{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.

crafting in the sun

i have been getting the supercraft kit four times a year, and love it. not that i'm quick in doing the crafts and o now, i usually don't stick super close to the idea. i love the materials and suggestions as well as the freedom it comes with.
and yes it does get me inspired and the crafty juices flowing.
there i was this afternoon, all kids were in school or kindergarten and the weather at it's best for a late august afternoon. i took out the felt craft as i felt like my iced coffee would need a cozy to stay cool, just a moment longer...
cutting felt and punching holes, stitching with yard and loving the touch of it. loving the rhythm of my fingers moving it's so relaxing and that's likely one of the important moments in my day. and as i love activity and people and mostly both together, sometimes i fall into the trap of not recuperating. so here i am and just love the moment.

the next moment: folding the laundry and serving snacks, reading dinner and setting the table, playing games and reading books to my kids....

hummus for dinner

we haven't made hummus for a long time. never mind all of us like it and so i just had to soak a big bag chick peas. as the parsley around my house didn't survive the summer, either to dray in june or it got invaded by ants in july.... i was thankful for the veggie planters in front of the library. it has been a city wide project and we helped to plant tomatoes, borago, parsley and a bunch of calendula. with this in mind, i do once in a while enjoy taking home a bundle of parsley.
and now we will have hummus for dinner with some fresh pita as well as farmers bread, yum!

"summer reading" about the past weeks

this is a long overdue post...
it was a wet rather cold summer, though wonderful sunny days were there too. most of us got a bit of reading done and especially amos had to visit the library frequently. i'm sure you will be able to figure out which stack belongs to each of the kids as well as my stack is there too. thea has been reading and looking at so many picture books that i was not able to keep track and naomi as well as i have been reading to her a lot. and to get a hold of joel's books is really an almost impossible undertaking, that's why that one is missing too.

it has been a while since i have been reading a novel, and i absolutely loved this summer book "in nomine diaboli" it brought me back to the middle ages, the time the councel of constance was held in the years of 1414/15. it became even more real, as i have been visiting constance early in the summer. the sewing book has been a wonderful enjoyment, i was sewing two dresses, the same pattern "G" balloon shaped sundress, from the "girls style book" very pretty and the girls love them.
this a quick recap of our summer reading...

the grain stalks

all started a few weeks ago, when i was running one morning and picked a few stalks of barley. they were added to the bouquet on the table and after that kept in a vase, all dried up, i still treasured them. it was such a good reminder, how gods goodness is providing for us. day in day out, it rains, the sun shines and the wheat and barley is growing to end up on our table in the loaf of bread (ore maybe in the form of past...)

and then as i was preparing the lesson for our sunday school kids this past week, it all came together. i planned to tell them about the bread and how it is made of ground grains. of course it was a quick decision to take those stalks of barley and two rocks to thresh the grains out of the spelt and milled it with a little hand crank mill. the kids loved to see the kernels "jump" out of the stalk and then see how we put them through the milling process. of course tasting the flour was super exciting!
i love the 3-6 year old's, there is enthusiasm for new discoveries and such joy when one can see the change and do it with ones own hands.

i did bring some pita bread for snack. most kids have not had pita as in switzerland we use yeast and are not as used to the middle eastern way of baking flat bread. they loved it and in the next lesson we will be looking at the yeast and what it does with the mix of flour and water, the so called bread dough.

{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 sun is out...

yes finally the sun is out two days in a row...
and there is nothing to hold us back from going outside and enjoying the garden. a friend stopped by with a bucket full of plums, thank you to our dear friend h. it is very refreshing to receive a phone call shortly before lunch, with the question if we could use some plums, and if so, they would be delivered to our house by bike later in the day! of course we love plums and what a service to get them delivered! i also picked some fallen apples from behind the house and nothing could stop me from cooking jam...

the herbs and flowers in the front of the house soak up every bit of sunshine, what a joy to see the rosemary grow and have these pink echinacea purpurea beam at me every time i'm walking out of the house.
and then there has been lots of play going on. thea has become a big "gamer" and it is fun to play with her, not just memory anymore, there are different card games now. for the past few days it has been "kleine fische" a fun game about taking risks, and she loves the risky business. not just when playing games, also on the swing and climbing trees or humans...

up date of the list

it has been good for me to write down what i want to do as well as some hopes what the year will bring. this is the list i posted late in january 2014 and now it's already past the middle of the year, which gets me going. i looked over the list and am realizing, that there are some points i'm on the way of acheaving and others i just plainly skip as they have moved to the back burner or are not even on the horizon anymore. maybe they will come back and prick my conscience again, if not that's fine with me too.

even with a fast and cold summer, the warm and sunny spring did it's miraculous work with the fig tree it bears fruit as it hasn't in the past. 43 figs have been harvested within the past two weeks and there are many more to ripen!
the fig tree has been my daily joy, regardless, rain or shine, nature has been once more my cheerleader this summer.

1. keep giving thanks every day for what i receive and enjoy :: going strong, it has become a daily evening prayer
2. make scrap fabric hearts for valentines :: didn't happen
3. finish the started bed quilt for my friend :: she has been the joyous receiver of it earlier this year
4. finish the golden shawl :: i have not touched it so far
5. renovate the kitchen, a new floor, renovating the table and corner bench, replace the stove :: should happen next week, it did happen in november
6. read a book a month
    :: "the prodigal God" by Timothy Keller
    :: "in Nomine Diaboli" by Monika Kueble, Henri Gerlach
    :: "knitting Rules" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
    :: "the Practice of Spiritual Direction" by William A. Barry, William J. Connolly
    :: "Girls Style book" by Yoshiko Tsukiori
    :: "Bonhoeffer" by Eric Metaxas (working on this one)
    :: a history of the world in 100 objects (absolutely loving it) oct
    :: the practice of the presence of God nov
    :: essential truth of the christian faith (working on that one)nov

7. go for a 2 day hike in the mountains with joel this summer :: we went on a four day tandem tour
8. knit one item a month
    :: a hat for naomi
    :: blue mittens for me
    :: crochet hat for e
    :: cardigan annabelle for naomi

9. get the "lust auf kunst pass" for winterthur :: got it and went to the richter exhibit, the Oskar Reinhart Museum with naomi, the
     Villa Flora with thea and her kindergarten class, there are a hand full more museums in town...

10. run three times a week (5k in the morning) :: yes i'm so proud to say so it has become a habit and i run 6-9km/morning
11. write the birthday letters via snail mail and be creative doing so :: most of the letters yes
12. do a little bit of free modern quilting with lots of white spaces :: not touched this one
13. go to the concert by WOTE in april in zurich :: did so with joel and the boys, very much fun!
14. being calm and loving in conversations with our kids :: trying hard
15. keep on praying regularly in the evenings :: most evenings i do so on my own, on thursday nights with the community
16.  the wardrobe architect idea :: i worked on it a bit, though it's just not my thing
17. look trough my closet of cloths and bring everything i have not been wearing to the second hand shop :: did it once and will
      do again later in the year
18. teach thea how to ski and have the big three kids boarding and skiing :: yes ski vacation was great and successful for all
19. visit the paul klee center in bern :: i went there with my friend, a wonderful building and exhibit
20. help amos transition into a new school in august :: we are in the middle of it and so far he loves it
21. enjoy a long weekend or short vacation with our friends :: the year end retreat will be together with our friends! looking
      forward to it
22. planting flowers on the balcony and around the house :: naomi and i did so, though the rainy summer has been hard on the
      flowers
23. say yes to the kids more often :: still not there
24. try out some linoleum cutting and printing :: not tried yet

and of course there has been a lot going on, our friends from romania were visiting for a week this summer, which has been lots of fun. the whole family was at elias' ballett school performance at the beginning of july.

i will end for the moment, i love life and plum jam will be cooking in 15 minutes!

still green

it has been wet and cold the past four weeks. as the sun came out this morning and the forecast was predicting definitely no rain, i hung the laundry outdoors. and yes i was more than happy about this. i love hanging laundry in the back of the house and being in the garden there, with the tomatoes!
even though some of the plants have "braunfaeule", i still hope they will make it a couple more weeks. one nice plant which is not very affected is a "green zebra" and i'm looking forward to enjoy them. it's a slightly lemony flavored tomato, very refreshing. maybe the weather is getting better for the rest of august and we will be able to enjoy a wonderful warm and sunny late summer!

{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.

going on a bike tour

 it has been in the planning stages for a while now. elias has been promising thea, to take her on a bike tour this summer. of course, biking has been the big summer theme for us, as joel and i started the summer with a tour on the tandem ( #5 on the swiss national bicycle tours).
amos and joel together with a friend of amos' are right now biking #1, from brig to geneva. and so this morning, elias and thea started out early, as the forecast had some more rain on it's radar for later in the morning. they ate breakfast and headed out even before 8am.
what a wonderful coach the big brother is, well lot's of admiration on my part for elias. he checked the tires and helped her to set the gear right. he packed lots of snacks and dry clothes and shouted a few encouraging words and on the road they were.
on the bicycle path from winterthur to wila along the river toess.

i did get a phone call 90 minutes later, they arrived safely and got rained on, but not bad at all. and both were very happy.
tomorrow they will ride back, after a wonderful day with their grandparents and a good nights rest for thea!

{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.

mug cake

of course when i walk around a book shop, i have to spend at least one little moment at the recipe books...
so i did and just could not walk away without this mug cakes book in hand.
it didn't take long upon arriving at home to grab a bowl, two mugs and the few ingredients for a peanut butter-chocolate-chip cake to be mixed up and baked and devoured!
exactly about as long as it has taken you to read through this post. it's super easy, quick and very yummy. elias and myself, we both decided, that we will try a second mug cake for afternoon snack and i'm sure thea will want some for dinner.

the good thing, there are savory recipes in the book too, so no excuse that it would not work for a real dinner!

celebrating switzerland

as it has become a custom in switzerland, on the first of august, the "swiss independence day", and yes we do have an equivalent to the declaration of independence, the "federal charter". we celebrate this day, the 1st of august, with a big brunch in the garden, welcome friends and family and linger and enjoy the day. of course visiting good friends later in the day, grill what ever is determiner as being the delicacy of the day and enjoying their backyard.

we have been talking about fire works for days o better weeks in advance. and now as the day has been past, we all enjoyed a bunch of loud and colourfull "stuff" as well as the far away fire works put on by some of the surrounding towns.
thank you dear friends for celebrating with us.

the 13th

we celebrated the 13th birthday of amos!
wow he is such a big boy, growing into manhood quicker than one can think. lot's of celebrating was taking place, as we started on the evening before his actual birthday, guests coming and many good stories got told, jokes enjoyed and happiness all over. even the smallest cousin came to celebrate with us yesterday afternoon. 5 weeks old is little e.
amos has been enjoying his new room for three days, though the chest of drawers has not seen any clothes being moved into it yet... it has to happen though, as next week, amos is going on a road trip with joel on their bikes...

{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.