{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 red around me

when i was sifting through the photos taken today, there was an obvious colour sticking out. it was a red day beside the tomatoes there was gooseberry marmalade from my mother in law spread on my breakfast bread.
thea was using a red marker to write on white paper as well as on her chubby little hands. we also devoured the last few pieces of water melon from yesterdays dinner. of course i should not forget the raspberry syrup in the middle of the afternoon. all kinds of shades of red, though it did not occur to me when i saw it. there was way too much going on around me. the boys and i stacked the one cubic meter cut wood behind the house, which the farmer we buy from unloaded in front of the house. and yes there was a splinter with some little red blood droplets, but not really serious red...


on the sill in the kitchen


our "antique" garden chairs (they must be old, as they were originally used by the cafe at least 25 years back, when the house we live in was a restaurant and cafe)


the knitting i'm working on, a diagonal scarf wool/silk tern from quince&co. in columbine/140. it is wonderful to work with and a super simple pattern. just the right project for busy days when i still find the time to quickly knit a row or two while telling a story or enjoying a snack with a friend.

the homecoming

the moment we were anticipating, we really hardly could wait to welcome elias back home. he spent 4 weeks with friends, playing music (his new violin), enjoying camp, biking, sailing, kayaking, laughing, joking and what ever else a 12 year old is loving to do.
a super over tired boy was meeting us at the airport on monday and he really was almost like dropping from the sky. very mixed up emotions after a good time with friends in the city he lived 10 years of his life...
thank you all over there in the "new world" for taking so well care of our boy. he is happily back and i think loved and savored every moment with old friends!


my housemate has a community garden and she planted lots of sunflower seeds as her dad has a whole field of them for farming. she cuts some of them every week and i feel like i'm the lucky third person who gets to enjoy all the bounty of her work and labor.


of course there is laundry, the weather has been perfect on my laundry day. i was able to hang three loads out on the line on monday after lunch and taking it in all dry just before it started pouring after 5pm! i love doing laundry outside, in the wind and under racing clouds with some sunshine speeding the drying process up just a little bit. i count this as the gift of the day!

the wonderful water in our backyard

the kids love it and joel just built a little platform to jump from...
i stay out of it as it is just too cool...
love to watch them though...
summer is here even though the air doesn't feel to warm...


and i'm picking black raspberries...

the week in the mountains

it was just wonderful to be up there high up in the mountains, surrounded by mountains, sunshine, rain and fresh air. in those moments i feel like i do really belong here and do not miss the ocean one bit...


it is a grand view we had from the garden of the guest house.


and o those mowed and hayed pastures, we were two days too late to see them still in full bloom. but never the less, it is spectacular the structure of the mountain is wonderful


and yes we got some hot spills, where water was the solution and enjoyment of all


walking, hiking, snacking, laughing, dreaming and enjoying the company of friends


it's good to keep the scenery in my memory, to recall those special "clouds" rising from the valley bottoms to up and then vanish into thin air


a little bit of first of august fire works, o how we all loved the magic matches! and of course we all had fun to count the mountain top fires, and brisk air, and a good ice creme


the drawings of the rock, seen so clearly and so beautifully over and over all around.

gone for a few day

we are going up into the mountains of switzerland for the next couple days. no posting no nothing, except enjoying the time with friends surrounded by the wonderful peaks of the praettigau in the canton of graubuenden. we are so much looking forward to this little vacation, though joel keeps on working in the big city. he has to make up for his long vacation which he already enjoyed with elias in boston...
i will be back in a week, enjoy the summer as much as we do!

{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.

sarah, plain and tall

it has been a cool and somewhat gloomy morning. not very inviting to go outside and so it came about...
naomi started yesterday reading "sara, plain and tall", though exclaiming that she really didn't remember anything she read.
this has to change as it is such a wonderful story. and now i find myself reading the little book out loud to both girls. a perfect moment and wonderful start into a day for which we had very different plans. and that's ok.
it is ok to slow down it is even good to slow down and do less. i learn to let go of my big plans and read or run or paint or bake with my kids instead of hustling and bustling on my own.
dear c would you be able to send the three consecutive books by mclachlyn along with elias?

to the use of klaraepfel

it is a very old kind of apple the "klarapfel", either someone likes it or then not as it is very sour. the first apple of the year and i do remember my grandma telling me how wonderful it was to get the first apples in the summer. a very tart apple ideal for applesauce or backing. they don't keep well, the most 2 weeks refrigerated. and it must be harvested when the fruit is still white, as soon as it turns yellow the apple tastes mealy.

this old apple originated in lettland, and was introduced into europe via france. it is not anymore a popular apple, but still laden with memories, as older folks remember having had a "klarapfel"-tree in their yard and quickly getting a fruit from their neighbors tree on their way to school. this was all before the big storage houses were in place and apples are being stored all year round, and ready to be eaten at any given season.

i was asked by a friend, if i would like a big basket of "klaraepfel", to make apple or what ever i wanted. of course i answered. last week i got the call to come and pick them up. the plan was to go tomorrow, but my friend was quicker and already yesterday stopped by to bring me those promised apples. thank you r


the apples look very pale and yes they are sour. though while getting them ready for cooking we still ate a lot


after a few days of rain, we embraced the sunshine and worked in the garden


the chicken got their share and loved it


after cooking and mushing the apples, i added some honey and a cinnamon stick. a bit more cooking and then ready to put it into jars. of course we have already tried the yummy sauce and we look forward to cold winter days when we will be eating rice porridge and apple sauce. (one of the kids favorite dishes)

drying green beans

visiting my parents is usually including some kind of cooking, baking or as yesterday preserving...
the mounds of green beans and a little bit of yellow ones have already been prepared by my mom.


so we just had to let them boil for a moment, dry on a tea towel and then put them nicely on the drying racks.


of course freezing would have been a bit quicker, but my mom as her freezer full (as my brother has just a bit ago slaughtered a pig) and we all love dried beans a lot.
the beans will be dry within a day or two, stored in simple cotton fabric bags, and hung somewhere in the attic in the dark they will be ready come winter. yummy


there is more preserving coming tomorrow, we are working hard on the first harvest of fresh apples...

the workers were busy last week

on last friday's {this moment} i did share a little peak into amos and naomi's "huettenbau" week.

over 80 kids and many adult leaders and teen helpers met each day of last week. monday until wednesday the huts were built, "pfahlbauer" (huts on stilts) was the motto and everyone was super enthusiastic about the work. thursday until sunday the kids were overnighting in their huts. each and every minute was loved, with bruises and splinters but very happy and new found friends are the two of them home again. a big thank you to all orange and green t-shirt wearers, you were wonderful volunteers leading and guiding the kids through this week.




a quick rest for the saw, this was very rare in the first two days


big dreams
all those volunteer daddies and mamies building with a dozen kids assigned to their hut (age 7-12)


it was amazing how quickly the second and third floors were nailed down


and of course stairs, ladders and railings. hammering was music in every ones ears


the second half of the week was iffy with the weather, lots of quick rains and mostly cool, never the less lots of fun. and of course at the entrance of each hut was a raincoat rack "designed" and constructed


seven huts, lots and lots of stairs and verandas and pathways up in the air.


our tour guide, very proudly on top of of the entrance to "his" hut

(photos have been taken in the course of last week, by joel and me)

{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.

watching the transformation

we did feed the caterpillar and loved it and watched it grow and enjoyed it a lot, summer has been spilling over in our house!


it was wonderful to see the chrysalis. being patient with just being.


i did take a photo yesterday, feeling that it might be the last of this stage. we did observe how the coloure in the of the chrysalis changed and just this morning the kids took an other look and decided that they could definitely see the colours of the wings, it was beautiful


an hour later we discovered the wonderful old world swallowtail


i was and still am at awe, gazing at this perfect creature

naomi's ins skirt

there is something about starting a new project, especially about sewing cloths for my kids...
a few months ago i got hold of nancy j.s. lnagdon's and sabine pollehn's book, "sewing clothes kids love". i had to get used to the super colourful and fancy decorated style, but naomi right away totally loved it.
i quickly got hold of some fabric out of my stash good folks by anna maria horner, this two different colour ways should match and make the over skirt, for the under skirt it's something very plain, but still flowery.

the yoke is just a plain green, i'm still not too up for too loud fabric combinations...


though i have to say as soon as i started to cut the pieces i was falling in love with the combination and an other funny thing happened to me...


i had to bake an apple tart. don't ask me when it started to spin in my head, but it just felt like the thing to do. i grabbed the little bowl of red currents and put them onto the tart too, some colour and tartness to the very sweet apples seemed right.
as soon as i took the tart out of the oven, i knew what has happened, the tart was the perfect print match with the good folks print i picked for the skirt...


the was getting a hold of the fabric scraps and started to do gymnastics, she was very happy and really never once minded while i was using the big scissors as usually she would be head over heels wanting to cut too. i enjoyed a happy morning, sewing will start soon...

mani matter at the landesmuseum

i wanted to go and see the mani matter exhibit at the landesmuseum in zurich...
it was just an attempt, as thea and i would have had to wait for 2h to enter the special exhibit. we decided not to wait and instead see the regular parts of the museum as well as the wwf special exhibit. it was nice, as there were a number of birds on exhibit, of course i know WWF and i'm glad they exist but the biography of this organization is illustrated in a wonderful way, easily accessible and was well worth seeing.

i decided not to bring the camera along, as i wanted to "travel light" with thea in tow...
there would have been some fun pictures, as the two of us took a stroll along the limmat, had lunch on a quiet spot and wandered over to the train station at stadelhofen. once more in zurich and i do really like this city, i'm sure i will be returning, be it for the chagall windows at fraumuenster or also just to sit up there on the lindenhof to enjoy the view over the city.
back at home for an afternoon nap...

red current muffins

i love those little sour berries, and so do all the kids around me. the sweet muffin dough makes a perfect "back drop" for those little berries.

my neighbor invited me to come over and pick the berries from her two bushes. of course this you don't have to ask e twice! thea and i went over and got two bowls of the wonderful red fruit.
the first one is now made into juice, for the moment in the freezer, awaiting its final destination of being cooked into jelly, at a slower time of year.
some berries of course got eaten right away, thea loves them straight from the bush the best.
and then there is the muffin/cake which i love! here is the sheet cake which i made last year.
so yesterday was time for muffins...


i usually substitute some of the egg with rolled flax seed (shown here golden flax). about a big table spoon steeped in boiling water and then added as you do the eggs.



and here the recipe:

200 g soft butter
3 eggs
1 tbls flax seed steeped in boiling water
200 g sugar, i prefer brown sugar
1 pinch of salt, mix until the dough is light and fluffy

1/2 lemon juice and grated peel, add

200 g flour
1 tsp backing powder, whisk in just until smooth

2 cups red currents fresh from the bush, washed and taken from the stems, add and mix under the dough

fill the greased muffin tins (or use paper liners)
bake in preheated oven at 250F for ~25 min