Herbst is here

a chestnut

potimarron

Herbst is autumn, and we've been busy doing seasonal activities this week.  For example, I was happy to find out about a particular pumpkin -- potimarron -- that makes wonderful soup.  The name is French, stemming from potiron (pumpkin) and marron (chestnut).  It looks like a large onion, and the soup was very good. We also picked a pumpkin for carving at a local farm. We're looking forward to a school Halloween party and trick-or-treating next weekend.

The major event of the season kicked off yesterday -- the Basel Herbstmesse.  It is a "funfair" with rides and food carts spread around the city in the major plazas.  We went to Petersplatz yesterday where many of the children's rides were. I had so much fun looking at the craft and food stalls.  Many Swiss specialties such as raclette and chocolate were featured, but we also saw "infomercial" booths with fantastic mops or cleaning products.  I was surprised that they were in Europe, although much less obnoxious than at the NY State Fair or Big E!  We had bratwurst, which is eaten with your hands and dipped in mustard.  No hotdog rolls here.  But it's yummy! The fair goes on for 2 weeks, so I'm anxious to explore the other areas of the event over the coming days.

 

And I can't forget to mention that we celebrated Landon's 5th birthday.  Fünf (5)! I took him to a theatre production of Mary Poppins with a friend, which was such a good time.  It was all in German, but followed the same storyline and was adorable.  He also had some friends over on his actual birthday after school.  He heard birthday greetings in German, Spanish, Dutch, Polish...and of course, English. He said he had a very special birthday.

I have to say that I feel like we're at home now.  I think we all get homesick at times, but there are so many places to explore and keep us busy on our adventure! Landon was feeling homesick tonight and mentioned that he wanted to move back to Massachusetts.  We talked about what we missed and what we like about our new house.  I added that we will have visitors here too -- we already have plans to host both sets of grandparents.  Then, Willem said "And the movers.  They visit us too."  So, if the movers are like family -- maybe we're not quite settled, or the kids are ready to move again (I'm not), or maybe we need to add some other visitors to our list!  You can decide.