Still no sign!!

This sweet, fluffy fellow has unfortunately not returned yet - but we are still hoping a little bit....

We have talked a great deal about him though. We all think that it's nice to know, that he is able to survive in nature - all by himself. Perhaps he will even find a wife?

...treasures in my life...

Now it is time to put out my pale pink apples again after Christmas.

Inside of them I keep tiny, little treasures such as beautiful stones my children have found for me, coins from countries we have been to and small notes from my mother.

These notes are very dear to me, because one is written by her 6 - 7 years ago - before she one day got very ill by a bad stroke. (Today she is OK but suffers from the remains of the stroke, and can't use her right arm, right leg and uses a wheelchair.) One of the pieces of paper shows her - old - beautiful handwriting and the sweet words she always used to write to me and my sister.

The other note is a message she wrote to us when she was at "Hammel Neurocenter" for 5 months. Also a very sweet note from my mom.

It looks just as beautiful to me as the old one - eventhough the letters are a bit shaky - because I know how hard my mom had to fight to learn how to do everything now using her left hand....her new best hand!

Emil is very proud of his grandmother: she can do SO MUCH just using 1 hand.... She even knit herself a scarf.

Before her stroke she used to bring her knitting everywhere - she loves to knit!!

There is a whole world of difference between the 2 notes - both the handwriting and the many experiences my parents and the rest of my family have had in between them...

But I still see and feel my mom so much in both of them.

I feel so lucky to have all kinds of heartwarming and dear treasures to put into my 2 pale pink apples.....

Another DARK, rainy day. It's 4 o'clock and the advent candle leftovers have found a new place to shine in the dark. And so have the tiny candles from the Christmas tree (which didn't get to burn for a very long time, due to the hectic "present delivery" around it!)

All alone am I - Christian back at work for the weekend, Emil has gone swimming and Anne-Sophie left with some of the Christmas presents that needed to be exchanged into something else..... That gives me the chance to blog and knit a little.

I thought that I was going to start on the Cobblestone, but it seems to take a while before that can take place. So now I have started knitting this "while-Christian-makes up-his-mind-about-yarn-scarf". It is a pattern I recently found on ravelry, and it is quite funny and very easy to make. I think that lots of people have made it all ready, but to me it is new and different....

Since Anne-Sophie's birthday is coming up soon - the 12th of January - I really want to make her a lovely cake from this new cake book, that I bought on Amazon. I am so amazed by the cakes and cupcakes that people produce on flickr and in blogland. Especially the icing looks delicious. I really have to learn it! That is why the book had to be on my shelf... The only thing I have to do now, is to make up my mind on which one of the numerous cakes I want to bake.....