I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. Come join me. You can find the full list of participants over on San’s blog here #nablopomo2023
The morning left me pretty speechless. Today was my birthday and my big surprise was that I received a Cricut Maker 3. I was always eyeing one but always felt it was not quite necessary and a luxury. Well, now it is sitting on my dining table. This was a real big surprise. I usually have to voice very specific wishes but this year I only heard “it’s covered” and it was! I still can’t quite believe it. I see so many projects in my future including new snow flakes for my big front window. The bats I had up for Halloween would have been so much easier, too. Christmas T-Shirts for the family? I have the feeling I am not the only one in the family who is excited about this. We were gathering around earlier as it was making the first cuts. I made a snow flake and a bee decal for my coffee mug. It’s pretty amazing but now I am really tired. It’s 11:10pm and I am glad I finished today’s post before midnight.
Anything in your life you did not think you needed but wanted? What should I make next?
I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. Come join me. You can find the full list of participants over on San’s blog here #nablopomo2023
I planned to take a picture of my current knitting (that scarf for my dad who washed his previous one in the washing machine), but of course the day went different as planned. Instead I helped one of my kids for an hour at the sewing machine for a present project of theirs (no, not planned for today).
For everyone who does not know what Ravelry is: you can search knitting and crochet patterns. See what others made, see what yarns they used for their projects, save your own projects and so much more. It was a revelation when I found out about it.
I do know how to crochet as well but most of the time I knit these days. It is relaxing. It keeps my hands busy when I watch TV and awake and focused when I listen to a talk at work. I like how a the half finished project feels on my lap when I work on it, the warmth and the weight. It teaches me patience and I love when a project now turns out as I expected.
I learned in school (I think 7th grade) and I still remember how sticky and hot the stitches were in my hands and how hard to get it look right. In 11th grade I would drive my teachers crazy because I knitted in class when I had to listen to something (I really can concentrate better when I do).
Did you know that there is even a difference how Americans vs. Germans knit? I had no idea until I saw it. The stitches are made a slightly different way. The American way is called English knitting and the German one Continental. I also had to learn how to read English instructions. In German you call them right and left stitches and in English it’s knit and purl. I am glad you can find instructions online for almost anything these days.
I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. Come join me. You can find the full list of participants over on San’s blog here #nablopomo2023
Fall leaves and clouds
When asked which season I like best I usually say spring, because everything starts growing again and the world turns green. But really I think every season has its appeal in some way.
Fall has a little of a bad reputation, don’t you think? I know it’s all relative. In California fall still does not feel like fall to me most of the time since it is so different from the fall I grew up with. No foggy mornings (we do have that in the summer here), no colder temperatures with frost in the morning, the days get shorter but it is still light out at 5pm and it is also missing that cold, wet, miserable feel that came along with it in Germany. But fall also means pretty colored leafs and not having as much to do in the garden . It’s a time of slowing down, at least it could be, but most of the time it is not – what is not fall’s fault but mine. It’s summer is over, school starts up, we try to figure out the new schedules and before I know it it is Halloween and this year especially it feels like it went straight into pre-holiday mode from there. Having christmas decorations up at the supermarket on October 31 does not help. It feels like I always short change fall a little.
The plan is to collect some pretty leafs tomorrow to press and do something with later. At least then I keep the memory of it a little. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving next week. I do like this fall-ish holiday very much, since it’s mostly about sharing a meal with people we care for and for giving thanks.
I made a list and I never make lists. That should probably tell you something. Most weeks are pretty regular weeks so that I have the pick up, drop offs and chores internalized where I don’t need a list. Well, this week I do.
We are going to spend Thanksgiving with our friends again. That means we will be leaving on Saturday. That also means I need to pack for at least half of the family. My daughter’s birthday is happening during that time as well so I already wrapped up her presents and packed those up. At least one thing done. I do need to put our CO2 cartridges in the mail and time it, so that the return does not come while we are away. I do want to cancel the mail but am holding off, because someone still might get sick. Covid has me very paranoid. Most of us had it at least ones. My son had it the first day of the president’s day week last year and on the first day of school after summer break this year. I had it last year on our Vegas trip and we came home early – so that is that. The only holdout is my husband and I should better find some wood to knock on. Laundry needs to be folded and another load started and finished before we head off. I do need to book a hotel for one night on the way. Driving takes 9 hours and we do like to take a break in between. I am still debating if we should get a rental car for our trip to Germany for Christmas. We could take the train but that would also mean that we need to rely on other’s to pick us up and drive us to train stations. With four it may be a tiny bit cheaper to take the train but not a whole lot. The car would be more flexible. I am just not sure yet. During the summer we booked one with AAA but for some reason this time around they are more expensive compared to Costco. Why does it always have to change? That would save me the research. I do want to get started on Christmas presents. Maybe I get to do some shopping while we stay with out friends? Preferably before Black Friday. I don’t get that day and I don’t think I would buy anything that would give me a good deal on it. In all likelihood I would just end up buying something I don’t need.
I already have the feeling I am forgetting something… See, I really need that list. It is going to live on the dining room table until we close the door behind us on Saturday.
How are you feelings about Black Friday? Do you have any specific deal you are looking forward to?
Being German I always feel a deeper responsibility to bake cookies leading up to the holiday season. My mom always made loads of Christmas cookies with us when we were little. One of my all time favorites are Lebkuchen (gingerbread – not necessarily man). Most German recipes ask for Lebkuchen spice which in Germany they will sell you in every supermarket. Because the week in Germany was so busy of course I forgot – sigh. Already last year I experimented with it and made my own. Online you can find them in various spice combinations but the main ingredient is always cinnamon. In my opinion you can’t really go wrong with that.
I almost wanted to start the baking today but a) I am still not feeling that great and b) I also have four loads of laundry waiting to be folded. But here for good measure is my go to recipe for Lebkuchen:
Technically it is a honey cake dough. First you mix honey, sugar, salt, the Lebkuchen spice and chocolate powder in a cooking pot. The butter is cut up in smaller pieces and added. You warm the mixture up on the stove until the sugar is dissolved. This needs to cool down a bit before you add both eggs and mix them under with a cooking spoon. The flour, baking powder and baking soda is mixed and then you add the honey mixture. You stir it under until that gets to hard. The dough is kneaded with both hands and when everything is incorporated well you form two flat rounds and wrap them up in foil to store in the fridge for two hours. The dough is rolled out on a floured surface at ~1/4 inch and then you can cut out your shapes. You can use forms or make your own. One year we cut out house shapes and decorated those. Baking at 400 degree Fahrenheit takes 10-15 minutes.
For decorating you can basically use whatever you prefer. My recipe uses 200g powdered sugar mixed with very stiff egg white from 1 egg white.
From years past
Do you like cinnamon or do you hate it? Do you have a favorite cookie recipe you do over and over again?
I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. Come join me. You can find the full list of participants over on San’s blog here #nablopomo2023
Tea is medicine
The washing machine is running for the third time today and I am sitting in bed with a nice warm cup of tea. I am tired. It’s not covid apparently but I still don’t like it. Scratchy throat, runny nose and general un-wellness, blah. So I made myself if big batch of hot tea and are waiting for it to get better. If now someone would make me a nice chicken soup I would be well taken care of. That was always mom’s recipe for when we had a cold – tea and soup. It still helps me feel better instantly.
Do you have a family recipe for the cold season? I heard a rumor that drinking a warm beer would help, too. It sounds not that pleasant to me honestly but some people say that medicine only helps if it tastes bad.
Talking about tea – San from the in between is mine is hosting the 8th annual Secret SANta Swap 2023. It used to be a mug swap (and it still can be if you like) and coincidentally this my mug from last year. Isn’t it pretty? So if you want to participate hop over there.
I was really glad for this Veteran’s Day Friday. I went back to work yesterday after getting back home Wednesday late afternoon. Everyone was surprised to see me since they were thinking I would only be back Monday. But since I did go back Thursday I did not have a whole lot of time to sort everything away, so I finished that up today.
Before getting started on the sorting I made breakfast for the kids since they had the day off, too. We had pancakes with apples. My husband did have to work today. I also fed my sourdough which was luckily still alive. It’s at that stage where it does not need to be refreshed every week what really helps. After all this I cleaned up the kitchen and took care of the dishes. We don’t have a dishwasher so hand washing it is for me. We have an old kitchen with shallow countertops so it would require some more extensive work to make room for one – I just don’t want to deal with it right now.
Unpacking round one took care of the suitcase contents. I already put away clothing on Wednesday night but the extra sweets and other goodies had find a home, too. Haribo Pico Balla is the family favorite and always has to be brought back. I found some paint brushes that were basically brand new, other small craft supplies, small pliers a pink leather satchel, a sponge, muffin pan liners, an ocarina someone in the household is playing nonstop (I regretted bringing it for a short moment but it’s also very sweet listening to the playing) – it’s really weird what stays behind after all these years. My sister gave us an advent calendar that I took of course. I can’t believe we are so close to december. I found another book that I thought my kids might like. My mother in law bought me a magazine that had some cookie recipes I might try out in the coming weeks and I also ordered a calendar that I may keep or may give away for Christmas.
Since I fed the sourdough I had some extra and decided to bake bread. It was ready just in time for lunch. There is nothing better than the smell (and taste) of bread fresh out of the oven in my opinion.
Unpacking round two involved the unpacking the three boxes I shipped. A former colleague who moved to France recommended ‘Send My Bag’ and since I did not want to deal with the boxes at the airport I gave it a try. DHL picked the boxes up and provided tracking throughout. It actually worked really well. The only downside was that they don’t recommend the service for anything fragile – I guess the pictures already tell you what I shipped. Most things made it but one of the boxes took a beating and some of its contents was broken. I see some mosaic making in my future but I was actually surprised that most of the china made it. The white one with the blue flowers I picked out with my mom and I am seriously sentimental about it (besides having a thing for nice china). Then I had to make room for it somehow and sorted and cleaned out the kitchen cabinets – one more box for a garage sale went into storage. Everything found a place and I vacuumed up the whole kitchen/dining/living room and hopefully got all the little china chips that I did not catch when pulling out the broken pieces. That pretty much filled the rest of the afternoon.
This was my Friday and now it’s almost time for bed. I don’t have specific weekend plans but I am sure we will fill it up with something. Do you usually plan out your weekend or just enjoy not having any plans?
Last week was bittersweet for me. It was probably the last time I visited my childhood home since my dad will be moving before I can visit again in December. It was not as difficult to say goodbye as I feared. Maybe partly because I have been packing and re-packing my own boxes every time I came for a visit. I don’t have any close friends living there anymore and I am not planning to move back. Maybe the sadness will still come? I don’t know.
I loved growing up there and I am filled with memories. Memories of helping my grandma in the garden and my mom in her pottery studio, learning how to ride a bike and how to roller skate. I remember the tree in our backyard that we climbed with the neighborhood kids, endless games of hide and seek in the house and the garden, family gatherings, Christmas, baking cookies in the kitchen, birthday parties and the first heartache.
I also will remember the town itself. It’s small and when I was growing up everyone knew you, everyone greats each other on the street (and you better did this or your parents will hear about it if you didn’t). It only has about ~2100 people living there, but it has a supermarket, a church, a doctor, an elementary school, bus stops that take you to the next bigger city 13km away, a gas station, a volunteer run fire department, a sports field for soccer (honestly which small town does not in Germany?), tennis courts, a small skate park, a pool, a handcar you can try out and even a small heritage museum where you also can get married (also run by volunteers including my dad for a long time). It also used to have a bakery where you could get fresh rolls even before they officially opened when you went to the back where the oven was. There were summers filled with long pool days and camp from the church youth group, I played first recorder with a small group of other kids which was run by the wife of my music teacher and later trumpet with the brass orchestra from our church.
Wietzen is pretty much right between Hannover and Bremen but the next better known big city is Hamburg. So it is northern Germany. The dialect you may hear spoken there is low German. I can understand it when my dad speaks it with friends but I can’t speak it myself. My kids on the other hand will not know what their grandpa is talking about. There are certain words very different from the German you learn in school and they can even be different from town to town. My grandpa said that when the British soldiers came through at the end of World War II it was easier to communicate with them in low German because some words are similar.
So without further ado, here are a couple of pictures of my hometown before I fall asleep.
Today was my travel day again with a pretty short connection in Munich so not much time to write. I spend the flight making progress on my latest knitting project (a scarf for my dad since he put the last one in the washing machine) while watching movies, reading and sleeping. I was very lucky today and had the whole three seats to myself. It made the whole flight so much more relaxing.
Ready for take off
I took some pictures flying into SFO and hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed the view.
1st glimpse of the Golden GateSan Francisco from above
The picture is misleading. I don’t mean to say I inherited the contents of all the shelfs (I could have since the contents mostly will be cleared out by the time my dad moves out). What I want to talk about is a different thought of inheritance.
My husband always complains that I don’t express myself clearly enough and assume a lot of knowledge. So here is a conversation I had with my dad today:
“Dad, where is the painters tape.” My dad replies: “It’s on the shelf in the basement.”
Above are mostly all the shelves in the basement. I found it, but I think I understand now what my husband is talking about.
Do you have habits you picked up from your parents?
Home here and there 