{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.

tonic :: the fire water

i have been healthy so far and that is good. parts of it want make a steady running schedule responsible for it... well that might be a good part of it. going out side and push my body to work out is definitely a healthy habit. i'm up to 20-25km per week, doing two shorter runs and one longer, sometimes i'm out four times a week. though i have to say, i'm glad i went out yesterday afternoon when it was slightly sunny. absolutely much better as if i would have gone today, out to run in slushy plowed to the side snow...
but now to the other thing, i'm convinced it will help me to stay healthy. i have heard and seen and tasted this kind of "fire water" as i call the tonic, but forgotten about all of it. until a week ago i stumbled across it on a healthy living blog.
there was no holding back, i had to start a good portion of this tonic and so it is all grated and soaking in apple vinegar for the next 10 days.

the recipe calls for ginger, horseradish, garlic, onion, red hot peppers and turmeric (that the latter picture, i absolutely love the color of the turmeric!), all chopped up and put into a jar, fill it up with apple vinegar and let it steep in the fridge.

the straining and "drinking", it will be more a brave moment of taking a spoon full.... will start in a week.

in and out

it snowed a bit over night (i know not as much as in the new england area..... and i envy you guys!) well at least some snow. thea loved to go out early and leisurely wander to her kindergarten. of course it was super fun to look for all kinds of interesting foot prints as well as other prints!
everything was wonderful, even more as the sun came out. lots of different kinds of light was happening. every time i looked out the window and stepped outside it was different.

as for the indoors, i got some coffee going and read the news paper. prepped for german conversation class, as i'm leading the lesson tomorrow. it's an interesting topic "school/homework", and i'm sure we will have a good round of discussions how it works at each ones home.
coffee on the stove, cookies on hand and after visiting the library a good stack of helpful books on hand, let me get back to come up with a lesson plan. as the mind map has gone a bit out of hand...

doodling and boarding

we spent the weekend at my parents, just to help us a bit with the "do nothing", or "do what you want" and not all the nigg nagg around the house i or any other person of the family "has to do". and it was good for all of us. lots of talking and discussing, many laughs and some good crafting got hold of us. there was cooking and eating together, as well as some good chunks of time spent reading.
i took along the winter supercraft kit and we had fun stamping and doodling. it's not often i sit down and just doodle. and doing so with the girls was really fun.

as it was snowing a bit over night, the lift at the nollen was running on sunday afternoon. we were really hoping for this, so all were happy. the big three kids went and stayed all afternoon, even though it's a short little lift, it was perfect for the first time this season, to get acquainted with their boards and skis. thea enjoyed a bit of sledding and that was also just fine, even though she really wanted to ski too.
she had to wait, we all will be skiing in two weeks. as our one week stay is coming close, the snow is getting better and that is just what we need.

{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.

geranium in the making

it's time for a new dress...
thea stated it clearly and so we are on to a little sewing adventure. the geranium pattern by "made by rae"
i know there is still naomi's dress which needs button holes and buttons, and then there was a bit of selvage sewing last week. yes lot's of little bits which want to be tidied up at some point. but starting a new dress seemed right for this thursday afternoon!

thea was quick to pick a bright fabric with bugs on it. well that's fine and i had enough yardage, so lets do it. the lining of the bodice is a very fine yellow quilting cotton, that should be perfect on the skin.
it's still winter, so i didn't mind, that she chose a heavy cotton. we will take into account for a thin long arm shirt under the dress. or maybe she prefers to wear a cardigan over... we will see.
i'm not done yet and the bodice has to be made a bit wider i realized, when she was trying it on after kindergarten.
though i liked the double needle to finish the all the skirt seams, and it's a quick strong seams. blue fabric with yellow thread, fun!

in the snow :: standing steady

it snowed, and the snow even accumulated on saturday night, so we didn't know anything better to do, then to go out and totally absolutely soaked it all up. so much fun, so much excitement and being together with friends was great. we didn't have a lot of the precious white this winter, the quicker we have to run out there when the opportunity lends itself.

i'm not a big sledder, though i love to watch. stand by and just watch. be there until my feet are almost falling off. and this time, there were so many kids and adults around, that we could carry many a discussion. be it about the sledding technique or what we are having for afternoon snack. even some picture taking discussions and of course some deep and moving ones too. thank you for coming out there my friends, it served me well. after the roller coaster of last week, this really put me on steady ground again.


and this picture, i really like. so much for me!

{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.

today

 
well, there is a sick child in the house and she needs lots of tender loving care. fine with me and all of us. she has a bad cough and her eyes are so small, all of us are just super gentle with her. a moment to go for a run, a moment to take a picture, many moments to drink tee with the girl!

january hike

it's on my list to go on hikes with naomi this year. i'm excited to spend some time outdoors together with her and discover places.
this past saturday we went on our first little tour. she decided to leave kind of early, as she wanted to be back by mid day. taking the train at 7:30am as it was still dark and riding back to turbenthal was a nice start into our adventure. shortly before 8am we started walking, still kind of dark as the day dawned. we took the route up the hutzikertobel, a wonderful valley path toward schauenberg. it's one of the highest points in the area, and still i have not been there, until saturday. the weather was exciting, very windy and sunny, clouds racing across the sky. just perfect, almost a bit too warm for a january day. never the less we even climbed on the ruins of the tower/castle of schauenberg, it's just plain magic to think of the people having inhabited some kind of tower in the early 13th century.

after a cup of hot tea we headed downward toward the fahrenbach tobel and elgg. lots of fun and fast we walked into the late morning. we decided to still walk down the magic fahrenbach tobel, even though it was not recomended. the reason was, that the heavy snow and high winds took down many big trees. naomi and i decided, that we will be climbing those trunks and we were rewarded with just such mighty fallen trees, that we usually don't see (except standing in the woods). lots of them were uprooted, and yes it was a bit sad too, to see them fallen across the creek and also braking the pathways and little bridges. for us, it will be a hike to remember.

turning 11 on the 11th

yes our girl turned 11 yesterday and we had a wonderful afternoon party with lots of family and friends over. super yummy desserts, great conversations and of course a big round of tichu. naomi took well care to set the table a day ahead. making little hearts from wax (old candle stumps) and finding some wonderful ivy behind our house, it turned out as a nice center piece on the freshly ironed white table cloth (it's a white linen from my grandfathers sister, with monogram), just so perfect.
i love seeing her growing up and enjoying what she does. putting o so much attention to details. and she is a people loving person, organizing her party, making phone calls to be sure the grandparents will be attending. as well as inviting a wonderful family friend as we met her at church yesterday morning.

of course the afternoon party went on into the evening and after all the celebrating, she was so set to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies for her class to enjoy on monday morning.
it turned out to be a little trickier as both of us expected. though she was very happily coming home for lunch today and letting me know, "all the kids loved the cookies".
o yes how good for her, to be celebrated on her birthday! just digging up her 4th birthday celebration here, and it's wonderful how she is still such a happy girl.

by the way, it's a carrot cake with candied carrots, which i have tried out for the first time, and it was a success, beside the orange-fig salad and an orange tiramisu as well as grandmama bringing some puffy dough pastry! all so good, i'm so very grateful for all the people helping to make her day a happy one.

{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.

taking down :: having fun

it's past epiphanias or as we say "three kings day", and so we are taking down the christmas tree. thea wanted to help with all the candle holders and decorations and so we packed everything up together. the box dance was part of it, as the big storage box lent itself well to "put on" and whirl around the living room! lots of fun to watch too...
all is stored, with the loss of one blue glass ball, which by the way was my inadequate handling. and the bare tree is now in the garden, soon there will be some bird feeding grease balls hanging on it and maybe a popcorn garland, as those decorations are perfect for the outdoors and easy enough for the birds to enjoy or at the end bring to the compost or burn up...
more celebrating is awaiting us, as naomi's birthday is coming up and then soon thereafter grandpa's, with joel's not long in the future. it's a good time of year, never a dull moment. even as it is wintery and still some snow on the ground. i do hope for more, as it is very pretty and a change after all the warm fall we had and no snow until after christmas.

paix :: amour :: simplicite

this year too, we spent the few days "in-between" at doncamillo in montmirail. a good and peaceful, rich time of simple being, praying and playing together.
it is this mural, peace, love, simplicity, which catch my attention. they are written above an arch way going down the stairs to the small chapel. my eyes are fixed by those words every time i step down those stairs. and even more, i caught myself, as i was just wandering down those stairs to simply look up and be still. it is such a strong call, such a powerful sight, i'm fixated by it. reading the words over and over again, looking at them and breathing them. this is how i want to live and breath and be. how i want to be as a wife, a mother, a follower of christ.

words i want to pay attention, want to be intentional about.

about pompons

of course pompon making is not any magic and doesn't use super powers. and still i got the winter supercraft kit in december and was excited. the pompon making technique has been new to me and is super easy and fun. just carry a few balls of wool and start winding the wool around a fork, tie it all up, take the "ribbon" from the fork, cut it and you are done. we were vacationing with friends and had a lot of fun turning the guest house lobby into a pompon manufacture.
i also took a crochet hook along and that helped some of us to get excited about crocheted balls. fun and enjoyment, at the end, lots of happy girls, being so very proud of their making.
a good start into the new year, this excites me and i take it as a promise of whats to come...

my list for 2015

i'm early this year, at least that's how i feel about my list for 2015.
there is so much i would want to do and enjoy, as the year has just started there are ideas which have been on my mind for decades and others have just joined the list. a good mix and nothing is really chiseled in stone, it's all fluid and i'm planning to enjoy reading through my list. of course this list helps me to spice up the every day and get energized once in a while, when i remember that there is a list. it is not something which is occupying a big space in my brain. it's there and for many days, weeks or even months i don't even spend a moment remembering it.
for fun for the love of lists, i guess, that's what it is for me, and maybe that's why i want to start the list with the "task" to sit down and be still...

1. sit down a moment a day with a cup of tea
2. learning to play the ukulele
3. quilt the long ago sandwiched granny square lap quilt
4. knit a leksak for thea and maybe one for myself...
5. finish the golden shawl (i started three years ago)
6. some more free form art stitching for little frames
7. run 25 plus kilometers a week
8. doodle and do little drawing exercises a couple times a week
9. sew a pair of pajamas for each child with brushed cotton
10. go on a two or three day hike with joel
11. do cross country skiing during winter brake
12. work through the book "sehen lernen", by cora banek and use it while taking pictures
13. read a book a month
14. try out linoleum printing
15. practice some story telling with the kids and hand puppets
16. sit in the sun for moments at a time, when ever possible
17. say more yes to the kids
18. have one on one time with each child more often (especially the older ones, when it has to be planned and it doesn't just happen)
19. go out for dinner with friends
20. support the kids in their adventures, even if i'm not seeing the reason or goal as clear as they do
21. practice the daily eucharisteo
22. going on saturday hikes with naomi regularly
23. inviting joel for a dinner out with good friends
24. work through my closet and give away what ever i have not been wearing in the past 12 months
25. think twice about shopping new clothes, even if i go to the second hand shop
26. write birthday letters the old fashioned way, by snail mail

{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.