Gentian

Warning: there are way too many pictures in this post. And these are only from one day. A fraction of the photos I took on one day, to be precise. How did we ever make do with rolls of film that let you make 36 exposures and no more?

Anyhow. These are all from our vacation in Bavaria and taken on a small hike up to a waterfall and back down through an amazing forest. So grab yourself a cup of (iced) coffee and here we go.

We've taken trips to this and other regions in the Alps before, but I have never managed to find, let alone photograph a gentian (I also had no idea they had this funny name in English. They're called Enzian in German. Much nicer if you ask me). Those gorgeous blue flowers are so typical of the region and yet fairly rare these days. Not here, apparently.

But there are many more pretty flowers.

Big brother walked all the way, by himself, although he did complain a little here and there. I guess as much as they run around they are not used to hiking. You could tell it was much better where there was much to see, such as the forest part or the actual climbing up to the waterfall. Sunny paths through open fields? Not so much.

Cows? Well, a little better.

Little brother did need some carrying though.

Woodruff, or Waldmeister. So pretty. I have to do some research and find out how to make syrup or ice cream with it. Does anyone know? Do you dry it or infuse liquids with it? Is it the leaves, the flowers? I'm clueless as you can tell. Lovely plant though.

This way...

Also no idea what kind of plant this is. Big brother loved it and carried parts of it halfway down the hill.

There is this gorgeous river running along the path, the Leine.

I can't get enough of the flower fields, they are so pretty and each one is different in the kinds of flowers.

Uhm, yes, I did take a few flower photos. Just a few, really.

My men, hiking up the mountain.

More gentian. Pretty, isn't it?

We made it! The waterfall.

Some clover on the way back through the forest. We took a different route down than we did on the way up, which was great for the boys. The loved this little enchanted forest.

And there is something enchanting about it.

See? Told you.

It was a great afternoon and perfect timing, too. As soon as we got down, it started raining.

Cheers,
Swenja

{embrace the camera} first time

If you listen really closely, you can hear me take a deep breath here.

The truth of the matter is, I don't like being in front of the camera. As much as I love taking photos, I dislike having my photo taken. I do make an annual exception for my favorite photographer, who does wonderful shots of our little family. Other than that, there simply aren't any photos of me.

But miserably failing Rebecca's challenge to embrace the camera twice before Mother's Day and posting a photo of daddy and little brother instead got me thinking. I put so much time and effort into my annual photo books and documenting our lives, do I really want to refuse to be part of these memories?

I've started to experiment with my camera's self timer and I'm considering getting a remote for it, but since we're on vacation I took a deep breath and handed that camera over to my dearest (not without some detailed instructions, mind you).

After some more deep breaths, some editing with PicMonkey (you know PicMonkey, don't you? If you don't, you'll have to go check it out right now. Really, I insist) and a call to make an appointment for finally getting those roots done next week (I had no idea it was this bad, really), here I am, ready for my first ever embrace the camera post. Ready?

Little brother and mommy.

Now all I need to do is take another deep breath and hit publish. Here we go.

Swenja

{the simple things} flowering herbs

Summer is here. I always wish for that in January and February, but then it always takes me by surprise. But finally, summer really is here. It's sunny and warm, time for sandals, sunscreen and having dinner on the porch. Lovely.

So this week's simple thing are some humble flowering herbs in my garden. Nothing spectacular, just some plain old chives and thyme. You see, I don't particularly like anything purple, but my herb garden is the one exception to the rule. Thyme, sage, chives and so many other herbs have purple blossoms, and so they're allowed to take over that one flower bed.

I have to admit, it does look pretty.

What's your favorite color in flower beds? Do you plant by color at all? What about herbs?

Happy Sunday and thanks to everyone stopping by from the simple things - your comments mean so much to me. I love participating every Sunday.





Cheers,
Swenja

Catching frogs

What happens when boys kiss frogs, anyhow? Do the frogs turn into beautiful princesses then? Too bad my boys decided they didn't want to kiss their latest catch, so I didn't get to find out.

They still had fun catching all sorts of critters with daddy though.

Little brother and I preferred watching.

So, what did you catch?

What do frogs say on the other side of the really, really big pond, btw? I know I must have known this, but it's been such a long time and I just can't remember. Over here they say "quak". Not the same, uh?

Let's see, what else did we get....

Fish! Don't worry, all the little guys went right back into their little pond. Really.

Little brother being silly. It was getting past someone's bedtime here...

So what did you catch lately?

Happy kissing,
Swenja

{the simple things} curls

One of the best part of the simple things sundays is to look through all the great photos posted. One of my (many) favorites are always the Dina's. Last week one of her photos featured this gorgeous head of curls, which reminded me that I haven't really taken a photo of little brothers just-about-to-vanish baby curls. While maybe not the best shot of curls ever (he was sitting on my lap eating banana bread and acting like a silly monkey), it's at least a reminder of his soft, oh so soft, blonde baby curls.

Needless to say I wish I had hair like that. Sigh.



Happy Sunday!
Swenja

{kid craft} Quick Father's Day Idea

Yep, another quick one today. It's just another week spent running around from one activity to the next and oh, there's still things such as work and a household and all that. So we sat down Monday afternoon to do some crafting for daddy (who hopefully won't read this tonight so he'll be all surprised tomorrow). I came across this idea here and while I liked the look of the shoe prints, covering shoes with some sort of paint didn't seem like such a brilliant idea when you're pressed for time. Although I'm sure the brothers would have loved it.

Instead, we opted for tracing daddy's shoes and the brothers' feet onto card stock and cutting that out. Over here we have the same saying, but instead of your father's shoes, it's following in your father's footsteps. So even though we could hardly trace around daddy's feet without him noticing, I think the brother's cute little feet complete with cut off toes, courtesy of big brother, are really cute.

And basically, that's all there is. Trace, cut, arrange your design and glue it to a piece of paper. Now, you could get all professional and print something on it with a computer. But did I mention I was busy? And there was some sunshine out there, waiting for the brothers and their bikes? 

We ended up just writing "in daddy's footsteps" on the paper and the brothers wrote their names on it while I added the date. It was funny to see that big brother's foot is already half the size of daddy's!

So honey, if you are reading this: we love you lots and please, do act surprised tomorrow, ok?

Love,
Swenja

April home projects update

"Update home projects page" has been one of those items that just keeps being overdue on my to do list, and since I use an app, it's also turned this nasty red color. Ugh. Things are busy right here and with a lot of things going on, I decided to spend two hours this morning trying to clear up some items from my list.

So I updated the projects list - until it hit me that I never even posted an April update. Ooops. Not that there's much to show for that month, because really, where exactly did April go? It was Easter and then some and all of a sudden it's mid May. May?? You've got to be kidding me. It's can't be May yet. But it is, and so I'm trying my best to play catch-up:



"Get the garden in shape! Especially one flower bed that contains a grass that blooms in June."
That one was fairly high on my list, mainly because I get one shot at it, and that is spring. I have so many bulbs in that flower bed and I can't possibly remember where, so any major planting has to be done in spring when the dandelions are out. Lucky for me, that was late this year. I finally managed to make a list of plants to fill in for that ugly grass, because really, who needs a grass turned yellow in July? Save that for September, but in July I still want nice, green and pretty plants. Sorry little grass if I'm being a little harsh here, but that's the way it is. I tried it, I really did, but come June and then July I get frustrated with all that fall feeling taking over my flower bed. So I got some more of my favorite plants, the ones that do well in other parts of the garden as well. Like miscanthus sinensis or my all-time favorite gaura lindheimeri. Love those. How can you not love a plant that keeps blooming from June to October?

So this here is the offending grass. Don't be fooled by it being all nice and green. It'll turn ugly and yellow in the middle of summer, I swear.

Of course by the time the plants arrived it had turned rainy and ugly again, but oh well. And of course it was after I had placed my order that I discovered some of my favorite plants hadn't made it through the winter, due to that nasty and really cold period in February. Sigh.

Here's the said flower bed, looking a little sad right after planting because obviously the new plants are still small and the dandelions are wilting. But you can tell that I took a bunch of the grass out.

"Remove Cortaderia selloana. It's just not working. Plant miscanthus instead." Did that one at the same time. Feels sooooo much better and I can't wait for the new grass to get bigger. I didn't even have to feel guilty about this, because both of my cortaderia plants did not make it through the winter.

"Kids's Bath: Reframe prints. I copied pages of a favorite book for art but framed them in red frames that while I'm sure are nice elsewhere in the house, just don't go with the room here."
I came across these really cute prints so adding those in the existing frames might just as well work for now. 


"Hallway: Hang art. Preferably something uplifting and calming as this is where we try to get the kids out the door in time each morning... "
I never did take a picture of it, but I used this one here:

"Hallway: Maybe get a new rug. Not sure I'll get the old one clean after all that yellow sand from paving. Yuck."

Never did get it clean. So we got a new one. The brothers are delighted since it features a cat. I think it's a little bit too crazy and silly for me, but hey, it's cheerful and it really warms up the hallway. 

"Outside: Clean and refill sandbox and re-cover surrounding area with new mulch." Did that. Lots of it, and also lots of new sand. Which ends up everywhere. Sigh. Maybe I need to be decluttering sandbox toys, because the way they have them all over the sandbox within a nanosecond of being outside, they can't even sit in there anymore. But at least now there is some new sand under all those toys...


So here we go, finally the April update. Not sure I'll get much done in May, but maybe some more outdoor things and also the hubby has been painting away outside. We're getting there. One project at a time. Which is why I love this list - it really does make me look at all the things we got done. Now if I only managed to update it more frequently...


What's been on your list lately? What's been on it forever? And what felt really great to cross off?

Can't wait to hear.
Swenja