YOZO CRAFT::i'm so happy about getting mail

with the longer nights and the fire in the fire place at our house i'm getting into crafting and giving gifts mood.
of course that doesn't only mean that i'm giving, but it also entails, that i'm recieving...

i love to browse etsy for fun, to see what's going on at planet "craft and arts".
this time it was not etsy but yozo that caught my eye. o ordered and was then eagerly waiting for the package to arrive.
but of course it was shipped from china and this will take a while i thought.


but within 10 days i got my "gifts", how exciting getting two packages from so far away!


o yes and lots of little goodies, stickers, note paper and note books o yes, lots of treasures.


and then the fabric, i literally stopped breathing, such wonderful texture o will be so happy sewing with it.


and the little "purse" this will become a gift for naomi, she loves anything holding her treasures and collections, which child would not fall in love with this one!

{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

from apple::to cider

i posted a few times about our four apple trees. it was time yesterday to get all the apples, collect and bring them to the cider mill.
all of us had fun collecting and we were glad that at the time out there it wasn't raining. the weather has been very flaky and i would not have chosen to do the work today, but we had to. the reason being, that we do not own a car and second, the cider mill of the nearby farmer is pressing on thursdays. i reserved a mobility car for the afternoon and we got to work.


dressed up in rain gear and warm hats we went out to the orchard.


these are boskoop, a tart kind. although it was really time for them to be harvested, and yes they were sweeter as i expected.


the other kind of apples are "suurgrauech" i could not find an english name for them... anyway it's an old variety and the apples would have been fine to store. but we decided because the tree didn't produce a lot this year, we would put them in the same batch as the boskoop and make cider.

:: i know this post should have been worked on some more. the plan was to go to the cider mill today an watch our apples being processed!
instead we went for a hike, up to the castle kyburg, made a camp fire and grilled sausages for lunch!
o well, i leave you with the unfinished post. we enjoyed the wonderful sunny autumn day. my friend is still sitting in the sun knitting...

birthday::dinner surprise

thank you friends for making my day!




and then we played a new game...
our friends introduced us to fluxx the card game. and yes it is a game in "fluxx" and needs lots of "fluxxibility" of the players.
there was of course more to my birthday, we had lunch at tibits. the kids enjoyed it as much as i did. the food was lovely and what good company i had. walking home along the bike path with surprises... there was the circus royal and we got to see the tigers! we collected hazelnuts and just enjoyed the autumn in winterthur, i really do not need anything more for my birthday.

the three of us on holidays "seconds"

one more day hiking in the ticino, this time it two valleys over the valle maggia.
we drove all the way back to san carlo. originally we wanted to hike up to robiei and take the cable car down. luckily we quickly stopped by the base station of the cable car and discovered that it doesn't longer operate, "closed for the winter".
anyway we hiked up and enjoyed some spectacular sights and vistas.


there were a few peaks right next to us, and it struck me once more how wonderful mountains are!


a very picturesque alpine summer "town" a few people were still up here, but no animals, they went down a couple of days earlier. it is 1380 müM (meters above sealevel)


we mostly hiked with thea in the "back pack", which works great for us. she is still light just about 23lbs. joel carries her and i carry the food, rain coats and of course the heavy camera...


we stayed at this brook for a long while, just watching, listening, eating lunch and playing with the water, the camera and watching thea climb all the big and small rocks.


i find it very interesting to see the inlaid rocks, the work of shifting mountains! there were many of those and each one looked different. nature is still thrilling and i love how we can enjoy and experience all of it.

the three of us on holidays

it was a first for us to have the older three kids at camp for a week and so we took the opportunity and went into the southern canton ticino for a short holiday.
we stayed at a hotel garni (b&b) and enjoyed the warmth and sunshine of autumn.


the first hike started out in intragna and led across the ponte romana. a wonderful start into the day. within 2hours of up hill hiking in the chestnut forest of the centovalli we arrived in rasa.!



a great find, and i still feel one of those prickly needles in my thumb...
i don't know why i picked these chestnuts, still in "hull" up from the ground!


the by 11am the sun stood high and it was warm. looking back down the mountain into the valley. just stunning. it was already well worth the sweat of the past hour.




the view which presented itself at our lunch rest.
after that we got the borrowed hiking map out of the back pack. it was printed in the year 1962, we knew that we could not trust the recorded paths anymore, but still figured we will be able to find our way from rasa to palagnedra. we did, but definitely not by regular rout. we searched for passable paths, and often could not find a difference of path and over grown mountain pastures. the fern grew as high as us and the houses built of rocks must have been abandoned for many centuries. anyway we made it down to the river by climbing and holding on to shrubs and some climbing. it was not planned that way and realized upon arriving at the bottom of the rock face, that we were still able to do things we would not have chosen to if known.


at the end waiting for the train. sitting in the sun, knitting and drinking. happily looking back on a wonderful day of adventures.

{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

desserts at the wedding

joel's youngest brother got married last saturday and we all enjoyed a great celebration. lots of laughter, lots of wishes, many good words and wonderful company. thank you a&r for having us at your memorable day!

and then there was that wonderful dessert buffet, it was blowing me away, here a few of the wonderful sweets...


any kind of fruit sorbet and creme vanilla you can imagine, with fresh berries and warm italian plums on the side!


i love vermicelli and in those backed and chocolate covered tart shells, just a dream!

a huge fruit platter, figs, pineapple, kiwi, peach o and so many more exotics!


what a happy and it also seems dessert loving couple, her dress was great, quiet simple and a natural rough silk.


oh yes! there was a astonishing cheese platter. rockfort, tripple creme camembert, hemp cheese, gruyere, lokal specialties from goat and sheep. o well there was really just a blast of flavors on this platter. i had to try and it blew me away!
i know some people liked the white and dark chocolate moose the best, but this cheese platter was just not to be missed a definite high for me!

pencils in her hand

like her big siblings, she likes to draw and colour and "work" with writing tools.
more and more now thea points out to naomi's pencil case and want's me to hand it to her... she doesn't yet care what colour she grabs. she cares for any tool which makes a mark when used on any kind of surface.
that's fine with me, though non of the others have already been drawing on walls, tiles, carpet, chairs and tables as much as her. with naomi it was her body, and still is, though mostly her hands and nails now. with thea not so much soft and smooth surface but she seems to love the texture of a fabric or plastered wall.
lets wait and see where we go from here!
i will be buying a good rough surfaced drawing pad for her the next time i'm in town!

autumn::at it's best

those few trees which we are happily taking the apples from have been a good thing for me.
i miss the beauty of new england, i miss the intensity of the changing leafs in autumn. they change colours here too, but it's just not the north east of the us, where i really fell in love with the maple trees!
so here a few more pics of what my autumn looks like in the lower lands of switzerland...




and then the more frequently appearing soup. in so many variations...
it's what ever i find on the market, or find in the fridge. the produce i have not used up right away on the market day...
it was such a very delicious vegetable creme soup, the kids loved it and could not get enough of it. what better can happen to me, i'm blessed. i do feel like cooking of this plentiful harvest, of what mother earth is giving us is the right thing to do.

the workers::in our neighborhood

last week i got a a call from a neighbor, she was in need of a few men with muscles, to build a fence for her donkey. of course, joel and his crew was on hand and happy to help.
so there they went, jamming 12 big cedar posts into the soil and what ever else was needed to make the fence strong enough. the donkey and a hand full goats will be roaming the little pasture in the middle of our town.
of course there will be donkey riding for all the "little" helpers and the lady also makes her own goat cheese, maybe we get to taste that 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

kitchen wall::in need of a deco

a couple days ago we spent about 2h in the kitchen, trying to catch some interesting veggies/fruits with our camera...
it was fun, we enjoyed the process of finding out what doesn't work and how the light works with the different spots we put our items to be photographed. and then the excitement of the new lens, it was fun. just now i seem able to make up my mind, if i'm happy with what we did or if we have to give it one more try.

::the beans (there are at least 50 shots of them in the box)



::the peppers (o and even more of those little hot shiny bunch)



well i will be pondering and looking at the different photos and in a while i'm sure i'm able to make up my mind and order a big print on canvas for our space on the wall in the kitchen.

my desk::it's chaotic surrounding

sometimes i'm overwhelmed with the mess on, under, and beside my desk....
there is just no way i'm going to sit down and start getting work done!
and then, there are the moments i'm inclined to just work on top of everything sitting on my desk...
never the less work has to be done, inspiration is often striking at an unexpected moment, and so i have to sit down and start quickly sorting things and pushing things aside, to keep the creative process going.


notice the big gray "bag"? in it is our "car". of course it is no car but we call it that. as we don't have a car but feel like this is ours...


things i like to see and keep me focused when i loos it. i know the rose is drooping, never the less it reminds me of my friend thinking of me.


and then the magnet stripe with some actual and older photos and drawings, bus tickets and what ever needs to be on hand and is not allowed to be eaten up by thea.
there are more corners but i wanted to keep it at this, an other time an other post an other corner of my life.

kids clothes week::naomi's PJ's &...

it was kids clothes week sept. 20-27th and i was sewing at least 1h a day for my and other peoples kids.
first i got the PJ's for naomi done, she loves them and i too. the second project was a set of baby kimonos, a lovely quick project.



it is wonderful to sew flannel, this was the first time i did, and i will do again. here the preparations for the PJ



the pattern for the kimono is also taken form "weekend sewing" and the fabrics i took out of my stash. i particularly love the the frogs in the jar, o that one is so sweet!
those two kimonos are already packed up and in the mail to arrive at friends houses. it is warming my heart, knowing that new babies are joining their families and being loved and cuddled.
there will be more of those kimonos being made within the next few weeks...

making music::living life

it was a regular sunday, and not lots of running around, just enjoying, being and doing.
of course music was a big part of the afternoon, elias and joel played tunes, joel could not stop playing jigs and reels...
and lately thea started to really enjoy the ukulele. i got the instrument at the local ludothek, a place which works like a library, but instead of books it has a collection of toys, games and instruments. we love the place, there are usually three items with us at home, right now a peg puzzle, the board game dominion and the ukulele. sometimes, the items are sitting in the corner, and other times they are not left alone. that's what is going with the ukulele, all four kids love to "pling" around on it and especially naomi is playing her "suzuki"-songs on it. i feel so blessed and it's really a fruit of labor. many hours of playing with them. many hours of taking the violin out and just quickly (although most often it is at length) play the repertoire of folk songs and for elias it's already concertos.
amos has had his first concert, playing drums. he performed a U2 medly, with his teacher at the piano. it was great. not just seeing him play, but also the whole group of students playing at their own levels. there were a few students performing with handicaps. i can tell you, this was particularly moving. the teacher is an artist himself and such gifted pedagogue it was wonderful to watch and listen to them.
yes music is a big part of our life, a big way we life as a family.

...all children can be well educated...

—Shin'ichi Suzuki

{this moment}

by joel


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