wood stove

We got a wood stove and we love it. You can cook meanwhile you are heating your home or vice versa. It gives you that kind of "archaic" feeling our ancestors must have experienced. It feels good.

merry christmas

All things are done. Now it is time to relax, to think back and make plans for the coming year.

And I remember one of the most beautiful Christmas poems by Hermann Hesse:

In Weihnachtszeiten

by Hermann Hesse (1877-1962)

In Weihnachtszeiten reis' ich gern
Und bin dem Kinderjubel fern
Und geh' in Wald und Schnee allein.
Und manchmal, doch nicht jedes Jahr,
Trifft meine gute Stunde ein,
Daß ich von allem, was da war,
Auf einen Augenblick gesunde
Und irgendwo im Wald für eine Stunde
Der Kindheit Duft erfühle tief im Sinn
Und wieder Knabe bin...


At Christmas Time

At Christmas time I travel far
And go away from children's playing
And go through wood and snow alone,
And sometimes, tho' not every year
I find a happy hour again
And from the many things I know
Then for a moment I am healed
And somewhere in the woods,
But for an hour
I feel an ancient breath that cools my soul
And I'm  a child again.

a new home

We have moved into a new home. We left the suburbs and arrived at the countryside. Life is much easier here; at least I f e e l that it is, and that's the important thing. Only some steps away the quiet woods. fresh air, dark, silent nights. Nice neighbours, a stack of fire wood beside the front door, a wood stove, candle light. What more shall I wish?

dried strawberries

I like dried strawberries in my muesli, and for a long time, I have been thinking about making them at home. - I bought 300 g frozen strawberries, let them thaw a bit  and then cut them into small segments.  I laid them on baking paper on a baking tray and let them dry in the oven (convection - "Umluft", 50° C ) for about 3 hours.
The result was relatively pleasing; something like strawberry chips, although I got only 17 (!) grams out of the 300 grams of the frozen strawberries.
Next time, I will dry apples together with  strawberries, so  I will save energy and make the most of that drying experiment.