The magic of these days

Today I want to share with you a very sweet and special moment that toke place this month in the Cologne central station. It was an extraordiary flashmob, performed by the choir of the local broadcast station WDR. Please, please take your time and watch these three and a half minutes, you will not regret it!

Getting cosy

Oh, tis the cosy season again. And today, even in Cologne, there is snow, finally! I can't wait to pick Aaron from Kindergarten with the slight later and get out there, show him the wonders of that white, cold, fluffy stuff. There was no snow at all this morning when I toke him there and now it looks like it has snowed since weeks. What else could inspire me more to show you some of the christmas preparations that are going on around here...

Last sunday we lit the first candle of our advent wreath. Even though Aaron didn't quite understand what kept me from lighting the other three candles. He loves candles and never eats his dinner without us having lit the candle at the table first. Sunday was also the day to start with some ginger bread baking, so we could send a batch to Aarons great-grandfather who will spend this christmastime on his own for the first time in decades or even ever.

Aarons cookies turned out very interesting and special, since he always put the outer cooky dough from  around the cutter on the tray. Still I was just happy to watch him being so busy and concentrated, oh they grow so fast...

We also got out the christmas books that I had been collecting throughout the year at fleamarkets and second hand. Mostly old childhood memories for me, I hope I can pass on that joy soon.

And some first decorations were made and hung . I absolutly adore the tissue paper window star in the first picture. There is a great free tutorial here if you want to make your own. So, so simple!

In the night from the 5th to the 6th of December Aaron got a visit from St. Nikolaus who left a little surprise for him at his door that he found in the morning. For some reason Aaron doesn't like chocolate very much, so St. Nikolaus was more generous with other small things and fruits. Good for him...

Oh, this busy, secret season. What a challenge to keep the balance between all the extras, the baking, the crafting, the christmas partys and still find space for the breathing, for smelling and listening. How good, to just watch a candle burning sometimes.

That spirit!

Women, yarn, fiber, herbs, kettles, wheels, needles, food, a very old farm and summer, the recipe for a truely magical afternoon like my sister and me spent it on Sunday. Such a special day. We had signed up for a class on how to dye with natural colors at a fiber-festival at an old farm house an hours drive from Cologne run by a family who reminded me a lot of the Soule family. If you speak German you can find out more about them and there wonderful lifestyle here. (For example they have a basket weaving weekend coming up in November!)

Here you see some wool we dyed with onion skin and walnut. Vibrant, honest colors. 

Our teachers have dyed the whole palette in years of experiementing. Isn't it just amazing! 

Of course there was lots and lots of spinning too and good food and, yes there was this spirit. The spirit of wonderful women (and a few men) who know and tender the old crafts of their anchestors. It is hard to describe but maybe you have had the chance to feel that spirit somewhere before. It is pure!

Pilgrim

For this post, I was inspired by Emma. I so much admire the way she talks about herself and her faith to God in her blog. She made me thinking why I have such a hard time to express my relationship to God. To be honest I fear to be called a freak for believing in God. I am not sure why I care. It makes me think my faith is not very strong if I can't even stand by God, if I feel embrassed to admit I like God. But on the other hand I love talking about God ( I keep saying "God" because I am trying to not picture God as male or female) and religion if I am sure I have found a like minded soul. So today I stand up and just dare to talk, no matter who listens:

God and me, we have a funny relationship. I am not sure what to call it. I could call myself a protestant but what does that say about God and me? I work for a catholic NGO, the Caritas, but what does that tell you? I am a big fan of the ecumenical movement but somehow the combination of catholic and protestant religion is not what it's all about for me, it is not where it should stop. Maybe I could say I don't believe in religion, I believe in God. To me a religion is just one way to live my life with God, never the only possible way. I can find God in a mosque, as well as in a forest and sometimes I can't find God in a church or at home, you never know... 

Today my employee Caritas invited us on a one day pilgrimage and I happily joined in. My, what an event it was! A bus toke us to the outskirts of the city from where we walked a few miles towards a huge old monastery. There was singing and praying on the way there and a long service at the monastery. Lots and lots of singing, a lot of other rather catholic stuff I don't know how to name it. I enjoyed it immensly, despite the big crowd. We were more than 2000 people, which was rather daunting to me at first. But being part of 2000 people, singing and praying together is a wonderful experience and God was near by and he didn't mind me being a protestant I am sure... Another good thing was to stand next to my big boss, praying and singing with him, exchanging the "peace be with you".

To me God is a divine power. I feel it is easier to imagine God abstract than figurative. Jesus is another issue here. He is so very tangible but that makes it even harder for me to understand him. So hard to understand how he can be Gods son. I am sure he wouldn't have wanted to seperate religions the way he does, in those who believe in him and those who don't. So very sad it went that way, isn't it?

Since I am a mother I feel much closer to Mary though. In the monastery today there was a sculpture of Mary with her dead son on her lap. It was created during the years of the black death in Europe. It made me cry. I could feel her pain. Next to me sat my friend who just lost her baby a few weeks ago in the 4th month of pregnancy. She is heartbroken not just by that death but by what God did to her. She stopped going to church, she only came today because she had signed up for it before it happend. And she wanted to give it a chance. And somehow, seeing Marys pain helped her to understand God didn't want her baby to die, God is crying with her and wants to comfort her. I think today she toke Gods hand again.

Of course, this is not all there is to say about God and me. I hope to continue my spiritual journey and thoughts here with you from time to time. 

Celebrating Fiber

First, of course, I want to wish all of you mums a wonderful and happy Mothers Day! 

Since I gave birth to my son I realize how I have started to find a deeper and more intense connection to the rhythm of the seasons. In nature and our home. I really want to show him all there is, this earth is offering us in plenty and I love to watch him while he discovers his world step by step.

There seem to be so many beautiful things happening around us every day if we just find the time to stop and appreciate them. Having started writing this blog and especially reading how you fellow bloggers live the seasons has added to this feeling even more. In the last weeks I have read some blog entries about sheep festivals and I was filled with excitement just by the thought of such a great event. 

A festival for fiber... I so wanted a tradition like that to be a part of our seasons too, just like I read this morning on Rhythm of the home. But I was sure, I would not find anything like a sheep festival anywhere near Cologne. Until my lovely sister, Aarons Tante Auto, a great spinner, asked me yesterday if we wanted to join her today to go, exactly, to a sheep festival. Did we want to go? You can imagine my joy...

The festival toke place in a very pretty open air museum, a small village that showes how people have lived in that area in the last centuries. You can watch all the old crafts, the farming, the living and today, plenty of sheep and other farm animals. Let me take you on a tour if you don't mind:

Here they are, the sweeties, still sweating with all that wool on there bodies...

... here they get undressed. It was a hilarious sight to watch this big ram sitting on a small stage, very patiently in a position like this, getting warped very naked. A wee bit like a peep show...

They had very many different breeds to show, this is a black German Heath, with very impressive horns.

A very smalll German Heath, a fully grown up dwarf version, so cute but very serious...

I just wanted to sit down and join in if I had only brought my wheel.

So much yummy stuff. I really had to hold close to my wallet.

The older kids could join in all sorts of activities, like felting, spinning and other crafts.

Hey, watch out for Lotta. She is a very cute Llama, everyone totally loved her.

And are those little fellows not extremly cute with their colorful knitted hats?

Even at times when there is no sheep festival this museum is definately worth a visit but today was just perfect, the weather was mild and sunny, everything was so very, very fresh and green, exploding with life.

Oh yeah, this little man enjoyed our outing too, very much indeed.

Did you know the very uncommon chameleon sheep ;-) very hard to find some...

My tour has ended now, but of course I didn't come home empty handed. What I toke home is plenty: a happy, very tired child, many images on camera and in my head, wonderful memories, lots of new information and, well, some wool for spinning:

The grey wool is from a Gotland Sheep, the very white is Wensleydale and the stuff with the dreadlocks is freshly warped today from some unknow (it came from a huge bag with different fleeces) but very soft sheep. That stuff is fanstastic it contains so much lanolin you can cream your hands just by holding it.

One last things I got, for free as a sample, is a garden fertilizer made from sheep wool. What an interesting product, I will have to find out more about that soon. If you speak German and are interested too, you can find out more here.

After this beautiful day I am sure, joining the festival of fiber will definatly become part of our anual way to celebrate the seasons. Oh yes!

Now, if you please excuse me, I have to get back to my wheel for a few more minutes ;-)

I hope you all spent a wonderful Mothers Day, just the way you needed it. 

Small Things and Sundays

Porridge with dates and cardamom

Sunday is all about the small things for me. I take more time to enjoy the small beauties around me, a pretty set table, flowers, music, sleep, some knitting here and there. And even a bowl full of breakfast porridge can make me happy. This morning I broke the routine of porridge with raisins and substituted raisins with dates and added some cardomom seeds. So this sunday started somehow arabian style. To make porridge I boil 1/2 liter of milk and stir in a cup of oats. If you add Raisins or dates you don't even need to sweeten with honey or sugar (which comes in handy as I am still giving up sugar for lent)...

I like using dates from the turkish stores that come in packages like this. They are usually much fresher and more juicy than the dates you get at the grocery store (in Germany). When I use cardamom I prefer the seeds to the powder because pestled the flavour is much intense.

I am joining Julie at Mat & Mi for the Sonntagssüß collection today. The table (at Pinterest) is all set!

Talking about a set table and small things I found this beautiful article at "Rhythm of the Home" about the dignity of cloth napkins, including a very simple tutorial on how to sew them yourself. I instantly fell in love with all of it, pulled out some thrifted fabrics from the shelf and made my first four cloth napkins. I hope many more will join the basket in the next weeks.

Make sure to check out the latest issue of Rhythm of the Home, there is so much goodness to be found!

For me March is not only the beginning of spring but also the start of my very favourite season: fleamarket season! There is no better way to spend a Sunday morning!
I even love the word thrifting, there is no word in the German language that comes close to the meaning of it.  Today was my first real day of thrifting this year and I came home proudly with two full bags of treasury. Besides the usual kids clothing that I always pick up those are my special finds of the day:

A sweet little baby waldorf doll (for 2 Euro, less than 3 Dollar!!!)

This and some more rather exotic doll clothing

A vintage enamel jug

A very sweet childrens book from my favorite illustrat0r about a girl called Milli having a secret

I am showing you the secret though, because I just love that picture of the friendly sea monster Lolly...

I hope you have had a very beautiful sunday too with lots of small things...

Fair Isle and other dreams - Yarn Along

Knittin and reading. My favourite things to complete a perfect day. So I am joining Ginny on Wednesdays for Yarn Along to share my passions with you. Come and join in if you like!

Do you know the feeling when you discovered some yarn, very soft, wonderful color and immediatly your heart starts beating faster? I'm sure you do. A few days ago I passed by a small store selling only homemade goodies by creativ people and I saw them.
Two hanks of handspun, handdyed merino. The price of it let me pass by first. The next day I had to come back and get them and I was very happy to still find them there waiting for me... The yarn is dyed in a very unusual color, kind of bright yellow, greenish, almost neon (THE color of the coming season, right?!), a little natural also. I love it and knitted up a spring t-shirt vest  like this one for Aaron in my mind very fast. For real I'm still calculating with gauge and needle size though...

And of course there are still my colorwork mittens, not so very spring like, but worse finishing. And, with some very helpful encouragement from your side I have removed the scrap yarn and knit up the first thumb, and even cast on for the second mitten which knits up much faster then the first but slower also because thats the way with me and second ones I guess...

Reading this book, but I have not come very far yet. I am very impatient with books and this one didn't catch me within the first pages so I am not sure if "we" will make it.

Another book has caught my attention though, rather one chapter of it, "the fairest isle of all".After knitting those mittens in fair isle style I seem to have gotten a little bold and started dreaming about these projects:

I am so in love...

Happy Knitting!