St. Martin

Precious

Over the past few weeks I have regularly thougth of those five things to be thankful for and although on some days it took some looking for, other days were filled to the brim. Just to mention some of the ones that filled those days to the brim:

Going to Switzerland to Zürich on a long overdue trip to see two wonderful people. Thank you so much for a lovely weekend. Oh and Zürich is nice too. The sun shone, we had our first Glühwein of the season and the conversations were soulfilling.

Having the longest conversation whilst surrounded by bubbles about dreams. And re-discovering that there are people who will support you and even dream with you irrelevant of how crazy others think your ideas may be.

Spending an evening (well most of a weekend) with some friends over a table creaking with delicous food and drink. Where did the hours go? What did we talk about? When was the last time we hurried to bed as the kids would be getting up in two hours (if you're lucky)?

Toys

Who needs toys? Or playgrounds for that matter? Take a bit of waste land, a dry day and a friend. Oops I forgot to mention the sticks and the dirt. Fun guarenteed.

Some warming thoughts

Just found this. And really just imagine doing this for someone to wake up to

 

There were some other words on that blog just above this inspiring picture, that really struck a chord with me this morning. 

Please excuse the direct piracy please. And just remember it's okay to be

nice

happy

hopeful

imperfect

silly

yourself

 

Good to have a reminder about that, specially if you spend too much time in voracious business environment. 

A Wiesbaden Weekend

A couple of weekends ago, some good friends got married. How happy do they look? Just like the cats that got the cream. Congratulations!! 

 

It is just great to celebrate with a couple who you just feel are soo happy with one another. The registrar talked about marriage as being an acceptance of one another as you are. Registrars don’t normally meet the people they are going to marry before they actually do. But this lady certainly hit the nail on the head. I regularly stay with these guys, so I get to see how they are with each other at home after a long days work. They are just at peace with each other. What more could one want in a relationship??

Oh and the party was good too! Thanks for letting us be part of your big day.

Between wedding and party, we spent the afternoon looking at Wiesbaden. The farmers’ market was very inviting. I took the chance to collect some pictures of heaps of fruit, veg and flowers. There is something very satisfying about taking pictures of them.

Quince……

Mangold, manpink, manyellow…..

.... and flowers for the table.

Speed and Music

 Wednesday I spent a lovely evening with dinner, friends and sewing. Yes, Heather we will be finished with our tops by the time summer comes around again! Carried by that nice evening, I got into the car and sped through the night to hubby and bubby. Me, who thinks continuously about how to reduce her carbon footprint, how to reuse, recycle, gather etc etc… has one big weakness. I think it might be one of the reasons I love to live in this country. Well it certainly isn’t the autumn weather that keeps me here! It is German motorways. As most people know they have no general speed limits. That means on an empty night motorway heading out of town away from the city, they are empty. I really did speed into the night and chanced on Coldplay live from Roskilde (last summer) on the radio. Speed. Loud. Perfect.

The rest of the long weekend was spent doing earthy things like mushroom collecting and walking (and the last blueberries of the year), and kiddie things like playing on swings and speeding down the drive on a Bobby Car (my son and nieces have a taste for speeding in/on cars too).

 

There was one particularly great moment when Yorck put some of his cousin’s stones into a small watering can and started to make music. He used it like a drum, “banging” it to his inner beat, he danced for about 10 minutes. These kids never cease to amaze me with their creativity and zeal for life and all its opportunities. 

There was a music and speed theme to the weekend – even I was the only one to see it.

A Stolen Summer Day

What more could you want? A stolen summer day, the smell of freshly mown grass, great relatives, easy-going kids and a snail to match your clothes. Not much I don't reckon. Well maybe a collection of baths