what a weekend

what a weekend. full of deep, meaningful experiences. great conversations. tears and laughter. a bit of time in the garden. lots of sunshine. clean sheets. sushi for dinner. quite a lot of creativity. the lilacs are in bloom. the first asparagus is up. the beech trees have that special spring color of green. life doesn't actually get much better than this. live intensely. tell people what they mean to you. spend time with them. and don't let the petty shit have any more importance than it deserves (and it doesn't deserve any). i needed that lesson and i got it this weekend. in spades. let's hope it sticks.

relaxed and recharged

we have finally had a few summery days and i had the most wonderful weekend with ten other creative women in a lovely place in a charming town - eating good food, laughing a lot, painting and talking and drawing and walking on the beach together. i am recharged and relaxed and ready for a visit from an old friend. well, not quite ready - i've got to vacuum and get the linens changed on the bed tomorrow morning - but there's time for that. and after such a lovely weekend, time seems to stretch into exactly the amount i need. there was even time this afternoon for a little nap. (i took the day off, you see.) these sort of moments are something we allow ourselves too seldom, so i'm luxuriating in mine and hoping to hold on to a bit of it for the next time it all seems to be too much.

the view from sunday night

another 4-day weekend. i love the cycle of spring holidays in denmark. aside from a windy saturday, the weather was largely glorious. we really do mostly benefit from the global warming here in our northern climes (aside from when those storms blow through and take out the odd building). since we're preparing for sabin's big party in a couple of weeks, we bought a lot of beautiful flowers and i filled the entryway with them. last year, i had tomatoes there, but we've put the greenhouse back together, so the veggies are out there. amazing how a few plants make coming into our falling-down farmhouse much more inviting.

i used to think of germany as a boring place where people wear weird socks, but the more i pop down to border town flensborg for gin and proper groceries, the more it grows on me. the harbor was just gorgeous clad in friday's sunshine. there were booths selling all manner of fun things...from smoked salmon to hats to handmade soap.

there were strolling musicians entertaining along the quayside (note the weird socks). but on the whole, it seems to much more ok to be a little different in germany than it is denmark, where the pressure to conform is almost oppressive. (tho' i continue to resist that whole dress with jeans thing they've had going on for over a decade.)

there was a regatta happening and i guess this beauty was one of the ships involved. just lovely to see. days like this will keep us coming back to germany (tho' the variety of gin helps as well).

now we're all stocked up and ready to make cocktails for all of our summer visitors (yes, that's two bottles of St. Germain and two bottles of Aperol). (and yes, they are important enough to use capital letters.)

sabin had about 8" of hair cut off on saturday. she was cool as a cucumber about it, tho' our hairdresser was quite shocked and even tried to talk her out of it. she wanted her dip-dye gone, so i guess that fashion moment is over now. i was pretty proud of how sure she was about what she wanted. if that continues, she's going to be just fine. she had a good friend over all weekend and they had several photo shoots. i'm also hoping the desire to do that continues. love the docs with her confirmation dress. and it is a super cute cut, tho' it makes her look older. i suppose it's now that looking older is a good thing, tho' i don't think that was her goal. i think she just wanted to go back to her natural hair color and have healthy non-bleached ends again. she's a sensible kid. i guess she gets that from her dad.

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is email dead? (let's hope so.)

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minifigs make even risqué comments sound ok.

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poignant and beautiful. a rather lovely thing.

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check out my new super(heroes) board on pinterest. 

i'm a little in love with batman. 

paint snails while the sun shines

i could only find 3, otherwise i would have painted more. later, i spotted another one, but had already put away the paints. i don't think these snails showed signs of having been among the ones we painted before, tho' i think the one i spotted later might have been erik. awesome how the vinbjerg snails live for years and years. my snail designs today were inspired by the fantastic hilma af klint exhibition we saw on saturday at louisana museum of modern art. more about that later, as now i've got to go put lotion on my sunburn and get to bed.

in the company of women

i have, over the past year, found a really awesome group of women friends to hang out with. one of them was able to borrow her sister's summer house near the west coast this past weekend and we spent a truly blissful 24 hours there together.

earlier in the week, we had been to a salon evening, where we got these red yarn bracelets, which we were to wear for three days with the purpose of looking at it and meditating on all of the happiness and good luck we would have in the new year. we decided already then to take them with us to the beach and release them into the north sea, in a kind of ceremony.

so we each took off our bracelet and released it into the sea in our own fashion. but it felt powerful as we stood there together, giving the little bit of yarn a last moment of silent, individual good intentions for 2014, before sending it out into the waves to be free.

then we wandered down the rock-strewn beach. so funny that just a few weeks ago, there were a few shells on the beach, but no stones at all and now it's covered with stones. (tho' i will grant that this is a different beach, a bit farther north).

we found a small beach ball in the waves and kicked it around a bit. this despite being five grown women. our little groups formed and reformed as we all walked and talked and enjoyed being together in a setting apart from our everyday.

after our trip to the beach, we retired back to the warm summer house, where a fire was soon burning merrily in the wood-burning stove. we got out our art supplies and began both the drink and the draw phase of the weekend. i made a gin cocktail (of course), using homemade pear-ginger cordial as a base. we each brought something to share (both wine and food).

we ate a tuna mousse with some very good bread, followed by a gorgeous fish soup and then my chocolate pots with salted caramel in the bottom for dessert. all along, there was wine. late in the evening, after the crochet lessons (i really learned how to make a granny square this time!), we turned to pomegranate gajol and a smoky laphroaig whiskey that i brought along. happily, lots of laughter and water in between kept it from going totally wrong the next day.

we don't really have any rules for drink and draw, but we did decide that we all had to draw the little silvery fish we saw on the beach in some form or another. other than that, we all indulged in whatever we wanted to. several of us are using an old book as the base, humument style. we had quite some fun reading from one of the books, which had a lot of illustrations as well. old books provide a surprising base for creativity. my own is called talismanen (the talismen) and tho' it's about knights and such, there are meaningful words on every page if you select carefully.

there was much laughter and sharing and deep, serious conversations as well. it all felt very, very good for the soul. i don't know what it is, but as i grow older, i find that more and more i crave hanging out with women friends. our spouses and families weren't far from our thoughts or our conversation, but it was good to just be together, eating, drinking and drawing and even singing. and crocheting. just the girls.

the weekend in pictures - or how we actually had an endless summer in denmark at last

possibly our coming papa kitty. we need some orange around here.

a case of chicken envy at the neighbor's house.

cool is a charmer.

do not call husband a social democrat.

summer drinks.

gorgeous vegetarian food at drink & draw

heavenly fennel dish - we might have to rename drink & draw to drink & eat (& laugh)

yum. bacon-wrapped asparagus with a touch of miso.

a spontaneous trip to the beach.

the water and the waves were glorious.

our gorgeous molly.

curious about samba.

a first tree-climbing adventure.

hope your weekend was glorious too.

happy colors, happy feet, happy weekend!

nothing says spring quite like a new pair of shoes. 

lots of goodness planned this weekend.

an art exhibition.

a couple of lectures.

some time in the sunshine.

maybe even a run or two (just not in these shoes).

and at our house, we're counting down to One Direction in berlin.

happy weekend, one and all!

an extra glorious hour

the time changed back to winter time this morning. it feels like such a gift, that extra hour. i used it very wisely, curled up under the quilts with my laptop and a cup of tea (precisely the right temperature and precisely the right amount of milk and honey), catching up on blogs and pinning to pinterest.

i'm strangely ready for winter this year. and i haven't minded autumn at all. usually, it fills me with dread, as the darkness approaches. but days like this - glorious, glittering frost - are worth it. and i love wearing sweaters and my furry boots again. bring on the winter!

our 5th annual halloween party was a big success. the kids take the costume thing seriously and now that they're in the 6th grade, they require less supervision (tho' perhaps i should have been in the room to discourage that popcorn fight). they were sent around in the dark on an orienteering run, rather than a treasure hunt per se. it was timed. and at one post, they had to find the letter (they were gathering letters) in a bucket of slimy liver and oatmeal soup that husband made. we always have to have something gross. and there's always a boy who is willing to get his hands all dirty. sometimes even some of the girls are willing. but honestly, there are some things that are just boy jobs.

they're good kids. but even tho' they're good kids, you can still see who is popular and who is not, if only from the looks on their faces when they think no one is looking. they're starting to verge on teenagers, getting slightly awkward and less comfortable wholeheartedly playing. but all of them, boys and girls alike, enjoyed shooting balloons with a bb gun and bobbing for apples. it's good to have these traditions.

this afternoon, we'll go see the new james bond, skyfall. i've heard nothing but good things about it. i'll let you know...

happy sunday, one and all. use your extra hour wisely.

scenes from a weekend

husband built a very tall lifting device. 

we hosted awesome couchsurfers from france.

they harvested wheat from the field next door.

it appears to be a bumper crop.

we harvested 45 kilos of honey. from just one hive.

they don't call them busy bees for nothing.

there were beautiful skies.

one little kitten went WAY too far up a tree and nearly gave me a heart attack.

frankie didn't help.

husband convinced the child to try out his lifting device.

she was less than thrilled.

we had gazpacho for dinner. and homemade bread toasted in the oven with mushrooms on top.

sabin put avocado on hers and used the gazpacho as a garnish.

molly played in the sunshine 'til she was exhausted.

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i laughed when i read this. 

and thought deep thoughts after reading this.

and was sad to finish this all too quickly.