Ding... ding.... ding Jump off the couch and get dressed. The knife man is here!!! It's very old-school, our knife sharpening man. He roams the streets and his cart dings along with his slow gate. He charges two bucks for a big kitchen knife. He's a little gruff. The strangest thing about all...

We went for a little walk on Saturday morning. I wanted to explore a park and an old school in Winnetka. The school is called the Crow Island School and it's just few minutes drive from our house. It was opened in 1940/41 and it's significant because it grew out of a new progressive style of edu...

I don't know why but Kermit lives in our mudroom and he makes me smile when I come and go.

It feels like summer here. Now that restriction are lifting a little Claire has been to see a couple of her friends and they have been swimming in the lake twice. I don't see so many sunrises because the sun is getting up before I do. But we have had some great sunsets - like the one below...

I finished my Stay Home Quilt last week. I started the quilt back in the middle of March when we first went into lockdown. It was completely unplanned I just sat down and started playing with my scraps. For this quilt I think the process was even more satisfying than the final quilt. Putting...

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 ...

Hard to believe it's only been one week that we've been stuck in the house trying to battle the coronavirus. Here a few things we've been doing. The girls were feeling a little frustrated with school stuff on Friday so we spent the afternoon crafting. We made window room bird feeders. We've do...

Bea is 13. Let's not think too deeply about that big number. Let's just look at some pictures of cake and her beautiful smile. I made an Office theme cake - IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY. There's always a theme. And since she has grown to be like 12 feet tall I had to make her some new pajama pants...

I have no content for my blog. Except for these two goofs. Nothing exciting is happening here. We're just chugging along with our regular schedules. Brian is traveling to the US over this weekend so it's extra quiet. The girls and I did a little shopping yesterday. We found this strange sigh...

Bea got it in her head on Saturday morning that we should have a Simpsons celebration. We had nothing else going on that day so why not. She worked so hard making her Simpsons cookies! Thanks to Grandma J. for giving her the cookie cutters for Christmas. Later we played Simpsons Monopo...

Here we are in Wilmette and my mind is on all the things I want to do at our house. Pictures I want to frame and hang in specific spots, rooms I want to paint, maintenance and renovations that I want to get on top of to keep the house happy. I've been spending time looking at online portfolios o...

Today my heart is in the USA.

I bought a big pickle jar full of costume jewelry three years ago and I've finally gotten around to making something out of it. I made a wreath. It's not my usual style of craft but I kept seeing examples of wreaths and trees made out of jewels online and there is something about them that I ...

Bea wanted to be an octopus for Halloween again. Last time she was a pink octopus in 2015 and this summer she tried to wear that costume but it was too small. It wasn't too hard for me to make another octopus - I just had to find a big bowl to go under the fabric. Here she is at the pumpkin farm...

I can't help myself. This is my favorite:

I'm still enjoying my sunflowers. They attract a lot of bees and lately birds too. The birds come several at a time. I love to see them bobbing around on the stems and pecking at the seeds. I don't like it so much when the birds come right into our apartment. And further, the other day the littl...

I'm moving along on my quilt. I've finished all the half-square-triangles and now I'm ready to start the curved portions. First I had to lay out all the pieces and choose which petal colors I wanted to match with each flower center color. Fun! As the girls wrap up their school year they always...

I need a word 
a brand new word 
 nobody ever heard
 I need a word 
that can express
 you are the dearest 
on the earth - poem by Monique and Hans Hagen Today is our 17th wedding anniversary!

We were due for a nice weekend at home. Brian has been taking advantage of warm weather whenever he can - getting out for some biking and running. Me? You can find me sitting in my green chair doing lots of quilting. Bea copied me and made some sweet little embroidery pieces (forgot to take ...

Here are some random pictures that have been sitting on my computer for a while. Stay tuned for some new photo subjects - we're going to Copenhagen for the girls' October break! Claire loving a goat: Bea has been taking a climbing class after school and she loves it. Look at her go! She ...

We are having a great Fall here in Zurich. I'm enjoying apples and cinnamon and orange plants and chilly mornings and making Halloween costumes. Here's a preview of Claire and Bea's Halloween costumes. I discovered you can make the top of a cardboard egg carton into a mask. I just soaked i...

Over the weekend we climbed a modest mountain called Etzel that is on our side of Lake Zurich. We have been so fortunate to have a bunch of lovely Fall days. We climbed up up up through a pretty forest and then we were rewarded with beautiful views all the way to Zurich. Bea was grumbli...