teaspoons of sugar

Oh glorious summer! You’re slipping away so quickly. Thanks for the great times, Summer, for keeping the sun worshiping, south shore ocean dipping, lobster cracking, oyster shucking soul in me forever blessed by your sandy toes and your smoky barbeques.

City of Ghosts

Ghosts. They really catches up with us up by times. Our ghosts, they haunt us, they  involve us, and they embrace us. Usually we go to them.

Docked, climbed, awed

                When Winchester described the majesty of the Yantze River, along with its unbridled power and the regularity of floods (above), I was moved by the spirit to go. Mitch did most of the research, found the cruise line, arranged the booking. I thought I knew a bit about cruises: fake gold railings, terrible art, romantic red carpet.

journey through middle earth

Where to begin? Let’s see, Beijing. Where Leila and I left off. When I told people I was headed to Xuchang, in Henan province where my husband Mitch was teaching, I was mostly met with puzzled shakes of the head  -not a first for me in China – and wandering upward glances. First they would repeat it, then I would repeat it.  Had I said it right? Had they heard me right? Welcome to China: so many opportunities to go wrong – before the one that may go just right.

 Where the f@&! is Xuchang?

houhai lake for the fifth

People say that it’s good luck to give wood for the fifth anniversary. I’m not sure why, but I think it’s probably got something to do with the adding of experiential rings; growing together, evolving. The roots that flourish bring life to more and more buds, each new year that you are together.

Sensing Beijing

39 and sunny. Duck for lunch.

Day One

When Mitchell came home in march with a job offer in hand and asked me if Leila and I wanted to go to china for six weeks, I stood in the kitchen and yelled, “Yes, yes!, yes!”

querying: finding light in the dark ages

So i’ve ripped and i’ve torn it , shaped it and , formed it ~ and for the moment, I’ve  finished my memoir.

Whew!  Twenty months of writing, eight months of revising and a pile of edits and rewrites have finally gotten me to this most critical stage: Querying.

the back door to blogs

A lot of people say to me, hey, mo, i love your blog. (I may get embarrassed and try to redirect the conversation). Especially when they usually follow it up with, Actually…it’s the only one  i read. (I still have friends who haven’t entered the ‘mobile phone’ realm). I smile, unsure how to proceed. Sometimes they might stop for a moment, puzzled, and say How did you even manage to start a blog?

Landed

There’s something different about the Montreal Airport. People are different. Surrounded by fashion statements, alive with the energy of the city. dreared only slightly by the slow, painful rotation of a baggage carousel.