Pumpkin Festival

We went to a Pumpkin Festival this weekend and had the most wonderful Pumpkin Soup ever! So many things have changed in the past 11 years that I've lived here. When I first arrived, I could hardly find ANY pumpkins at all - and now several years later, we are attending a festival in their honor! Fantastic! The Swiss make wonderful soup, but I won't give up my American Pumpkin Pie recipe for anyone! I still need to make homemade pumpkin puree because canned pumpkin is still hard to come by.

The festival was lots of fun with huge stacks of hay for the kids to climb on, pumpkins to carve, everything pumpkin to taste including chutneys and jams, a cornstalk labyrinth, and lots of smiles to go round! The weather couldn't have been better!

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Fantastic Pumpkin Soup
Cut pumpkin into chunks and remove any seeds. Place in a pot with a little water and some chopped onion and garlic. Cook until soft. Add some water and puree. Add vegetable broth, salt and pepper, some curry and cook for a short time. When done, add a little Vermouth and some cream. Yum!

The farm recommends the Orange Knirps Pumpkin for soup!

Henna Head

I threw caution to the wind today and tried Lush's Henna Marron on my hair. Yes, it is a lot of work - and messy too - but my hair smells HEAVENLY! I left it on for 2 hours and was kind of hoping for a more drastic change, but I think it turned out okay for a first try. I will do it again in a few weeks, but maybe add a little dark brown or more red to it next time and leave it in at least 3 hours. Using natural hair colors makes me feel a lot better about coloring my hair and it smells better too!

Back to Normal

Things are back to normal in our household. Urs has returned from the army a very relaxed man. He is FINISHED with the military and has completed his required number of days. Yippee!

Cards and Candles is doing really well these past few weeks with lots of candle orders coming in now that the shift in weather is taking place. I am looking forward to maybe one day making a profit! But Melissa and I really see it as a hobby.

Fritz and Ruth, Urs' parents, have been away for almost 2 weeks now. They left with some suitcases and a camera for the South of France where they will slowly drive along the coast to Spain and back again. I can't wait for them to return as I miss my daily visits with Fritz! I will surely post some pictures of their trip when they are back!

Connor has learned to ride a bike without training wheels! We were all so proud!

More to come soon!

The Army - Swiss Style

My darling hubby is currently serving his last 9 days in the Swiss Army - which, by the way, is compulsary for all males in Switzerland! Ok, so we are a neutral country, what do we need an army for? Urs' job this week is to count bullet-proof vests. I spoke with him today and the conversation went something like this:
"Hi Honey, what are you doing today?"
"I'm back to counting bullet-proof vests. Just finished with counting the sunglasses."
"I thought you counted the vests a few days ago"
"We did, but we just received a new shipment of 600 vests"
"Urs, dear, if you know there are 600 vests in the shipment, why do you need to count them."
"That's what I'd like to know!!!"

Well, I suppose since we don't have wars here and all these men who are REQUIRED to do military service need something to DO, they have to make things up.

Well, at least I know he's safe!

Zürich Parenting Fair

Melissa and I rented a table for Cards and Candles at a Zürich Parenting Fair. It was hard work, but we came home very happy and several hundred francs richer. At times we had a hard time keeping up with all our customers, but there was the occasional lull which is when we took turns having a look around for ourselves at the many different companies represented as well as enjoying a hand massage and eye makeup demonstration by the Mary Kay Cosmetics ladies at the table behind us.

Connor Turns 4

Connor's birthday was on September 9th! He is a very happy 4-year old and loves his new Lego soccer game and CD-player. We celebrated with Ruth and Fritz (my in-laws) and Karen. I bought Connor's favorite cake, Schwedentort - known in English as "Princess Cake" which is a lovely lite cake with whipped cream filling and topped with bright green marzipan!

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LUSH

Just had to post an update letting you know how my visit to LUSH went today! Melissa ended up joining us along with her daughter Claire and my son, Connor. First we made a stop a Starbucks and enjoyed some good-sized lattes, donuts and muffins. We walked down to the LUSH store a few shops down and couldn't keep our hands-and noses-off the products! It was a bit like The Body Shop, but the scents weren't so intense-more subtle and...realistic, I think. Claire liked the Shower Jellies and had her fingers deep inside the wiggly bits. I think this store will do well here, but with product names like Bada Bing Bada Boom and MMM(Melting Marshmallow Moments) how can they fail?

I walked out with a few things, including the Honey I Washed the Kids soap and Teo deoderant. I think I'm hooked!

Summer Has Returned

Summer is back in full force after a few weeks hiatus! I really thought the cool days of Autumn were already here when the warm weather and beautiful blue skies returned! Yippee! Summer is my favorite season. I love warm summer nights and sleeping with the windows open. The birds are singing and butterflies and flowers are everywhere!

Yesterday we rode our bicycles to the public pool where we met up with Melissa and her family. It was a big day for us because Connor learned to swim! Okay, so he can't breathe and swim at the same time yet, but he can swim under water! We are so proud of him.

This morning Tobias walked to school after a long weekend and Connor is staying home with me due to a cold he caught. I will be meeting my friend, Sharon (originally from Canada), for a coffee at Starbucks and some shopping at the new LUSH store in Basel. I've never heard of LUSH, but it is high up there on Sharon's favorite's list. Sounds something like the Body Shop, but more intense! Consider the Banana Moon Soap: "One of the things that irritates us just slightly is when we're not having a good day is that it's perfectly legal to call something banana soap when it doesn't have any bananas in it, but merely a dab of synthetic banana fragrance. Our banana soap has lots of fresh bananas in it; we mash them up, mix them with yoghurt, soap flakes and essential oils and make a truly bananafied, moisturizing soap that smells of bananas because it's full of them." Yum!