a few more

My thoughts still wander quite a bit to this special little trip to Germany.

Just a few more pictures before we get back to regular business, okay?

The actual birthday party was great.

For some weird reason my outfit matched the table decor. And no, I have no clue what I was talking about when my brother snapped this picture.

The food was delicious, from appetizer to dessert.

It was really cold, so mom had no excuse and wore all her new hand knits when we went for a little walk!

We met my brother to get her actual gift - a new bicycle. When it is not pouring or freezing she runs all her errands by bike!

Wyatt and the kids sent flowers.

Of course I visited my local yarn store and shopped just a teeny bit. I made four cowls in two days, two of which I ended up giving to my nieces because they liked them so much, one I kept for myself and one will be a birthday gift for a friend - modeled here by mom.

It was all good.

Don't you agree, she looks fantastic and not her age at all!

Home, sweet home

I feel like this every time I come home from a long vacation. It feels so good to be back to this view, the garden, the sunny weather, the light. Not to mention husband and little fuzzy friends, who had to stay at home.

Germany was fun. It always is.

There was lots of quality time to be spent with our wonderful and generous Oma, and the rest of the family.

As usual the weather was sometimes nice and sunny, good enough to enjoy outings to the lake.

And sometimes it was not so nice - the worst being a hail storm.

One summer ritual is Lewis' spending time in and cleaning my brother's garden pond.



Most of all he loves hunting down the critters in the water, like dragonfly larvae and these little guys:

They look like they might be related to lizards, but live in the water with cute little webbed feet and a flattened tail. Do you know what the "Molch" might be called in English?

Then there was the knitting. Lots of it. And lots of new Lana Grossa yarns, resulting from too many visits to my favorite yarn shop, the "Wollmaedchen" in Alzenau.

I have yet to take some decent pictures of the finished projects, so for now just a sneak peek.

There was also a much inspiring visit to my friend Rosi and her beautiful studio in Frankfurt. If you should ever need a gorgeous one-of-a-kind dress, tailored to your body from the most superb and elegant fabrics for --- say a dinner with the president, then she should be the person to consult! If you need to get in touch with her/the couture atelier, let me know.

And this is it for today.

Again, and I can't say it often enough, it's good to be home.

taking off

My intentions were good. Pictures of the boy's birthday and Elementary Graduation, flowers on "my" trails, new knits and the first finished handspun skein of my blues.

Instead I am packing for our trip to Germany, helping with preparations for the Graduation, doing last minute laundry, and what not else.

So, let me just wish you good summer days until I'll be back mid June.

Take care, friends!