first day of advent, ushered in with the magic of  first snowfall

on the night before the first day of advent (december 1st), as my husband and i sat by the fire, sipping hot cups of tea, and putting the finishing touches on the advent calendar for our son, the first snow of the season began to fall.

this was the first time we made an advent calendar for him. last year his oma and opa bought him one and he was too young to enjoy one the previous years.

sitting by the glowing fire, planning, making, and  hanging his calendar over the kitchen window where it is out of his reach but in the perfect place to be admired with the beautiful snow in the background, the magic of the first snowfall, and then seeing his sweet face light up the next morning as we explained how the calendar works, this enchanting beginning to  december,  set my soul just right.

looking forward to keeping joy alive. creating, savoring, more magic. continuing to honor this beautiful season.

farmers market takes place on saturdays and wednesdays. i usually go on wednesdays by myself but every now and then, when it happens to be a beautiful saturday morning, and the sun is shining just right making no one in their right mind want to miss feeling its warmth on their face, which makes the original plan, or schedule for the day to be easily rearranged, i take my boys with me and make an outing of it.

we walk through the town, shop for groceries, talk with friends out doing the same thing, stop for lunch, walk along the lake, and then find a nice warm spot in the sun to enjoy coffee and tea.

you would never guess we had such charming weather this weekend- it started snowing non stop today. just in time, adding a beautiful back drop for the first day of advent.

we celebrated st. martin’s day today in germany. children make or buy lanterns, and form a procession through the streets singing songs about st. martin. often a man dressed as st. martin rides on a horse leading the procession which ends around a bonfire where the most famous story of st. martin is reinacted. the one of him cutting his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the him from dying of the cold.

november 11th also marks the beginning of the carnival season called fasnacht in german.

so it is official. the holidays are upon us and the next weeks will be spent preparing for advent, thanksgiving, a special birthday, entertaining friends, visiting herbst/christmas markets, cuddling near the fire, reading, playing games,  and making hot cups of tea….. ’tis the season!

one of the things that i find very attractive about my husband is his life story. i am intrigued by it. i love to listen to him talk about all that he has seen, learned, and experienced growing up- especially about his life as a young man in communist east germany.

today marks the 2oth anniversary of the collapse of the berlin wall. it is fascinating to hear him describe life before and after this historic event and how it changed his life- i enjoy it so much. to witness, and live such a historic event is wealth beyond measure. i literally feel as though i am living with a piece of history.

not to mention, i am lucky girl that wall came down, or else i wouldn’t have my tall dark and handsome!

some historic events that i feel lucky to have witnessed are of course the election of barack obama, the ending of the civil war between eritrea and ethiopia, the dot.com era in the 90s, the evolution of the internet and the positive and negative impacts it has had on globalization…

there are so many. this is why i will always own my age- no hiding it, and will stand by it with pride, always . after all, your age is only a sum of your life’s experiences and i embrace with gratitude every year that i have lived to see, hear, meet someone, learn, or do something that has changed my life. 

 the woerners enjoying the last of summer nights 

it is fasnacht season or carnival. a strange combination of mardi gras- everyone is out parading and partying on the streets and halloween because they wear scary masks and costumes

fasnacht season officially begins on 11.11. at 11.11 pm- and is celebrated at it’s height after the new year

every weekend until dirty thursday all the villages or towns in the area take turns hosting parades and all the neighboring villages attend wearing their representative masks-  made out of wood and usually a witch or an imaginary animal of some sort 

 spectators dress in costumes and or funny clothes and are  often victims of tricks- i got confetti not thrown- but poured on my head a few times and thomas had his shoe laces stolen-

they parade down the streets dancing, throwing candy at children, and sometimes performing circus acts- not only is this celebration a time of indulgence before lent

but also to scare and ward off evil spirits and rush the winter out in order to usher in spring

“hochzeit” is the word for wedding in german. pronounced “hoh’ kh’ site”, it literally translates to “high time”.  i find this word to be charming and reflective of such a joyful and significant event.  

this hochzeit geschirr or wedding china was made in bavaria between the 1940s and 50s and found at a flohmarkt (flea market) in überlingen. 

take a look at the bottom or leg of the cup.  gorgeous, isn’t it?

“professionalism is way overrated. it is the spirit of the amateur that people in creative occupations- in almost any occupation- need to cultivate more than anything else. a couple of hundred years ago, “amateur” was an entirely positive, noble description of someone. the word comes from the latin amator, which means “lover.” an amateur undertaking was something you did out of love, for the pleasure of doing it- something you did out of passion (and if you think about it this whole country was a nation created by passionate amateurs).

-kurt andersen, in “ode o amateurism”

there is nothing little about little wing

this is tom our neighbor and little wing’s drummer. he also is a member of another band called the lunatics. he plays the hell out of rock and roll but his true love is the blues. he has toured all over the world for over 20 years playing with the likes of carey bell, louisiana red, champion jack dupree, lovie lee, katie webster,  karen carroll, jeanne carroll, rudy rotta, steve “big man” clayton, and vince weber. what an impressive list! he also is president and ceo of his own very successful print marketing company. 

what makes the entire band so special is that like tom, carry other titles. they are corporate professionals, business executives, not to mention, mothers and fathers who are passionate lovers of music and get together to make good, wild, make you shake your body music (jam session video).

often rotating guest musicians, they get down and dirty, feeding their souls doing what they love, what gives them joy, sharing it and taking us along for the ride. it is wonderful to see these guys enjoying their passion for music.

one our favorite things to do is going to see live bands so we were excited to go see these wild guys last weekend hot- date- style with an overnight babysitter thrown in for extra fun.  we had a blast. the energy was unbelievable, we were all shaking our bodies and howling like wolves to the wee hours of the morning.

i have said before, we don’t get out much, and when we do, we talk about it for days like to kids just back from disneyland. so yeah, we are still talking about little wing and will forever. especially since they let me sing back-up when they played mustang sally!

*more here* local paper coverage 

i will be away for a while. delight your soul, ears, and eyes, during the warm summer evenings of august. let yourself be enchanted by nature under your big, open skies. 

feel wind

listen to water

and marvel at the sun