Before

Last Week

We HAD a beautiful winter wonderland. It looked like we might, finally, have a white Christmas. 

But then the south wind arrived, and brought rain. So, while the US is suffering a major and severe cold snap, we are in balmy spring weather this week. 

Oh, well, there are blessings in that, too. 

The sparkles are inside, not outside. 

This post was made a few days ago. Internet hasn’t been good.

Tis the Season

For Fruitcakes and ……Pinsa

Trotting back and forth between houses is a bit cumbersome, but things are in progress for rapidly-approaching Christmas. The fruitcakes are made and ripening in cherry Schnapps. (Some people loath them, I hear, but some of us love them.) Some non-storable apples needed to be used, too. (These are not Pam-quality pie crusts, but we enjoyed them anyway. Whipped cream covers a multitude of sins.)

On this past Sunday after church in Glattfelden….

…..a few of us went to an Italian restaurant with THE BEST ingredients - tomato sauce that tastes garden fresh and sun-ripened - in December, smoky bacon and ham, fresh flower garnish, and an Italian atmosphere in snowy Switzerland. 

And three of us each chose a Pinsa. (Plural: pinse, from Latin, to stretch, to spread.) These look like pizzas, but are NOT. The dough is fermented for a couple of days. The finished product is crispy outside and soft inside. Ours were from a wood-fired oven. They are oval-shaped, not too big, just right for a meal. Simply marvelous. 

And then followed the finishing of the Christmas letter process. Most got mailed tonight, so they will be late to the other side of the world; but we have twelve days of Christmas, so they should arrive sometime during those Christmas days. 

And, I did a few Christmas-y watercolors. 

I will show more later.

Birthday Card

Personally For Me

Pam told me she saw this beautiful handwork and got it just for me. She sent it for my birthday (last month -yes, I am behind). 

Paper quilling. 

Kufstein, Continued

Onward

That last post was truncated. I have had very limited access to internet, so posts are very sporadic currently. Here is another try. 

Set up for Christmas festivities.

An exhibit on military gear

Presentation of the fancy head gear

Just the stylish new outfit you wanted.

How to become a friend of a cannon.

In the little squiggly drawings on the right you see the development of the fortress after each re-build. 

A raised porch, part of the renovation.

“Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly.”

Beyond this door and its courtyard is tower that was used as a prison for political dissidents of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

Wedge shaped cells festoon the perimeter of this tower. 

Emperor Maximilian himself. He was very skilled, very capable in many things, he fought with his troops, he was an excellent strategist, he expanded the fortress, and he was a shrewd self-promoter of his own image and reputation. If he had had Tweets, he would have rivaled Mr.Trump.

The courtyard of the prison tower.

The broad exterior steps to the tower. The interior ones are steep and narrow and long and dark.

Onward to the Hero’s organ. It has outdoor pipes (and, yes, gets tuned frequently). The music can be heard across the border into Germany, they say. 

The waning day.

Back down to the city.

… for warm soup and Knödel, or coffee and Sacher Torte. 

… at the Goldener Hirsch.

Then goodbye Kufstein. 

More Kufstein

Fortress 

View from the ramparts

The deep well I side. You could fill your bucket to the left of the door.

Parts of the well mechanisms. It was powered by men walking on the huge wheel. 

A long underground tunnel. It was used for an air raid shelter in the world war. 

Some excellent people….

In the fortress garden

The deliveries tunnel, for horses and carts.

To be continued…

MARVELOUS Gift

Handmade

Pam gave me the most beautiful gift. The fabric, with its birds, butterflies, and flowers, was something she saw a while ago and was inspired to save to make something for me.

 And she did! She was  working on it up to the day she left home, and was sewing the binding on the flight over. It’s amazing. 

The ruby flowers and pots with foliage are appliqué over the background fabric. And note the three dimensional window effect in the browns. 

Some leaves are free moving at their ends. 

The reverse with the pretty fabric. 

The border design and binding 

Outline quilting

Simply amazing. The creativity, the skill, the years of experience, the patience, the knowledge, and the dedicated friendship to get it finished….. I am highly honored. 

Thank you, Pam!