Positive thinking

Christmas decoration status: 1 (See above: 30 cm birch tree wreath with baubles and felt stuff on it).

Oh no, I'm lying. I forgot the pine cone shaped, bees wax candle the husband bought. It smells good. Status should therefore read: 1,5

And I went to the hairdresser's. So that's done (Does this count as "decoration" as well?).

I'll look fancy dandy on Christmas Eve. That is, if I could persuade said hairdresser to drive with us to Holland, perched in between two children's seats, a big bag of toys on her lap, and a repertoire of songs and word games at hand. Then she could (re)do her styling magic before (every) Christmas dinner.

I also bought a present for myself (from Sanna Annukka). It was too expensive to ask anyone for it as a Christmas present. Sometimes it's better not to ask either, just secretly save some money.

All in all, pretty good progress, I think. A couple of days more and Christmas can come!

I do see the need to start shifting my attention away from myself, and towards other people though ;))...Christmas card writing would be a good start.

Well, if I don't meet you here or elsewhere in blogland during the remainder of this year: Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy, healthy 2010!

My wish for this and the following year, and a decade or 5 after that as well, is that the Kopenhagen conference becomes a success. Yep, such is my positive thinking.

a day about town

Often, when you take up a camera with the thought of photographing something specific (Munich Pre-Christmas shots in this case) you come home with different things alltogether.

So be it. To me, this was Munich today.

The day actually did include a visit to our local Christmas Market. But I was too busy eating crepes and supervising kids at that point. Tomorrow it's back to the Christmas wreath, and some real work!

Linger

hmm...hum...erghh...yes (clears throat after longer silence). I feel, I'm slowly (and pleasantly) sliding into a winter hibernation here. Lingering over the chimney, covered with silver spray, so to speak.



Doing nothing fancy, nothing spectacular, slowly packing up the year, taking things as they come. This time, I feel none of the craziness of Christmas. At all. Just some casual get together's before the year's end. Nikolaus, a birthday, an easy going advent-party here and there.
I might do a little round with my camera tomorrow...

Would you like to see some "Munich-in-December" impressions?
Was that a promise I just made?
It would be quite a rainy set of impressions, I fear.
Nevertheless...sounds good to me.
See you back tomorrow!
I think.

Try Out

Kids grow, coats get bigger, and the good old baby coat-hanger just couldn't cope anymore. So, I tried something out.

The Husband thinks it's: "Errrgh...nice...but a bit stuffy".

I think it's: "Nice, but...uhm...wobbly".

The kids think it's: "Nice, full stop" (sweethearts).

I'm not entirely ready to let the whole idea go, so I think, I'll give it a second try. What do you think?

a) "You might get the wobbliness out. However: The stuffiness won't go away."

b) "You might get the stuffiness ánd wobbliness out in one go, by dumping the whole fabric cover idea (or at least the quilting-thing in the lower part), and by changing the hooks."

c) "Try again. It's not stuffy, just wobbly."

d) "What's the problem? Go with the kids."

e) "I'm thinking of cookies/summer/my to do list, and that I shouldn't be surfing around."

Your input is very much appreciated ;)!

Sally's sister

Remember Sally Spruce? She actually has a twin sister.
After Sally's make-over dear "sis" got a bit jealous. Everytime I walked by, she would "accidentally" push out a drawer, or grab my skirt with one of her little knobby hands.

Seeing things from her perspective, I had to admit she was right. So I got out the Carta Fiorentina, which I had been keeping for a while, and got to work.
As the design on the paper is handprinted, it is slightly irregular. This makes it all the more beautiful and charming in my eyes, but also a bit harder to work with. A lot of measuring and careful cutting was needed. But I got it sorted out, and here she is:

A bit old-fashioned, a dab of gold, the somewhat unusually coloured paper (I mean chocolate brown, orange, gold, baby blue, navy blue, turquoise. Who makes this up?), and a no-nonsense shape. I like her.

Now I'm back to doing some pre-pre-christmas crafting, writing up a free bag pattern for the site, and hoping to see that afternoon sun shining into the room again. Like it did when I took the picture above.

Apple-Butter and Cheese

I'm from the south of Holland. This means that, through the ages of our existence, we got a lot of unexpected visitors showing up. Further up north it was far too wet and chilly for most of them, so they used to camp out in our neck of the woods.

First the Romans, then the Spanish (boy, did they stay long...), and, of course, (a couple of times): The French. Now, this was all a long time ago, but it did leave some traces. The one I want to particularly mention in this blog-post is: Food.

We, the natives from Brabant and Limburg, we love our food. We take every opportunity to add a bit of southern life style to the simple, sturdy Dutch kitchen. We are professionals when it comes to beer brewing and baking fruit pies, our soil produces delicious asparagus, and I think we invented the apple-butter and cheese sandwich (What? You don't know the apple-butter and cheese sandwich?).

Of course this does mean that we were always too busy cooking and eating to really join in with northern Holland's golden age, and I happen to be a real Southerner. This means I have quite a sizeable collection of inherited, home-grown, torn-out-of-magazines, and adapted recipes. All on scraps of paper, stained and scribbled over, torn and wrinkled at the edges. Take the soufflé with warm cherries, the wild boar stew, that casserole of confit with white beans, the delicious spinach malfatti, those clams-in-a-package....hmmm...nothing you'd throw away, right?

Anyway, I got to learn to know Kornelia Székessy, who saved me and my messy recipe collection. She got some of my ribbon, and then made something very handy. And beautiful (I love her little hand stamped tabs).


So here I am, straightening out all those scraps of paper. Writing things down properly. Bringing this binder to life.


If you like the idea, have a look on my site. There is some fine bookbinder work on there since last week, and it's not only for recipes ;)

Seven...

is…
when life is lived per hour instead of per year
when pink is just a colour, not the colour
when the number of teeth you have, changes every month
when the world is full of stories and beliefs, instead of facts and theories
when the heart and mind are still so, so open
when secrets are best kept in boxes

Happy seventh my sweet Miss M.
And many, many returns.

bit of a knit

I was sorting through the pile of gloves.

See if they still come in pairs, or if one or two of them secretly turned single between end of last winter and now. Check for holes, inexplicable stains (is that Glühwein?), and general malaise due to old age. Make mental note if any particular type for any member of the family is missing. The chilly-but-sunny weather-finger gloves, the special-occasion-suedes (OK, these are just for me), the gore tex mittens for minus degrees and a day on the slopes.

All there. So I got ready to close the drawer, but suddenly hear a soft: "Hi!".

I went: "Huhwhazzthat?", pulled it open again, and saw this one popping out:

Glove: "Remember us? We used to be the perfect match with that one shawl and the anthracite coat!?"

Me: "Eh...yes, that was, eh...help me out here...five years ago?"

Gloves (proud): "Eight. We're still there!"

Me: "Yes, I can see that. Still very yellow as well."

Gloves (ignoring my tactless remark): "No holes, see? No stains, no loops. Still spick and span. Perfect weather for us now as well. Chilly but not too cold".

Me: "Well,...you know, I'm still fine without gloves, actually."

Gloves (now whispering): "You don't want us anymore, do you? We're like the dark blue long coat with the shoulder pads. That funny pleated skirt. The chucks that always were a tad too small. We are...Outcasts. You can say it aloud."

Me (ashamed): "Rubbish. None of that. I'm gonna take you out of that drawer right now, do a little bit of colour treatment, knit a row or two, and you'll be ready to go out again in no time."

Gloves: "Yes!"

...then suddenly a bit hesitant: "But no cutting, right?"

Me: "Promised, hand on my heart. No cutting."

Easy to do, it's just a wristlet knitted to size with the right yarn (2,5 - sock yarn in chocolate brown and baby blue. A glove is a sock for your hand anyway, right?). Once you're ready, pull the wrislet over the original glove and secure with a few stitches. For the sizing: Do a test run to check the amount of stitches required (56 in my case) and knit that pattern loose, or you won't even get a Barbie's waist through anymore ;). But, unlike me, you probably know that already...

Change of plan

Planned: Early rise, waving guests goodbye, do some crafting (I could really start liking early sunday mornings. The world is so peaceful and quiet).

Done: Early rise, waving guests goodbye, go back to sleep again.

Planned: An exhibition.

Done: Lake side. There was no line at the entrance. Who needs long lines and crowdy rooms on a mild autumn day.

Planned: Left-over dinner.

Done: Restaurant on the way home. We were just too hungry for left-overs.

Planned: Finish that last bit of home work in time for school tomorrow.

Done: Studying and determining Mr. Acronicta rumicis. Hope Mrs. T. doesn't notice.

The day took over, all by itself, and we just moved along...

hold it

Keep it, stack it, tape it, wrap it, sew it. Ready.

A refrained version of what could also be a burst of colour.
But I had that going on elsewhere.
If you don't have a collection of empty ribbon spools at hand like me, try it out with a thick poster-roll, which you can cut/seesaw into rings of different heights. I used 2mm felt to wrap the rings as that nicely rounds off the edges, but is still flexible and elastic enough to deal with the circular shape. The felt is then handstitched together inside the ring.