A Place Like This......

One Small Change: Tree Hugger

photo by Larry White Buffalo

For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.  Martin Luther

Do you have a favorite tree? I do. It's the rose cypress just off the North end of my house. Throughout the years I've spent countless hours there with my children playing under it's boughs.

I'm joining Suzy again this year for One Small Change and as always it gets me thinking of just one more way we as a family can lessen our footprint on this planet. 

For my first look at changing small in 2012 I've had to revisit something and that is the idea of paper usage. 

I sort of chalked that one of the list because I'm so dutiful in recycling but last week I did an experiment. I wanted to see how much "unwanted" mail we received every week. Usually I grab the mail, pass the recycle bins, drop off what I don't want, and then head into the house. Out of sight, out of mind.

I was astonished to find this many catalogs in my mailbox after 7 days.

These are all catalogs which I love to look at and read when I'm eating my cereal in the morning. I love all those pretty photos which give me ideas of what to craft, cook, sew, etc. I never ever order out of one of these catalogs unless it's Chinaberry. Love Chinaberry. So when thinking about One Small Change I had to ask myself, is my morning entertainment worth killing a tree over?

The answer simply is no.

So I signed up here to remove myself from the catalog and mail lists. 

And for the sake of disclosure, I also sent an email to Chinaberry asking them not to take me off their list. 

What's your one small change?

Your Invited to the Club

Over the weekend my blogging friend Joy was recommending the book "The Weapons of Mass Instruction." By John Taylor Gatto. Another friend of ours, Eileen ,wanted to read it along with her and then I said, "Can I come too?" 

From this very simple Facebook conversation was born the Mindful Parenting Book Club. I'd be so happy to see you join us and please invite anyone else you think might enjoy it.

Here's some more information.

A New *Free* Virtual Book Club for Mindful Parents!

Join Us and Read Along!

Our First Book to share together will be ‘Weapons of Mass Instruction’ by John Taylor Gatto. Regardless of your schooling choices – this book will get you thinking about our current educational system and model!

Order the book from your library, Amazon or download it to your reader… read it and in between come on over with a cup of coffee to sit in on our Virtual Book Club Facebook Page! Pop on over any time to chat – you’re never behind!

In addition, our first ‘scheduled’ book discussion will be hosted by bloggers Eileen Straiton, Valarie Budayr and Joy Blaser on February 4^th where we will cover the Prologue through Chapter 1 of our book, asking questions and inspiring others as they read along.

 

 

One Year Old

There was a knock at the door. As I walked to the kitchen to see who it was, I could clearly see that it was my baby girl Mimi. Odd that she wouldn't use her house key but then I saw her holding something.

When I opened the door I saw CAKE !  Oh how I love cake and the message was clear.

One year ago I founded Audrey Press to publish a happy little book about the fox family that lives in our yard. Little did I know the journey that would unfold and the life changing path this would open. 

Though I hadn't even remembered the anniversary, my children had, and just as their mother had taught them, we need to celebrate the little moments.

And celebrate we did!

We celebrated:

• My mother and the children's Grandma for being the wonderful person that she was. Audrey Press is named after her. I feel her with me every day in my new found world of book creating. 
• Our foxes and how they've grown and expanded as a family.
• Our gratitude for meeting so many wonderful people: our online friends, our friends in bookstores and schools throughout the past year. 
• Building a life around our passions, books being high up on the list.
• The incredible people who work and create at Audrey Press. They truly make life a magical journey. 

Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to share all of the incredible things happening at Audrey Press, but for the moment we just need to party. To celebrate our one year anniversary, we're holding a birthday bash sale of $10 copies of The Fox Diaries. Just click on the widget below.

The Quiet of a Cafe Afternoon

After all the excitement of our Traveling Tribe holidays, I quickly preceded to get sick. I've had the worst case of hacking cough of my whole live long life. What was needed was just a quiet day of resting, reading and coffee. 

Such a place was found in this lovely cafe inspired by Portugal.

Cafe trips are best achieved when everyone brings enough books and art supplies to last us a spell. We sort of just move into our space.

A bit later all of this reading and creating made us ravenously hungry but what to eat? Where a coffee had hit the spot earlier, severe hunger was beckoning to us now.

For one who's head, nose, and chest were stuffed to the max, something light on the stomach and nurturing at the same time was needed. The salad special was in order....lentil and greek salads hit the spot just perfectly.

I was thankful to have this quiet afternoon with no demands. The only place to be was with a few members of my sweet family having a cafe afternoon. 

 

The Birdman of Montreal

It was a hard day walking in the streets of Montreal. The night before and ice-storm had descended upon the wintry city making it nearly impossible to walk the next day. That didn't stop us however. Following my mother's advice of "There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing." We donned our warmest clothes, parkas, boots,hats, mittens. All that was missing were toe picks. 

As we slid down the street I was really beginning to reconsider our daily walk around the city. We came upon a beautiful old cathedral built in the 1800's. We decided to stop there for a little rest and re-grouping. As I was headed in, the kids stopped.

"Hey Mom, look at this." Mimi yelled.

Fascinated by the story, I was called over to meet a man who lives a daily memory. For years, this man would come with his young niece to feed the pigeons in the Cathedral court yard. As the years went by their loving tradition became a memory that would last a lifetime. 

The niece became very ill and no matter what treatments they tried, nothing worked. 4 years ago his niece passed over. Every day in her honor, the man walks to the Cathedral to feed the birds. Always grateful for the time they spent together and for her short life on this planet. His story touched us so, that the children asked for a photo with the Birdman of Montreal. 

So here we remember this kind man's niece. This blog, A Place Like This is a testament and living memory of the moments that my we spend together passing fleetingly through this world. What memories do you share? You know, the ones which will last a lifetime. I always say to my beloved children, "Let your memories be your blessings." This life is short. May you make a million blessed memories. 

We Talk With Our Hands

As I was going through the photos from our trip to Montreal, I noticed that there were always a couple blurry images in each photo.  The hands. Yep the hands are always moving, more so than the mouth in family conversations.

"Who us? No Way" Zaina says

For years I've made the joke with my husband that if he had to sit on his hands he wouldn't be able to talk. We laugh and laugh about this but now I see it in the next generation of our Lebanese family, many of whom I've given birth to.

I'm just saying......we talk with our hands.

 

The Year That Was and A Happy New Year

Holding both incredible and difficult moments, 2011 is a year we will not soon forget. We are thankful for so many things. I've met many blogging friends near and far. Started Audrey Press and watched our first production The Fox Diaries launch out into the world. We've watched and helped where we could the wonderful people of Japan. We've comforted those in medical distress. We learned how to survive a tornado's aftermath. We've laughed, created, traveled, grown gardens, studied, read and enjoyed each other's company.

As we move forward in this first day of the New Year. My family and I wish you nothing but the very best this life can bring. Happy New Year and here's to 2012.

Best Wishes,

Valarie and the Whole Traveling Tribe

Living With Attention

Holstee Manifesto

Today I find myself in a very reflective mood. When 2011 started I made the intention to live differently. Not the resoultion making type of living different , no not that, I just wanted to live with attention. I wanted to live without missing any little details or to let my brain go off into auto-pilot, missing moments that I couldn't recall at the end of the year.  As I look back over the past year with all of it's celebrations,tribulations,challenges, and daily little moments I can say that this year I have truly lived and created life more, not in the amount of much, but in the knowing that I have lived fully. Serving as my mantra and guide for the year was the Holstee Manifesto. How do I feel at the end of my year of attention? That I have laughed harder, cried rivers, created with others joyfully, loved more, savored every bite, met many old friends in new ways i.e. blogging friends, I have travelled near and far to learn that we are unified in our differences. Life is short. I thank each and everyone of you who show up each time I make a post and share a part of your world with me. Here's wishing you a new year filled with many happy and creative moments and know that I'm so thankful for the time we spend together.

Good Continuation

These days between Christmas and New Year's in the Swedish tradition are known as "Good Continuation". Why end all of the merriment? Our huge family gang is still together moving in tribal form around Montreal, that is until I took a look at our travel schedule. Thinking I was leaving tomorrow December 29th, I soon learned that I'm leaving today. The question now is "How fast can you pack to make it to the airport on time? How fast can you say good-bye to 30 something relatives who all went back to work today? Is a text message considered inappropriate? How do I get myself into these messes?(Oh that question I can ask myself when I'm in my airplane seat.) Though these days should be calm and merry, the next few hours are going to be wild. My mantra? Be Calm and Carry On.All Will Be Well.

For all of you my friends, I wish you a happy continuation of the holidays with family and friends. I'll be back tomorrow or the day after, with some unusal  tale of the Traveling Tribe. Until then be well.

Holiday Wishes from The Traveling Tribe

So here we are on Christmas Eve. Our family, aka. The Traveling Tribe, has come from all over the globe to be together, Canada, France, USA, Lebanon, and Sweden. We're heading over to my nephew and nieces where we'll prepare a wonderful feast filled with all of our family favorites. Here's wishing you a wonderful holiday season, however you choose to spend it. May you be surrounded by family, friends, and the people who love you most. Happy Holidays!

thanks Imad for the instagram photos.