{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.

my fliepie

all of a sudden i just had to pick up the crochet hook and get to work...
i was taken by surprise when i leafed through a "molly makes" magazine. i don't even know which issue it was, as i got it from our local library and they get it in late as it is a german version... (sorry no link to the issue). and lucky me, having some yarn in the bins which fit quiet well. it was a bit thicker as described in the pattern, so my fliepie turned out on the larger side. fine with me. it looks lovely in our back yard, just where it's supposed to be, under the birch trees.

fun to make and a very quick project, i will do some more of this little crochet mushrooms and found a wonderful, inspirational picture.
this much for my doings this week in season autumn season.

digging in

such a lovely late autumn afternoon has to be good for some gardening!
i have not had the time to dig in the bulbs. not that i was in a hurry, much more was i eager to engage the girls in this part of the gardening work.
but it didn't happen, i could not excite them for some digging and planting, they had their own plans. naomi went to the woods with some friends to make a fire. of course such things are much more exciting and i love it, when she is feeling all up for adventurous projects out of the house. and of course, thea was not into it either, her friends have been at the child care center just behind our house. they are all her best friends. when she is riding her bike at the paved gym grounds, where the big kids play basket ball in the evenings, they cheer for her and also invite her to play on their side of the fence in the sand pit. it's fun to watch them. as sometimes thea is standing at the fence for hours and is observing them. i'm not sure anymore who is in the better position, the kids behind the fence taken care of by educated child care workers or thea on her own, clinging to the fence to be close to them, but has the freedom to leave when ever she wants....

so instead of being helped by the girls, i made friends with a wonderfully big earthen friend. and yes i told it how much i do appreciate the work it does for the soil and so for me too.

"hafenkran"

it has been a long story about the "hafenkran" in zurich. o our landlocked country has been wanting to be a seafaring people... though no way zurich is on the sea! there is lake zurich and the river limmat, of course and lots of sailing and boating and swimming going on, but that was not enough.....

so we got some artists to figure out, how we could get the feeling of a harbor into our city. and what did they come up with? right a "hafenkran" from hamburg. now zurich has it's own big honking installation in the middle of the city at the banks of the limmat. it has been an exciting few moments, when the workers from hamburg came with the flat beds from the north to bring the crane broken down in many parts. i was not there when they installed it but for them, it must have been an odd feeling to put such a crane together, when we all knew, that there will be not ships coming to be unloaded or loaded...

so today, i was in the big city and had my sandwich lunch next to the hafenkran, funny feel. there was also a bit of a feel of homesickness... i have not been to boston for very long, not that i have been hanging out at the boston harbor a lot, but still there is that "fernweh" sneaking up on me, what to do?

maybe, closing my eyes and instead of the big gulls, i pretended the small gulls "honking" was the real thing!

the last

it is late autumn, morning fog and moist air are the dominant features as i start my days.
after an early rise, a big hubub in the kitchen. before seven our family is sitting around the table for a healthy and nutritious breakfast, as well as to feed our souls. the daily bible readings are such natural and and nourishing start into everyone's day. as well as asking for god's blessings to be with everyone. o i'm grounded and strengthened by the short prayers our younger ones are saying.

right now we read through proverbs, sometimes a bit of a challenge. oh my all the verses talking about the sluggard and the folly. though of course then there are the sweet as honey verses and in all of them is so much truth and wisdom. it's a blessing and we often have discussions about particular situations in our own lives.
it will take us one or two more weeks to finish up this book, so i feel like i can also say "the last" verses are approaching... as out of doors, the last berries are calling out to the birds and squirrels!

{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.

fruit leather

i have been given 1kg of quince, we love quince jelly as well as fruit leather. quince is kind of a treasured fruit by me, though also a bit challenging to get the work done. the fruit is very hard to cut and after cooking (15 minutes in the pressure cooker) i put it through the food mill. never the less it still had lot's of little "stones" in it... so then i pushed it through the kitchen sieve.
to my delight it kept it's color very well and so on to the next step, adding sugar and cooking, stirring, cooking for quiet a long while.

we made quince fruit leather 4 years ago, so i had a general idea, how to go about it. spreading the mass thin on two cookie sheets and let them dry for 3-4 days. the fun part, was the cutting and rolling the leather up with sandwich paper. they will serve well for yummy snacks, taking along to school.

the birds

it really was exciting to experience the big birds at the falconeria of locarno. we didn't even know of this place until we checked in at the campground office last week. just super interesting and such an adventurous presentation of those birds, the whole family was at awe.
elias with the camera in hand (of course not just the little one, but the big honking "car" of a lens), he took many pictures, i just show a few of them here. with so much grace, those birds flew over our heads, just over and over again. the owls cut it super close and almost touched our heads. the vultures are just super big, and cool naked heads they present, wow!

the smallest was the hawk pilgrim, though they were able to show him off in his speedy approach, i have not seen birds of prey, so close and still in such a natural habitat. look at that uhu...

in the valle verzasca

we spent last week in the south of switzerland, camping in a camper, enjoying the wonderful landscape and some warm and sunny weather. yes it was raining a lot on sunday and monday, especially during the nights. and yes it was wonderful to be sure the camper didn't leak. we were able to enjoy the force of nature, the pounding of the big raindrops, the strong winds and thunderstorms. we did go on a long bus ride on monday and enjoyed a great view of many water falls. there were many more as usually seen in the maggia valley, as i sad spectacular.
most of the photos on this post were from the walk in the verzasca valley. on wednesday we took the bus to brione and walked for a good 4hours along the river verzasca. a wonderful path along this wild river and we had to cross some water falls, where usually it's dry, though this past week there was water flowing ankle deep!
lots of adventures, discovering the art along the path was super cool. and parts of the path were a bit more challenging in regards to the terrain, though as it has been late in the season, or i would say after season, we were almost on our own. perfect to see natures carving, as well as human made bridges!

the ponte dei salti da lavertezzo:

my day

after a week away and a long day at the stoparmut-umwelt conference, i was so happy to just sit in our garden and celebrate with everyone showing up. first my parents, and of course that was exciting, as they have been in brazil, working at a childrens home for the past two weeks. and my mom's birthday was mid week too. so lots to celebrate and talk and laugh and just be together.
a funny thing happen, it was my "turquoise birthday"! i was given a wonderful turquoise book "eine geschichte der welt in 100 objekten". naomi was sewing a quilty little place mat. all on her own, and a wonderful color combination! a wonderfully soft knit cotton hand towel and then a birthday card with a turquoise bicycle on it! thank you to my girlfriends, who care for me and my family just being there to celebrate. oh, how do i love company and some yummy meal, dessert or what ever else!

and you know what, that was not the end, late night, there came a couple friends over to share their time with me. thank you taking the moment and stopping by my kitchen.

the brown around us

there is brown in brown, lighter and darker shades of plain and fallow colors around me. it's sad and though still enjoyable to me. texture is giving the surrounding more and more it's character. be it the barren branches of the apple trees, an old and very stinging looking thistle at the way side or the plowed and readied field, which is by now already planted again with seeds. i love the change, especially around the fields be it grass or barren soil. the process of harvesting, plowing and sowing is wonderful.
the running helps in all this, i feel much more connected again, since i'm out there at least 3 times a week. not just looking out the window and knowing it's raining, sunny or windy. but being exposed and loving the wind in my face (not so much the rain..), but feeling close to where i belong.

we are headed south on a little family vacation, so much for this week.

{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.

packing the veggie baskets

the three younger kids and i went to talheim to the farm where we get our weekly vegetable basket from. though for right now, the farm is not producing much, the coop buys from local farmers and a hand full of volunteers a packing the basket each thursday morning. it's a great way to get the kids involved, if not in verggiegardening, then at least in packing and knowing where our meals come from.
we had a lovely morning, a nice instructor helping us along, as we packed over 120 baskets. butternut squash, red bell peppers, chilli, italian lettuce, potatoes, onions, kale and sweet corn. an extravagant basket it is this week, there is so much and i'm looking forward to soup and casseroles!


of course a quick brake with some home made mint-lemon tea was a great treat. thank you to the kitchen of the "holzlabor".

and yes those wonderful free ranging mangalitsa pigs (on the second photo, taken by naomi), they belong to the farm too and everyone loves them. it was super exciting to watch them enjoy the digging and running in their pasture. such a wholesome place to take the kids for work and enjoyment.

red october

a walk in the neighborhood and lots of red is looking at me. it will be seen and i love to see all the red leafs and berries. even the crab apple is by now very dark red, as it has been a light red with orange tones just a week ago.
maybe that's what i like so much in october, the changing of color. as the air gets cooler nature "warms up", a delightful change of scene is happening.
my morning runs are almost like a visit at an art studio, where a painter is working on a big canvas. as one works with oil paints, it is wonderful to keep working over a longer time span and change the painting again and again. so it is with nature, right now is a very intense change going on, and until a certain point (which will be soon) the color is improving and getting more intense.

though there will be the moment, when everything is going to turn and change once more, it will be quick. the first frost will be the initiator, not one cold spill has been here and there is non in the forecast. fine with me, i love long warm octobers.

up at "clouds"

for a while now, amos had a standing invitation to naomi. taking her out to bistro clouds in zurich for a chocolate melange.
finally, today was the day to go and he took us along too. thank you amos this was very kind and we all enjoyed it.

what a place, the prime tower in the big city. right there at the train station, and the bistro is up on the 35th floor of the tower. it was a good day to go up there, the view was very nice and clear for an autumn day. not sunny but we did see, far across lake zurich, the glarus alps. and then of course the train station of zurich right underneath, fantastic to watch the trains run in and out it all seemed like a model. not just the view but also the drinks were enjoyed by all and we had fun.
it's october vacation after all and we are enjoying the leisure mornings and different programs in the afternoon. a good start into this week was yesterdays house chores, lots of laundry and some cleaning there will be an other task morning on thursday, as the three younger kids and me are going to pack the veggie-baskets on the farm where we have get our share. and guests for lunch on friday as well as joel is going to play music a chollerhalle on friday and an other pub on saturday night.
yup, lots of exciting things happening this week, including some bulb planting and brush cutting, as the garden has to be cleaned up at some point this fall. but for today, it was all very little tasks, and a lot of yummyness for all.