Walk to Castle “Burg Rotberg” near Mariastein

Posted on 14/02/2021 by artandkitchen (Adriana)

Mariastein Abbey, nestled into the lovely landscape of the gentle Leimental valley, is the most important place of pilgrimage in Switzerland after Einsiedeln Abbey.

Only a few Kilometers from the Abbey you will find other interesting places can find 7 castles around Burg in Leimental, some of them are actually ruins, but some are fully restored and in use.

One of this castles is the Burg Rotberg, actually know a the
Mariastein Youth Hostel a real special place in a fairy place.

As we visited this place, the hostel was closed, but we got the chance to visit the entrance and the wonderful landscape.

Looking Back to Stay at Home or In the Garden: Safety Net

Posted on 29/04/2020 by artandkitchen (Adriana)

After 6 Weeks of “stay at home” the life is slowly changing and the rules are less strict.

Compared to other countries we (in Switzerland) cannot complain: we were allowed to go out for walking, for shopping and to meet people (maximum group of 5 items).

We have to be careful and we will change the recommendation of “stay at home” to “stay safe”, this will be our safety net.

“Stay save” and “stay positive”!

Spider Net with sunlight and dark background:

Stay at home posts: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/category/nature/stayhome/

Stay at Home = Stay in the Kitchen

Stay in the Garden = Enjoy the Nature

Day 43 Stay at Home or In the Garden: Purple Allium and Large Bee-Fly

Posted on 26/04/2020 by artandkitchen (Adriana)

Purple llium with Bombylius major (commonly named the large bee-fly or the dark-edged bee-fly).

In the garden you can let you mind stopping from the busy routine, realise that a few square meter are an entire world, discover new plants and animals, listen the song of the birds, be amazed by the beauties, understand how fast everything is developing and finally you find rest and relief.

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Day 42 Stay at Home or In the Garden: Yellow Roses

Posted on 25/04/2020 by artandkitchen (Adriana)

Yellow scented roses on the wall of our garden for our eyes, for our nose and for our hearth! 🙂

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Day 41 Stay at Home or In the Garden: Deaf Adder

Posted on 24/04/2020 by artandkitchen (Adriana)

Even a small pond of little more than a square meter is like a small universum. We discovered an unexpected guest in our mini-paradise. the deaf adder (Anguis fragilis).

Every year we saw a few deaf adder here or there, but we never saw them disappearing under the roots of our yellow iris around the pond.

These legless lizards (no snake or worm, please) are also sometimes called common slowworms, blindworm, or regionally, a long-cripple.

These reptiles are mostly active during the twilight and occasionally bask in the sun, but are more often found hiding beneath rocks and logs. They are carnivorous and, because they feed on slugs and worms, they can often be found in long grass and other damp environments (in our case near the pond).

Useful links:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/anguis-fragilis

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Anguis_fragilis/

Day 32 Stay at Home or In the Garden: Four-Leaf Clovers

Posted on 15/04/2020 by artandkitchen (Adriana)

Today I would like to explain you how to find 4 leaf clovers!

Since I was a child, I was used to find 4-leaf clovers again and again! My method was to spot the angles between the leaves (120 degrees for 3-leaf clovers and 90 degrees for 4 leaf clovers). Most 3/4 leaf clovers have a light part in the leaves; in these case the 3-leave clovers show triangles and 4-leaf clovers a square!

For the other ones (plain green leaves) I see a cross into the 4-leaf clovers and in this way I saw the difference.

Another tip is: if you find one, look near to this, very ofter the genetic mistake produce more of them so that the probability to find more is much higher! You may also make yourself a note of the place and after one week or so, check again the same place!

More and more you look after 4-leaf clovers, more and more you will be able to find some in a few minutes!

According to tradition, finding a four-leaf clover brings luck to the person who discovers it, in my case it’s only fun, but I love to dry from time to time some of them for making good wishes cards.

I’m lucky, very lucky to have a garden, if you don’t have this possibility now, you may exercise virtually and have fun with these links:

https://newbiefarmergirl.com/2018/03/16/find-the-4-leaf-clover-%F0%9F%8D%80/

Can you find the four leaf clover? Good luck

How to find a 4-leaf clover

Find A Four Leaf Clover

Two 4-leaf clovers in the picture

How many four-leaf clovers do you see?

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Day 18: Stay at Home or In the Garden: Bees going Home

Posted on 01/04/2020 by artandkitchen (Adriana)

Always a speculale: landing of bees!

I could stay hours there looking at them as they make me feel happy.

Day 16: Stay at Home or In the Garden: Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight

Posted on 30/03/2020 by artandkitchen (Adriana)

The winter came back and brought us snow again. It was cold all the daylong.

During the afternoon the sun came from time to time trough until finally in the evening another spectacular sunset remembered that tomorrow a new day with more sun will bring us the spring and the HOPE again.

In Matthew 16:2b–3, Jesus says:

When it is evening, you say, “It will be fair weather; for the sky is red.”
And in the morning, “It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.”