the recycler and so much more

what a happy guy, he is full of energy and takes on what ever i tell him to. no, not true, he initiates all kinds of projects and cleans up the garage, besides making the garden ready for winter. collecting all the last apples from the tree behind the house (cooked apples for dinner). he is going to paint and renovate the room, after a room mate is moving out tomorrow. have you ever wished for a handy man, working for you, even enjoying all the work you find in the darkest corners of the house? i got the guy, such a blessing.
and he makes me laugh, he does it all with a big smile and with his bike, o so green and full of happiness.

thank you w!

the package

as october is just finishing up, my thoughts are starting to wind up...
there are a short four weeks left until we get all reeled into advent season. a time i love and cherish. a time of celebration and expectation, waiting and hoping, enjoying long evenings with stories and candle light. maybe i will be able to plan for some still and contemplation in all the preparations.
but for now, it is the one package, which travels across continents, to a place where the mail delivery is not very reliable, and that is exactly the reason, to send it out early!
o dear friends down south, we miss you and wrapping up a few little presents and tokens of friendship, i'm all immersed with shared memories. stories of hiking, dying our hair with henna (well that was super fun!), spending hours talking and sharing and praying.
our kids are not little anymore, the then tree climbing and rambunctious boys are now grown, young man making their own decisions.
though the youngest are still in the house, very much still needing parental care and attention, bet time stories and consolation. thank you for being still friends.
especially, as we are so very far appart!

there are definitely more people in my life to which i want to send a package or a hand written letter. i'm sure, in a few more days the list writing is starting and my thoughts will be spinning and i will enjoy that time. we are far appart, but i'm close in thought.

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. i splurged on fabrics...

:: 2. the last of the red beauty

:: 3. i had a gardener at work around the house

:: 4. and it is the right time to ready my garden for winter, how perfect.

 :: 5. and deep dish apple pie has become so very popular i feel like i have become a professional

thank you

autumn days are also very pretty at dusk!
just imagine, me sitting in the back of the house, one of my men playing the piano and/or the e-bass, humming along. and yes i am blessed and will think of this more frequently.

thank you Lord for being my shepherd and leading me to green to pastures, to fresh waters, again and again. Amen

warm afternoon :: though for how long

it is fall and the afternoons are a bit misty. still warm and sunny to go for enjoyable walks with friends. sit in the garden for really early dinners and watch the blue skyes more than just a moment. my moments in the garden, have been frequent, even hanging laundry is still possible, if early enough in the day. some times i started hanging with still fog hanging in, believing the news paper, that the sun will brake through.

i forgot about autumn being one of my favorite times, but i discover this again now. as for the moment, the harvest season is finding an end, i picked the last green tomatoes and put them in a paper bag with an apple, to ripen in the coming weeks. apples are in many dishes and lots of apple sauce and apple butter as well as apple compot is on the shelf in our cellar. i also don't remember a time, when my storage of frozen plums and cherries and prunes have been so plentyfull. it was the first year, i ran out of jars to fill with jam...
a blessed season and lots of work standing in front of the stove (and mainly my parents pruning the fruits for the freezer).

the cold can come, the woolens are out, waiting to be put on for riding the bikes to school and work!

my day

there was my birthday in the last few days and i spent some of the day in bed, as i'm fighting a cold... not too bad, after all and possible to cure by a bit more sleep and no running in the cold morning air.

some friends send me letters and presents. joel invited me and the boys (the girls were not home), out for dinner with our friends, to enjoy a fancy dinner. it was delicious and wonderful to just be pampered like that.
though the even bigger surprise was awaiting me even later in the day. my siblings and brother in law were waiting in our kitchen, sitting and enjoying a good cup of tea, or two or three (they waited just about 2hours). i didn't know they wanted to visit and so was in no hurry, delighting every moment of the dinner party.
what fun, to be surprised by loved once and celebrate even more. pouring one or two more cups of tea and second desserts. share memories and many a laugh.

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. when dinner is prepared...

:: 2. bittersweet, the sign of autumn finishing off

:: 3. a bonbon hat for the girl, knitting is excellent while on vacation

:: 4. the tallest teenager went to a near by farm and got a big pumpkin (over 25lbs) for me!
       thank you A!

:: 5. and my good friend from boston sent me a delicouse and so pretty present.
       thank you A!

bike riding

wonderful autumn weather and the two of us were in the mood for some biking. a morning with different chores, assisting with the cleaning of a teenagers bed room... which really was super efficient and fun! playing monopoly the boston red sox edition... quickly fixing some lunch and not to forget, i went for a shoulder and neck massage. i have been struggling with for months and it doesn't seem an easy fix. finally i have given in not just having some trigger point massage but starting in two weeks, i'm scheduled for physical therapy...

though today was biking afternoon for thea and me. not super far or streneous, just some easy riding along the river, on forest paths and roads. and unexpected, we spotted the pump track, which of course thea knew about, but i have never been there.
it was exciting to watch her, for the loongest time, she was watching and observing all the little and big kids. super fun to see the three and four year old kids with their like a bikes!
and not less fun to be stunned by the 17 year olds, with all their bmx tricks. and finally thea went on the track and over and over and over again.

i gather this as an early present for myself.

marbled

 and this marbled cake, which thea and i baked yesterday, got us started on todays project. thea wanted to bake some kind of colorful cake, it had to be something with food colors....
as you might expect, i'm not a big fan of artificial food coloring. but, i went along with the girls idea and we decided on blue. well, blue turns out to become green, very pale but still exciting enough and that is what counts.

for today was some paper marbling on the agenda:

it's fall vacation and we are home and around the house. wonderful sunny days, the afternoons are nice and warm. good times to work on any kind of craft in the garden. and so we went about the task, we came up with yesterday, while baking cake. "marbled paper" it seemed easy enough and i still had some oil paints in my cupboard (from a life before kids). marbling is done in different ways, with different paints, with acrylic paint and shaving creme!

it was a good start, but our diluted oil paint was not behaving the way i thought and hoped for...
never the less, we got a few good results and for what we plan to use the paper, it's all perfect. maybe the two of us will experiment with an other paint thinner, as i think that was the problem. maybe not as high of a viscosity as we ended up with. lets see tomorrow.

at rawil

vacationing and enjoying it!
that might really have been what we did last week. joel found this little spot on the map, while we were on the road. the "barrage at rawil" was a next wonderful spot to go for a walk and stay over night. while we walked toward the farther end of the dammed lake, we came upon a sign which pointed to the north. what an exciting idea for next summer to hike from here to the other side, the bernese side of the mountain, we could do that via wildhorn or weisshorn ...
well this is just in my head, maybe even just in the back of it, but it would be fun and overnight in a SAC hut up there... it might be even something we could take thea along.

the way home was an other adventure, as we decided to take the camper on the train at lötschberg. so much fun in just a few days!

and after all the fun, an hour of vaccuming and cleaning and bringing the camper back to my brother in law. thank you a for lending it to us, knut has served us well, and i'm sure, we will ask you again.

furka :: grimsel and good night

you might have noticed my absence from here...
we were gone for a few days, a bit of camping and hiking. as elias had to work and stayed over at a friends house for the week, amos as well as naomi were at camps for leadership training from the national Royal Ranger youth organization. joel, thea and myself, we took off with the camper last monday. we left it up into the air where to go. last minute, joel looked up the weather and we decided to head southwest. first stop furka pass, a quick late walk up 200m to see the sunset...
and a cold night, but we were fine in the camper (28-10F), waking up to a rising sun and a wonderfully warm fall day. 

driving over to grimsel pass and going an an extended hike. together with thea we hiked (and a bit of "climping" to the top of siedelhorn. just gorgeous and exciting to do this together with thea. she did well, enjoying the rock and especially all the white-red-white markings... (the hike was just about 4h with brakes and marked as a T3).
breath taking views and more sunshine! an easy and quick hike down to the parking lot and a tired and happy girl on the drive down to the goms valley.

what a picture perfect way to say good night!

 by joel


 and a bit more in a couple days...

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. autumn has arrived, with vermicelli and a lush moment in the garden in the afternoon.

:: 2. an unexpected glimps of the cows coming down and home after a summer in the mountains

:: 3. a couple hours of farm work.

:: 4. lovely harvest, no cider last year. this year it looks like plenty!

:: 5. good morning moon, this is the best thing to start a day