Laowai

We had a white Christmas in Midand

We made cookies at Jennifer's house

Claire's has her own level of cookie decorating

Grandma and her grandgirls

Christmas elves

Yatzee playing

Dinner time

Brian appreciates the brisket that Chris makes each year

Jennifer made the most beautiful Yule Log

Traditional pork pie breakfast with Grandma C.

A Christmas walk at the Nature Center

And also a Christmas snowball fight

A merry Christmas

I have so many things to be thankful for but this post is about one that I particularly love.

And also I have photographic evidence.

Brian cooks all the dinners on the weekends.

It's so nice for me to be free from thinking "what's for dinner " for a couple days each week. Even when we get back from a trip or we've been away all weekend I'm usually cooked (no pun intended) but Brian will head right out to the grocery store to get everything to make a homemade meal. And also, he's a great cook. He likes strong flavors and he hardly ever makes the same thing twice. I do complain about the big mess he makes but I shouldn't because it's great to have a hot meal made for you. 

Lately he's gotten in the habit of letting us know that dinner is ready by texting a photo. Here are a bunch of dinner's ready photos from the last several months.

*We do tend to fight over that silly drippy candle. I tell him I'm not going for a tacky old-school Italian restaurant vibe. But gosh darn it – the more I gnash my teeth over it the more he loves that thing. I promptly remove it to his office as soon as the weekend is over. 

**And no, I don't consider myself overly controlling about our home decor…

In 2023 I did a photo project at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I took a photo in the same spot (a favorite spot) once a week all year. The space was lovely with a path meandering into the distance and a beautiful tree framing the area. Here's a video of all the photos.

Well last Friday I went for a walk at the gardens and even though I'm not doing that project any longer I usually can't resist taking a photo of my spot. It was a lovely snowy scene but something was different. The tree was gone! What a surprise, what a change! 

I don't begrudge the gardens for taking the tree down because I know that, for a variety of reasons, these things are inevitable. But I will miss that pretty pretty tree.

We celebrated our "at home" Christmas or our Swiss Christmas about a week and a half before real Christmas. It was a good day. I enjoyed some baking – just enough to fill a cookie platter. Claire and I decorated gingerbread houses. We had a yummy breakfast. Brian made Dutch Baby with gooey sauce, citrus salad and bacon. We all went for a walk. Then when it was dark we settled in for a raclette feast and we finished the night opening presents by a cozy fire.

Mom gave me her drummer boy sled decoration – she painted him a long time ago. 

This is the annual wreath gift that I make for my mom-in-law. This year's wreath could be a Fall wreath or a Christmas wreath. I made/grew everything including the base made out of some of my red-twig-dogwood.

The next morning a sat around in my new flannel nightie (thanks Brian) and worked on a new knitting project. 

How nice!

Since I turned 50 I haven't felt very good. Doesn't that sound awful. I actually caught a bad chest cold during my 50th trip with Brian and up until the past few days I just haven't been able to shake it. I was struggling to keep up with the most basic stuff around the house for so long but now I'm finally feeling better. 

And just in time too. The holidays and all the holiday stuff I enjoy are bearing down on us. 

Look at these cuties – we got to see Jenna a lot around Thanksgiving. Claire and I picked her up from Madison and I think Claire really enjoyed seeing the campus.

Per usual I barely took any photos of our Thanksgiving trip.

I did capture this grandma cuddle with Henry (so sweet).

Grandma Dice's turkey platter is special.

And so is this – the best ornament on my mom's tree. The tree that we set up for the first time in her new apartment. What a big change for mom.  

Right after Thanksgiving we did our annual trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden's Light Scape show. There's Claire and her good friend Marni.

I decorated our Christmas tree.

In the not-fun-holiday-related category Bea took a big scary German test last Friday. So I got to finish my Christmas shopping and kill some time in the city. Test results don't come for quite a while.

I've been fitting in a bit of knitting here and there and I finished this sweater vest yesterday.

I got this yarn at my knitting class's annual yarn dump or yarn exchange – so it was free. I found out that it's about the same age as me – a solid Irish wool. 

So now I'm ready for all the holiday baking and making. And it's gotten cold outside so we can make a fire and really enjoy the cozy season.

I turned 50 last week and my very generous and thoughtful husband took me on a trip to celebrate. There he is below – we stopped for some lunch in Tacoma after we flew into Seattle.

We went to Olympic National Park and stayed at the Crescent Lake Lodge.

When we arrived I promptly plopped down in front of the lodge's fireplace and started knitting (heaven).

The lodge sits right on Lake Crescent which is known for it's deep clear water.

We stayed in our own charming little cabin which also had a fireplace and plenty of firewood.

Lying in bed looking out the big window I could only see water and mountains and sky.

The forests at Olypmic National Park are amazing! The trees are so big – so many beautiful evergreens and ferns and moss – green everywhere and soft earth under your feet. We did some hiking and lots of talking.

Brian made a fire for us each night. Being in the mountains with the moody clouds and the chilly air felt so good. It was a  wonderful way to mark a milestone.

It's been a warm dry fall and so far we haven't had a hard frost. I pulled out all my tomato plants and was left with a bunch of green tomatoes. Keeping them in a box or a bag seems to make them ripen in a few days. I've been making lots of pico de gallo, I've roasted some with garlic for freezing and today I made tomato jam.

Again, my lilac is confused. 

The view on my windowsill.

The girls and I went to our annual Mom/Daughter get-together in Union Pier Michigan.

It's always fun to spend time with the other women and dedicate time to making. Bea sewed two new chalk bags for rock climing.

I worked on a new quilt and Claire started a cool beaded flower project (which I did not photograph).

I made bats and cats for Halloween.

And I've been working on this cowl – a class project in my knitting class.

I've spent some time at the Chicago Botanic Garden – enjoying Fall.

This past weekend (the girls had a couple days off from school) Brian and Bea went to Berlin. They looked at some schools and saw the sights.

While Brian and Bea were away Claire and I went back to Michigan to help mom move to her new apartment.

We saw a toad on her deck. Hi friend.

This is the view of the Tridge from mom's apartment – pretty huh?

Since it was November 1st Claire was in the mood for Christmas decorating (she loves Christmas). So we all took a break from the house work and went to Bronner's in Frankenmuth. It's been so long since I've been to the "World's biggest Christmas store". It was very entertaining and Claire picked out a couple ornaments for her Christmas tree.

Next up I'll be posting some photos from the Birthday trip – can't wait.

The end.

I have, finally, painted my red sewing room and I am very pleased with it.

We started here – a rare tidy moment but too colorful for my taste.

And now it looks like this.

I inherited my mom's pretty wooden bookcase. It's much more attractive than the cheap shelf I had there before. 

I kept the shelf of trinkets and tools that I made out of my old kitchen drawers. And the turquoise drawer units used to belong to my Grandma Dice. She kept them in her sewing room too. They glide open really easily and make a satisfying sound so I love them too.

I bought new curtains from IKEA – the print reminds me of a Josef Frank print. The window behind my sewing machine looks right at our neighbor's door across the driveway so I wanted curtains but something that still lets light in.

This room rarely looks this clean – it's a spot where I can work on projects and leave them in disarray with the door closed. A creative space with a door feels like a luxury. But I did clear out some stuff that I don't plan to use so it all feels good. A refresh and a clean white space ready to fill with my next messy projects.

I had feelings after our visit to Amsterdam. When we were walking along a canal in a residential area one morning I said to Brian"they are just more advanced here". No wonder they have an over-tourism problem.

They know how to make a place comfortable, clever, practical, fun, healthy and beautiful. They've figured it out and it's impossible not to admire it.

Apartments with high ceilings, new buildings and old buildings sitting in harmony, spaces for mini gardens all over – so many container gardens on stoops, bike lanes and trams and trains and pedestrian paths all mixed together and functioning, human scaled street scapes that feel friendly, free ferries, tram lines planted with grass, young people and old people living side by side, old windows that have been kept up with shiny paint, great plants like masses of Asters and much-loved elm trees along the canals, quiet and peaceful restrooms at the airport plus stroopwafels and Miffy too.

Yes, I'm sure they have their issues, it's a big city after all. The touristy areas super turn me off but mostly the city is one of those European cities that has a really high quality of life. And on top of all that we had the best cool sunny Fall weather.

So here are my too many photos – many of them were taken by Brian and Bea.

The next few photos are from Harlem – we liked Harlem a lot.

Bea took a trip within a trip – she went on the train about an hour away to meet a friend from her summer in Germany. Here's a photo she took from atop a ferris wheel. The girl is going to school in a town called Nijmegen. Bea got to see her school.

Claire also got together with a friend – a girl she new when we lived in Zurich. She lives outside Amsterdam and the two of them got to spend a few hours shopping.

Meanwhile, Brian enjoyed the breweries – including the one below that was built in and old church.

And that's not all – I have even more photos of Amsterdam details.