{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.

to be happy

it was last week, when i needed to bring catkin home from the woods. i love those bare branches with just a little silver hair showing.

on my morning run i was looking around and of course instead of seeing the catkin, i first saw all kinds of other things. and as it happens mostli litter! i ended up with a plastic bag, which i found, filled with 5 cans, 1 cd including cover, a card board box which at one time contained popsicles, two morek plastic bags and a magazine. it all was collected within 50 feet of a trash bin! well, just as i wanted to pick up two more cans (i did pick them up) i was spying a wonderful big branch laying on the ground, it was a catkin branch. this is how i was blessed with the pretty branches now standing in a vase on our kitchen table.

when such "incidents" happen, then i'm just very thankful.

and within a week now, the catkin is in full bloom! i added three dark red frinshed tulips to the bouquet, and it brings me spring joy each and every morning i come down to set the table for breakfast.

the mini grill

there were a few hours on hand where amos and his kollegue didn't know what to do. looking through make magazine is allways a very inspirational thing, so, that's what we sent them to do. come up with a project you want to make. with the emphazise on make and wanting to be crafty.
quickly they found this fun yakitori grill, joel encouraged them to take the challenge and got the boys going with  a material list as well as figureing out what kind of tools were needed as well.
big tin cans were found in our garage. so it turned into an upcicling project, which made me smile...
the onlz new think we had to buy, was a pair of rivet pliers, at the local hardware store and some new metall sawing blades.
everything was prepared, and then the project stalled...
it was put aside for a while, but then two weeks later it got picked up again on a saturday. a sunny afternoon and joel had time to work with amos. it was fun, a bit loud while the sawing went on. the grill is now done, but the skewers still need to be made, though it will happen and spring is bringing warmer weather alongside, so i'm sure i will be served some wonderful grilled dinner some day soon!

taking photos

by joel

now and than joel is taking the camera into his hands. well what can i say, he is very good at taking pictures, very thoughfull and precise. there is lots of adjustments and clicking going on. all super patient and focused.
it is fun to watch him and sometimes i'm just not patient enough to keep watching and waiting until all his settings are the way he want's it. but once in a while i'm even bracing myself to ask him a few questions in the hopes i can learn from him and improve my photography skills.
i got a photography book for christmas. now and then i'm looking at it and even read how the photos have been taken. it's a nice book and easy to put into practice waht's beeing discussed for each picture. "sehen lernen" by banek & banek

and this one, i think turned out just very nice, our cat, maunz looking out the window. there were a few more, some of them one could see the whiskers, well i chose this one. the shiloutte was what i liked best.

{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 is yellow

just for the yellow springflowers which pop up all over, i wanted to have a yellow day as it`s spring and i love yellow. the crocus are out for a while and every day more easter bells are peaking out at me. it´s reallz lovely and the passers by enjoy them too. a free wednesday afternoon, free to sit in the sun and be still. go for a walk and breath the wonderful spring sent, though we have had it very dry so far, and i´m looking forward to rain, a good spring rain will produce some mud which is one more fun moment to get dirty in the garden.
on my front stairs are a few pots filled with soil from last year. i just stuck a few sweet peas into the soil and now there needs to be regular watering. the hope is high, to be harvesting sweet peas this summer right there and then, while chatting with my neighbors...
o spring, we love you and it will just get better from here on!

a quick lunch

well i just had to show you todays lunch. of course it was a super quick creation, a 15 minute thinking and looking into the fridge. not really well planned but panned out well.
as i was at naomi´s school from 8 to 10, followed by a orthodontist visit with naomi and a trip to the restessbar fridge. before we got home we had to quickly walk through the city, just for the fun of it. it´s not an every day event, that i´m in the city with my big girl.
so we made it home just in time to boil some water and throw in some chinese noodles. the little hen started laying again, so this is the egg from yesterday. pickled beets from last november and there was a half pized tom (cheese) waiting to be eaten, i fried it along the eggs. and added a hand full of allium ursinum, a spring green.

"pofta buna"

i even was thinking of taking a picture...

our sunday walk

it's not a regular thing for us to go on sunday afternoon walks. but yesterday we did, and it was very pretty. lots of memories came to the surface, as it was the same walk, which we did over 5 years ago, upon returning to switzerland.
it's the woods south of winterthur, called eschenberg-wald. the paths i usually run 4 to 4 times a week. but it's so different walking with the family. not all of us came along and elias rode his unicycle...
it's spring and there were just a few patches of snow left. i was the only one wearing thin gloves, as i'm not willing to be cold, if i can prevent it. of course we climbed the tower at the top of the hill, the view was not very far, but never the less grand, to look down onto the tree tops.

walking back we also spotted the four sequoia trees, big and tall trees as we have seen them at sequoia national park. no they are not as tall and not really as big as the once on the west coast, but never the less impressive and it's good to be reminded of the age and the way the trees grow and have been growing for so many years. and they will be growing far beyond my short life span! there is just that wonderful beauty when i'm surrounded by trees, that makes me a bit sentimental. and full of admiration, how wonderful creation is made (for me to enjoy).

all photos, by joel

{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.

work in the spring sun

i'm really excited to hang laundry in the garden, it's so pleasant. not just the hanging is much more fun, but the folding is also taking place outdoors and the laundry will be smelling of spring breeze! i guess with the next laundry i will wash all our bed sheets and it will be super nice to go to bed in the evening, that's what i really want to do! though there is monday for that one.

right now, a little walk and enjoying lunch on the balcony in the front of the house, as well as sitting in the sun to just be and sunbathe!

and yes you see it, we still have the christmas tree, though all bare, but it's still standing there in our garden...

my green zebras

this year i really want to be on time! unlike the past years, i harvested some of my own green zebra tomato seeds. and yes i put them into the seeding soil just today, and now i'm hoping and wondering for the next couple days. in addition i also got a package of hanging tomato plants seeds from "stadt-tomaten", a really cool grass roots organization promoting urban gardening with an emphasize on "pro specia rara" seeds.
and then still had some space on the tray for a few flowers and broad leaved basil which i will end up planting into pots around the house.
so lets hope the seed germinate nicely and i will have a good gardening year.

weekending

 

it was an absolute leisure weekend, spring was all around us, the temperatures climbed almost into the 50is and the sun was strong. so much warmth and brightness it was perfect to recharge and i enjoyed every moment of it. at the local florist, i could buy a bunch of "home grown" tulips, grown in hoop houses. thea picked those frilly ones for grandma. i liked them too, and they certainly are enjoyable and long lasting if treated with care.
lots of little walks as thea was requesting me to come along and she really is a good walker as well as riding her vehicle. there was a breath taking view toward the mountains all day long, they are still snow covered and reflected the sun which was so special in the evenings. yes taking all that in and keeping it for this coming days, where i have a lot on my plate. though never the less, spring keeps on pressing, soon the first spring flowers will be out , the green sprigs are peaking!

{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.

spring is in the air

the first snowdrops are already out and shining bright and white on our lawn behind the house. it's wonderful and i love those first signs of spring. it's all over now, the afternoons are warmer and the days are longer.
already when we get up at 6:30am it's not pitch black anymore and yes it's light outside until after 6pm. such a treat, after a long dark winter. of course i'm thinking of all my friends in the new england area, they are still deep deep under the snow. and i have to say as much as i understand there complaining and telling how they are tired by all the snow for the past 6 weeks. i'm jealous, yes i am. i absolutely would love such big masses of snow, and you know how much more the kids would love it!
i know it's not just the snow they got tired of, it's also the bitter cold, and that one, just keep it over there!

i love the seasons and those snowdrops let my heart spring for spring!

good night

i spotted the wonderful moon tonight and called joel to take a picture, as i'm just not as able as he is, in this kind of taking pictures. he ended up with a couple dozen or so, and we both felt like this one turned out nice. there was one more which we considered, but it was "only" the moon on it and the structures of the moon where not super clear... lets say good night then to this moon.

paper pompon

a sheet of pink japan paper was sitting on my desk for a while, with the crafty idea of "how to make a paper pompon". i just couldn't get that pretty pink paper out of the way, through the winter months there is just not enough color around. so the pink was the perfect contrast colorful spot on my desk.
the one part which was exposed to the sun, was already fading, though to make a pompon, that really doesn't matter.
what better to do with a moment and that paper on hand. yes i quickly grabbed it, layered it nicely and cut big circles out of it. stitching them together smack dab in the middle, no i didn't measure and that's fine.
third step: do those cut's, just about 10 times or so toward the middle. then ruffle them.
and done is my pink pompon.
now, it's sitting on my desk, ready for the next birthday present to be wrapped and decorated. it's all the times good to have a little stash of decorations...