Sisters

Amina has never held a pencil before starting this class. She struggled to keep up with the other women as they practiced writing.  Now, as she embroiders the label of her quilt, her hemp stained fingers make the needle fly through the fabric in perfect stitches.  She is finished so quickly Muzghan asks Amina to help.  Muzghan hates sewing by hand, last week she finished her quilting project early and started repairing some pants she brought from home.

With heads bent together the ladies gossip and laugh.  A tinkling giggle rings out over the murmurs of the sewing group.  It is Bibi Madina. As Mursal tries to teach me the Dari word for happy she points to Bibi Madina and says "khush hal" the other ladies nod in agreement.

While Muzhgan waits for her label, she scrolls through Facebook.  She brings the phone to us and asks in confusion, "Is this good?" It is a collage of pictures.  Ground beef, canned tuna, unidentifiable meat, and severed human feet with the caption "Good Muslim".  My gut twists as I shake my head no.  Julie tries to explain that it was made by someone who hates and that hate is born of fear, we do not hate our hohar-sisters, and if these fearful people could know Muzghan they would not create such things.

I feel fiercely protective of these women.  I want to shelter them from ignorant prejudice and shout to the world that we are all family, that most of us really do believe and want the same things. Muzghan and I both worship the God of Abraham and we both kiss our sleeping children.  We both like to group together and giggle. We all feel pride at Shazia's beautifully completed project and we all croon over the pictures of Monica's baby girl. These women are brave and kind.  The quilts they complete will be donated to other refugees and at the end of the class session they will have learned a valuable skill, created friendships, and in some cases, learned to read and write in English. It is a huge undertaking and I am so proud of my Afghani hohar.

Biking

Did I mention I love where we live?

Cabin

I found it. My dream cabin. Now I just need to purchase the land, close the road and evict all the cursed tourists!

Role models

May 2016

Life seems to blow by so quickly.  I have a boy in Young Men's, another boy with braces, and my youngest is getting baptized soon.  Carter is such a sweet gentle kid. At the dentist recently, he as jiggling his foot, I assume he didn't like the tooth cleaning, when I patted his foot in an attempt to comfort I realized his toes were practically bursting through the tip of his shoes.  Instead of buying the next size up I bought two sizes larger.  They fit. He wears a size 8 men's shoe. That's a bit bigger than my foot! He had a friend come over the other day whose feet were even more gigantic and who was almost as tall as me.  It was a little intimidating.  This kid wants Carter to join his after school band and play the trumpet.  He has set up a schedule of practices on google drive and printed out emails and addresses for members.  He gets the sheet music from his grandmother. I love it. We have these giant boys playing grown up with help from the elders.

William has an expander to spread his upper palate.  He has a crossbite and has had to wait for his back molars to come in before he could get orthodontia work.  He has braces put on his front teeth to pull them back together when his mouth gets wider. The orthodontist said that if he didn't have any work done, his jaw would actually grow longer on one side because he currently has to shift his jaw to bite his teeth together. He's been a great trooper with all the annoyance and gum pain.  I told him I really enjoy turning the key to his expander because he has to snuggle up in my lap every night and open up wide. He is still our snuggle bug. Lately he climbs into bed with me every morning and often falls back asleep. Sometimes I feel torn between staying in bed with William or getting up to make sure carter gets to the bus on time.  Will often turns off the fan and flips on the light in the boys' room to help Carter wake up, then crawls under the covers with me.

Last Wednesday I had to take William to the orthodontist before school so all of us had to be out the door at Carter's regular bus time at 7:45.  Will really likes to be on time and prepared, plus if he arrives on time he gets an extra token, so with the two little ones in the car I went ahead and shut the garage door and left for the appointment since Carter was ready for school and putting on his shoes.  After a long wait at the orthodontist, I dropped Brianna off at school, went back for  brace-face William, took William to school, and was about to drive to institute when I decided I had better stop off at home to get my cell phone left forgotten on my bed in the morning rush. I found Carter curled in a ball on the couch instead of at school. He had run upstairs to get a jacket and missed the bus. I had 6 missed calls from him and 4 text messages. I ran the third child to school and still made it to an hour of Isaiah study at institute, super thankful to be a stay at home mom.

Praise

We have an old fridge magnet labeled 101 Ways to Praise a Child the hospital included in our bags when Brianna was born.  It's spent its neglected life on the side of the fridge.  I do occasionally look at it, but not often.

Carter, without being asked, was helping Brianna study for her spelling test.  With each word spelled correctly, Carter responded with praise.  In his lap? The magnet.  His thumb following along down the list of praises so he could praise her in 24 different ways.

Xocolate and other silliness

Since Barcelonites stay out until the wee hours of the morning, they don't eat much for breakfast. A popular breakfast is a croissant and a cup of hot chocolate. It is more like hot pudding and is kept warm and stirred constantly so it doesn't sent up. It was quite fabulous and we enjoyed our cups every morning.

Don't you love the sculptures  placed throughout the city? Who is this guy and why is he here? Better question, is he the first man to sport a soul patch? 

Charlie was obliging when I asked him to mimic Mr. Patch

Cathedral of Barcelona

Our hotel (grungy dorm) was a block or two away from this awesome cathedral

How would you like to spend eternity in a box hung on a wall? Those caskets were tiny! Were the honoured knight and lady only 4 feet tall or are they folded in half in there?

Park Guell

Welcome to the most awesome gated community ever invented.

This is the interior of the gate house where the neighborhood guard would live.

Cake or Death

Getting ready for bed tonight, we were having a bit of bedtime dessert, namely Carter's leftover birthday cake (He's 12!!!!!)

William wanted to know if he could have the last piece.  I said no, Carter should get to have the last piece of his birthday cake.  William whined, "Why?!"

I responded with a rhetorical, and I thought obvious, question. "Who will get the last piece of your birthday cake, William?"  He replied sullenly with down cast eyes "Daaaadd."

Block of discord

My favorite, Casa Batllo is the scaly one turf the ice cream cone cross.

How delicious is this ceiling? I wouldn't mind this over my dining room table!

Sagrada familia

View of the Sagrada Familia from our hotel roof top.  I've been waiting to see the Sagrada Familia for a while.  I wish I could accurately describe it but it is so much bigger and creative and bright than I was expecting.  I can't wait to see it completed.

Here is a demonstration of the way Gaudi calculated the arches used in the design of the cathedral.  He hung a chain and attached sandbags at different levels to achieve the optimal arch.  

The stained glass windows were so beautiful and enormous.  I wish I had the capability of capturing the brightness of the room and the windows.  It was the most beautiful and amazing building I have ever seen.  (St. James cathedral takes second place for the mosaics and whispering gallery)

Eventually I'll get the pictures from Charlie's camera, but I'm not sure the magnificence of this building can really be captured on film.  My favorite part was how the colored light was thrown up on the columns painting them in muted rainbows.

Here are the tops of the smaller towers.  Gaudi adorned them with symbols of the sacrament.  Wheat and grapes.   Viewing the Nativity Facade from street level they almost looked like a collection of Trix cereal. Colorful little spoonfuls of sugar I was never allowed to have for breakfast (unless Grandma Schramm happened to have them.  She always had the good kinds of cereal) and under no circumstances would I purchase them for my own children's breakfast, but they made me smile.

I can't wait to go back and see it completed.  Did I mention that already?  I've turned into such a fan of Gaudi and the way he included a reverence for the Supreme Creator in all of his works.  Can you imagine the Christ tower?  It's going to be huge!  I can't wait.

Xuxo

My lunch (second lunch in hobbit terms) of anchovy pizza and a xuxo.  I had walked from our dingy little hotel in the Barri Gotic down the avenue past Tiffany's, Hermes, and other high end shops to the Block of Discord.  I purchased tickets and toured the buildings looking at everything as long as I wanted until I had to eat something.  Every other store front is a cafe; the hard part is picking one and mustering gumption to order everything in Spanish.  I ordered an empanada displayed in the window and it was wrapped up so fast I didn't have time to think so I walked out of the bakery wondering skeptically if it were polite to snarf lunch while walking down the street.  I did anyway, feeling like a Yankee.  

Around the corner I spied a bakery with an eating area and went inside.  I intended to order one of the delicious looking bocadillos in the window but somehow my adventurous side spilled out the words "Me gustaria un pizza de anchoa pour favor! Y que postre is la mejor?"  

That's how I discovered Xuxos, I could sing odes to Xuxos.  Imagine flaky buttery layers like a croissant with the melting softness of a doughnut filled with fresh made vanilla custard.  When you bite into it the cinnamon sugar bursts from the crusty exterior and the inside is so soft it melts in your mouth.  You can try looking for the creme, but you won't find it, even though you can taste it.  It remains snug inside its little cocoon without spilling out or becoming a gooey mess.

Make a note that not all xuxos are made equal.  The mini xuxos are the best. 

Paella

Mmmm. Paella.  My tummy is grumbling just thinking about it.  So savory and satisfying.

One of the best things about Barcelona was the food. This little restaurant was about a block north of Sagrada Familia and had the best paella of the whole trip.

You die, clown!

I had never really given thought to what a daughter of Charlie might be like.  Brianna has been so meek and mild she has not really taken on his mannerisms, or so I thought.  Brianna and the boys were playing something along the lines of King of the Hill when Brianna belted out at the top of her lungs "You're gonna die, Clown!"  Charlie teases the boys with this phrase all the time. Especially while roughhousing.  

Hearing this spunky phrase belted out of this little girl as she shoved her brother down the slide really made me laugh.  The boys scrambled and giggled all the way back up the slide and the cycle repeated.

Seattle and Pompeii

Space Needle!

I loved seeing the Pompeii exhibit at the Pacific Science Center.  My favorite was the collection of silver coins and the different mosaics like the table top in the photo.  There were also marble statues and all sorts of cookware, gladiator armor, and vases.

I love the etching on this glass.  I didn't take any photos of the body forms.  The kids were a little spooked by them.  Although we couldn't see specific facial features, they were very lifelike and a little shiver would run through our group as we realized a human body once occupied that space.

Architecture

Thus building was amazing architecturally, but I didn't love the over all look of the place. It's called La Padrera which means the quarry. This apartment complex is huge and had two light wells in the center forming courtyards for the residents (above photo). The amazing part is that the building is supported entirely by the exterior walls. Can you imagine renovating this building and having NO interior loss bearing walls? None! 

 Gaudi also made sculptures of the chimneys and vents on the roof. He felt a lone chimney or antenna was as silly as one hair sticking up from a bald head.

Here is another time I wish I had photo taking abilities. The room was full of light and the window casings were beautiful, but the wrong camera settings only showcase the playful stained glass.  I love this room in the Casa Batllo. I want to live here.

How about these beautiful beams for the ceiling of your street entrance? This building, next door to Casa Batllo, is fully occupied and not open for tours. I love the Arab influence in the design here.

Surf and turf

We splurged on steak and crab legs. Super Chef Charlie did all the work.

Tooth!

Warm January day

We went out for a bike ride one Sunday afternoon.  Brianna is still trying to balance on her bike and eventually grabbed her scooter instead.  I'm impressed that I held the camera steady.  I love how the afternoon sun highlights her face and how I can see Will, Evan, and Carter in the background.