wonderful alternative for all of us.

the many scraps coming togehter

so here we go, i have been sewing a bit lately. it was a rewarding experience using up lots of scrap pieces now and then putting in a new piece. some of it from a pack i used mostly for the sweet's quilt some from naomi's top, way back when i was sewing a cover for our kitchen machine and then there is that african fabric.... i have been in possession for over 18 years, it had served so many purposes from room divider to piano backing and parts of it have been coming along on our road trip three years ago, when we drove across the us in our beloved shasta. so i'm very happy to share my sewing adventures with the very best friend i have, who has kept up with me for the past 26 years or so. we have not seen us very frequently once or twice a year, but we kept up writing, since we got out of high school we have been writing each other once a week...
thank you a.


sorry the cup cake is not for you, joel and i have already eaten it. though the friendship with you is as sweet and rich as a cup cake.

waiting

a quick trip into the city and then of course waiting for the bus at a temporary bus stop. it's super exciting and the morning light was interesting. i realized once more how much i enjoy the city landscape with all it's lines and stretching out reaching out across the finder in my camera.
we will be back in the city i'm sure. though sometimes it's hard to keep one eye on thea as she wanders as i'm caught up looking through the finder. o well this was a little moment and i will take any little moment to focus and enjoy and take it all in. sometimes it's good having to wait for the bus for 8 minutes...

{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.

a bit of thanksgiving

yup, it's the third year we are not celebrating thanksgiving anymore... why? o well we moved back to our homeland of switzerland and i just don't find the leisure and a good and fair turkey to put into the oven...
we do celebrate it in a tiny way, this year it's pumpkin pie for afternoon snack or late dinner, what ever suits the folks of the house best. i love the memories of thanksgiving dinners, as well as the cooking of,at our house or our friends house at greenstreet...
maybe some day i will be up for a full swing menue and big house full of family and friends to, as for now i keep the memory up front and savor those moment's, still.

fuer meine deutschsprachigen leserinnen, hier ist ein kleiner fakt zum schmunzeln, zum "truthantag" tag.

golden glows in november

there is a lot of bleakness around us in november, barren trees and barren fields, though some gold is still glowing. i take it and keep it and remember it when dusk is early. sitting and knitting on my golden shawl will be just the thing to do. i have not touched the project in 6 months and i decided to overcome that fear of not anymore knowing how to go about the pattern.

and there is lot's of sewing going on in the late afternoon hours, i'm making some progress and it is even more exciting to sew as i have decided on a recipient of the project... more later
as for today, there should be a quick trip to landi for a leaf rake, grains for the chickens and then at 4pm the piano tuner will arrive. we have been waiting for 3 weeks now to let the piano get used to it's new environment, o it's so exciting and i'm so happy for my two piano playing men to be able to enjoy their music making again. of course the girls have been doing some playing too, when ever the fancy struck.
and for all of you who celebrate thanksgiving, enjoy your circle of friends around a wonderful spread of delicious baked and cooked foods! i'm thankful having some very special thanksgiving memories in my heart.

a walk and all it's wonders

going on a walk through the woods, finding the magic place called "moss-huegeli", building gnome forts and throwing the "ideal" spear as far as possible. having hiding competitions all along and tug of war with the rope one of us just could not leave at home... lot's of talking among friends and nature lovers. lot's of sharing be it one's secret hiding spot or deep feelings. there is really so much enjoyment, so much growing and watching the growth spurt going on. and in all this realizing, we really don't have to travel far, we just go for a walk in the near woods.
the kids were not super excited when we left the house, but soon some big games were played and everyone got involved with their enthusiasm. even me... i'm usually not the one running, though i'm walking along and watch and get involved when the moment strikes. helping thea through a thicket of brambles, rescuing her when stuck in the muck or lending a hand to a balancing girl when it gets slippery. this is life and we love it.

the last photo is a special for the ones who have visited us and know the castle kyburg, yes it is the kyburg right there in the middle. so please come back and visit again, i'm sure we will run through woods and visit castles once more....

gingerbread all week long

there has been lots of ginger bread dough kneading going on over the course of the past week. lot's of excitement and many helping hands have been involved. a week a go, we were decorating little ginger bread houses at sunday school, as we have been working on the story of "the wise and the foolish builder".
we had two little houses left for my kids to decorate, amos, naomi and thea had so much fun with the house, and as soon as the decorating was done, one had to be brought over to our neighbors, as the girls felt very strongly that the girls next door would be so happy to look at and eat their decorated ginger bread house. the one amos decorated was eaten by ourselves and amos best friends, which came over on thursday afternoon.
and so we had to go on with more baking and this time elias made a set of plans for a churchbuilding with a steeple. and this time we also wanted to try making some "stained glass windows" with hard candy. even the church mouse "pipsi" had to be made and right away moved into the building.
this time we made all the gingerbread panes and went for a visit to our friends house. all the decoration in the bags, even eggwhite and powdered sugar to make the "glue". so finally yesterday afternoon we put the church together and decorated. it was super exciting and everyone got involved and lots of ideas were put together in that one church. and after dusk the bike light got put into the building and we all were delighted about the colourfull windows.

being together and building together was exciting, eating together will be the purpose of our next visit at our friends. it is sharing our life's, building community, working on relationships and growing closer to each other.
i am so very blessed with family and friends. living life, i know has not to be lived in haste and hurry, but with family and friends in community and led by scripture. yes indeed it is good to commune together and grow in patience and love and not just build on ginger bread houses but also build on community with our focus on christ.

{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.

coco and candles

there has been a candle dipping afternoon for the boys. this is an every year returning big deal in our neighborhood. for four days the community center is set up for candle dipping. young and old go and enjoy the candle making, so did amos and his friends. of course naomi wanted to go too, but was not allowed....
she just broke out with chicken pox and for the next few days she will have to stay at home. just the "informed" can come and visit, but they do and that's wonderful. instead of going to the "dipping hall" i got her a block of wax and together with her friend they melt and make little candle boats. the nutshells have been collected over the course of last year and i quickly ran over to the hall to get some wicks. we improvised on the wicks bottoms, the tee light candle wicks have that aluminum bottom. ours didn't so we cut a little bit of card board and this served the girls well to hold the wick's up in the little boats.
after the boys got back we all enjoyed a cup of hot coco and one of the yummy ginger bread houses we have been working on yesterday afternoon. there will be more on our ginger bread endeavor soon to come.

winterize the fig tree

in our front yard we have a fig tree, it suffered greatly last winter, when we had such a long super cold period in february. after clipping off the dead branches it grew happily and produced a lot of figs. though just three fruits were able to ripen. never the less it seems as the tree is healthy and i would so very much like to get it safe and "cozy" through the coming winter. this the reason to get some straw and burlap all wrapped, tuck the branches a bit together and bundle it up. we are getting ready for the cooler time of year. we are lighting candles for afternoon tea and as the bundled up fig tree, i start to bundle up myself and thea when we quickly go for a bike ride, or a walk.

yellow::leafs and lot's of them

are around me, all around the house, the neighborhood and i love them. especially when for a moment the sun is quickly appearing and some rays are floating through the gold still left up there on the trees.
there have been lots of happy moments yesterday with thea's birthday guests, lot's of laughter and phone calls, lot's of happy birthday singing, and of course she absolutely loved it to be the center of attention. the new skirt is being worn with different tops. there is lot's of twirling and whirling going on and very so often she disappears and is not being heard of for a while... i have discovered her with a new book, sitting still and studying it intently. for certain there is lot's of learning going on, it is such a wonderful gift a four year old in our house, the wondrous little person keeping us all in awe and often surprises us with a great joke which we all not understand but precisely because of it have to laugh out lout and love the golden moments.

november birthday

our little girl turns four today! happy birthday thea

o we do all remember when she was born, so quickly so happily and surrounded by all of the family, community folks and friends. such a special moment and we are celebrating her fourth year and give thanks to God for his gift which he entrusted to us. there is so much life in this girl, there is a lot of witt and will facing us. we love you thea and are looking forward to all the adventures you take us along with.
a bit of the little girl here here and here...

{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 advents suit case

a couple weeks back while i was shopping i stumbled upon a set of little suit cases. they looked like they would endure being handled by kids for a a good while and i had already a little girl in mind for whom i would paint the fill one box. so there i was at home with the suit cases and the paint brush in hand. of course it was fun to get some rainbow happiness onto the case. to make the colour last a bit longer i put two coats of gloss acrylic gel over the paint.
and then there were many hands helping me to wrap 24 little advents presents and load them into the wonderful advents case. it's already in the mail, on it's way across the atlantic to our little friend.
what an exciting project for all of us and remembering back when we had an aunt and an uncle sending an advents calendar for many a year, to open little presents. i specifically remember one year, when the calendar was a long red velvet ribbon with 24 big wallnut shells being glued on (front and back of the ribbon, each one half of the whole shell) and in each shell there was something very tiny, very special. i do hope that this suit case full of little presents, all little pointers toward christmas will cause lots of joy and expectation to celebrate the birth of our savior jesus christ.