Come see Provence, those villages that are worth a thousand photos, where cobblestones make you wish you wore walking shoes, and shutters of blues that you want to take and stuff in your suitcase but you know you cannot. Where walking through one village after another you are transported into some magical place that inspires...

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Chinese noodle soup

home made

made up by me

for my cold.

Take a pot of water and as it heats add the following

Some diced fresh green beans,

Sliced Chinese cabbage

Red chicory

Ginger and garlic

green onions 

parsley,

Chinese noodles (hence the name of my soup)

and here is where it goes in search of flavor and as I am not home where spices fill my...

In Paris for a few days to spend time with Gabriel, Chelsea and Martin. Though from the moment I stepped off the train I have been in bed achey, stuffed up nose and exhausted. I have slept nearly off and on around the clock. I guess I have a cold I do not have a fever, nor a sore throat. Hopefully, this will pass before I have...

Seven months old. 
in Gabriel’s bedroom is a baby ballerina bar and mirror he loves it.

I spent a few hours sitting in a young man’s workshop in the souk in Marrakesh while he talked about where he finds his carpets and watched him make cushions and poufs. Most of the pieces were old (not antiques but definitely handmade) it was sad on one hand to watch them being cut, but on the...

Little cakes with mint tea, such a variety of cakes it was hard to decide. Lemon, date, raisin, almonds, peanuts, pistachio, honey, argan oil, more honey, cinnamon and combinations of the above.

The one above was shredded toasted phyllo dough with honey and cinnamon which robed an almond paste nugget.

...

Endless passages have we wandered about in the Marrakesh Medina aimlessly with a gentle pace gathering moments into our memory banks. Inspired by the kindness of people who's prayers echo over the sunkissed Riad walls where faith is evident as well as hardworking souls and traditions that carry them onward: A little girl walking...

After an incredible lunch at Nomad

where the menu is a perfect blend of traditional recipes served with a modern hand richly flavorful. The menu changes as the products are sourced locally, served fresh and are made on spot. I savored each bite. After the meal, we had mint tea as we looked through the dessert menu. I am not a sweet...

Well yes, I am back in Marrakesh with friends Ching and Gary. The weather is beautiful and warm with the perfumed air enticing me further and further into the souks, and the spices teasing me to take Moroccan cooking lessons.

We were supposedly looking for a rug for their...

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“This much I know is true, that God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you”. (Rascal Flatts)

Thirty-two years ago today!! Our hair was a different color though our hearts remain the same.
Happy Anniversary French Husband xxx

Baby's first bite.

Discovering taste, and texture.

First bite.

Chelsea and Martin steamed the vegetable until it was very soft so that it would be easy to swallow without much chewing. They are following a movement that lets babies feed themselves (self-fed) by letting him...

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French Husband loves to eat. I was taught that the way to a man's heart was through his stomach. It stands to reason that we'd make a good team. Except he eats so fast. His plate is cleared-off before I've taken my first bite. Honestly, he shatters the French image of proper dining etiquette. He borderlines abnormal in this department. I've...

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Whenever my family takes a selfie I am in front since I am the shortest so I can be seen. Though I might as well be standing anywhere since standing in the front doesn't make that big of a difference.

The funny thing is they think it is funny.

So to be in the photo I have to jump up.

Which makes the...

Sacha, Yann and the Italian Girlfriend.

A welcomed ride on a glorious day.

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When you live in a foreign country rather than the one you know as home, there are certain things you expect will be different, unusual, far from the norm of what you are accustom to. Those big things like language, culture, food... those big...

This mysterious thing called life.

So unbelievably beautiful, complex and deeply intertwined.

Today my cousin died.

A beautiful, talented, do-anything-for-anyone, tender-hearted young man.

His death is shocking. I am so sorry for his children, his parents, our family.

I do not understand life at times but this I know:

...

New Year's Day is not just another day. Though sometimes I wish it were. New Year's Day has a way of getting under my skin pushing up memories of the past years to the surface. New Year's Day feels like someone opens my front door, takes the rug off the floor and shakes it out the window of my being. Buried feelings, promises not kept, ideas...

A very full year is coming to an end.

A year when I became a Grandmother.

Of meeting Gabriel and adoring him instantly.

A year that I lead 12 French la Vie groups and enjoying every single person I met.

A year of creating a home for my friend's Gary and Ching. Plus having the pleasure to work with Rene the genius.

A year of being...

Take an apple caress it on your sleeve, until the golden delicious sunshine beams.

Core the center (by piercing around the stem) creating a golden bead.

Interweave the autumn jewels: Walnuts, ...

Christmas morning after breakfast, before opening the gifts we said we had to take a family photo knowing that the day would go by as Marrakesh did in a blink of an eye knowing better to take a photo when we thought about it otherwise we might not have a photo of us all together. In Marrakesh, we managed to take one family photo the night...

(Photo via Google Images)

...and there we are

being born into love

challenged to live life lovingly

to give of ourselves honestly for the sake of love

The Christ Child is within us in the name of

Peace, Hope, Faith, Love, Joy...

May our longing be to be an example of this goodness.

to hold...

Marrakesh a feast for the senses and a color explosion. Certainly, a place to stimulate one's imagination, charge one's creative battery and walk ten kilometers in half a day. 

Such an enjoyable time spent with these five youngins' and one French Husband.
I wish we could be...

Triplets in jean jackets and Levi's. One of the triplets is standing on his tiptoes as to appear as tall as the other two. One of the other triplets has a baby cocooned under his jean jacket. No, they did not coordinate their attire, it just happened that they packed alike. Their matchy matchy did not bother them in the least.

...

Martin arrives later today.

...

A memory flashback

---------------------------

"The glass shattered. Red wine flew. The white wall transformed: Rose polka dots bloomed."

I recounted to Annie when she asked me how Chelsea's birthday party went.

"Was it a wine glass?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Was it a clear wine glass? Was the wine red?" She continued.

"Yes." I looked...

The Grinch is out to steal Christmas he is hiding somewhere in the Christmas trees.

Can you find him?

(Via Flower Cards)

Chelsea's text on Instagram:

"A nativity scene without Jews, Arabs, Africans or refugees.

Which made me ask,

"Where would we be?

Where are we now?"

My friend Faith McLellan who I met through blogging posted this on her Facebook page.

When you come to Provence take time to be, time to let Provence get under your skin and into your heart it won't take long. Provence is a place to aimlessly wander, to taste the countryside, to soak in the sounds and to follow your thoughts until they are just a mountain of softness and valleys of delight.

Provence is...

A star or an angel at the top of your Christmas tree?

Mine is an angel, but it is still yet to be found as it is at the bottom of the Christmas ornament box.

My friends have paperwhites instead of poinsettias. 

What do you have?

Santa's little...

Finally, our home is beginning to feel like Christmas.

'Tis the season and what a season it will be having a grandchild to share it with. 

Finally, I caught a train home! Tomorrow the strike in Paris will intensify as if the other day wasn’t intense enough. The train station was a Ghost Town only a hand full of trains, most of the shops and vendors were located around and in the train station were closed. Usually, the train station is a hub of activity and thousands of...

A memory...

I was seven years old the first and last time I ran away from home. I remember I was mad at my mother-- but at what I do not know.
I put a few things in a brown paper bag, announced that I was leaving and walked towards the kitchen door.
I do remember my mother saying, "Goodbye, and have fun." I was bothered by her...

Still in Paris.

Yes, I could fly home but I am too cheap to shell out the money (300 plus Euros).

I could take a taxi to the train station and hope to find a train that might be going to Marseille and that I might be able to take if there is room, and if not take a taxi back to my apartment. The thought of it is draining as...

The strike in Paris continues leaving those in Paris to figure out transportation routes normally available on strike for the next few days. Chelsea had a meeting she had to attend, so I happily watched Gabriel with the instructions to meet her at a certain point so she could breastfeed him. When the time arrived it...

Christmas this year is going to be at our home. Chelsea, Martin, Baby, Martin's family, and Sacha is coming from Seattle, his Italian girlfriend will join us a few days after Christmas.

I am gathering bits of sparkle from little antique pieces I have. My creative juices need to kick in so I can get a move on to how I will set...

Over a year ago I found these fashion design examples from the late 1800s at a second-hand shop in Northern France while visiting a friend. The fashion designs were gathered in an old folder and appeared to be made by a teenager maybe for an art class or simply for her amusement. Each design was handmade on paper, the images were...

Saying goodbye to my family in California does not grow easier. How could it be? Instead of going down the rabbit hole of longing to have everyone I love in one place, the impossible dream. I remind myself how fortunate I am to have two worlds that I can call home and be grateful that I am able to travel back and forth, saying...

I felt it, stopped right there letting it soak through me,

absorbed my surroundings,

took it in gulps, thanking the high heavens for such beauty, for such a life, for my family

and for knowing the gift that it is.

Leaning on that moment, with humble gratitude.

I love those moments, that come with the day, no reason...