zurich

a little tour of Zurich...
a wonderful blue and sunny summer sky is a good spot to start the little tour. walking the city with the camera in hand and intending to see the unexpected, the special and other sight.

of course there are so many clock towers and the one up on the second picture is clock face of st.peter, the largest clock face in europe.

and then it seems high above the river, on the lindenhof, i discovered some very fun poetry on the linden trees. lots of inspiring words. "in sonnigem heu" means as much as in the sun dried grass, to me this means summer, hot and the air being scented by the dry grass, working out in the hay fields, lots of memories mostly connected with my child hood as a farm girl. still loving the scent of it all!

the fourth picture is a bit of a joke, as it is an imported  poller, which has been part of the art installation "zurich transit maritim". it was great fun project, with lots of objectiors and objections....
(it's the poller which is left, the big installation at the river, the crane has been removed as planned)

and for the ones wanting to see a bit more of zurich, here is a little glimpse. it's in german and originally intended for new citizens, never the less some nice pictures.

the weather view

 

it felt epic, standing on the balcony at my parents and looking over the valley, into the big gray rain clouds. so much where we anticipating the wind and the rain, which was supposedly coming.
a wonderful spectacle to watch and enjoy the movement of all the clouds, the change of light and even the gift of a rainbow (hanging on the crane....)

those hours on the weekend were great and totally enjoyable. while enjoying a little dinner, knowing we were safe and even if it would rain hard, stay dry, was the perfect start into the weekend.
it just got better from there. as we were expecting rain and more of it to be poured on us, we had some rain in the at night and a bit more into early sunday morning. and then as the day got older, we even lit a fire to grill sausages. much better weather than i have expected, and much better than the past 5 weeks.
may it stay so and finally summers heat is arriving!

ICAD :: week 4

this is the first four days of the week....
as it was prompted to use ink, gel pens,  pattern, precision, it struck me as very fitting to give the idea of feathers a try. as i was running a week ago and observed lots of birds, swinging up into the sky, a big red tail hawk swooping right over my head and finding a few small feathers strewn on the path, it was the one thing i knew would be good for me to try drawing.
it was a good little exercise and turned just about as i expected it. it was a bit of a challenge to get started and find the right lines, the right groove, but then it just got better from there on.

the second halve of the week was abstract, not much thinking and trying, doodling and enjoying. no work no goal really, just laying low and letting my fine liners do what they wanted.

the week :: through the lens

it has been on the back burner, i have not been taking a lot of photos for a while now, and that should change. so i put the "hand made" lens back on the camera body and got started this week. it touched me in a special way, as i wander and have the camera ready be it in the kitchen, or living room table... this enables me to see with new eyes and i like it. we will see if it sticks, it is a start to a new friday review of what caught my eye. there is to be said, that i was inspired by erin boyle and her blog "reading my tea leaves". she does a wonderful job and it is so inspirational to have a look at her photos...

:: 1. sunday dress

:: 2. wild strawberries in my garden!

:: 3. my pleasant window sill, summer!

:: 4. and summer in the garden scabiosa

:: 5. one of my feather ICAD pencil drawings, simple and quick...

sunday dress

our little thea was growing out of her sunday dress, and if you ask me, i was happy about it, as it was a wonderful velvet, bordeaux layered dress. it was too short and she was able to wear it until now, as we had a really cold and wet spring. better say until today it was rather april weather then summer, at all!
so this dress makes it's appearance just on time...
thea picked the fabric, out of my closet and she was super happy about the white of it. of course i would not have chosen such a light colored fabric, it will show every bit of dirt and and stain so super easy. well it was her choice and i ran with it. though then the next trick, it was not enough fabric to cut the pattern just the right way, but your really don't see it too well, the bodice is up side down....
and at the end i had to attach a little lace to the bottom, but of course this little frill is absolutely to the girls enjoyment. it also had to have a zipper in the back, no button at all! that was the request.
i got the pattern F from the "girls style book", by yoshiko tsukiori and h.h.

and here we are, with the wet hair and the first moment of happyness!
i call myself blessed.

brownies and free range

on a rainy day, be it in winter as well as today, supposedly in the middle of summer.....
never the less, dessert was welcome today!

as simple as a batch brownies with walnuts.
what else is there to say about today; i was in school all day and the kids too. though the girls had the afternoon off, and visited extended family. they absolutely loved the change of scenery, having lunch served at a different place then home is exciting. and i realized, naomi as well as thea are very independent. taking the train on their own after morning school and going to swimming class late in the afternoon, all on their own. we all arrived just about at the same time at home shortly before six, and were all three very happy to see each other.
of course we planned this day together and i wrote a little time table for them, to make the train. though i was a bit nervous, but all for nothing, and good so.

and yes to free range parenting, even more then ever!

ICAD week 3

wee 3 has been something like this...

i got all excited about collage and of course there should be fabric and stitching...
the stamps came into play with the layering and wanting to have "little blocks", well it was fun to dig through the box of used, collected stamps, the first card was all flowers and the second themed around birds. very cool to dig up some international stamps as well as loved swiss ones.
the last three were patch work and stitching, french knots, which i really like and some other just "free motion" stitches. i love the card crafting and making, it's creative and gets me going every day, it's good for me stuff!

next week will be all about lines, ink and fine liner, we will see what that makes with me...

the week :: trough the lens

 it has been on the back burner, i have not been taking a lot of photos for a while now, and that should change. so i put the "hand made" lens back on the camera body and got started this week. it touched me in a special way, as i wander and have the camera ready be it in the kitchen, or living room table... this enables me to see with new eyes and i like it. we will see if it sticks, it is a start to a new friday review of what caught my eye. there is to be said, that i was inspired by erin boyle and her blog "reading my tea leaves". she does a wonderful job and it is so inspirational to have a look at her photos...

:: 1. the grossmünster in zurich, what a mighty building, and this is just from the very east. just the back of the building, the two main towers are not seen...

:: 2. packing veggies, i love fresh fennel

:: 3. the ICAD 16 project is still going, switching materials has been fun

:: 4. my lovely succulent garden waiting for more sunny days

:: 5. we haven't had many blue sky days, today we have

gmüesabo

as the veggies have been delivered since mid march, i stepped up and started putting in some hours too. the deal with this veggie share is, that each member puts in 12 hours. this is really not a lot, but it has to be added into my calendar....
as a couple years ago, when i went with the kids to help pack the baskets, this time i went on my own and helped christine with the packing. it is super fun and wonderful to see all the veggies being piled up in crates and after two hours the 100 or so baskets are filled and ready to be delivered to the depots in the city.

there will be more hours of work to be done, though maybe i'm able to get joel to come along and some of the kids too, and we will be able to plant, pull weeds or harvest beans.
the highlight for this days work was, that we packed some wonderfully big garlic bulbs. i remember when i put the garlic in the ground last fall! isn't that just about as good as it can get, i think so!

this are a few products, the gmuesabo is running a little shop on the farm they work. it's very simple, but i have been able to also order some of those specialties for myself or for a friend. local and seasonal as well as carefully crafted.

one more smoothy

take barley milk, fairly traded dates, galangal powder, a ripe and sweet mango, blend it all and drink it, so simple so yummy and so healthy. it was a quick refresher and a lovely smooth drink, with the dates and galangal letting it appear a bit marzipan like.
there were still some coarse date pieces left, all soaked and silky, i will try to reproduce this drink again, dates make a good sweetener and even the kids like that taste. definitely something i have to remember...

ICAD week 2

and this was week 2 i chose to use the thematic prompts and love to just be inspired with what i find on my desk, around my desk and in the drawers and files popping up in my mind.
it has been an interesting week, as i love maps, but usually don't create anything with them. rather study and go for hikes, use them in real live. being creative with the idea of maps diagrams etc. taking the aquarelle paints and do something with them too... cluing and reusing the old ticket etui has been fun too. it feels a bit like recycling or even better upcycling!

i keep making and have already had a good start into this weeks making. and i want to take a moment to listen to "the creative mom podcast" by oamyoamy. this podcast has been with me for many years. the boys still look up and smile, when they hear the theme music... "books to love....."
well take a look or even better start listening and enjoy.

music and smores

we started the weekend with a friend coming over to play music with joel. the weather was pleasant and the fire already started, as we had grilled sausages for dinner. of course we could do more with it...
fires are great to play and do experiments and grill marshmallows too!

the girls loved it and we all enjoyed the music making and listening and even taking my book out and sitting comfortably at the fire side for some reading. just plain wonderful, so simple and who wouldn't love life music in their garden. with a good beer and surrounded by some wonderful people.
thank you c for coming over.

the week :: through the lens

it has been on the back burner, i have not been taking a lot of photos for a while now, and that should change. so i put the "hand made" lens back on the camera body and got started this week. it touched me in a special way, as i wander and have the camera ready be it in the kitchen, or living room table... this enables me to see with new eyes and i like it. we will see if it sticks, it is a start to a new friday review of what caught my eye. there is to be said, that i was inspired by erin boyle and her blog "reading my tea leaves". she does a wonderful job and it is so inspirational to have a look at her photos...

:: 1. all the wonderful presents elias carried home from boston

:: 2. a good round of games on saturday night

:: 3. one of my ICAD 2016 creations, it's fun

:: 4. o the chickens, they are growing and loving their freedom

:: 5. yes it is june and the sommer flowers are starting to bloom, even though it is wet and rather cold

a glimps

there has been that birds nest in our garden, right above the door under the roof, just above our heads... it was built by a pair of "hausrotschwänze" in english they are called redstart. though when i look at pictures, they seem a bit different.
we had a lot of fun to watch the birds grow and then all of a sudden, after the garden fest we had 10 days ago, no one was around anymore. it was uncertain, if the 4hours of garden fest, with lots of people in the garden had prevented the parents to feed their young... we thought the baby birds dead. and then two days ago, joel took down the nest, and it was a happy sight, it was an empty nest, so the birds must have left before we were thinking of them being ready.

and you know what, just yesterday those little birds started constructing a new nest, at the same spot, just one beam over! this is wonderful.


in front of the house is my garden box, and all those pretty snapdragons, i love them and this year they do well. its still the same plants as last year. i guess the warm winter was providing a good head start! just lovely.

our space

what to say, this is my work space....
i'm very well aware of it being packed and not very well lit at night (though that has changed very recently). and as i look onto this picture i'm keenly aware of the boys missing violin. that has also changed last monday, elias is back and making music again!

it's our family office, the space where most family matters take place inside the house. lots of creative thoughts getting started and being discussed, talked further and developed. it is a space in the house, where the kids feel at home and love to work, even though it gets kind of packed and a bit crowded, if all six of us are thinking and doing and making and feeling creative. sometimes a bit loud, when elias is taking his violin out, and playing along his music (that's when the cat leaves the room)

never the less, this room is giving us the family as well as the personal space each of us needs and loves, within the bigger part of the community house. it is somehow very private, which sounds strange to people who live in big houses and are used to their own rooms. we are used to call it private and intimate, if we are in our family-office, and this seems the case, even if the door is wide open...

and that fact of the open door, is one of my passions (i guess, being a people person does do that to me)