Dismantling

Cefalu Cathedral, March 2012

Buried in piles of stuff, I am craving the next stage of this international move. The stage that will happen after the moving trucks depart next week. The stage of moving when we live in an empty, clutter-free house with loaner furniture and borrowed dishes. The stage when we exhale a bit because a big item (packing out) has been checked off the lengthy list. The stage that will push us to be more creative in our play, in our cooking, in our living...making the most with a very little amount. The stage that always prompts me to think, "we should live like this on a more regular basis", but in the back of my mind I know that will never happen.


That will never happen because I am a pack rat. And that's why this current stage of disassembling our house is so exhausting and yet so very necessary. It's always shocking to me to see what we accumulate in just three years in one spot. Thank goodness we move so often. Lugging out bags of garbage and thrift store donations, leaves me feeling a bit sick (how could so much junk really be in that closet?!) and also exhilarated (it's very a clear sign of progress when one closet is finally emptied out).

The movers come on Tuesday. We still have lots of sorting, sifting, and donating to do. It will certainly be a weekend full of dismantling. Hope your weekend is a bit more pleasant.

Travels with Pacy : Barcelona

We have a new traveling partner: Pacy! A Pacy is an old friend of ours whom we have adored ever since reading all of the Lin family picture books and the Year of the Dog chapter book series by Grace Lin. As many of you already know, we are hard core Grace Lin fans, but her Pacy books are truly our favorites. A big part of the appeal is the connection to Taiwan. It's not easy to find books about Taiwanese culture or the Taiwanese-American experience, especially children's books, but even without that piece it's hard not to be charmed by Pacy. She's funny, honest, creative,spunky, and addicted to dim sum.

The first we heard of Pacy's travels was during her trip to Paris. In fact, when we traveled to Paris a few weeks later we kept our eyes open in hopes of finding her, but she's a sneaky little one and we didn't see any sign of her. About a month later we were thrilled to hear about the newest book in the series, Dumpling Days, and even more excited to discover that there would be a very special book celebration in Boston. Although we were sad not to make the lengthy trip to Boston, we got tickets for my sister and her family to attend the event. They went, had a great time, and even got to meet Grace (we were very jealous!). And thanks to them we soon found a copy of Dumpling Days and our very own Pocket Pacy waiting for us in our mail box. 

So of course we had to take Pacy with us to Barcelona. Turns out she loved the food as much as we did. Really, what's not to love about Tapas? 

You can have a chance to win your very own Pocket Pacy by entering the monthly drawing. Hope you get lucky, because she's a very worldly and easy-going travel partner (take a peek at her recent trip to Slovakia and Hungary). And in honor of Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, take a look at some of Grace Lin's favorite books. Also, be sure to check out this interview, too.

Make a Wish

Super-sized, wispy goodness on a tall green stem: Sicily has the biggest dandelions we have ever seen.

She paused at the front door, fist wrapped around the stem and asked: "Is there a difference between wishing and praying?" Before I could answer, she had scampered out into the crisp evening to blow and wish and pray.