Celebrating Karsten’s milestone: three exhausting field seasons, two stays in Finland, hours and hours working with R and two children later, a French chocolate cake with no less than nine eggs seems appropriate for his first publication đ
(“Looks about right!” he said and took a quarter of the cake…)
On one evening last week, I took my bike and went to the library to pick up a book. That was when I noticed two things. First of all, that I have a really old bike. One of the type that people can hear thirty meters ahead when it is dark because it makes wheeee wheee wheee (or rather, the dynamo does). And the weak light of this dynamo made me realise the second thing: it was dark! Darker than usual. Really dark! The street lights were switched off.
And what occasion could a town council convince to switch off the street lights? Halloween? Nope, because although there are more and more children every year trying to start this tradition here, it has not really arrived yet. Maybe the kids should try a little harder to wear real costumes and not just a mask or a scarf (is it legitimate as a mother to refuse handing out sweets when the children are obviously not in costume when trick or treating?). No, there was another reason for the darkness: beets.
In Switzerland, the farmers bring in the last harvest from the fields at the beginning of November and in order to celebrate this occasion, children are carving beets and illuminate them with candles. In every village and town you’ll find parades with these enlightened beets, even with music and food and – as in our town – with extra-dark streets. While I know a similar tradition from Germany (we used to celebrate the 11th of November as St. Martins day and made lanterns in order to join a parade and then go from door to door to sing songs), the so-called Räbeliechtli was new to me. But one of the great things about having children is that you can completely engage in these traditions again. So, on said evening the little one was already in her pyjamas, covered with a warm jacket and a scarf and put in her buggy in order to watch the parade. She was completely thrilled, especially since we met a family from her playgroup and they gave her one of their carved beets (Räbe!). That evening, when brushing her teeth, she cheered and said:“Mom, I am happy!”. That goes right to my heart, that sentence….
Yesterday, we therefore planned to go and carve beets ourselves. Since we are unexperienced Germans, we wanted to join one of the many “carving sessions” at a local family centre. Unfortunately, the little one was too tired and grumpy as she didn’t have her lunchtime nap, so I decided to swing by the family centre in order to see how it is done and then I bought two beets and a thingy to carve (originally to carve melons) and we did it at home.
And here is how it is done: first you cut off the upper 1/3 of the beet as a lid. Then you hollow out the beet and the lid (not too much though, as you don´t want the walls of the beet to break later on). And then you take a sharp knife or a cutter and you carve figures and forms from the outside, by just scraping off a millimeter or so. That way, the reddish outer part of the beet is gone and the white inner part will illuminate the figures. You can also carve forms and figures into the lid. Depending on the wishes of your child and your own artistic abilities they’ll look better or worse. You then make three holes into the beet and the lid and attach the lid to the beet with ribbon, leaving space to put the candle inside and for the lid not to burn. The ends of the ribbons are tied together and will be used as handle. And voila, there is your Räbeliechtli! (feel free to drop me a comment if you have further questions)
We have made one with the little one so far (not the easiest task for a two-year-old though) and one more is waiting for Karsten’s and my creative energy…
A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by SouleMama.
(And if you have a blog yourself, feel free to join in and leave a link to your photo in the comment section.)
Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!
Is it really November? It surely feels like early October with temperatures around 18° C, colored trees and clear blue sky!
With my mother in law staying with us and hence a car available, we decided to enjoy yet another glorious autumn day by visiting the wildlife park in Arth-Goldau. Arth-Goldau is situated beautifully along the Zuger Lake and is the main destination for going up the Rigi. It has already been more than a year since we went there and I always feel a bit sorry that we don’t manage to discover Switzerland more often (but with most of the weekends busy, one PhD salary, two children and no car it is a bit challenging to visit the mountains without doing an overnight stop). All the more was I happy about this great trip today! When we arrived, the sun had just started to make its way through the morning mist, revealing snowy mountains in the background.
In the wildlife park you will find all possible wild animals of Switzerland. The enclosures are big with many trees and rocks. You can see the mountains and deer and mouflons are roaming around freely in most of the park. At the entrance gate deer food is being sold so that you can always attract them if you want to. And since today was a week-day and it is out of season, we were almost alone in the park.
The little one was especially looking forward to the fox and the badger as she knows them from one of her books but she always points out that she has “never ever!” seen one. I am afraid she didn’t really see them today either – we could only see their backs as all of them were sleeping (same with the wolves and the bears). But hey, who wouldn’t lie down for a late morning nap in the sun?
Good for us that we still saw lots of other animals. Said mouflons, for instance, and deer. Lots of deer. A really tall donkey as well. Ravens. Chamois’. Bisons (not sure where to find them exactly in Switzerland). Squirrels. Lynxes. Goats. And, even better, a great playground and many, many rocks to climb on.
The hobbit was, as usual, sleeping away in his pram with a short wake-up period in order to drink (while being surrounded by deer…almost as fancy as his first outdoor lunch) and to change diapers (on a picnic table with deer around him). And the little one was just awesome: no tantrum, to tears during the whole trip! Though, now that I think of it, that’s not entirely true. She cried exactly two times. The first time when the two mouflons she were feeding suddenly turned into more than ten. And the second time when a cheeky deer took the whole food box instead of waiting for the little one to feed it. Both completely understable situations for tears, I think.
two mouflons….
…and an invasion of mouflons.
On the way back, both kids were sleeping and now we are having a quiet afternoon (it is 4:20pm and the sun has already set behind the hills).
Piles of laundry, dust in the corners, a sore throat, no blog posts….gee, time really is scarce right now! But on the other side: another pumpkin pie on the table, brunch with the little one’s playgroup, medical check-up for the hobbit (and his first vaccination, poor him), and some glorious sunshine outside after the morning mist dissappeared.
Last weekend, we spent some time in Freiburg again which is why my regular sunday post didn’t appear. Karsten’s work department had its annual so called “group stroll” – an annual excursion with everyone to a nearby (or not so nearby) destination in order to remember that there is something else than work and computers. This year, Karsten suggested a trip to Freiburg and a nearby goat farm and since we know Freiburg very well we agreed to do a guided walk for them. The little one enjoyed some premium time with her grandmother, the hobbit was sleeping in the pram and we were explaining city development, gothic cathedrals (I love them, really!) and Freiburger Bächle.
And since we stayed for the weekend, there was enough time to meet up with friends, to do some shopping and strolling ourselves, to go to the swimming pool (Karsten and the little one) and to enjoy some beautiful autumn days. The vinyards were literally glowing in the evening sun, the entrance to the playground looked like a yellow cave and the forest was simply astonishing (less astonishing was a very grumpy hobbit who started to cry loud and long as soon as I reached my favorite spot at the edge of the forest).
Back in Switzerland the trees are almost barren now and I am preparing myself for some long and misty winter months. But until then let’s enjoy these colours just a little longer đ
Do you know the feeling that certain types of food and certain dishes are deeply connected to a special chapter of your life? The cake your mother always made for your birthday. The favorite food as a student. Food you very much enjoyed during your holidays or stays abroad. For me, every life chapter, every stay abroad is somehow linked to one or two dishes I adopted and which are now part of our cooking routine.
During an internship in Canada, I stayed with a Canadian host family. While their regular food drove me crazy after some weeks (meat twice a day…), I also got to know some meals I never really appreciated before. Corn on the cob, for instance. Somehow, corn was never really on our menu at home. But gee, fresh corn on the cob, what a delicious thing to eat! Got its place in our cooking routine. The other thing was pumpkin pie. Before I went to Canada, I never had pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie just isn’t very popular in Germany. Isn’t that a sad thing to say?
Unfortunately, pumpkin pie hasn’t really made it into our cooking (or baking) routine, simply because it involves a bit more of an effort. While you can buy canned pumpkin pulp in every supermarket in Canada, the US and the UK, it is almost impossible to find it over here. In fact, I have never seen it in a German or Swiss supermarket so far. Which might be because pumpkin dishes don’t have such a long tradition in Germany.
SO! Yesterday, the little one and I bought a big pumpkin and I used the lunchtime nap (both kids were sleeping! Jackpot!) to make pumpkin pulp. And today, the little one and I made pumpkin pie. In the afternoon, Karsten came home and we invited our friend and sat down in order to celebrate PĂźppis birthday (the doll. It’s always good to have a reason to celebrate with a piece of cake!) and to enjoy some proper and incredibly delicious pumpkin pie with vanilla ice-cream. Why, oh why don’t I make it more regular?? I should, really. After all, I have such a great kitchen aide!
A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by SouleMama.
(And if you have a blog yourself, feel free to join in and leave a link to your photo in the comment section.)
Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!
I haven’t had much time to blog recently. Last sunday went by without a “this moment” post, not because there weren’t any moments last week that I want to remember – on the contrary, there are plenty right now! – but because I don’t always manage to take a picture of them. It’s hard to take picture when you are carrying a baby around all day long.
The last two days were kind of a test for me. With Karsten gone to Germany for two days, I was on my own with the kids. While the days are fine, the evenings are always a bit of a challenge right now. The hobbit is usually grumpy in the evening and the little one struggles to fall asleep (sometimes due to the hobbit’s crying, but I sometimes think that the lunch time nap might be too long. However, she doesn’t manage without one so far, so it just seems to be a difficult transition. And boy, I do hope she’ll keep her lunchtime nap a little longer!!!). So I found myself with even less time than usual. We managed the two days very well, though. Everything was fine, no major catastrophes. Not at our place at least.
See, yesterday we were sitting at the breakfast table. It was still dark outside. I lightened some candles and the little one and I were having coffee and hot milk and some cheese scones that we made the day before. While we were eating, we listened to some classical music. It was a perfect breakfast, well worth a picture for next sunday. I didn’t take one though. Because despite this perfect breakfast I was feeling pretty sad.
The evening before, I watched the news while breastfeeding the hobbit. I watched it without sound, just the pictures because I didn’t want to disturb the baby. I watched mothers with babies and small children, sitting somewhere along a border fence. It was dark, rainy, windy and obviously cold. The people tried to cover themselves with a thin plastic canvas. Those pictures got to me, I can’t get them out of my head anymore. We see pictures of wars and suffering almost every day, but somehow those pictures where different. I try to imagine how horrible it would be if I would be there right now. If I would be outside in the dark and cold and rainy late autumn weather with the little one and the hobbit, with no warm clothes and no place to go. No food, no diapers and no idea where to spend the next night. Knowing that my children are cold and hungry and I can’t do anything to change it. With no idea what the future will hold, whether I can stay somewhere safe or whether I have to go back to war and suffering.
And here I am, sitting at the breakfast table, with candles, food and a warm sweater. I am so incredibly thankful right now for everything we have. That I am able to care for my children. And at the same time I feel so helpless and sad and frustrated with all the suffering that is going on right now. And angry that there are parents in Germany who take their children to demonstrations against refugees instead of teaching them a little bit of empathy.
There are plenty of moments these days that I savor. I savor them even more than usual. But they do make me sad at the same time.
…that’s what the constructions worker seem to have. Or what else should I think when currently trying to find a way into our garden…
From now on, we will apparently take the pram up the tree house and go down the slide in order to pick our vegetables! I guess I will join the little one in shouting “Zicke Zacke HĂźhnerkacke”!
Autumn is probably my favorite season of the year, together with spring. Brisk air in the morning, occasional mist, the smell of leaves, the warm colours. Hot tea, pumpkins, chestnuts (from the one and only chestnut tree in town) and the first candles in the morning again. After a hot summer like this one, it feels like suddenly being full of energy again (it might have to do with the fact that I suddenly weigh ten kilos less). And I am so full of ideas for crafting and baking and playing and doing that I wish the days wouldn’t get shorter but much, much longer…
familial entropy 