(For W´s birthday I made the LASAGNA I had on my Christmas time list in the last blog post and some chocolate cream with Amarena cherries and chestnut puree - we all had to lay down afterwards. That panettone with glazed chestnuts in it was divine, the best we ever had - my mum found it a our local Italian grocers after asking the shop keeper which one from the wide range on offer was the best. It was, of course the most expensive one too, but so worth it.)

I am still amazed by the fact how over the holidays are as soon as they are over. The glitter so enticing that day becomes dull over night and festive spices taste only like left overs as soon as January comes around. But it has been surprisingly good, it felt the right kind of lazy, with bits of work throughout and we have been so well fed - basically the only stressful thing being organizing what to eat and when to eat it. Also - rather unexpectedly - winter isn´t bothering me as much as I thought it would, but then the temperatures haven´t dropped too much so far and there have only been two or three un-bikeable days due to snowy or icy streets AND I now own two more layers of down vests. And when I do ride my bike decked out in these I feel happy, no matter the weather. So far even the greyest skies haven´t bothered me, I do feel oddly cheery, a bit bored perhaps, but that might be a good thing.

I´m still at those Nancy Mitford novels and while I do enjoy a lot of those silly, cruel characters, there is something that is worrying me - the women (some of the men, too and no mistake) are mostly busy with nothing but clothes, lovers, "looking after goats" or hunting. One of them is stitching a petit point carpet " in a particularly crude Victorian design of roses and lilies of the valley and blue ribbons" she thinks "too pretty for words" - that´s basically all she does during WWII. Education or occupation is not considered ideal by everyone, it is much better to be lazy. Well, what I´m worried about now is, that this lifestyle might have been perfectly fitting for me - not being overly smart, endeared by all things pretty and tasty and yes, lazy by nature, if I wouldn´t be fighting it all the time. I rise late and then I idle about with endless cups of tea (about three) while checking my RSS reader and Facebook - then I move on to "work". Making jewelry or doing a bit of graphic design is probably just another way of stitching rugs and I will admit that I am planing to make some of these POM POM BUNNIES while the world goes awry - I  have all I need on hand now, even chenille stems in the right size. What I would give for a brilliant mind, but it feels a bit dull instead and I imagine talking to me a quite boring pastime, I am not even a very amusing or sharp gossip. Staying inspired and keeping alert is hard work for me, since I am the kind of person who considers aquiring a new SKIRT an apt way to change the course of ones life (I don´t of course and I didn´t buy it in the end anyway).

One thing I´m quite into recently is deliming my kitchen sink, which is very new to me and since even the smell of bio-degradeable descaling agent gives me head aches I do so after cleaning my water heater with citric acid - I just cover it all with paper towels, pour the diluted acid over it and let it soak for a bit. What is left I use to deep clean the little rose coloured cut-glass bowls the cat likes to eat her Sheba from.

Off to stitching und gushing about a particularly stunning flower arrangement on a jade table I just spotted on Instagram!

(W and me before the opening of the WSAKE Christmas market - I´m wearing our SICHEL NECKLACE and a lovely scarf from a swap with the HUI HUI girls on top of a lot of wool)

The time between the years - these are the days I dread the most, even more than the vast dull stretch of time that is January and Febuary (up to this day I´m not able to pronounce those two words correctly in English). In the last years these days have not been kind to our family, almost everyone battling with some kind of sickness or - like me - getting a belated Christmas gift of a whole new mystery disease every two years - can´t wait for this year´s surprise. So many triggers all around in this winter wonder land of wet dirty snow, mud splattered down jackets and panic (and probably epilepsy) inducing fairy lights. The shortest days of Winter now remember me of a STAY in a mad hospital where the head of the department tells me that she had taken a look at the pieces on my website and some (not all) of them were quite (a little bit) nice, while I was staring at her yin and yang pendant - the cheapest and most ugly one I had seen so far. I should have left at once, but stayed for six horrible weeks instead.

Despite this December panic I went through with our annual Christmas market and after the first rather quiet hours our show room was filled with the nicest people ever. It turns out we have the kind of "client friends" that come bearing gifts, so many nice faces, known and unknown. Afterwards I felt really sorry I didn´t have more time for each and everyone. And I wished for every day to be like that, filled with a cheery buss and banter. And I´m very thankful for all of those who nudged me on to do it no matter what - you know who you are, kind friends!

My cat has now an eye specialist, an enthusiastic young lady who fell in love with her rare condition and now, after three years of almond shaped eyes due to constant squinting caused by a painful overgrowth, she  has clear round eyes again. The magic powers of cortisone! She is the most calm and comfortable when laying on top of the radiator (I think she even curled her brows on that hot grid a while ago) or curled up on a pillow with no one around to disturb her. But when she actually dares to jump on my lap for cuddles she purrs in delight, looking up to me with those brand new huge eyes. I´m just like her - feeling the most at ease with all my troubles when there are no witnesses around, but even better when I dare to surround myself with friends. And that would be what I´m most thankful for this year, to have found such kind people, they are my treasure. I buy tiny bees wax candles for them this Christmas, glossy and of a wonderful rich yellow colour, but I don´t know what else to give.

A few days ago, we sat at a place filled with a lot of Christmas parties and I spotted two guys I had a tiny (that´s as big as it gets around here) crush on over the last year and I felt so at ease, thinking it couldn´t have been that bad when this had actually happened (and apparently I have a very big heart since these weren´t all the crushes I had). Despite the icy rain outside I felt almost warm and fuzzy, but then again I was wearing my heat tech long johns for extra cosiness.

Here are some other things that made me happy this year (it is super trendy to have these kind of gratitude lists and year-in-review things, so of course I have to do one, too):

Becoming a GOD MOTHER.

After her fabulous talk on "Writing Architecture", about the delight and need to write and her advice to just start, I dared to walk up to Jane Rendell thanking her for her words and telling her how much they meant to me and she wished me good luck with my own writing. Oh my! This talk was part of a series on feminist ideas in architecture and design, organized by a local school for architecture, open for everyone and for free - so this way I also got to listen to Peg Raws. I was so amazed by the kindness of those two smart lovely women, it felt like a whole new world opening in my mind, a world filled with fierce, brilliant and encouraging ladies. And it looked like my English has quite improved since my school days since I had no trouble following even philosophical talks.

I haven´t seen my sisters a lot this year, actually only on a handful of days. With E I rode into town one Summer evening, not being able to decide if we should spend some money on the entrance fee of a party where we knew nobody, or not. We ended up eating ice cream and sitting around a fountain where everyone meets up on those kind of nights - the fountain water smelled horribly foul and we wished for a live TINDER version as a way to be able to talk to all those pretty people out and about.

Went to the opening party of a new design studio in my dreary neighborhood that made me look differently at my surroundings, it felt almost metropolitan.

Reading "A little Life" and being so touched by the description of friendship and acceptance of physical and mental problems of a loved one.

I was also quite taken by the amazing Australian series "Please like me" and it looks like everyone else is too - so I do encourage you to watch it on Netflix over the holidays in case you haven´t so far.

Talks and walks with lovely friends, all around our old town and its parks, along the river and back again.

Having my heart broken a bit - didn´t know I had it in me and it sucked, but still. This didn´t change my preference of books on single women to love stories, so maybe that is why I was so taken with "The Essex Serpent". My first Anita Brookner NOVEL however disturbed me a bit, she described her heroine in such a cruel way. Also I don´t think I want to become a witch just now, like in LOLLY WILLOWS, not ready for the countryside either.

Clients, very very sweet clients. Sometimes I´m really excited before a meeting, but then it always works out in the best way.

And I´m thankful for all those times things weren´t that bad. 

Since the beginning of the colder season said cat stays mostly in - day and night - which is a new thing for her, being inside for a stray over longer stretches of time apparently takes years to get used to. I´m rather pleased with that development - not that many cat fights and injuries, also she gets a bit chubby and her fur glistens since she doesn´t take as many sand baths. Already quite a while ago I have started to drag home as many dry provisions as possible for the upcoming holidays when my sisters will be staying over and we might want to hibernate just like my pet and not busy ourselves with shopping for groceries and such. Fresh produce will of course be acquired at the farmers market this Saturday, lots of leafy green things and krauts and these are some things I would like to try:

a focaccia with scallions and cranberries from Nigel Slater´s Christmas cook book

BROCCOLI WITH RAISINS AND NUTS (very into raisins with vegetables these days)

PASTA WITH WHITE BEANS

A LASAGNA WITH CHARD, SPINACH AND HAZELNUTS (after the sister allergic to tomatoes has left the building)

A SWEET FIG AND WALNUT LOAF

I will turn those PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES WITH OLIVE OIL into tumb print ones again, by making an imprint before baking and filling them with raspberry jam afterwards and I might give these AMARENA CHERRY ROSEMARY BETHMÄNNCHEN a try.
We had these SPÄTZLE WITH BLUE KRAUT AND CHESTNUTS a few years back and I´d like to give it another try, heavily tweaked of course - no need for eggs in Spätzle and putting slightly, adding toasted ground hazelnuts to the dough so they won´t taste that bland.

On the reading and watching front we´re all set - the books in this house should last a few life times let alone Christmas´ days and then there is Netflix of course. Sadly I already watched all of "Godless", which I have been recommending to everyone, including W since it features a sheriff in desperate need of glasses and he is still traumatized by dressing up as a cowboy for a childhood carnival and leaving the party after everyone was making fun of him because there is no such thing as a cowboy wearing glasses. Also I actually wanted to give that bow tie I found at a flea market (pictured above) to my sisters boyfriend (he also painted those tiny purple angels behind it), but now I think I might need it in case I want to move to La Belle. Also I´m currently in the midst of a brick of a book containing all of Nancy Mitford´s novels.

Tell me: what are you going to do, read, watch and cook during the holidays?

Merry Christmas to all!

We´d love to invite you all to our WSAKE Weihnachtsmarkt!

9.12.2017

11 - 16 Uhr

WSAKE Atelier 

Am Gries 35, Regensburg/Stadtamhof

Come on over and meet all of our STARS, CATS, HOUR GLASSES, BEARS, BUBBLES, KINGS, UDDERS and SO MUCH MORE!

In case you want to stop by some other time before Christmas - let us know and we´ll work something out!

It is BOOK CLUB time again! And we´ve chosen BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE MUSEUM / FAMILIENALBUM by Kate Atkinson for our meeting on 13.12., 19:30, so you´re in for a treat!

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In case you want to join us, send me a message and I´ll let you know all the details!

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I found that cookie cutter of the young Queen at TK Maxx and had to have it since I like weird things and they often come in handy (you never know what you might need one day) and as it turns out it is basically the one piece of Coronation memorabilia our heroine´s sister Patricia doesn´t own and I imagine she would be quite jealous. The SWEDISH RYE COOKIE dough I only used because it looked like they actually might hold their shape while baking and not run into shapeless blobs instead and yes, they turned out perfect! Highly recommended for a twist on the basic bland butter recipes used  for cookie cutters (and there are no eggs in there, so it´s very children-snacking-on-dough-friendly) - it makes about one and a half dozen of huge Queens or a lot of tiny other shapes. And since in my imagination fruit cakes are a very English thing I also threw in some raisins - it´s probable those TEA CAKES´ fault (also straight outta Behind the Museum) or that very lovely honey cake I brought back from Marks&Spencer when I was on a trip to London over ten years ago. Now I might eat all of those Queens when the new season of The Crown starts on Netflix, but they very likely won´t last until it airs.

The idea was probably born when I saw a picture of a girl wearing a really delicate necklace with a short inserted hefty chunk of chain - this was when I started coming up with a way to use up our left over pieces from all those necklaces we have made over the years. In W´s case it would have to be rather decades that years, so there was quite a bit around. For a few weeks I puzzled together all of those little bits discovering even more and more in every box and drawer I opened and assembled them into a set of necklaces, using various sized eyelets. They have a lovely weight to them and I´m really into the rhythm created by the different lengths and sizes of the elements - of course I´d love to keep them all: SILVER RECYCLING NECKLACES. And then there are FACES for you, HOUR GLASS EAR STUDS (so you never run out of time), BUBBLE PENDANTS we can emboss with anything you want to say and we created a HAMMERED version of our DOTTED RINGS.

A friend lent me her tiny lightbox and I played around with it for a bit, kind of into it, might get one of my own one time. 

Also: our (really) TINY HEART + STAR NECKLACES are back, this time made of brass on a string of silk and we added eyelets to our LETTERED PENDANTS so you can wear them on any kind of necklace.