vacationing in the valley of bergell, the first

together with friends we took an over 5h train ride to the wonderful valley of bergell. in the southeast of switzerland. a long ride on the RhB was the big excitement for the first day. all those turning tunnels and the landscape made up of lots of steep cliffs right next to the track, it was breath taking.

 

the first big hike was up to the pass da set (if some of you know german/italian/french here a historic introduction) a wonderful hike on a gorgeous day. starting out at casaccia gaining altitude while enjoying the val maroz up parts of it on the very historic roman road.

following the path a steep climb to motta da set, to pass da lunghin and taking a dip in lagh dal lunghin (on the panorama about 1/3rd into the photo from the left). wonderful views and an ice creme upon arrival in the town of maloja. after an other 20 minutes ride with the post car, down the valley everyone arrived happily at vicosoprano.

an other morning an other hike to do. the mornings were wonderful, with the sun beams streaming over the eastern tips of the valley. we had to get up in the mornings, just to enjoy this spectacular view.

of course some of us had to hike up to the hydro electric dam of albignia, there would have been a condola taking passengers up and down from pranzeira to albignia, though the folks of us who wanted to see the lake up there about 100 meters above the valley they would not have even been thinking of not hiking up and down. we missed the tuesday talk and showing of the dam, though i'm certain, we will catch up with it at some future tuesday, as this was not our last stay in vicosoprano.

the last photo again a work of joel's hi puzzled for the fun of it, until he had this panorama together. it's not just hiking and taking pictures, it's also the fun to puzzle which is his too.
thank you joel for carrying the camera and taking lots of pics. such a treat for me to use them in my little corner here.

gone for a week

heading out and up into the swiss mountains. this time it's the valley of bergell, see you back here in a week or so...

{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 finished granny square sampler

so here we go, within the past few days i puzzled and connected all those granny squares i crochet over the summer. i'm so very happy, at week 17 blair had her last post and i could just not wait any longer to finish up my sampler. there is a flicker group for this granny project. it is fun to file through the photos and very inspiring to see what the other crocheters were working on. i'm also very happy about all the stash i was able to use up. even my mother in law was happy to pass a big bag onto me. my sampler ended up with lots more squares than blair suggested. and that is the whole wonderful fun of it, i'm fine doing so. i can follow the instructions and just add squares, and be creative in putting them together. while i was puzzling i realized that because i was using up lots of different kinds of yarns, i ended up with very different sizes of squares. a bit of a challenge in putting them together into a kind of even rectangle. i had to add lots of tiny squares as well as rectangular  pieces like those. o so very yummy to look at my newest blanket, makes me wanting to have the snow come down in a big way!

stacking wood and more...

lots of hustle bustle fall activity going on around our house, we got the wood delivered by the near by farmer. this will be keeping us entertained in the living room. of course our fire place will be fired up a lot, i'm certain of this, as our family is what you would call something like "pyromaniacs". we all love to light a fire and kindle and watch and enjoy it with all its warmth and might.
and then were there lots of horse chestnuts all over in our garden, thea and naomi collected lots though they keep falling and it will not stop yet. not a clear project in mind, though naomi is thinking of drills and thread and wire and so on, i'm sure we will end up with lovely crafts.

i took the moments of wonderful sunshine sitting down and looking up, taking in the moment, keeping still and just wondering and loving the trees. the leafs and branches swaying in the wind and telling us that it's time to get ready for the colder weather. even the chicken started to eat more again, it seems like they are getting ready for a long winter too.

tomorrow more of the granny square sampler afghan....

when it rains...

then there is definitely one of the girls outside and loving it with all her heart. this time it was an umbrella, though most often its boots and her "plastic"-coat with hood only. she can walk out there for hours with quickly stopping by to tell, that she discovered this worm or that piece of hazel nut from around the house...

then there is lots of indoor drawing and painting going on too. discovering the tracing on her own is interesting and even more with the big sister helping her a bit. and finding all kinds of lines to come up with new creations. last saturday was one of those days. a whole day of rain and no scheduled activities going on, what better than letting the kids go about their ideas create and letting them explore what's in them and how wonderful it is to discover on their own with lots of time and a pace that makes them feel comfortable. since we are in switzerland and the kids in public school, those not at all scheduled days are very rare. i have to come up with planning some more of them.

letter piecing

my niece turned 13 and we went to her party, all of us. of course we could not go empty handed, so i had to be sewing a bit. never before did i do some letter piecing, but it just seemed right for the occasion. it was fun and quick and exciting to work on this little project. the white fabric is an antique one which i have used on other occasions too. here and here
i found this board to be a good inspiration and of course just digging through my scrap bag was fun and put the colours and size of the letters into perspective.

{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.

random fall colours

it is random, though not only, it's fall and it's that yellow-red season of the year. i'm happy with the moebius a quick and easy knit. though i did struggle a bit in the beginning, never mind it is what it is and it feels cozy  around my neck, just what i need in the early wee hours of the day.
the brown chicken has been molding over the past few months and i love it's checkered feather dress. all three chickens are giddy, as we picked the grapes in our neighbors garden. they got to taste those sweet berries a few times, when ever i forgot to close the gate. all three were quickly to find the opening and run over for a treat. today is a big feast over there, as many grape berries fell while we cut the clusters off the wine.
in a few days, we the people will be happilyj drinking the sweet juice, and yes i will also be making some grape jelly which will be loved in winter times, on breakfast breads.

the first round

the weather was nice and we went out to get the apples. at least that's what we thought we would...
we did go and we did get some crates, not a lot and there will be more in 3 weeks. the boscop were definitely not all ready to be taken, but that's ok. we needed to collect what was ready and on monday we will get the first cider of this year. in three weeks i'm sure there will be an other load of apples and it will be much cooler too. today felt warm for apple collecting isn't this an autumn activity? it is and autumn is showing itself from it's best side. i like this weather and i enjoy this activity of being outside and collecting what nature has produced for us.

autmn afternoon::o so happy

for a few weeks already a top for naomi was waiting to be done. finally i tweaked this pattern into a blouse. instead of a grossgrain ribbon i was sewing adding an elastic just to the front which works fine. naomi is happy and i'm so very happy with the wonderful "hip" fabric. it was the perfect afternoon to finish this project up and have her try it on. celebrating with a sweet mid afternoon dessert after school.

there is lots of change going on around us. tomorrow is apple harvesting on the schedule for us. we will be out there rain or shine, lets hope for the first one. the harvest will not be as big as last year but never the less i'm already excited for the sweet cider to come.

yesterday up on speer

we took the opportunity of a wonderful sunny day and hiked up speer. it was one of those things we were talking about all summer long and i kind of was not quiet sure if we would be able to pull it off. especially as we had to organize a few things in order to do this. first of all thea had to stay behind, this was working out last minute. thanks to wonderful grandparents. and then the weather had to be nice as the hike included a "klettersteig" which is only safe to do when it's dry.
we have done some hiking this summer though never climbing a klettersteig. all of us are good hikers and have a good tritt", we like good views and a bit adventure and the speer nordface hike/climb promised all of this without having to bring lots of gear.
it started out with a wonderful lush walk up the valley to the last few alp huts, and then the super exciting moment to stand at the bottom of the north face of speer, we climbed it up and loved it all. naomi and amos ahead in high spirits. the view was as breath taking as the climb itself. o yes we will be doing this again, we all agreed.
i'm so happy living within an hours car ride of such stunning mountains! and being able to show our kids the awesome world around us.

{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.

atumn is moving in

with it's beauty, with it's warm colours and i love it. for our morning snack and just some sitting in the warming beams of sunnlight. as soon as the fog lifted the kitchen was flooded with the beaming bliss and  we enjoyed the last piece of blueberry cake which a friend brought over, so very yummy. i can't help but look at the tomatoes on the sill, waiting to be eaten with just a bit of olive oil and pepper, or even cut up and made into a greek salad...

and then there is a needle here and then being knit. i'm already loving this shawl, yes autumn you are expected with open arms and we will be gladly putting on some more wool to totally embrace you. misty mornings will be here in the coming days.

finding once place

as i was so very much loving yesterday's afternoon, crafting, working and being, i felt sort of the opposite today. i don't even know why this is the way it is, there was just not a place i was able to settle and feel at peace and keep going. there was a busy morning with the ladies coming to german conversation group. it was gun it was great we had a few new women joining. then there was lunch time, i didn't even have to cook or set the table it was done by some one else living in our house. so that was nice, but maybe that was it, it threw me off. i was not doing what i usually do around noon time in my house...
never the less it was yummy and i indulged in a piece of dark chocolate to round up the delicious summer veggie casserole.
meanwhile knitting a round now and then, the moebius is growing and love it. listening to moral disorder by margaret atwood. the kids were in and out of the house doing their own things, had questions which i answered and gone again.
there are days like this, without a center without a consistent rhythm or swing. i don't like those days, i feel lost. maybe i need to learn to take those days just as they are, be at peace with them and not fight them? maybe, pondering and writing here helps me to keep still, just for a moment. still, sifting through my photos, still with all the kids in bed and joel making music with a friend, still as our house can be. enjoying it and finding my place in the stillness, in the moment. here and now, i guess that was it for today, thank you for today, thank you for the hustle and bustle and thank you for the questions, the smiles thrown in my directions...

crafting::and loving it

the girls and i spent the afternoon crafting in the garden. each of us was working on some kind of project we started at various times and so it came all together at this lovely tuesday afternoon. warm and sunny, the best moment to take the shirt off and have thea paint. i still like this the best, as it's so quick to clean up and have her not to worry about painting any shirt or blouse. she is all for it and as soon as i suggested to paint, the shirt was off her body.
naomi has been weaving a couple months ago, for one or the other reason she picked her work up today and we figured with all the harvested lavender, which we did earlier in the day, she might work on some special sachet for the summer scent to be stored in.
and for me, i was wanting to work on my granny square project, but i'm not certain yet how to best proceed, so i put the bag with the remaining squares back in the corner. instead i picked up some yarn and started once more a moebius shawl. this time i try to work it in a two coloured patent...

and of course we didn't skip a mid afternoon dessert, o so yummy fresh raspberries from this mornings bike to the weekly market!