Laowai

I think someone over here thinks that marshmallows are more culturally significant to the US than they actually are.

So much to look at on my usual walking route. Including glorious lilacs – I didn’t just sniff one – I sniffed each one I passed. I am a l little worried about the plants though. Since the coronavirus lockdown began on March 13th we haven’t gotten more than a couple insignificant sprinkles of rain. The landscaping people for our apartment were watering the plants and I’ve never seen them do that before. I wake up nearly every day to blue sky and the weather feels warm and cheery. It’s wonderful but we really are due for a soaking rain.

I made another shirt – It’s the Camp Shirt from Liesl and Co. I used some cotton lawn from See you at Six. I like this pattern a lot. It’s a little tailored and a little loose. It’s comfortable and I can wear it all year long. Yay! I ordered the fabric from a local shop but (in this coronavirus time) I didn’t have a good way to get matching thread. So I used some darker green thread that I had on hand. I found this one to be tricky because you can’t hide any imperfections with a solid color fabric and any bits of top stitching really show up if your thread doesn’t match. So my handiwork is OK – but don’t look too closely because it’s a little tortured too. I decided to embrace the unmatched thread situation and made the buttonholes using a bright turquoise thread.

Now back to my quilting project. I’m making steady progress and I want to finish before my girls go back to school in two and a half weeks.

We’ve been trying to get outside to enjoy the fresh air as much as possible on the weekends. Brian is good at finding places to go hiking. Although it’s not too difficult here – there are so many mountain trails! All these photos are from places pretty near our house – the furthest was only a 35 minute drive. 

The Swiss government has announced that school will restart on May 11th. I’m so thankful that the girls will get to have some school and to see their friends before we move. I’m not sure when Brian will get back to work and our exact moving date is undecided. At least it seems that the number of Covid 19 cases has stopped rising here in Switzerland. We’re hopeful.

I could really go for some Swiss mountain restaurant food but everything is Gescholossen or closed. Sad.

I saw these when we were driving the other day. I might have to do this in our yard in Wilmette. Oh yes.

I took a break from quilting and made shirt. I didn’t have enough fabric for the button down shirt that I wanted to make so I made a version of the Liesl and Co. Gelato Blouse. I made its button placket down the back fake (no actual button holes). The fabric is a light-weight checked cotton from Merchant and Mills. It’s so nice and summery.

I spent way too much time listening to an audio book and making this wreath yesterday. 

I enjoyed the spatter painting so much I had to make some spatter paint Easter Eggs too.

Brian went for a five-hour bike ride!

We’ve been married 18 years! This year’s anniversary is different because we have been together for a longer stretch of time than any other time I can remember in our marriage. I mean, Brian has not traveled for a whole month due to the coronovirus lockdown and that is very unusual. Maybe early in our marriage when Brian was working at Dow Corning he would be home for long stretches. But since then he’s been traveling all the time. I’m just not used to having him around so much. 

But not to worry we are still getting along. Still smiling.

Why am I always standing on the same side of him???

I’ve been making a version of the Jim Lahey No-Knead Bread lately. There are so many variations but after reading a bunch of them I just went with the easiest instructions. It’s very flexible and forgiving. I let the wet dough sit there and bubble for around 18 hours. I punch it down once or twice – no bothering with trying to shape the dough or transfer it with a kitchen cloth. I just sort of fold it around in the bowl with a rubber spatula for a minute. I usually start the dough around mid-morning one day and then it’s ready for a final rise and baking then next morning. When it’s ready to bake I preheat my cast iron enamel pan in the oven. I put some olive oil in the hot pan and then just plop the dough in and bake. While it is tasty it’s not the most flavorful bread. The best part is its nice texture and crunchy crust. Not too shabby as my dad would say and Brian likes it.

Of course you have to have some yeast which I hear is hard to come by in some places in the US at the moment. That’s a shame.