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. my golden chrisanthemum, right in front of the entrance to the house

:: 2. the geranium, still hanging inthere

:: 3. the last of the tomatos

:: 4. the calendula is bright and orange, popping up and loving the autumn sun

:: 5. and this is the moss on the chestnunt tree, it loves the moist air and grows wild

pretty vegetables

and yet they are not just good to look at, they are already smelling deliciouse while preparing. i frequently get "old" vegetables from a retale store near my parents and those verggies usually don't look supper nice anymore. but you can say what you want, they still look great and smell ripe and ready to be put on the table.
i love vegetable stews, the kids not really.... but still i cook them and over a wonderful dish of basmati rice, that stew last night was deliciouse. fresh basel, soaked chick peas, corn cut from the cob, i think it can't get much better. the kids though, they topped the dinner stew with a big spoon or two or three of grated cheese. well, it's alright, if this makes them eat and like it, then let them do it as much as they want!

and of course, you don't see them, there is a bunch of fresh little onions and three cloves of garlic. all of it already glazing in olive oil...

the toothbrush

the toothbrush is not really new in the city's "graben". it is a very nice area of the old city center and absolutely inviting to play around and hang out.
we have been there and enjoyed the "park" a lot, especially the by gone aera of "holidi"...
lots of climbing by all the kids and discussions about this giant wooden man lying on the ground. since almost 4 years now we have a replacement sculpture, the "toothbrush". that is what we all call this new hide and seek place.

today thea and i walked the area and of course we needed to stop and enjoy the fun "toothbrush". thea loves it and she really doesn't even need me to have fun! walking through, peaking out to the left and then again to the right, or all through the middle. being seen or rather not seen, seems plain fun enough for her.
we both love sculptures with "a purpos", by that i mean to say, sculputers to use and climb and hid within or above, underneath or behind. places and objects to implement easely into the imaginary play of kids (or grown ups also....)
thank you, dear city of winterthur, to create such fun places, we love thee!

burgers are special

we are not a family, eating burgers regularely. it's about once or twice a year, when the time is just right and all the ingredients are in the house as the idea gets stewed, of grilling burgers...
and so it was this past weekend. just right and everything needed in the house.
joel in the spirit of making a fire for grilling and fresh juicy tomatoes on the window sill, waiting to be enjoyed, some lettuce and lots of different sauces to choose from. even spicy sauteed peppers were on hand and then for the ones of us who really like a warm side dish, there was "kraut" i made it from blue cabagge with a bit of cider, so it was not soure at all.
it might have been one of the last opportunities this autumn to sit outside for dinner, not yet in the dark and still without having to wrap up in a warm woolen sweater. that kind of weather has approached today and yes i would not want to sit outside tonight, in a drizzle and the dark cool air...

i had my "joel assembled" lens on the camera body, and yes really love the result.
Canon Lens FL 55mm 1:12 (with selfmade paper rim)

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. tuesday evening

:: 2. dinner at our friends house, o so delicious and nurturing

:: 3. having a good time with Amos and Naomi in Zurich

:: 4. my sister in law gifted me with her own wool!

 

:: 5. and i got package returned to me, which i sent out to south-africa on may 8th.... well i will send it again and we will see and wait

fountains in zurich

i had to drop off some books a library in zurich today. the trip into the city could not just consist of, returning books, there had to be a bit more to it. amos and naomi decided yesterday, that the two of them would acompany me. what to do with two teenagers in a big city, which they don't know and i don't just wanted to run from one brand name store to an other. there was bit of looking around on my side, and quickly, the idea was born to walk by fountains. the city's water department has those really cool and useful maps of wells and fountains. i printed the one for "kreis 1", the area i had to go for returning the books.
of course, naomi thought it very boring and not needed, to have a plan. but i didn't just want to drop my so creative idea, of discovering a new place... and yes all those fountains and many more (1200 on city grounds) have drinking water! (and an other nice page to read about fountains in zurich)

we had a good time and really enjoyed the walk in the wonderful autumn sun of today -my birthday-

:: manessebrunnen from 1931, the sculpture is made out of rock from bodio, GR

:: stüssibrunnen 1575, the only fountain in zurich with multiple colors, with stüssi towering on top of it, he was the first mayor of the city.

:: schipfe

:: winzerbrunnen 1908, this is a replica of the fountain in bruck an der mur (1626 steiermark austria). it honors the place where there has been taken place the wine trade of the city

:: geiserbrunnen 1911, designed by jakob brüllmann a native of weinfelden (eastern switzerland) and known for his works of war memorials after the first world war in gemrany.

:: kleiner brunnen mit möve 1938, by otto münch

:: wasserspiel - sechseläutenplatz 2013, very cool and tempting to run through the wonderful squirting water...

a few more postcards

a few more pictures taken this morning, while climbing for an other geo cache. and to the pure joy of the todays morning.

more postcards

a friend took us along to find a geo cache "lost place", and it was so lost that we didn't find it. did not matter, we had a perfect time. great exploration and playing with that white "flour"...
thank you N for taking us along.

i'm glad that there those little expeditions we take, besides enjoying the beach. a bit of an explorer spirit catches me too, when i see ruins and old buildings, lost places like this alunite mine.
i'm still knitting, we are digging and swiming, playing beach volley ball and talking with friends deep into the night.

Postcards from Tuscany

and we absolutely enjoy the warmth and the sand sitting and swimming, climbing and running, knitting and playing games. fall vacation in the south

under construction V

and as i write this post, the builders are aldready taking the scaffolding down. at the end it all went very quick. and even with the best kind of weather that we could have wished for.
our roof is brand spanking new, including the six windows (uups, no one of them we could reuse and the carpenters did a fine job fitting that one in just perfect).
for certain the roof is leak proof as it has been raining a lot on it, without the roof tiles beeing up. the metal workers closed the last few corners yesterday and we had to cut some chicken wire crumple it up and stuff it into two little corners. i'm glad the workers remembered, as it prohibits the weasle and the marten to enter into the roof and make their homes under the tiles. not to say, that i really like those little furry animals, but please use the wood pile or any other nature given resource to build your home and habitat, not my roof...

a little celebration at the end was called for. and that is definitely the easiest for me to contribute to the success of this renovation. a big thank you to all those skilled workers, making our house safe again for a long time to come.

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...

- it's all red - 

:: 1.  the beauty of cooler nights and still warm days

:: 2. the clear sign of "becoming" a rooster

:: 3. autumn on the table

:: 4. new and shiny, all the copper the metal workers mounted on our roof 

:: 5. (more blue than red) the wool is ready to come along to vacation with me. a few more days in the sousthern areas of europe. it will be good to get as much sun as i possibly can get hold for, winter will be long...