December Reflections

In Germany we call this time between Christmas and New Year's Eve "between the years" (zwischen den Jahren). It's a time when we often have a break and consequently more free time - time to reflect on the year that is almost over and looking towards the new year that's almost here. I'm off work from both the high school and the German School right now which is a more than welcome break from the quite hectic days at both schools. Kaefer has been home since the third weekend in December and will be here for another week before she, too, needs to get back to the work and college life.

I do love the more quiet time after Christmas. Since we celebrate on Christmas Eve as is our German tradition, Christmas Day itself was very relaxing with playing games and cooking (and eating) a good meal for dinner. Kaefer and I did a complete re-run of all the Downton Abbey episodes - binge watching at its best for almost two weeks - and enjoyed the Christmas special of "Call the Midwife", our favorite TV series. We were invited to a lovely 65th birthday party which resulted in some great dancing and lots of laughter. The clutter in my studio has bugged me for a long time and I finally cleaned out at lot of stuff and brought it to the thrift store that specializes crafts supplies. I have been working in the garden - there has been a lot of trimming back and I'm still not done. We had frosty mornings and mild days - oh, how do I love the Northern Californian winter. We also had some heavy rain which is always much needed in this area, and it has kept away the fears of wildfires for now.

Good old-fashioned German Glühwein

For the entire month of December I have joined Susannah Conway's "December reflections 2018" challenge on Instagram which I enjoyed very much and is a beautiful tool to go back and reflect about the year. If you want to you can see the results on my Instagram.

This was a mixed year and not everything was good. But when I look back it's mainly the good thinks that stand out for me - our trip to Istanbul, a Turkish wedding, traveling in Turkey and Ireland. 10 marvelous days on the Big Island where we could enjoy the wild beauty of Puna before many parts of it were consumed by the lava spilling out of fissure 8 a few months later. Some lovely hikes and seeing how nature bounces back after the devastating wildfires of October 2017. We're seeing burned down neighborhoods springing back to life, fire survivors re-building their homes. Our daughter was traveling in Europe on her own, then going to Dubai and finally to Cape Town where she was doing an internship in two hospitals, experiencing a completely different life. It is delightful to see the young woman she is growing into.

The last of the roses in December, "Anna's Promise"

But I also felt a bit in a rat hole. November and the first part of December have been very busy in my shop and I was constantly knitting - my hats sold like hot cakes. It's lovely, of course, but I do feel that I would also love to knit something else. Over the past two weeks I have started to knit a baby sweater which I enjoy, and a cat pillow that is not quite as fun to knit as I had thought. However, I would also love to go back to painting. I actually did paint a bit over the summer and it felt so good to have paint on my hands again. So I decided to enroll in a year long online class, hoping that my creative juices will flow a bit more easily again. I also took part in a short five-day journaling class - actually "took part" is not quite the correct term since I mainly took notes, but it gave me a considerable amount to think about. Wonderful beginnings for 2019.

For the new year I wish that my family and friends stay healthy and happy. I hope that our country will be kinder than it is right now and that common sense finds its way back here.

To all of you a lovely 2019 - may the new year give you many reasons to laugh and experience the joy of life.

Sunset on Christmas Eve

At the End of the Year

The last week in a year is either busy away from home spent on some road trip in the American Southwest or it is very slow and quiet at home. This year we opted to stay at home and just relax. None of us has really felt the spirit of the season. Usually I write a Christmas letter to my friends and family in Germany which gives me the opportunity to look back at the year, but this year I didn't write a single Christmas card, nor a letter. When I try to let the year pass in review there usually are some highlights all over the year that come up, but this year I struggled to remember anything before October.

So I looked at my photos and the memories came back.

The year started out very wet with lots of much needed rain and much (less needed) flooding. I remember there were roads in our county that were completely flooded for days and weeks, parks were closed and the drought finally came to an end - at least for the time being.

I drove to Davis and back several times over the year, sometimes just in order to see Kaefer for a few hours. We visited the cows on campus, saw a powwow, shopped at the farmer's market and helped her moving into an apartment with her friends.

In February family from Turkey came over to visit for a couple days, and we spent a joyful President's Day weekend together, exploring the coast, an old fort and quite some of the wineries in our county.

I took many hikes, either alone, with Kaefer or a friend, and with the Geek. There even were some family hikes that we squeezed in every now and then.

In July we went to Yellowstone. We camped in our favorite campground near Tower Falls, explored the geysers, admired the wonderful colors of the Grand Prismatic Spring, saw wildflowers galore and an abundance of wildlife and, of course, we hiked a lot. This national park is my magical place where I feel whole and at peace. Nature in abundance - this is my church.

In August we were witnessing something we had been waiting for many many years - a total solar eclipse. It was a truly magical moment that left us speechless and completely awestruck.

The summer was long and beautiful. I didn't have to be back at work until the middle of August and I enjoyed having Kaefer at home with me. We got on some hikes, went out for coffee, did some shopping and sometimes just sat together watching some movies. It was hard after those weeks to see her leaving for college again and I missed her a lot at the beginning. But it didn't take too long to get back into the routine. I was busy with my work at both schools, met my friends regularly and was knitting up a storm.



Then October came along.

Even though we are the lucky ones who haven't lost our home I still haven't really recovered from what happened to our community. Everyone here has been affected by the fires some way or other. Even now, almost three months later, the main topic in conversations with friends, acquaintances and strangers is the fire. Everything is still very raw and it is difficult to find some kind of normalcy. For me there is, however, a deep sense of gratefulness for what we have.



What October lacked in autumn colors, November and even December gave us generously. Wine country wore a colorful dress of brilliant yellows, oranges and reds, and even some very fresh green after a few rain showers. Being out in nature started the healing process and even helped to forget that terrible October for a few moments.

May 2018 be a good, healthy and peaceful year for you. My best wishes are going out to you. See you next year!

Here's to 2016 !

Hello 2013

A new year. I've always liked the first few days of a new year. All the possibilities that lie ahead. A new year reminds me of a snow covered meadow - fresh snow, all whiteness, with no tracks been made by anyone, human or animal.

When I think of the year ahead the first thing that comes to mind is that we're all getting older. Kaefer will be

15 this spring, start 10th grade in the summer which means there are only three more years left until she will leave for college. I already feel bittersweet about it. 

I also think of my health and all the tests and screens I need to get done this year, like a colonoscopy. I really am not looking forward to that but I decided not to procrastinate any longer and finally get it done. The earlier in the year the better.

So many of us chose a word for the year that will give some kind of direction and commitment. The last two years I had the same word, being authentic. While this is something I always strive for, I feel it is time for a different word this year. Since the end of November the word "grow" has wandered through my head, never quite leaving my mind. It stayed foggy first, but then it became much clearer the more I thought about it.

Grow. I want to grow my business, get more serious with it. Somehow I feel I have played with my business more than being completely serious about it. The first time I felt like a business woman was when I paid my sales tax to the state this past summer. It wasn't that much, but somehow I felt rather satisfied afterwards. Sounds weird, doesn't it? Content to pay taxes? So anyway, I want to grow my business, make more sales, create more and have some good amount of inventory. Last year I started out with about 50 - 60 items in my   Etsy store; this year I have 150 items. I would love to reach around 300 items by the end of the year. However, I also want to have more sales - I would actually like to double my current sales number - and if I have those sales I probably won't reach the 300 number that easily. On the other hand, I don't want to be dictated by numbers only, but I also know that numbers is what counts in a business. I still need to find a good balance in my work; at the moment I tend to work many hours for my store and do so on the weekends as well. Which means I need to grow my balance ability (how does that sound?).

I also want to grow my blog. During the past year I have been very negligent of my blog, posted way less than I used to do. Of course this came mainly with the purchase of our home, the move and all the work on the house. However, I do enjoy writing, and creating beautiful blog posts gives me a great sense of accomplishment. I don't want my blog to become an ad space for my work. My work will be part of the blog, but I will not allow it to take up a lot of space. There is so much more to life than work, and I want to see this reflected in my blog as well.

And there are other things I want to grow. Relationships, friendships. Walks, being in nature. Time for reading. Listening to beautiful music. These are all things that I love to do and that were pushed on the backburner over the past year.

All photos in this post were taken along Highway 12 in Utah in December 2010

Have you chosen a word for 2013? What is your wish for this year? 

Let us know in the comments, if you like.