november day

today started out very bleak and rainy, a day i was looking forward to spend indoors, i thought. well never mind, by mid day the sky was very blue and sunny. it was wonderful to sit out side and eat my picnic in the sun, of course well dressed, as we do write november 18th and it is in order to have the temperature being in the mid fourties.

as the leafs are falling, there is a lot to be seen. i love autumn leafs, even if they are not in new england and not sugar maple...
of course i miss those days

the cookie baker in the family

amos really likes to bake, not just at home, but also at grandmas place. well also not just anything, but right now cookies are on his radar. for a long while it has been muffins and cup cake. but as the advents season, soon to be upon us, calls for, cookies must be "created".
it's often a bit chaotic, and every time him as well as me (or who ever works with him) learns a lot. doubling the recipe, how to use a big knife, which lemon grater is better as the other, or how to hold the lemon to grate in order not to grate your fingers...

so this time, we got a wonderful spice cookie to taste. just excellent! thank you amos for all the enthusiasm and endurance in learning such a wonderful skill.

the weekend walk

weekends are just perfect for taking walks!
well at least joel and i think so and sometimes we can get even the older kids to come along. thea still loves to go for walks, she frequently asks adults coming across her path, if they would like to come on a walk with her. she has friend, with whom she has been going on walks frequently before she started kindergarten and that seems still to be her preferred way of spending time.
it is deep into autumn, almost over i would say, though not yet. even as the sun was not out, it was not cold at all and we had fun skipping and climbing and strolling through the forest and across some empty pastures.

uups, yes we had to clean our shoes very well, it has been wet and a bit muddy, but never mind, it was worth it.

{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. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

the lights in november

it's lantern time in my neighborhood. all the kindergarteners have been doing the "raebelichtli umzuege" naturally we went too our kindergarden's walk around the neighborhood too. having been at the kindergarden in the morning to carve the lanterns, the parents enjoyed the time chatting and carving with the kids. it will likely have been the last time for me, as thea is in her second year of kindergarten and usually the lantern parades are not anymore done in primary school. well, i will miss it, miss the sitting down to carve and decide what kind of patterns we want to carve. the walking and singing with the kids at night was very special. maybe we will just do our own little carving session and no one prevents us from singing songs in our yard... that could be considered, though we will see how the girls are doing in a year and if they would be into this kind of activity too.

we do have our little lights right in front of our entrance door. it's a friendly invitation to come and visit. it's a little bit of shining hope and light into this dark season. early nightfall and getting up when it's still dark is hard on all of us, and i would assume not just for us. so we also light candles in the morning. it does lighten up breakfast as well as a warm and wonderful moment of being together to start the day.
so, as i started with telling you about the lantern parade in the evening, i will end with the candle we light in the morning. and it's good for my mood too, just a bit of light to brighten up the morning.

turning 6

our dear thea turned six today!
the long expected birthday day has come  and she has been waking up early to have breakfast with all of us. of course we enjoyed it and loved to have her at the table that early in the morning.
such six year old excitement is wonderful and there is not a moment one of us doubted that thea's age. lot's of exclamations all through the day, as well as loving to be at center stage for this one big day.
not just breakfast was all hers, but also the mid afternoon cake celebration with all the grandparents and a couple more friends, even big brothers colleague was invited for cake...

i love the little, though i'm aware that she is not so little anymore, around the house. love to remember how she entered this world, our family, our community life! not a lot of announcing, being birthed in a quick few minutes at home with the dr. colleague living with us attending (thank you mark). a few moments there after all of us sitting in a round and admiring her, the little thea clare.
praying and giving thanks for the precious life we have given to take car and being blessed by.

fabric design by T

a wide open afternoon and a wanting to craft child makes for a good mix and a quickly passing afternoon. painting was, what she wanted to do, a fabric apron was, what i needed her to somehow put a design on. no big deal, for both of us, working together to tape the apron onto the table. and taking the fabric creons out from the cupboard. the creons are wonderful, strong in pigment and slightly oily to the touch. it is easy to work with them, if the fabric is smooth on the surface. and that's why i felt like, i wanted to tape down the object of being colored on.

thea started out with the name of her cousin, as he has had a birthday yesterday and even as we are a bit late, i'm sure he will enjoy the kitchen apron, personalized by thea.
a smily had to be on the design and then it seems like, thea was into boxes and the result looks somewhat like a creative kind of hundertwasser. lovely and absolutely enjoyable to go through the process and i'm once more impressed by my daughters sence of color and space.

the fire in the woods

we all love autumn and even more, we all love to make and tend fires. to roast and cook over a fire and just sit, watch better say, stare into the fire.
and that is just what we did yesterday afternoon into the evening. of course the kids could not be convinced, that a hike a little bit further up in the toesstal could be fun, exciting and even sunny! they didn't mind the fog, they even loved the feel of autumn in their bones. well, what to do with a bunch of kids, teenager better say and friends as well as a wide open sunday afternoon.
"lets go and make a big fire in the woods" was the unison voice of the oldest child and so the other three were easily convinced. a phone call to our friends and preparations were in full swing.
a thermos with green tea, one with coffee, chestnuts and the needed pan to cook, marshmallows and apples, crackers and cookies amos and his colleague baked on friday had come along too.
some rope, a saw, the hatchet and of course fire lighters and paper.

we almost forgot the flashlights, but we didn't and that was a good thing, as it is getting dark early now. i even took my hexies along... just a moment of sitting and sewing, it calmes me down and makes me happy!

a good moment was spent in collecting mushrooms, we had an excellent fall this year. a wet summer and then warm and sunny october days. mushrooms all over the place, o and a wasp nest 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. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

somewhat like burek

how do you love spinach? i have a few people around my dinner table which do not really love spinach. so there is some creativity being asked of me. in may i tried spinach smoothy, it was nice, i thought. the kids where not hot on it, but slurped it.

we have lots of neighbors from the balkan and so we have been eating burek made by the ones who really know how to make it. though the recipe i looked at was not calling the "rolls" burek and i didn't quiet  understand that will turn out very much as burek. i don't know if i really would have dared to make burek, i was so far not able to get myself to do so. as i really like the real food made by the people who know what they do and it will not turn out the same, when i make it. but this time it got me into the adventure by surprise what it turned out to be. it turned out wonderful and that's what counts at the moment.
so yes the family and everyone else at our dinner and lunch table love burek, and yes even the one i made. i used simple puffy pastery dough but rolled it out much thinner as it usually is done.
so here we go, this is a dish with spinach and fresh cheese (be it goat or not, doesn't really matter, but be aware that you need to add some hot pepper or chili for taste if you do not use the goat cheese).

eaten warm is just super perfect!

taking notes

i'm in the middle of taking a course in story telling. it's six days, on which i attend that class and it's really exciting. the idea behind this is, that i will be able to tell stories in authentic and exciting ways. to grasp the kids attention and lead on their way to discover life, discover the bible and discover God.
i love the pen which is use to take notes, such a creative little tool, i got from a child. and i'm inspired to use it, when ever i look at it, or just hold it in my hand.
note taking has been a good learning tool for me in the past and it seems, that it still is. wow it has been a long time, since i have taken the last class, i don't even remember, maybe the "perspectives class" 16 years ago...
well i love learning again and it's smooth so far. though for next tuesday, i will have to tell a story to a group of 5 students and a teacher, and they will critique me. lets see what is going to happen!

morning has broken

what a wonderful morning we enjoyed today. waking up when it was still dark getting the kids out of bed has been a bit of a chore lately. though i don't blame them, it's november and we are all getting up for breakfast at 6:25am. it has been a getting used to, and some mornings, i would love to rather stay in bed and wait for the sun to lure me out from under the warm covers.

but today it was just a must, as i had to leave the house even before the girls left for school. and it was well worth to be up and running. to take out the camera, just for a moment, but run out into the cool of the november morning, as you maybe can grasp from those pictures. the colors were stunning and keeping me staring out the window between sips of tea.

{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. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

my fliepie

all of a sudden i just had to pick up the crochet hook and get to work...
i was taken by surprise when i leafed through a "molly makes" magazine. i don't even know which issue it was, as i got it from our local library and they get it in late as it is a german version... (sorry no link to the issue). and lucky me, having some yarn in the bins which fit quiet well. it was a bit thicker as described in the pattern, so my fliepie turned out on the larger side. fine with me. it looks lovely in our back yard, just where it's supposed to be, under the birch trees.

fun to make and a very quick project, i will do some more of this little crochet mushrooms and found a wonderful, inspirational picture.
this much for my doings this week in season autumn season.

digging in

such a lovely late autumn afternoon has to be good for some gardening!
i have not had the time to dig in the bulbs. not that i was in a hurry, much more was i eager to engage the girls in this part of the gardening work.
but it didn't happen, i could not excite them for some digging and planting, they had their own plans. naomi went to the woods with some friends to make a fire. of course such things are much more exciting and i love it, when she is feeling all up for adventurous projects out of the house. and of course, thea was not into it either, her friends have been at the child care center just behind our house. they are all her best friends. when she is riding her bike at the paved gym grounds, where the big kids play basket ball in the evenings, they cheer for her and also invite her to play on their side of the fence in the sand pit. it's fun to watch them. as sometimes thea is standing at the fence for hours and is observing them. i'm not sure anymore who is in the better position, the kids behind the fence taken care of by educated child care workers or thea on her own, clinging to the fence to be close to them, but has the freedom to leave when ever she wants....

so instead of being helped by the girls, i made friends with a wonderfully big earthen friend. and yes i told it how much i do appreciate the work it does for the soil and so for me too.

"hafenkran"

it has been a long story about the "hafenkran" in zurich. o our landlocked country has been wanting to be a seafaring people... though no way zurich is on the sea! there is lake zurich and the river limmat, of course and lots of sailing and boating and swimming going on, but that was not enough.....

so we got some artists to figure out, how we could get the feeling of a harbor into our city. and what did they come up with? right a "hafenkran" from hamburg. now zurich has it's own big honking installation in the middle of the city at the banks of the limmat. it has been an exciting few moments, when the workers from hamburg came with the flat beds from the north to bring the crane broken down in many parts. i was not there when they installed it but for them, it must have been an odd feeling to put such a crane together, when we all knew, that there will be not ships coming to be unloaded or loaded...

so today, i was in the big city and had my sandwich lunch next to the hafenkran, funny feel. there was also a bit of a feel of homesickness... i have not been to boston for very long, not that i have been hanging out at the boston harbor a lot, but still there is that "fernweh" sneaking up on me, what to do?

maybe, closing my eyes and instead of the big gulls, i pretended the small gulls "honking" was the real thing!

the last

it is late autumn, morning fog and moist air are the dominant features as i start my days.
after an early rise, a big hubub in the kitchen. before seven our family is sitting around the table for a healthy and nutritious breakfast, as well as to feed our souls. the daily bible readings are such natural and and nourishing start into everyone's day. as well as asking for god's blessings to be with everyone. o i'm grounded and strengthened by the short prayers our younger ones are saying.

right now we read through proverbs, sometimes a bit of a challenge. oh my all the verses talking about the sluggard and the folly. though of course then there are the sweet as honey verses and in all of them is so much truth and wisdom. it's a blessing and we often have discussions about particular situations in our own lives.
it will take us one or two more weeks to finish up this book, so i feel like i can also say "the last" verses are approaching... as out of doors, the last berries are calling out to the birds and squirrels!

{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. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

fruit leather

i have been given 1kg of quince, we love quince jelly as well as fruit leather. quince is kind of a treasured fruit by me, though also a bit challenging to get the work done. the fruit is very hard to cut and after cooking (15 minutes in the pressure cooker) i put it through the food mill. never the less it still had lot's of little "stones" in it... so then i pushed it through the kitchen sieve.
to my delight it kept it's color very well and so on to the next step, adding sugar and cooking, stirring, cooking for quiet a long while.

we made quince fruit leather 4 years ago, so i had a general idea, how to go about it. spreading the mass thin on two cookie sheets and let them dry for 3-4 days. the fun part, was the cutting and rolling the leather up with sandwich paper. they will serve well for yummy snacks, taking along to school.

the birds

it really was exciting to experience the big birds at the falconeria of locarno. we didn't even know of this place until we checked in at the campground office last week. just super interesting and such an adventurous presentation of those birds, the whole family was at awe.
elias with the camera in hand (of course not just the little one, but the big honking "car" of a lens), he took many pictures, i just show a few of them here. with so much grace, those birds flew over our heads, just over and over again. the owls cut it super close and almost touched our heads. the vultures are just super big, and cool naked heads they present, wow!

the smallest was the hawk pilgrim, though they were able to show him off in his speedy approach, i have not seen birds of prey, so close and still in such a natural habitat. look at that uhu...