Tongue in Cheek

A few weeks ago I asked,

"Regarding the comments on my blog, for some time now many of you have said that you cannot leave comments as the comment section does not open, or /nor can you see the comments, and I don’t know what to do I have talked to my platform server. They have said maybe to try a different browser and or use a different...

The author of this quote is unknown, if you know, please let me know

How to sing a love song:

1) Find a song you like.

2) Practice singing it.

3) Sing it often, throughout the year, with family and friends.

Make sure it stirs you, encourages you to dance.

kneeling in the church that I have known 

all my life

stained glass windows reflecting light and love

 sacraments I have witnessed

forty seventy no closer to hundreds maybe more

certainly more

washed with prayers holy water stains 

 your name was mentioned

please pray for

I lost...

they said you were dead and that I should throw you away

those flowers are dried up toss them in the bin

fresh flowers wrapped in paper waiting for a vase

waiting

but I could not for a distant fragrance spoke

but look at the richness in color, and the elegance they speak in saying goodbye

note the movement...

How do we measure the ticking clock? What is time anyway?

Hearts don't tell it the same way. I must believe that to keep sane with most of my family and friends living far from my reach.

We know what love and friendship can do when it comes to bridges, walls,

mountains, differences, even distances.

We are closer than we...

After an eleven and a half long but safe flight I am back at home in California. At the airport going through customs took over two hours (no seats were available as bad as it was I felt lucky compared to a pregnant woman who was also carrying a small sleepy child as the fear) due to the C. virus at hand. A flight from Hong Kong...

Tell me your story one word slowly at a time

each detail no matter what it means

tell me how are you and how were you.

did you ever feel scared

tell me your name in a shape in the sky

the one you call yourself inside.

Slowly now I want your words to breath in me 

so I can hold every ounce that is you.

...

When I was married I decided to keep my family's name. I could never understand why anyone had to give up their name unless they wanted to, and I certainly did not. I have four brothers and they all kept their name, the guys never have to think about that. Yann was completely okay with me keeping my name, in fact, he too felt like I did, "why...

“Everything you can imagine is real.”
― Pablo Picasso

Sixty-two things I have done in my life in no order because my storytelling mind doesn't work that way:

1 lived on a farm

2 went crabbing

3 Danced two twenty-four hours dance marathons

4 -5 Worked in an ice cream parlor and got fired for being "a dirty Portugee" said the boss to me.

6 became a mother of two

...

You have been mine and you will never leave.

Even if the ground shifts as it feels like it has,

Even if you go faraway like dad you will be here within me.

We can be delicate and strong,

We can be sad and share joy,

We can have today and live it by moment by moment and yet yearn for tomorrow and the next day too.

We can have nothing to say and yet want to scream and remain silent.

We can feel the sun on our faces and feel the rainstorm running down on our...

 It has been eleven days that Gabriel has not been feeling well. Today his fever broke. We have held him around the clock xxxx Hopefully, tomorrow he will be closer to his happier self. 

Holding on to everything I believe is true, beautiful and holy.

Regarding the comments on my blog, for some time now many of you have said that you cannot leave comments as the comment section does not open, or /nor can you see the comments, and I don’t know what to do I have talk to my platform server. They have said maybe to try a different browser and or use a different subscription to receive my...

^{There is so much to say, there is so little to say.}

^{Gabriel is still not feeling well. It has been over a week that he has been out of sorts, feverish, not his extroverted overly curious little dumpling self (he lost a pound)... Chelsea and Marin are taking him to the doctor's again tomorrow. I am saying this to let you...}

 "Never never never ever give up hope."
 Miracles can come from where you least expect them. 

Boy Lo has not been feeling well these last few days. He has had a mild fever. The doctor said it is a bad cold. It is not in his lungs nor throat. Martin the flu last week, and now Gabriel. I am in Paris helping them out. He sleeps in our arms and whimpers. Gabriel lost a pound. I think I gained ten. 

Poor little Boy...

Live and let it be.  Dive deep.   Turn the key.  Sing.  Laugh.  Cry.  Speak up.  Buy flowers.

Take the chance.

Play the game. 

Make mistakes.

Eat the extra slice of bread, and have wine.

Go around barefoot and sleep outside.

Enjoy the little things, like the art of...

A view from my mother in law's home.

Yann's mother, my Belle Mere or known as Bonne Maman (her grandmother's name) turned 90 last September. Imagine that she took a train from Rennes to the French Alps where she spent time alone, hiking, reading and breathing in the fresh air, then went to Vichy by train to spend time with her sister in law, then took another...

Red topped mushrooms.

Desserts disguised as mushrooms. Mushrooms lined in a row, straight from a fairytale. White chocolate coats filled with vanilla mousse and red fruits. I saw these darlings at the train station. Hidden wonders! I never would have guessed that the train station in Paris' main temptation was dessert....

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Come see Provence, those villages that are worth a thousand photos, where cobblestones make you wish you had worn 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...

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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...

Out of sorts

to be expected

one moment at a time and sometimes a nanosecond at a time.

life is constantly changing 

that big sun comes up and we barely notice it.

the moon waxing and waning

while I go about breathing in the seasons

but then one day life makes a sudden shift and everything that seemed...

“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...

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...

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.

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...