soup and bloom

so far, this april has been really good to us and provided many sunny days. there was really not much mud and rain boot time. maybe even not enough...
the kids have been out of doors a lot and come up with their spring soup anyway regardless of the circumstances. one morning there was lots of chopping and cutting and stewing going on in the front of the house. of course i had to try their soup. not bad at all, though i could have done without the charcol taste, but what do i know about the taste of spring soup...


and then up in the air it has been a pretty too. the poplar tree behind the house has been in bloom for over a week, and i'm surprised that it still is, after the heavy rain two days ago. it makes me so happy and lifts my spirits high. o how nature is such a pretty thing. it's all around me and i'm thankful to be able to notice and take that much pleasure in it.

by now, even the apple tree is in bloom, not a heavy laden as last year, but i treasure each and every blossom.

fliegen

we went to the puppet place in town, called the waaghaus. a wonderful place to see little and big plays with all kinds of puppets and ideas being interpreted very creatively.
thea has been with her kindergarten class a couple months ago and a while back i went with thea to see a whole series called "minimum"
an audience of kids and grown ups, all watching and listening to a good story. absolutely fixed on the wonderful puppets, this time a mouse, which wanted to fly, as the crow was teasing her... a frog leaping big leaps and showing the mouse "how he can fly" and the snail watching all of it. well of course there was much more to the storyline, and the two puppet players did such a wonderful job telling us the story, time was just flying by.

the puppet players really know their art and it's great how the kids could interact with the puppets after the play, of course that was super exciting.
for us, a wonderful wednesday afternoon together with theas friend, which has been at a show for the first time, and really liked it too.

{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.

sitting and sunning

a wonderful spring afternoon out sitting under a little tree, while thea is playing soccer with her friend and a big group of 6 year olds...
naomi decided to come along and keep me company. i really appreciated this and we got to chat and laugh and play and totally enjoy the lovely afternoon. snacking some apples and chocolate bars, water and juice. my plan fell through, i wanted to read but we kept talking, and so i doodled away on a blank page of wonderful paper...

sitting and sunning my feet! that's really what i have been doing all afternoon. after a 10k morning run and a longish bike ride with joel yesterday afternoon, this is really what i appreciated. meanwhile three loads of laundry dried on the fresh spring air...

the good food

there has been lots of good food on our dinner table lately. it's spring and new greens are plenty to be served in salads and soups and appetizers for hungry kids as well as grown ups...
the first picture shows a recipe from gale gand's  brunch book, just wonderful and super easy to do. everyone liked those eggs and we had it for a quick lunch with rice and a tossed salad.

the second picture is sundays lunch. the boys cooked pasta as well as grilled the meat over the fire in our backyard. lots of fun. i added a tossed salad with radishes to it. o yes and amos also cooked a tomato sauce (that one on the stove top). it was lots of excitement to make a fire and then use it.

well the third one shows the ingredients for our salmon soup. dry vermouth, lemon zest and juice, half and half, pepper, cut fresh basil, salt and fresh salmon. wonderful, very tasty and super quick to prepare. this one is from the "suppen kochbuch"

at 7:38am

finally the big day approached quicker than expected!
the boys realized, on sunday night, the weather forecast would be superb for this week but miserable for next week... the boards quickly had to get the grip tape on yesterday and off they were. with lots of enthusiasm, all ready to kick their longboards the 60km starting at olten. i'm so super curious about how these two guys are going to fend with the muscle aches, with the heat and camping, and what ever else they will encounter.

wish you well boys!

springtime :: sunshine

a weekend full of sunshine, full of warmth and time in the back yard. of course my knitting is not really seasonally required, but i'm happily knitting on my leg warmers, as i'm sure there will be cool evenings still to come. and the wool is just so nice and yummy to knit. it would have been a straight knitting pattern, but i added a little braid pattern to it. straight forward is fine with me, but it really gets super easy and then even boring. so this is why i added a little braid to it. the knitting was started before we went onto our berlin trip, it was great to have it along. keeping my hands busy while sitting with my dear people talking and laughing was just good. it's the second leg now and it should be done soon...

the kids are on vacation now, spring is so very real and we all love it. elias is going on his little long-board tour tomorrow with his school friend. originally they were planning to go next week, but the weather forecast is just dull and cold for next week. so they hop on their boards tomorrow morning until thursday. their packs are packed, sleeping bags, bivy and toothbrush...

{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 little garden

 

since november, i have a little garden in the front of the house. it's a raised bed which i got from the city's library. last year there was an urban gardening project in winterthur, and i really liked it. in particular "my" boxes in front of the library though the local library branch decided, that it was too much work for them, so they got rid of the boxes. to my advantage, as i was able to get on for myself!

i already planted bulbs before the first snow arrived. and it is really exciting to see them grow and bloom now. last week i got some lettuce and planted it also into the box, and today i decided to put some carrot seeds into the soil. it is just a little space and will not feed the whole family, but it is a bit of "feel good" vegetable production, beside the pure fun of it all.

then, there are the high school kids walking by in the morning, at noontime and again in the afternoon.... maybe it's wishful thinking, but i hope they are noticing what's going on under their noses. of course the girls love it and i do hope so much, that thea will one "steel" a carrot on her way to kindergarten in early summer! that would be just so perfect.

all photos by naomi

out and about

we went on a little hike this afternoon, just thea and me. it was perfect spring weather, already very warm, as we are still at the beginning of april. the spring flowers are all in full bloom, the little creeks and ponds are filled with water and just so inviting to jump in and wade in the ankle deep water.
lots of little flowers cover the banks of those waters running on the side of the path we took today. it was a path well known to me, as it's one i ran more than once a week over the past month. this was the initial motivation, as i was so excited to see spring to unroll all it's pretty grasses and flowers, i wanted to share this all with thea.

so as i asked her today at lunch, if she would be up for an adventure, she didn't hesitate. she loves to walk and even hike and if would carry the backpack with some treats, there is definitely a big smile and a loud yes, lets go!

it has been a long while, since i went with one child alone onto a bit of a "puddle stomper" experience, the more i enjoyed each and every minute of it. and so did she.

keep going boys

the longboards are being sanded and have been put on the first coat of varnish. i'm glad elias and his collegue are working and loving the whole process of making their own longboards. there have not been to many big obstacles to overcome, their plans have been panning out very well. sanding though has been going on for very long, they both love to smoothen the corners and surface, i can't  believe it. i would never have put in so much work, that is, that i do like clear corners and lines, it seems the boys love round and even rounder...


foto by jörn

{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.

"nüsslisalat" soup

 it's called nüsslisalat - lambs lettuce, and i love to eat it, as the name says an appetizer or also just as a rich salad. never have i been thinking of cooking the lettuce into soup. but why not, we cook bock joy and all other greens into warm dishes too. and so i came about, when i was leafing through a newer soup recipe book, this one to be precise. it's a really nice one and the two chefs presenting their kitchen are very special, a few weeks back our news paper was even carrying a a story.
i found the book in the library and had to take it home immediately. and it turned out to be an interesting one. a few more weeks, a few more soups on the table.
though for yesterday we had guests. i did promise them over 6 months ago, that i would serve soup and bread. though now it's spring and the sun already kind of "warmish", so i had to get creative. the most obvious would have been some type of wild garlic soup. the leafs are shooting up all over the forest floor, but then again, i wanted to be a bit more creative.
thanks to this soup book, i found what i wanted and it seemed easy enough to get started.

a quick and wonderful dinner was cooked up and everyone liked it. the white wine added a nice flavor and freshness to it. i would serve it again in no time. yummy.

1st week of april

it's spring, really spring, with lots of water in the creeks and rivers. still cold mornings, and even freezing nights. my friend underestimated the temperature and all her tomatoe, zucchini and cucumber seedlings died over night in her hot house. it's more like a hoop house, not heated, but still closed up. my tomato seedlings are still in the living room, doing well and staying alive!
the days are getting warm and will stay sunny for the next few days, hurray!

we go for walks, i love the morning runs with still frost on the ground but warm sun beams greeting me!
that's life for me, at least the bright side. we are involved and figureing out how to help the kids with their projects and "construction sites" called school, or music, or relationships, or what ever else life brings along this spring. i'm glad non of us has been really sick this winter, at least for me, it must have been the wonderful fire water (master tonic) i made and drank every day, the second half of winter...

and now i enjoy all the bulbs i planted last fall, it's exciting to find out, that there is color and green and life in my little green or so far also brown spaces around the house.
and i'm planning summer, there are some special plans in the making for naomi. bur first is spring season.

our good friday tradition

 

i know this is late, but still i wanted to share our egg coloring afternoon hours which we enjoyed at my parents on good friday afternoon.

it is a tradition and non of us wanted to let good friday pass by, without going about the excitement and crafty act of decorating easter eggs.

we used little spring flowers and grasses, tied them up with old broken panty hoses, to keep the petals in place. the other technique uses rubber bands and i have to say i like both ways of decorating the eggs. i usually like the last step best. when the eggs have been cooked in the different prepared natural dyes, this year it was yello and red, and then take them out, wash tem under the running cold water and discover the "print".

we didn't use up all the collected little flowers, they made for a wonderful little arrangement...

{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.

berlin II

as promised, here the second set of photos from berlin. the top four are all taken at the dome, a wonderful classisistic building, which was destroied by bomb during world war II. it has been restored to perfection with all its stained glass windows, as well as the crypt of the hohenzollern. it's a massive building and we enjoyed it, especially as the organ was playing at twelf noon, introducing a 15 minute meditation.

and then of course the wall. what would berlin be without the wall. of course it's not there anymore in most places, but we went to the east side gallery and where impressed by it. thinking of this wall and it's impact made me very sober.

berlin is interesting and fascinating, so too the place we stayed, stadtkloster segen. a wonderful christian community which offers guest rooms. a very nice location at the schönhauser allee, and close to many sigths and restaurants. over all a good time with wonderful people in an exciting city.