{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 knitting girl

i'm so happy for my knitter girls. thank you grandma for gifting her with this yummy wool, most delicious for all sorts of hats and scarfs and the making of it. i really don't want to loos too many words as my cross stitching is in the last few moments and i love it and it has been a good learning experience for me. more when i'm done and  ready to iron it...

crocheting on

naomi's crochet got me all excited too, so i got out a few balls of terry stripes, just for the fun of it, to use the big #12 hook. how wonderful and quick this turns into a trivet of sorts for the tea pot or any yummy soup pot on the dinner table. maybe there is a pillow case going to be, some good textured item will turn up in my house within the next three days, for certain.

and then my friend and neighbor has her birthday today. of course i quickly whipped up a birthday cake, lot's of chocolate and a quick visit to her house in the afternoon. i'm so very thankful for her being my neighbor.

weekending

 

just gone and nothing on the schedule, at my parents, we were over the weekend. how wonderful and relaxing it was. perfect for all of us, to read and crochet, stitch and play. a walk and work in the little snow there was. once more enjoying the breath taking view on sunday afternoon, such a blessing this weekend.
naomi was on a roll crocheting on her hat. she got wonderful wool for her birthday, to fit her new winter coat...

thank you ma and pa for opening your house to us

{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.

bleak and short

by joel

 
the days seem short, especially when there is not one sign of sunshine. late dawn and early dusk, no snow to brighten up the streetscape/landscape. of course there is no slush or wet and dirty snow on the side walks either. but i have to say, i do miss winter to say the least.
when i listen to the news (npr), what i do frequently, i really miss living in the boston area. i miss the snow storms and what they bring with them. here it's just bleak. gray in all kinds of shades, darker and lighter, but grey all over. no snow in the forecast no sunshine either, just under that blanket of clouds overhead.
i was glad naomi went into town this afternoon, together with grandma. the two of them had a wonderful time i do envy her a bit, she went to the yarn store, to pick out wool for crocheting. wonderful and colorful of course it's the artsy girl in the house. now it's up to me to find that crochet hook #8. i have a very nice one and just crossed it's path last week, though now, when we need it it's not to be found!
i have to go and look some more...

still and stitch

i have been making progress, little by little and it's a very nice way to think and just be. i discovered some moments right after lunch, when the kids are either practicing their music instruments or read before they head out to school again. a moment when thea is all wrapped up in listening to a story on tape, that i am quiet and my hands move a bit. not much really, just a few dozen stitches at a time, but it's nice and it's good.

early dusk and ramblings

the long evenings are still prominent, mid january is in the midst of winter, even though there has not been any snow. it doesn't feel like winter here in switzerland, the temperatures are very mild. though the early dusk times are reality and we face long times of crafting, drawing and painting, reading and listening.
thea has been working for many times on this dish towel with fabric pastels, we just ironed it this weekend. she has been listening to lots of globi tapes, listening to many a storybook, told by me or her siblings. and i have been listening to "the boy in the striped pyjamas" by john boyne. i have been wanting to read the book for quiet a while, even had it brought home  from the library at least twice... i'm glad i finally took the time to listen, wonderful narration by Michael Maloney.
lots to think, lots to talk and more to think and reflect.

{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.

more desserts

one more food entry...
we love celebrating birthdays and so we had one more gathering with wonderful desserts. what you see was just the start, more guests arrived and the table was looking wonderful mid afternoon.

the orange salad was my contribution, i love this one, super easy and then you can add a bit of cointreau for the grown ups to spike it up. super delicious and refreshing next to all the chocolate and more sweetness. the dates were cut and cooked in cointreau and rum and are rounding up this salad. sometimes i do this with figs instead, which i personally like better.

this is it, more birthdays by the end of february, though desserts will be served before that date, that is certain.

it rained once today

i have been on a run this morning and loved it. it is not cold for the middle of winter, it has just been wet today. it rained once and that really had me stay inside after the run. i don't mind, i love to bake and cook and stand in the kitchen mixing and making eatable "things". and of course the people living with me, love to eat what ever i come up with.

today it was the biberli, no big magic there, except that i didn't have lebkuchengewuerz in my drawer. what to do? mixing the different spices and some of them, cardamom and anise i even had to grind up in the mortar. and so i ended up with a spice mix which is a bit spicy....
though everyone loved the little biberli with the marzipan core.
a lemon pie was also in the making and for dinnerwe had stuffed potatoes with leek, which turned out to be delicious and no one has turned down such comfort food on this rainy/wintery night.

cupcakes for the 10 year old

time is flying by and i remember so very well the very cold (almost as cold as last week), day in january naomi was born!
it's 10 years ago, that this powerful girl joined our family. we love you naomi! as this past saturday was a bit complicated, we decided to have a small party on friday night and then for breakfast we lit the 10 candles. wow it was bright and warm around the table and she was beaming!
for sunday was the big party, pizza and lots of people and cup cakes for dessert. such a happy crowd and there is to say, the two big brothers were super kind and considered with naomi. a house full of kids is lots of energy to be directed into one direction, so all the bigger ones (there were 3 five and under) the rest went outdoors to play. how am i glad for them to be able to navigate and take the age range and differences of interest and run with it. three split logs to play for an hour and non of them felt excluded, non of them came back to file complaints, all had a very good time to play a variation of hid and seek.

a good bunch of cousins we have and a big thank you to my sister and her husband for coming to visit with the whole family including foster kids, we love you all.

{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.

more ramblings and the code

i was rambling a bit about the deco on our living room table yesterday. now today it's our kitchen table...
it's winter though not really feeling like winter at all. just today we observed how one farmer near by was plowing his field (last year there was cabbage planted. i'm so super curious what will be the next crop.
though back to the kitchen, the advents wreath has long gone and for a while we used up the lasting candles. and then? i do need candles on the table in this dark time of year, but what else? as i was putting back the first christmas decoration, i found those felt trees, i made them a few years back and still like them. so they got taken out and the little cats got added, why a donkey too? don't know, that's just what i ended up liking on my display and so it is.

after a yummy afternoon snack, the girls took out their "home work", thea is super eager to work on her "code". it's great to see how she is progressing and getting quickly better on handling the pencils. so much fun to be part of a young childs learning experience, once more i love watching her and helping her along.

some leftovers

christmas is over, the time inbetween is over, epiphany is over, why leave the stars on the table runner?
i don't know. we got most of our decorations for the festive time of advent and christmas as well as epiphany cleaned up, and still i could not help but felt like i wanted to keep the ornamental stars on the table. hang on and linger for a moment longer. keeping the memories awake of the past few weeks. dreaming on a bit longer into the new year. so there they are on our living room table runner, with some tree-ornaments and then i grabbed a few pieces of driftwood from the past vacation week we spent in italy. what is it, hanging on to last year?
i decided that it's really no big deal, just loving to have some pretty things around me, some nature in the house and yes it is pleasing to my eyes. i'm not too much of a melancholic person, what's past is past and it was nice or maybe not so wonderful, though we move on, take the good with us and leave the bad behind. i try to keep improving and learning and there is of course some analyzing going on too in my mind. processing and changing some every day doings. trying to stay flexible and improve what has not worked well in the past. though i'm also not really thinking and planning too much of goals to be achieved more writing lists and developing ideas which seem to evolve in the every day doing.
maybe that's why i want to keep some "old" things, reminders, ideas, shapes on the table runner. feeling like they are pointers, strong points of reference. well that is a bit a strong word, though pondering and developing has interesting starting points and that it is, i guess, i felt like keeping the stars within my view to be reminded that they are kind of in my reach. not just have been up there in the sky, but still are and wanting to jump and leap and keep going.

stitching in the sunshine

a week ago, i started a x-stitch project and it was tedious to get it all set up and figure it out. there is to say, i have never done cross stitching in the past, so of course it's to be expected starting out a new craft! so i did, try this and that and use the thread double and triple and after many a undo and redo i'm glad i started and going happily on with it.

i did plan something different for this afternoon, though a friend called me right after lunch, she was sick and asked if her 4 year old could come over. of course our little friend was invited and the two of us enjoyed a wonderful afternoon, reading, stitching, puzzling, going for a walk in the beautiful sunshine. much different from most parts of the us, we enjoy a super mild week with feelings of spring in the air. though i'm sure and i do hope, winter will come and it should get cold and snowy at least once this season! but for now, i gladly soak it all up and love it.

dreikoenigskuchen

it's the 6th of january, epiphany we call this day. and we celebrate it each and every year with a "dreikoenigskuchen", a sweet bread though is shaped into rolls and formed around one bigger roll. topped with sugar and in one of the rolls is a little "king", the one who finds the "king" in it's roll is the king or queen of the day.
last night, naomi made the dough and i formed it it was all freshly baked this morning and tasted great. of course i was on edge who would be king/queen of the day. and a big guessing game was going on at breakfast, which roll each one wanted to eat and hoping for the big find!

Elias got it and proudly crowned himself. a good morning, a good start into the day, the first day of school in this new year we call 2014! everyone left the house, be it for school, catching the train to go to work or kindergarten. and i went for a run after, after having started the first load of dirty laundry. a good start, as the sun was rising and i was able to sit down at mid day and soak up all the warmth and brightness there was to have, lets keep it that way.

{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.