{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 tower

and yup this post is of today's outing, biking up to the eschenberg tower and kind of running up the stairs. -thinking of mark-

tha party in the garden

we had a wonderful 'neighbor-party" in our garden. over 80 people coming together at a sunny evening. bringing dishes from all over the world to celebrate and enjoy our friendships and ravel in the love God has for his people. it was a wonderful evening and it really strengthened my passion in our german conversation group. it's sometimes hard to carve out every wednesday morning, to gather and teach and pay close attention to the spoken word of the people attending the conversation group. i much rather would just enjoy and just plainly go on talking and interacting. though we do have the idea and try to focus on it, to help the ladies coming to the group, to improve their german language skills. as well as help them understand our culture, as we are trying to understand theirs and are so richly blessed by getting to know all those unique persons. all of them having left their motherland behind and because of this or that reason, and on this or that way arrived in our little corner of the world.
it is a blessing and i want to share my joys and my life with them too.

longer evenings

the longer evenings are a wonderful gift. it is especially the kids who take advantage of the daylight after 8pm. the ping pong table is being pulled out regularly now a days and very quickly a couple people will be found to play and enjoy the event.
i'm not a big ping pong player, though the kids add daily to their skill. they have gotten pretty good at it and of course with the improved ability, the playing is becoming more fun every night.
we also have a few neighbors who like to play, and so the party is growing each night the table is out. i'm really looking forward to the summer nights, when cold drinks will become part of the game and the chairs are being pulled out, as it is still a bit chilly right now. for sure a wonderful summer is laying in the wait.

at the water

we did not have big plans for yesterday's afternoon. take it as it evolves and so we ended up planning a little trip to the river toess. not far from our house, just about a 20 minute bike ride over across the little crest and down to the river bend. upon planning friends called and also joined us, this has turned out super nice. the kids loved the idea of having a few more hands to help with the digging and swimming. the shovels and pick ax was a fun plus, not to get sore finger tips while rerouting some of the water and reshaping a little island. naomi our water lover was in the water before i even could dip my feet!
and o my, was that water cold, she and her friends didn't mind...

i had to take my little summer project along, the "hexagon english paper piecing". i really enjoy it more and more and bringing it along, to sit out in the sunshine at the river was perfect. my hands where busy while i was enjoying a wonderful time with a our friends. thank d

{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.

@ Villa Flora

 

such a lovely treat, going to villa flora with theas kindergarden class. we got to visit the wonderful garden with all it's lush green shrubs and trees and yes a few peonies were in bloom. so pretty and exciting to do this iwth all the kids. the museum pedagogues did a wonderful job, we focused on "patterns". finding patterns "in the villa" as well as in the garden, hanna hanloser was even stenceling her own wall papers. and had a lot of wonderful artist friends like bonnard, van gogh, or valloton, the kids are so easily taking a liking and enjoyment for art. so natural for those kindergardeners to get all excited and start their own little collections in the garden. anything long and thin... anything round..... etc
and then we hatched lots of different kinds of surfaces. how wonderful to discover all those pattern in nature. the barks of different trees, cobble stone paths, door stoops, wooden frames and beams and so much more.

and then i made the great discovery... i had to go to the bathroom and what did i spot! the original calendar of the year 1898, with wonderful paintings on it and perfect writing of all the months and days with their saints names, lovely. (i had to take this photo), a little keep sake to have the picture of the gorgeous poppy, which is already in bloom in garden too!

buecher - bohnen-baumspinat

our city has been celebrating it's 750 years of "stadtrecht", it's a wonderful year of events and activities we are busy attending some and were over joyed to see our library take part in the winterthur nachhaltig project with doing some gardening in the front of the building. of course we had to bring some of our seedlings! cherry tomatoes and calendula it was and of course the librarian was overjoyed to greet us and the girls so excited to plant our seedlings. we will see what's going to happen and stop by frequently for watering (good thing the fountain is very close by).
and naturally we checked out books, garden books, hiking in the swiss alps books, a big book about world maps with all kinds of facts, "a sailing boat in the sky" had to come home with us, and an arabic-german picture book....

and then arriving home in our garden, the books "tossed" in the corner and just wanting to sip our cold fruit smoothies. since a few days now, more like two weeks or so, i'm in smoothie mood. there have been the spinach kind and since then carrot and beet and more than not a mix with fruit (the kids prefer those.....). today the contents were blueberries, one whole lemon, carrots, kiwi and apple cider. yummy!

english paper piecing

for a while already, i have been looking into paper piecing. there are so many ideas out there, like this one and many more... though after a bit of debating, i decided to do some english paper piecing first of all. this is a fun board to get the idea. and now i'm all excited about using up my scraps and sewing all over the place. i'm not bound to my machine ore even an indoor place or what ever. it feels very free and excitingly new to me.

so for the weekend away, i packed a little box with fabric scraps, thread, needle paper and a hexagon master. within a couple hours of sitting and talking, and the help of my mother in law (she was cutting hexagons), i was making so much progress and it was just fun to see how the puzzling works out.

of course many little hands where helping and moving the pieces around, trying to make patterns and and suggestions on how to whip-stitch them together. i have fallen in love and a next hand full of scraps are already on hand.

weekending

we had an exciting weekend, staying at a little group home out in the country. and doing so with extended family. we all were excited and looking forward to it. a quick train ride with some luggage and lot's of energy emerging after a regular, or better said a loaded school week.

wonderful walking and enjoying the late spring. all is green and so many  shrubs are still in bloom, daisies and wild columbine. the farmers were busy cutting the grass for hay and the bees busy flying back and forth. there was some house construction going on too....

and of course we had a good - jolly time grilling and and eating together, celebrating and being.

{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 the garden

there is really not much about my garden, just a two straw bales and a bucket with potatoes. the leeks i have planted in the winter, and they have grown somewhat over the past weeks. i hope within a month or so we will be able to harvest them, though as the leafs are in now, the bales are not getting full sun until the sun is high up on the sky. thea's potatoes have been growing nicely i'm full excitement in regards to a hand full early harvest. the girl can almost not wait... on tuesday i also put 4 broccoli plants into the soil, and since then the rain has been good, soaking the straw (which is in it's second season). i kind of figured, that the not good harvest last year, was partly the snails and the other reason me not watering enough.

in the front of the house are a bunch of pots with sweet peas, a climbing variety, lets hope for some good growth and climbing on the banister with beautiful flowers and then it will be snack time.

on the table and more

mid may and the dandelions are mostly gone, the farmers have long cut the first grass. the canola has already past it's full bloom and most shrubs have their leafs out and blooming is over. the peonies in the gardens are almost out (the ones on this photo are from the market) and i could not resist to buy two plants today. i have been puzzling over the two plants i have in the front of the house, though they have not have had been blooming over the past years. and as i purchased the two new plants, i asked the gardener what it could be about my two bushes. they are thin and don't look very strong at all.

and here we go, the guess of the knowledgeable gardener: they have been planted to deep, peonies have to be planted very shallow beneath the surface.

as it is raining right now, i will undertake the replanting of the two old ones and the planting of the new plants as soon as there is a dry moment in the coming days.

the one week jumper

so there has been this book on my desk, for a while now. i love it, the design of it's self as well as the patterns and ideas for sewing projects. and last tuesday i embraced the jumper project. it was the first time i had to draw my own pattern. of course there are instructions, though they didn't come so clear across to me. so it was  a bit of challenge to get started with it all. and it helped me, to take an existing jumper to look at, just to make sure i was not totally off. cutting the fabric is fun every time i do it, i like the kick i get by cutting into a nice big yardage of fine cotton.

and here it is, the one week jumper and it is super comfortable to wear. though i have already to answer the question of "are you pregnant" no, i'm not it's just a jumper and i love to wear it as i feel free in it and with the warmer temperatures coming, i'm certain, i will love it even more.

and then just last saturday i had a certain urge to bring the garden into the house...
a wonderful sage garden i have no on the living room table.

{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.

(it's a beet'n berry smoothy)

spinach-smoothie for lunch

 that spring green is catching the better half of me, i can't let go! a bag of fresh cut spinach in the fridge has challenged me this morning. what to do with it? soup, no we had soup last night. sauteed with onions, no the kids are not too fond of this method either. creamed, this is not what i like very much. tossed with a bunch of other leafs, i hear already all the complaining of "this is hurting my teeth". what else is to do with spinach?
and that's how i figured, we will try something super challenging, a smoothy!
i did not tell them what i juiced and what will be the super poison they will have to drink for lunch. it worked, lots of curiosity about that green drink. is it kiwi? leeks? avocado? spinach?

amos the super taster got it right. and all liked it, we will make this again!

ingredients::
- spinach
- banana
- orange juice (apple juice)

calling it the spring quilt

this one has been in the works for a long time. on and off for about two years and a good sprint in the past couple weeks, i enjoyed the work and how it has come together within the past few weeks. the front is pieced together with lots of scraps from my sewing past, that does make it once more special in regards, that i see stories in this quilt as well as being reminded of being pregnant with thea (that long dress i liked), the girls dresses, and all kinds of other quilts from the past.

i like the different greys and simplicity of the back. a few simple blocks placed at random, i did originally not intending to use them for this quilt. and then all of a sudden, i was leaping into the adventure of taking what i have and sew it together to the backing of the "spring quilt". and there it is, the little house i'm sewing those little houses onto my handmade items. it's very simple and not just marks the "home made" which is plenty, as my quilt will be given to my childhood friend. she knows me well enough, there is no name needed.

and there i am, one more quilt over my arms standing in the garden at an early morning, before heading out to see my friend. and together we are going to see the the journey to tunesia at the zentrum paul klee.

 all photos by joel

the yellow of canola

there is something magical about canola fields. so yellow so wonderfully strong  colour, i absolutely love it and so we went for a short walk (the girl was riding). i took it all in already in the earlier morning hours and it was wonderful, so i had to go back and know i will go back a few more times to see the canola in bloom.
i remember over twenty years ago, sitting on a train with joel, riding through the countryside of switzerland and having a big debate how blue the canola fields are.... silly i think now, silly! i was even thinking back then, and again i get a little chuckle thinking back.

i'm tempted to run to the fabric store for yellow all kinds of shades and some green with it. though i'm not going to share this cool link with you, all about colour play! i could almost not stop playing around...