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. the rhubarb in the pot is doing fine, i'm very much looking forward to the harvest in two months

:: 2. this made me laugh out loud

:: 3. the "see through" trees

:: 4. it is this time of year again, sitting out of doors

:: 5. bare ware will open soon in the city of winterthur

stretching in a good way

it has been and will be a bit much time, i'm spending in the city this spring. it's where my school is located... and as i mentioned, i'm taking two classes at this time so i'm out of the house either two whole days or one and a half day a week. it is definitely stretching me a bit much. though the classes are interesting and i learn a lot, there is an other paper due by may 5th. so far it is all under control, thanks to two of my friends, one takes care of the thea on tuesdays for lunch and the other one on fridays for lunch for both girls as well as thea can stay with her all afternoon! how generous is that. and the girls love this setting.
it is really helpful, as there is still a clear structure to thea's day, and that keeps her well. she is such a "hans guck in die luft" and can easy forget that she has to eat or go to school or start doing her homework. forget about sticking with a task.
the mornings are working out fine too. as joel and i leave at 7:30am, the gib kids are either already out of the house or leaving later on their own. the kitchen timer has been working fine for thea. she is usually all done with chores and brushing her teeth, sitting at the kitchen table reading or coloring until the alarm goes off. it has been going fine, which is great. she absolutely loves this freedom of hers. being in charge of her time, makes her proud! what a great little benefit.

it stretches my mama being, but in a good way, o those kids are growing up so fast!

inside :: outside

a bit of a game::
inside, with lots of mixing and melting. cooking and baking, hosting, serving and eating together. our kitchen is a melting pot and it often feels, as it is the inside of a volcano. all cooking and expecting good things to happen. well, they do happen, every day and frequently a couple times a day.
often i'm just on my own, absolutely enjoying the solitude and wonders of food being prepared. but then it's often a bee hive in the kitchen too and everyone want's to eat and bake and help and just be in the middle of the making...

an other kind of a game::
this is right beneath the kitchen window, outside in the spring sun! the first plants are in full swing and watching the "gewöhnliche küchenschelle" grow, is exciting. first it's really all just green and there are a few twisted knobs which all of a sudden will open up and popping out is one of those wonderful bells...
life is exciting, spring is so full of new things, new life and new growth.
i should expect it, it's the same thing every year....

but still it's wondrous and exceptional, eye catching the least. it is a wonderful thing and i just go with mother nature and enjoy it. running in warmer temperatures is definitely a liked by me. not that i minded the zero to five celsius temps but the five to ten is best!

life as it is now

it was a busy weekend, more like the past four days i was kept from the blog writing. once it was the decision of either go for a run or write, which was decided toward my bodily fitness. and friday was a school day, knowing saturday afternoon was occupied too. so no computer time was left, besides getting the home work done, which i had to hand in this morning.

of course there was sunday. and that was good, needed and helpful, though on sundays i stay away from the computer, just if i really really have to turn it on, i will do it. and that need was not established.

well so here i am, monday afternoon already. i dusted and cleaned our bedroom, the bathroom, went for a run, hung three loads of laundry on the line in the sunshine of this lovely spring day. chatted with the chickens. cooked lunch, today was omelettes for three kids and me. and after lunch thea and i got to practice the cello as we usually do after lunch. in the coming hours there will be a run to the post office, to the grocery store, working on some crafts for kids camp which have to be presentable next week at a meeting....

i will be busy this week, with two more school days, so if i chicken out and don't post, that's just my life right now, it will change again. but for now, that's what it is.

the drink at night

a special treat was given to joel for his birthday. a very unique kind of single malt whisky, called "tunnelwasser", a so called swiss highland brand. well it's not just about the special drink, it's much more about the people we share time and joys and burdens.

we have spent some wonderful moments with each other. it has never really been about drinking or going out for drinks. most often it's just the moment of settling down, after a wild day with the kids, some intense meetings at work or toll taking discussions in the community. the moment of each day, when joel and i sit down in our "family office", the place both of us study or write, draw or read, listen or play with the kids, or what ever else. just about at 10pm it gets quiet and sometimes there happens a little toast. maybe to cool down, to enjoy the moment or to cheer for a little success in the past day. it has been those moments, which i feel have kept us sane on busy days. as well as slowed me down enough, to realize, that our relationship has to be taken care of. of course we talk and do things together, but those late evening hours have added to the joy of sharing my life with my best friend and husband.

and yes sometimes it's good to have other people join into those precious moment.


and here is a whisky taster at work, telling us all about the highland whisky from the rugenbräu in interlaken. the "tunnelwasser" has added a few more years, being stored in the granite tunnels of the lötschberg....

weekending with friends

our friends showed up for dessert on sunday afternoon. i was full of happiness and joy, looking forward to spend sunday with them. it has been a while, as they moved across the city half a year ago and attend a local church there now. we enjoyed each others company a lot, many sunday afternoons, after church we enjoyed one another's garden or went to the woods for a big fire or just grilling this or that...
so i prepared a yummy selection of comfort food, a simple tart with a bit of white chocolate covering (the crust) and filled with vermicelli's. some rich brownie recipe and whipped creme. then there was a savory pop-over with sweet and sour sauce, all turned out to be devoured within moments.

talking and playing tichu, making music and watching the chickens in the garden, some more playing and giggling, sharing live and being together.
and the girls prepared pizza for dinner. well those pizzas turned out great, rich and cheese and full of flavors (there was a vegetarian version, one with tuna and anchovies, and one with ham, lot's of vegetables on all of them.
and to top all the color and spring feel, a florist neighbor brought a big bunch of flowers over on saturday night. life is treating us with much more than i can hope for.

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. baking bread has not been on my list of chores of late, but this week twice

:: 2. i got a wonderful bouquet of roses, not that roses are my favorite, but i absolutely loved those

:: 3. playing in the garden is most enjoyed in the spring sun

:: 4. and mending has been on my mind a lot the past week, this and that. and some times not very professional, but rather useful and somewhat artsy....

:: 5. the week has been wonderful, the weekend will be wet and cold

spring time

it was laundry thursday, though there was not too big of a pile. happily just two loads and a wonderful spring breeze, lots of sunshine and warmth. i love sunny laundry days. hanging and folding out of doors in the warmth of the afternoon sun is my pleasure.
and today was even better, as thea was very much into helping with the folding. after coming home from cello lesson we both had a little snack and then got to work.

it was not just fresh smelling laundry to be folded and put away, but it was also the enjoyment of having spring flowers popping up all over the garden. it wasn't just me, enjoying the garden in the afternoons, the chicken love it too, scratching and sun bathing, it's so much fun to watch them. and an other plus, we get eggs like i have not seen. on some days all of the chickens are laying! so we are up to all kinds of egg dishes, lately lots of scrambled eggs, just simple and plain.

new style

a few days ago i picked up the tunesian crochet hook and two colors of yarn. just some scrap as i started out with 19 stitches in black. the stitches all on the hook, attaching the orange and finishing the "return row". i was hoping for the orange to be stronger, taking up more space. though never the less, i like it as my "fairphone" case.

it was fun to try out something new and i had to smile while looking at the salad picture below. it was the orange carrot salad which struck me. the orange is so strong and i love it. maybe i have to crochet an other little project with the tunesian method. maybe this little drawstring bag, or those washcloths, or maybe circle potholders...

the walk with the girl

thea and me went on a long walk on saturday afternoon, she is loving such outings and is so happy when we go. this  time it was just the two of us, joel was going to pick us up 90 minutes later, as we went to visit friends for dinner. it was mid afternoon and the sun was already on it's way down, i spotted the bright purple daphne meznereum (seidelbast in german). it is a wonderful taste of spring, a cheerful sign of life and warmth to come.

running ahead, and especially down the stairs, make both of us laugh and cheer at the moment. it is good for me, to see and experience the youngest in our family, she is very lively and head strong. lots of energy is in her body, running, jumping and jostling, loving to hold hands, push and pull on my arms.

we discovered a tree felled by a beaver, a special sight. what a treat, not that we met the animal, but we inspected the work of this busy animal. it is exciting to see, what a beaver can do with his teeth. and i imagine, it even must be fun to gnaw down a tree.

it got cool, as soon as the sun went down at the horizon. it's still early in the year, but spring is calling and we love it.

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. running down from altlandenberg, fun

:: 2. we have one person in the house, as he sees bacon, it has to be fried and eaten, all with lots of love

:: 3. bee's wrap, it works fine and is such a practical substitute for plastic wrap

:: 4. and such a sunny spring afternoon, i can hear the grass grow

:: 5. even better, having afternoon snack in the garden with a game of carambole

mudseaon upon us

i just wanted to give our chickens a bit of exposure, i love them and they are such productive egg producers, they didn't stop all winter long.

as for now, it's muddy in their yard, which they don't mind but i'm looking forward to have the ladies roam in the whole garden again. so, don't fly just stay grounded my lady birds.

and now over the course of the last two days (that's when i started this post), it got so muddy, that the chicken's feet are not visible anymore. i had to let them out to roam and forage in the garden. they are a bit overwhelmed and super happy to peck around the compost as well as the grass. once more i realized, as soon as i observed them on the lawn, that they scratch and peck especially on places, where moos is growing. i welcome this behavior and encourage them to do some more of this "lawn care"....

so far so good, one chicken was being pecked on over the past two weeks, so i hope this "free ranging" will take care of this too. and having rambled about our chickens, they grew very close to me and in all of them love people, don't run away from us anymore, it almost seems like they love to be pet. and that si very cool especially for the kids in the house. they do fulfill their therapeutic purpose and maybe even substitute for some visits at the psychologist, as they listen and intently wait until one feeds and talks to them.

pastete :: pie

we had community dinner, 18 people around the table on sunday night. a wonderful gathering, each month on the first sunday night, we gather to eat together, the people of our house and next door. now and then i'm cooking for all and so i did this time. there were a few things in the fridge which needed to be eaten, then there is me wanting to introduce people to alternative eating habits... well it all ended up in the making of a pastry dough, which i prepared the day before and used no more any kind of plastic wrap but a cotton cloth soaked in bees wax, the "bees wrap".
i like the fact, that it is a natural product and i can reuse it for a long time.

one kind of the pie had ham in it, with a bit of chili mustard, the other kind was with smoked tofu and ginger-garlic paste. both kinds then got the same toppings, lentils with parsley, yellow bell peppers, mozzarella and raclette (a rather strong kind) cheese. all covered up with a layer of dough.

baked and served with mixed greens (the little black dots on the lettuce is grape seeds, i add them to all kinds of fresh greens, a good source of omega 3).
it was well liked and as the ham version was eaten much quicker, there were some brave folks, which tried the tofu kind amidst their aversion toward tofu, and they liked it!

and now, i can come up with new ideas for some food adventures...

altlandenberg-chämmerlitobel-hochlandenberg-dessert

we took the day off and went for a little hike. we took the train to bauma and after a quick stop at the grocery shop, we went started our little adventure. the first stop were the ruins of "altlandenberg", just 15 minutes outside the town. amos, naomi and thea as well as myself, we had something to grill, water and hot tea and a backpack with dry split wood and matches. and as we are able to print in color now, even at home (got a new printer last friday), i was able to print us a map 1:10'000 super nice and helpful to get the older two to navigate. and then after reading the description, thea was the one who discovered the well...

i didn't plan into detail, so there was a lot of freedom, though we quickly decided, that we wanted to walk in the woods and the name of the near by creek "chämmerlibach" sounded intriguing. it was wonderful, especially now in mud season, the creek is flowing and there are many small and very high water falls, the highest must have been something like 25m. amos was quickly considering to go back with his big brother to explore and maybe even take a dip in one of the pools beneath a water fall.

for a lunch fire, to grill our sausages was the spot just right on "hoch landenberg", a castle hill with no ruins left but three bridges connecting the castle hills. we were glad to have our own dry wood to light a fire and grill our lunch. good thing amos as well as naomi are pathfinders and love these kinds of challenges. thea and i stood by and drank some tea...

from here it didn't take us more then 30 minutes and we stood on the door steps of the grandparents house in wila. that was planned and they had a yummy dessert ready for us. of course the kids liked that part too, and i can tell you, even hours later, everyone was able to detect by smell in the air, that we were out there in the woods and enjoying a little camp fire. goal achieved and happy kids.