our icy sun catchers

for my bedtime reading i'm enjoying amanda's "the rhythm of family", a book which is nice to read along as i have just a few moments before i fall asleep and it's inspirational. this way i fall asleep with ideas and thoughts of tomorrow, of a new day, a fresh start, a white sheet to be written on to be coloured and painted and made into something creative and fun. something which will shape me and my kids as well as the people we meet and interact.
o well this is a longish introduction to what we did a few days ago...
anyway, i just wanted to give amanda the credit for the sun catcher, as it is the february "do" thing in her book.

we got bun pans out, collected what ever nature things we could find in and around the house. naomi had the idea of putting the orange peel into it too. great idea, after having enjoyed a snack the peel went into the bun pan with all the other things. then we filled them up with water and put them outside into the cold fresh february air. it worked perfectly out with the weather, as we were just at the beginning of a cold spill here in europe (5-18F) and the icy rings where hung up at our entrance. the morning sun is being caught by them, the icy rings look great. the sun is not strong enough to melt them too quickly. i'm so happy they are still up, it's for five days now! and so far it looks like they will be out in the cold for another week or so...
we love the cold!

on the slope

 

we spent the weekend in the snow with our friends. a wonderful blessing to have friends living so close to the big mountains and they even have enough room in their apartment to host the six of us overnight!
we started out with a super cold saturday afternoon on the slopes, a yummy dinner in their cozy kitchen and a couple games of dominion. even a late night chat among adults after the kids were all asleep...
the second day was not less cold and as sunny as the first. again up into the snow in the afternoon. amos was on skis the first time and he managed very well, even the lift was a breeze, congratulations brave boy.
naomi of course was so happy with her board. for me still something i'm not capable myself, it looks already like she masters the skill well, and every hour spent in the snow she learns so much. of course elias was with us too and he was constantly on the lookout for new jumps...
thea and joel were sledding, "not too fast!" was the little girls comment to her dad. and we all loved the weekend a whole lot. i'm sure we will be back, and thank you for hosting us g & p!
(photos by joel)

{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 big snow is here

 

o the big happiness arrived alongside. the big kids of course were very excited to see all that white this morning and wanted to leave early for school. though i guess not really for school, much more for a good snowball fight before school... and i'm so happy they do like the precious white and don't mind to dress up a bit warmer. we also discovered the loss of amos' warm gloves as well the missing winter boots for elias. how this happened, i don't know.
the gloves we noticed already on tuesday, though amos didn't mind and was going to look through the "lost and found" box at school. knowing now, that they have not been there, he uses mine for the moment being.
the solution for elias was a creative one, we decided on wearing legwarmers with his regular keens. i was thinking he would wear the legwarmers over his pants to keep the snow out, though he decided that he wanted to wear them under his pants, in order to not be picked on by his peers. i'm glad he figured out a solution for not having snow boots and still being able to not get cold feet. they all came home very happy tumbling into the house, of course i had to hear all those stories of how they enjoyed that precious white.
and thea wanted to go out too. i helped her gear up, she was super excited to be able to wear her "new" snow suit and even more happy to roll around  outdoors. wonderful, i'm so very grateful for the way nature provides us with treats. this time it is the big snow at the beginning of february!

soup and stories

some times i have to empty the veggie drawer in our fridge, and this particular time i was so excited about the colour my soup turned out, i could not resist to take a photo. broccoli, leeks, potatoes and red bell pepper, some chili flakes and a piece of bacon which i had sitting there on a shelf in the fridge. it doesn't just look yummy it tasted fabulous and the kids were digging right into it too. when i looked through the photos on my memory card i had to put that second photo next to the wonderful green soup. our little girl is an avid "reader" and loves to be sitting there and leave through her picture books as well as any given news paper or magazine which has letters and pictures on/in it. i frequently let my work be interrupted, tending her and reading her one of the books. the favorite at the moment is "Millie's marvellous hat", a creative story with lots of imagination which she absolutely dives into and loves. giving the many hats new names, like party hat (the one with a bottle of wine and to classes on a tray) or any other of them she gets hooked on. wonderful and what's better for a three year old, than looking, thinking, creating in her mind and being able to communicate her thoughts to the people living with her, sitting and reading with her.

fruit tarts in our kitchen

we all love fruit tart dinners, there was time, there was the leisure and there were cherries in the freezer as well as some apples in the shed... the eggs are not anymore our own, as elias' three hens stopped laying for the winter. we were surprised though that they were still laying strong until the beginning of the month. lets give them their rest and look forward to the warmer and longer days of spring and summer.
there were a few cherries which did not fit into the pie dish, so i put them in little single serve fire proof bowls with egg, sugar and creme, a yummy pudding for after school snack, it was eaten before i could turn around.

and then there was snow, jut a dusting of it, covering everything this morning, i love it. everything looks like it just came here to this earth from an other place. everyone had to bundle up to head out for school, except amos felt like it's ok not finding his gloves and left without them. i do surely hope we will find his gloves until saturday as we are planning to go skiing...

an other birthday card

with a scrap bag from a friend on my desk and a birthday of my friend coming, i could not stop putting little pieces together on a nice piece of linen. it just so happen and i love those little moments when all i do is sit there and let my hand to what they love to do. finishing up the mini collage on sunday night, as we were sitting in the living room with a glass of wine and letting the calm and quiet of the house be the inspiration. it reminded me of a couple months ago, when i was working on a similar little project.
it's already in the mail by tomorrow morning, to it's birthday friend of mine...

{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.

pause and take a cup of tea

there was some hick up in my quilting roll. i didn't really anticipated it but it was also not disturbing  me from having lots of fun sewing and ironing and looking at the blocks with lots of happiness. there will be more of it, i feel like it needs some kind of border and then of course binding... let alone the quilting. though i'm taking it easy and will be pondering about how to quilt and what colour to take for the binding, i'm prone to buy some felted wool, as elias really likes his a lot.
and then this morning we had to go to the library in the city, as we are missing a book...
we both had a lot of time on hand and nothing to hurry, as a friend was preparing lunch for me and the kids. we took the liberty and went to a little place i have been wanting to visit, the "teekult" it is a tea room with an exciting variety of tea, not just to sit down and take moment of leisure to sip on a cup of tea, but also to buy and enjoy a cup of it at home. it is a wonderful tea room, the walls are historic and kept very nice, painted wood. a place to stay and enjoy and look out the window, as it is on the second floor with a nice view down into a pedestrian street of the old city center.
definitely a place we will be going back, to pause and sit and ponder for a moment in our often very busy life.

loulouthi quilt

i got jumpstarted with a new quilt, the fabric was ordered long ago, sitting on a shelf waiting for me to pick it up, it's anna maria horner's lououthi. i already got much farther than i assumed within the past two days...
it is so much fun, the cutting sewing, ironing and again cutting and sewing. i'm not sure where it will take me there is an initial idea taken from here.
the moos-green ran out so i added an additional solid colour into the mix, it's a dark bordeaux, which adds a bit of zing to it. and that was needed, i didn't expect the moos-green to mellow the colourful prints down as much as it did. more photos tomorrow, i can't stop going...

a fun afternoon with needlefelting

 

of course there is no school free afternoon with naomi, without having done a craft...
we were felting balls quite some time back and so with the needle before. naomi was felting a picture with the bare hand some water and soap at a friends house a couple months ago and liked it too. though this time she was determined to use the needle again. felting with wool roving is wonderful, regardless with or without needles.
i got her started with a little hand-felted ball and she added to it what ever she wanted. there were smiling balls created, some with "long hair" and dotted once too. thea was very happy with the products and as soon as the boys came in the door and saw her working, they of course wanted to get into the action too.

i remember as my mama was buying wool roving in big bags, she also got some still undone and we were able to card our own roving with those special "combs". we were spinning the roving into yarn, we kids mostly did this by hand spindle and my mama was using the wheel. who knows what the girl and i come up doing...
maybe i can find the spindles in my parents house...

the puzzling weekend

there was lots of puzzling going on over the weekend. at the spur of the moment i decided that we should take out one of our 1000 pieces puzzle instead of watching a movie. of course that was not received well by all, but never the less an hour later when the girls were in bed, the rest of us was working with lots of excitement and some other folks living in our house helped too. it is definitely still winter, long evenings and beside the music making which is going on almost every evening it's good to "create" something else together.
thea has been working on her own puzzles lately, she is doing fine, often i'm her helper and now and then she ventures off to do them on her own. i'm glad for her enthusiasm and love of "working". the two of us have gotten used to play memory at least once a day for the past couple weeks. she is getting more focused every day and of course challenging me by this to also pay more and more attention.
elias has started to make music together with thea, this is very nice to see happening. the focus of the both of them, on getting the songs right in melody as well as rhythm...

{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.

sunshine on my needles

 

 

i'm working on a little hat, a baby's "pilot hat" with a wonderful sunny bamboo yarn. it's for a summer baby, and thea call's her future cousin(e) baby sunshine... and this is just so fitting. i have been wanting to try this pattern for it's looks and yes it is a quick knit. of course there is also the useful aspect of this baby hat pattern, as the hat will definitely not slip over the little ones eyes and o that is one big reason for using it. i remember having to move back their little hats many times and often i didn't even realize that they didn't see anything being bundled up on my back...

the last time i was working with this bamboo was very special. it is now over two years back, when we traveled across the usa in an old RV and i knit a shirt for naomi. i wanted to link to an old post, though he photos are not appearing. this is a mistery to me i will try to figure out what's causing this non appearance, though for right now, there is just that one family photo with naomi wearing the shirt...

the moon

 

yesterday morning while i got the tea kettle started i spotted the moon. it was just that very perfect waning moon. just about a week ago i noticed the full moon one night, as i put the kettle on for a cup of tea. though it was in a very different place in the sky and it was a very different time of day and a very different moon, it was the same awesome moon. up there in the sky so far and so close, so perfect to see and admire.
most likely it's joel, who catches the moon, here, here and here, and of course many more times over...

this morning i gave it a try, and later he could not stand back and had to go out too, just quickly before running to catch the train to go to work.

it's cool to see the moon, i'm grateful every day when i look up there into the sky and spot it. and even if i'm not able to see it clearly, or not even one bit, i know it's there and it's perfect.

cheese tasting with the family

joels parents invited for a cheese tasting at a local cheese cellar. a very special place indeed, especially with some wonderful people enjoying such yummy food together. it was the first time we got together without the kids. usually we love the big family gatherings with all the little once being a big part of the fun. though this was going to be a bit different, and indeed not having to watch out and feed four more people on the side i absolutely enjoyed the wonderful people as well as all the cheese.
hearing stories of local cheese makers, like christa egli at girenbad and a big selection is seen here at natürli. i also got to appreciate and learn a lot from the fabulouse sommelier maitre frommager stefan böni. lots of little insights into the politics of the "butterberg" here a little bit of old news (sorry both of these links are only in german). and of course the lesson about the cheese of the cows with horns has been not less interesting and involved some biology too, an interesting link for the cow herders reading my blog, you guys know how your are...

of course sitting at one table with all of joel's siblings and their partners is pure enjoyment. it has been an evening which i'm treasuring and for sure think back a lot.
at the home front, i knew, even with thea still coughing a storm, my ma was taking good care of all the little and not so little once. it was late when we got home and as i assumed everything was quiet and there goes a big thank you to my ma for looking after our babes.