the good and the bad

I am thrilled, I am tagged by Sarah!

I guess in my heart I am a gamer, so I gladly play along!

The rules:

1. Take a picture of yourself right now. No primping or preparing. Just snap a picture.

2. Load the picture onto your blog.

3. Tag three people to play.

Moment of truth - "how do I look??"

Since I'm also a big snapper I had to take more than one and girlie (no doubt about that) was playing along. After all she is a gamer, too.

I am happily tagging Suzanne, Amber, Visty (yeah, you get to do another one!) and because it is so much fun, I am adding the noble hopefully migraine-free Mrs. KHM, and Miss Prague 2008: Kara!!!

P.S. Motto of this post? NO MERCI!

Vintage Photo Friday

It is about time that I show you this.

It was taken in 1925 and shows my mother's cousin Johanna. Wan't she cute?!

She personally gave me the tiny framed picture, when I visited her in Ohio in 1997. By then Wyatt was living in Ohio, too, we had just started dating. It was my first visit to the US, all about sucking in impressions, new love, lots of questions about whether I could live here, be happy here... Very intense. But that is another story...

When Johanna gave me the photo, she said that is was taken on Ellis Island, when she immigrated with her family to the US. However, I just took the photo out of the frame to scan and then carefully peaked under the glued-on back and there it says "Johanna in kintergarden". Now I wonder, if she had to spend some time on Ellis Island and visited a school, before they were allowed to move on? I'll have to do some research about that.

Just a few weeks ago I found out through another one of my mom's cousins, that by now Johanna's husband Bob has passed away and she lives in a nursing home and is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. I remember she had a lot of albums, quite a few pictures of my family, that I had never seen before. Again, I am certain, that they are lost, Johanna probably not remembering anything about them and the younger relatives..? I just don't know, we are not in touch.

Find more Vintage Photo Friday and the complete list of participants here. Thank you!

On Time

Do you recycle your paper? Do you bring your glass to the container? Collect plastic? Buy bulk rather than 5 containers? Have you ever told anyone/a family member to turn the water off, because they are waisting it? Do you reuse ziplocs - if possible? Or maybe even wash them? Do you send snacks/lunch sandwiches in reusable containers or in snack/sandwich bags? Have you ever used an old towel/piece of cloth to assist when the kids are painting or do you go with paper towels - and paper towels and paper towels? Do you pull paper out of the garbage (preach to husband/kids for the umphs time) and put it with the recycling stuff? Do you use reusable bottles for water to go? Little things with a big impact - especially if we all join in.
You want more inspiration? Go say 'hi' to my friend Amber and indulge in her great variety of ideas!

I find it very suitable, that the weather got finally warm, 24 degrees celsius right on time for Earth Day. And I have put out nectar for our little friends, the hummingbirds, that have returned within the last weeks.

We also had another bird guest. Just yesterday I found this little guy in the middle of the street on the way home from school.

I drove by, almost ran over him, turned around to check on him. He was bleeding a little on the head, let me pick him up and put in the car, maybe he had been hit by one? I brought him home and out in the garden, where me and the cat enjoyed watching him recover from behind the glass. About an hour later he was gone, so hopefully he was able to fly again.

Earthday.
We spent the afternoon outside, grounded, barefoot. I hope you had your chance to feel close to Mother Earth, too!

Lucky Boy

Just a few days ago I had thrifty luck of a different kind - I found something, that I knew would make Lewis very happy. I'm talking about padded camouflage overalls. Long sleeves, warm and the perfect size, too!

-- As suspected, he was thrilled, could hardly wait for them to come out of the dryer, and put them on right away. For about 5 minutes... it was one of the warmer days last week.

Then came Friday, and with it came snow! So right after school he got all geared up, overalls, shovel, gloves, army hat, walkie talkie, and headed out in the arroyo behind our house, a boy's heaven, wilderness!

This is how he looked like, when he came home once in between, please note the legs and formerly blue shoes!

There he goes again!



He came back in for dinner about an hour later, now look at this!

He really had smudges on his face!

He headed off to take a hot bath and left this arrangement by the door:

I pulled the walkie talkie out of the pocket, -- I'm not sure, if it is still working. Well, we've had it for about two weeks now. Isn't that the average lifespan for a boy toy (legos being the exception of the rule of course)?

Today, during breakfast, the mountains performed one of their typical spectacular dramas, which made me run for the camera to capture:

Once again I am grateful to live here, not just in Albuquerque, but also in our beautiful house in such a perfect location, close to the trails, to unstructured outdoors, yet close to city life. My children have the chance to experience nature in a very basic way, by digging and being out there, just like I did when I grew up in Germany!

Brother, do you remember how we dug hide outs in that open area close to our house, that was called "Matra Wiese"? We even had candles down there... But that is a different story.

Have a good weekend!

Vintage Photo Friday

This picture shows my grandparents. Sadly I don't know anything else about the when and wheres. Engagement? Honeymoon? Secret Weekend Getaway?

It is the only picture I own of my grand parents that shows them young. I really like the clothes, and I'm really surprised that my grandfather smoked!

Happy Easter!

I hope your day is as good as ours!

the joy of yarn

All quiet here except some new haircuts and new teeth.

I've been trying to get a true snapshot of Fiona, but while those teeth grow speedyfast since they made their first appearance, I have only been getting big photo smiles, which is good, too!

I was thrilled after cutting Lewis' hair a few days ago, which had been growing out for four months. This time he agreed to having it quite short and I just love to see his handsome big boy face like this. I apologize for the distracting pink, which is the haircutting robe...

These days he seems to have grown so much and he is indeed getting real close to his 10th birthday. I find the older my guys get, the harder it seems to get a good picture. This next shot, which I am very happy with, was taken yesterday after he started grumping with me. I guess when I grabbed the camera he could not keep his expression too serious!

I have not been up to a lot of crafting or knitting, progress on another boardbook album (how-the-girl-lost-her-front-tooth) has been slow, but with pleasing results. Again, I have used the green stack (12x12) by DCWV, 70% recycled, my current favorite, combined with some sheets from Robin's store, that coordinate very well (Daisybucket Designs).

Most of my recent knitting was done on our trip to Arizona, Wyatt did most of our long distance driving, so I got to knit and finished this (size 3-4T).

It is waiting for the skirt to be shortened and sewed on to the cotton top.

My focus these days is on finishing some stuff for the Hip Stitch craft show coming up beginning of May, mainly girls dresses since it should be nice and warm by then. I am working on a new series with recycled adult skirts and dresses from rayon fabric, which gives the dress a nice drape.

So, if you are in ABQ, mark your calendars and stop by at Hip stitch Friday, May 1st between 5 and 8 pm or Saturday, May 2nd between 10 am and 4 pm .

I have yet to explain this posts title.

Check out the amazing story of this earthquake survivor in Italy:

A 98-year old lady was trapped for 30 hours before she was rescued. How she got through those long hours? - She crocheted!

What a story...

Incomplete Friday

Friday is not complete without digging in the past.

Today I found some shots, that are probably very rare and I find them truly exceptional and fascinating. I believe they were taken by my aunt Kaethe (or one of her friends?), while she was on a cruise from Naples through the Mediterranean to the USA in 1933. Location is Algiers and that is all I know. Enjoy.

breakfast with Denzel

About six weeks ago my family headed south for a weekend trip, amazing White Sands included.

On our way we visited White Oaks, a former ghost town which is now - like so many other places - rediscovered by artists. Off season and quite deserted in February we got the idea of how it used to be like!

We thought this mansion could easily have been the background for "Psycho".

Close by Carrizozo was quite a bit more charming, because there was Roy's.

Sundaes, milk shakes and a real cool vintage flair, we loved it all.

And Roy also told us what it was about all the weird construction on the main road and the kinda important looking people on bikes, that were a little too casually cool dressed to be construction workers or builders. They were working on the movieset for "Book of Eli" with Denzel Washington, mid March they were expecting the film crew for the actual shooting! You could almost see them hanging out at Roy's already - I'm sure they loved that place - so authentic!

I was not aware of the fact that Denzel Washington was continuing the shooting of the movie after that in New Mexico until this morning. That's when I had my breakfast with Denzel. No, of course I did not meet him, sillies, he was in the paper after donating quite a large amount of money for the Roswell's Boys and Girls Club.

This guy is here for work, certainly quite stressed, that's how I imagine the movie business, he watches a local newsreport about the club's financial problems and whips out his checkbook. Now how cool is that for a famous actor, I'm asking you??

Yeah for Denzel Washington, you rank even higher now on my personal list of great actors - for being a generous, kind and thoughtful person as well.

And "Thank you!" from the little me for supporting that Club, which will now be able to survive!

Sweet nothing and Arizona

Spring break. Lots of time to do nothing special.
Just hanging around, letting the laundry piles grow, munching the first strawberry pie of the season outside in the backyard,



enjoying the sun and being silly,

cruising some yard sales, good finds for boys/pilots included,

crafting and finishing a long abandonned embroidery project, a pin cushion (have I mentioned yet that I love the 70s??),

some more scrapbooking with a recycled board book:

And then there was our first family trip into Arizona.
A loooong drive with snow and dust storms, then the beautiful scenery of the Flagstaff area, a great yarn store in town (Purl in the Pines), amazing Indian ruins in the most incredible locations,

peaceful and offering a glimpse into the past.

I was touched by the respect with which numerous remains of Hopi vessels were gathered (possibly by tourists?) and placed on rocks at this site to be enjoyed by all visitors.

Spring break was good.