{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 itsy bitsy project

i have a little project on my desk...
my scrap bag comes in handy as i'm working on a big pile of "name cards" all the same name all different kinds of fabrics. i love to get rid of the tiny itsy bitsy scraps without just throwing them out.
i'm not giving away all of it, you do have to wait a few more days until it's all done and ready. until then, i'm having a good time with it, i'm a bit curious my self, as i love adjusting and changing and twisting things along the way.

and the even smaller ones are again loved by thea. she got herself a mat, paper, scissors and glue. lots and lots of glue is being used as that is the essential ingredients for her project!

a loop with camera in hand

all photos by naomi

this afternoon, naomi was asking for the camera. she has not done this very often and it felt fine to hand her the camera...

so here is a little result of her loop around the house. it's fun to see what she was focusing on, a little bit of her world. of course there are new sights to be discovered for me. like the surprise of photos taken in the garage...
though thea's bike with it's new mounted stand was bringing a big smile to my face. there has been lots of talking and lots of thinking and pondering and many a phone call to a certain special god father. and here we are, after a visit at thea's god father over the weekend, having taken the little red bike along on the train, through zurich the stand is mounted and the bike back in our garage, standing by itself! thank you god father.

i will naomi ask again to take photos, she got a lot of pleasure out of it and i did so too. maybe we can come up with some sort of creative assignments. let's just say, the camera is a wonderful "thing".

market day :: and lonely

i have been to the market regularly and thea has come with me, every week or most weeks. the two of us had a routine:
loading the trailer, riding and then parking the bike in front of the library. then thea usually got really excited and wanting to walk "on the line" down steinberggasse. that was not usually an easy undertaking, as lots of people walked by the produce and flower stands. though by this summer she managed well, just standing still until people passed by and then walking on, on "the line" (which was a special granite among cobble stone pavement).

today i went on my own, i did feel like i wanted to go and just keep to the routine of getting fresh produce at the city's weekly market. first i had to park at a different spot then i there was no trailer, and so no girl to wait for, no one wanting to follow "the line". i was a bit earlier than usual, as i left the house when thea left to go to kindergarten. too many things were different, uncommon, i felt lost an in the midst of all the happy people enjoying the wonderful bounty of tomatoes and cucumbers, flowers and what ever else is in season, i was uneasy and could hardly make up my mind for what i set out to do.

i will keep going to the market, keep developing a new routine and find my way on tuesday mornings on my own. it will be new and lonely for a few more weeks, though i will manage.
thea is feeling at home at her kindergarten, loves to go and comes home happy. wanting to tell me all her stories before lunch starts and the good thing about that, she comes home just about 10 minutes before the others come home to sit down and eat. a new routine, a new treasure is developing and i love it.

klaraepfel to process

a friend was stopping by with a big load of fresh apples, it's the kind you have to eat/process quickly as they turn  mealy. so i took care of them quickly, lots of apple sauce and then today the second batch was made into marmalade.
one batch got mixed with a hand full of nectarines. not a lot of people were at home over the weekend, so the fruit didn't get eaten and needed to be eaten or as i did processed. the second batch was paired with figs, and now the apple marmalade is already put away on a shelf in the basement.

it was wonderful to sit under our chestnut tree and pair the fruit, it smelled wonderful in our kitchen soon after and now we all look forward to the opening of the first jar, i bet it will be soon...

{this moment}

by joel




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.

two kinds of pies or should i call them tarts

lot's of different kinds of pie's lately. all kinds of variations in regards to ingredients, tomatoes, corn, zucchini is in almost every kind. once with bacon bits, once with cheese sprinkled over, an other time with more and then again with fewer eggs. it seems like the family does love them and mostly served with lettuce makes a wonderful dinner.

and then there is a second kind, the sweet kind, even more loved by the kids. this one is from fresh italian prunes. one of my favorites i have to admit. i love any kind of fruit tart especially with lots of ground hazelnuts on the bottom. any shade of red is in season, as i noticed when i served the pizza for lunch, yummy tomatoes and bell peppers are coming in.
our cherry tomatoes are not yet in full swing, as they sit in a rather shady spot (but i just have no better place, they need to be shielded from the rain, switzerland is not italy....)

any ideas for summer pies/tarts, what's on your table?

doing it together :: musikfestwochen

the last item on our summer vacation list was "dining out"
here we are, we took the opportunity of the winterthurer musikfestwochen on a lush evening to have dinner (the grown ups enjoyed a wonderful italian dish from el tipico's at the krichplatz. the kids wanted fries and coke! of course we can serve you this once this summer, no worries here. and lot's of room for ice creme was the word on the street.
and we all enjoyed the cool dessert from "teekult", they serve a wonderful selection, and you know what, i found once again a chocolat chilli ice creme! (it's not just jp licks.... as much as i still miss the coffee shop from my old life in the new world ;)

and yes the music was just wonderful, we didn't particularly go to listen to a certain band. it was something we wanted to do together as a family and it is local, right there a 15 minute bike ride from our door step. and the music is all free! so what better to do, as to just launch and go, even if one of us had a bit of a rough start heading out. it just got better by the minute and the mighty oaks excited all of us, maybe it will stick for a while. the kids also loved the experience of life music out doors. we will do it again, maybe we should take advantage of the festival still going on this week...

the "kindergarten dress"

here we go, first day of kindergarten for thea, she was so very happy to go and didn't mind the rain at all. maybe even liked it, as she got to wear her boots and the "plastic coat". every time as soon as there is some sort of rain, even just a drizzle, the "plastic coat" has to be worn and i just smile. of course it is the correct name for such a coat, though i would never have thought of naming a raincoat "plastic coat"!

coming home, being even happier and so very proud to show me the notes her teacher has written and handed me some "parent information" pages...
my happiness was, that thea loves her "kindergarten-dress". i struck me on friday afternoon, that i didn't sew her a new dress for this summer. and of course the occasion of going to kindergarten is a big one, calling for a new dress. there i was, pondering and thinking and realizing, that the "crossover pinafor" should be a super quick and sweet one to do.
so i got out the pattern i used in may for a 6 month old and adapted it a bit. today thea wears her new kindergarten dress, fabric she chose from my closet and the two of us are one big happiness.

{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.

flowers in my days

this totally missed the spot in the past three days posts and i don't want to skip it.
lovely flowers all over those mountain meadows, just glorious and so fantastic. i carried the flowers to all the different meal tables and loved them every time. there is something to it, being on vacation and experiencing a different environment and being able to soak it up at any moment with just a glance is perfect.

back at home i collected a bouquet of flowers, some even dry ones or past their peak, from the street side or the next to the railroad tracks. i love them too and it's wonderful to find beauty in what ever crosses my path. a gift i'm thankful for, as it makes many a day even better.

the view at last and good times

lots of wonderful moments we enjoyed in the house. though of course many whistle moments not just indoors but also right in front of the house. we love joel's music making, the kids didn't want to bring their instruments, it took me a moment, though i respectet their wish. lots of singing too, thea found a great illustrated song book, which she requested to be singing from at many a moment.
an other thing was playing board and card games, we did get some rain, which put us around the table, near the wooden stove and we played many rounds of "7 ate 9" as well as "incognito".

the cozy living-eating-room was just so perfect. wonderful cooking on the wooden stove to make roesti, amos was definitely the chef this week besides my mom. even cooking tea water was fun and making a fire became naomi's passion this week. living so closely together is sometimes a bit of a challenge, though important to us. once more i felt encouraged to live a close knit family life, talking, discussing, even fighting for something can be fruitful and it is deepening our relationships. it's helping one more and more to understand the other and one self. of course it is not easy at all times, there are many not so loving interactions. but that's life and we will learn to master it together. as we enjoy a late night glass of wine with appetizers...

we went up high to do some climbing, a good adventure for us as a family (thea stayed at the house with my parents). naomi was definitely the bravest in regards to trust her gear.
let's do it again next summer, as we did last summer, it seems like a good tradition which we all enjoy.

the last evening was just the best scenic one. a beautiful sky, such special light, no word's really.
that's how we will keep it in our minds and leave it for the moment at least.

thank you my family for coming along and life with me the low tech week!
and thank you for joel for the many good photos he made...

the view weather and fun

just in front of the house was a wonderful meadow to hunt for grasshoppers the largest and most interesting find was the "warzenbeisser". of course it was exciting to catch and observe and just be at awe how all those creatures navigate and hop...
an other big sport was bong ball, just finding the paddles and a fitting ball was enough to get the boys going, the game was being played all week long with lots of enthusiasm, tournaments and of course just plain fun was the deal.

there was lots of little walks, just wandering around a bit. finding flowers exciting spots in brooks with lots of water right after the rain. elias and joel were not to stop from having fun and many an interesting discussion.

right next to the house was a brook too. it lent itself perfectly for damming and playing. many an hour was spent in the water, blisters on hands and feet, though they were not a big deal, playing was too much fun. once there was such a nice dame and behind a good sized pool elias and joel could not resist a quick and refreshing bath!