Elle nous raconte des histoires | She tells us tales of her past...
Before Leaving | Avant de Partir
Closet spaces are suddenly empty, rooms are at once quiet and absolutely still, beds remain undone and half finished projects must wait...
When leaving home for one night or many, do you ever feel a tinge of sadness like a part of you is being left behind - or are you darting out the door without glancing back?
When leaving home for one night or many, do you ever feel a tinge of sadness like a part of you is being left behind - or are you darting out the door without glancing back?
Stepping Back into France
7.15.2012
• Travels Beyond Paris
Soon I'll be in France again with my husband and two boys - discovering (for me at least) the southeast region of Provence via Valbonne and reconnecting with my husband's family and childhood friends.
Though most of our time is spent immersed with the more familial and familiar, the wonder and excitement of these moments never escape me and fill me with a great sense of gratitude. As my husband traverses through his roots, I collect fond and lasting memories. Through his family, I get an intimate view of his motherland, an extraordinary opportunity to experience the soul of the culture and what it means to be French. He always said that by marrying him, I married France (as he wrote in the foreword of my upcoming book)...
Four Birthdays & Pancit | Quatre Anniversaires
7.12.2012
• NL
When celebrating a birthday (or 4 - like my extended family did this past weekend), a long-standing Filipino tradition is to serve Pancit, a rice noodle dish that represents long life and good health...
Celebrants turned, were turning or were about to turn 9, 43, 45 and 70 (separately of course!) But for some reason (I'll blame it on the near 105 degree heat and humidity) no one remembered to bring candles! No big deal for the older folks, but for my niece turning 9, it would've been a big disappoint not to have candles to blow out. Lucky for us our resident Heloise, Jill, cleverly thought to use wooden toothpicks! Have you ever faced this birthday cake dilemma? I'd love to know how you improvised...
And if you happen to be in the July birthday club, a very Joyeux Anniversaire to you!
Le Petit Prince | The Little Prince
7.05.2012
• Lasting Impressions
In the beautiful and mysterious winding spaces of a child's imagination are corridors apparently reserved for only the young, innocent and true — said in so many words in Le Petit Prince, and it can't be revoked — even though as an adult, it feels I never fully left the realm of childhood.
Today I earnestly try to nudge my way into those sacred burroughs as my son describes to me his own simple drawings. Along the way, in frustration, he will sigh, "Maman, tu ne comprends rien" (Mom, you don't understand anything). I want to convince him that I do, I really do. I can see beyond the hat; I understand the cumbersome baobabs and the importance of a beloved rose. I still remember the lenses from which he sees the world — how can I forget when so often they're still the only ones available to me...
But like the pilot caught up in fixing his airplane, I am forever flitting around "concerned with matters of consequence", my moments encumbered by numbers and facts and order.
"Perhaps I am a little like the grown-ups. I have had to grow old...
Grownups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again...
Children should always show great forbearance toward grown-up people."
* Italicized text and photographed images are from Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
A Morning at the Local Farmer's Market | Au Marché
7.01.2012
• NL
Where there was once an expanse of empty concrete next to a neighborhood plaza, small beds of grass were laid to introduce a biweekly farmer's market—brimming with artisanal goods and fresh produce, adding a refreshing local spirit to an otherwise staid shopping experience. I am overjoyed!...
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