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NEW BLOG...

2010-01-23T12:42:00.000+01:00

a new decade = a new blog
please go to Roots and Wings in Spain

autumn 2009

2009-12-01T01:04:00.000+01:00

Make a Smilebox collage

just can´t get enough...

2009-07-20T15:20:00.000+02:00

my darling and her other self

2009-05-18T23:46:00.002+02:00

A day at the beach ... a few months ago

2009-02-20T23:32:00.003+01:00

the garden on its own

2009-02-20T23:22:00.002+01:00

A cold and sunny day

2009-01-18T15:31:00.005+01:00

rollerskates!! someday M can teach her parents how to do this...

the 3 musketeers

2009-01-18T15:25:00.001+01:00

Christmas and holidays

2009-01-11T23:57:00.010+01:00

M´s face after we told her she wasn´t allowed to touch the item from the following photo

chocolate tree

snow - Three Kings´s present to me

The Californian Secret Santa Reserfaces

2008-12-20T22:02:00.002+01:00

Thank you again, Secret Santa from San Mateo, California!! :) We loved the posters and sing these songs to M regularly. M wants to know when you will reveal your earthly identity :)

Happy Holidays and Peace on Earth.

this and that

2008-12-20T10:10:00.006+01:00

clearly impressed by mom's honey grapefruit peel hat...

a little more enthusiasm from the father

wishful thinking snowsuit

walk

poncho gal

Mia's first girls' party - Julia's Second birthday

2008-12-20T09:50:00.004+01:00

My daughter has a livelier social life than mine :)

early conversations

2008-12-20T09:32:00.003+01:00

By now, Mia has learned enough words to participate in short and sweet conversations.
I thought I may share some for those friends and families that are coming to visit us soon:

Heidi: What's your name?
M: Mia
Heidi: Wie heisst du?
M: Mia
Heidi: Com et dius?
M: Mia
Heidi: Como te llamas?
M: Mia
Heidi: do you want cake?
M: (silence)

Heidi: one...
M: TWO!
Heidi: three...
M: TWO!

Heidi: how many cats do we have, one or TWO CATS?
M: twoooo cats!

Heidi: Mia, would you like some cheese?
M: yeah! cheesh!

:)

Robert´s workshop

2008-11-25T23:21:00.004+01:00

N´s cellos needed some emergency therapy, we decided to drive up to Robert (N´s baroque cello builder) for the day and invade his beautiful home and brand new workshop. We didn´t want to succumb Mia to the ride like last time, so we left her with her Grandparents for the night. The area where Robert´s house is still takes my breath away, especially now that the leaves are crisply golden. I was also thrilled to see so much snow on the way AND rain (heaven!).

N and Robert hard at work

the view

Jason - Robert's assistant

Nico (Robert's VERY nice friend who made us lunch!) and Robert

Autumn outdoors

2008-11-19T15:49:00.006+01:00

Halloween 2008 - the only tiger in town

here I tried to take a picture of Julia, Mia and Sofia sitting, but after 10 or 12 attempts, these two were the best ones... :) it´s difficult to get three little women to make up their minds where to sit.

on 2 spearate occasions in the park, people have commented on how they noticed Mia is an unusally giving child. I don't want to gloat, but yes, I do! :) Sharing is such a difficult thing to teach at this age, and with Mia's generous nature, I really find it rewarding and proud at the same time to hear these feedbacks. We practice (literally) giving each day, lucky Jesús (postman) and market guy, they get a dried leave and dead flower from Mia every single day :) Here she´s holding two flowers, ready to give again.

castanyada - Paquita (Clara's babysitter) made over 200 panallets this year

panallets

play, play and more play

2008-10-28T13:25:00.005+01:00

we don't go anywhere without the blue cart...NOWHERE!

morning play group at the park

Joan, Sofia and Mia

hanging with Julia

with Lisa

Lisa

2008-10-24T23:54:00.004+02:00

A super aunt coming from Brussels just to play with our little princess :)

Mia with her new Super dog cape (made by Lisa), and new super sock rabbit (made by, well, the mommy who isn't so handy with needles and threads)

Playground Follies

2008-10-11T23:44:00.008+02:00

Sorry for the silence, everybody.
We´ve been under the weather, and just now, barely coming out of everything. The extended summer (Indian?) is killing us, all the bugs keep on reproducing and eating us alive, and the sudden changes in temperature and pressure make one´s body feel like it´s going schizo.

M has had a few hard weeks. First, she caught a cold from the playground when kids were blowing in her face, in turn, teaching her to blow in other kids´ faces. For a few days, she was not sleeping well at all, thus we didn´t sleep, period. Then she was attacked by a ferocious tiger mosquito in her sleep, and woke up looking like she had the chicken pox. Apparently, it bit her on the eye, and the eye ended up swollen so big that she couldn´t open her eye. The stupid pediatrician gave her a cream to put on, and it´s a good thing I looked it up. She (Dr.) wasn´t quite sure why her eye was swollen so she gave her cream for, get this, psoriasis. Imagine that...and then she said that if within 3 hours, the swell didn´t go down, I should then RUSH her to the emergency room. It´s a good thing that I never listen to doctors. After 24 hours, the swell went down, and she was fine. No psoriasis cream on the eye, no frustrating hours of wait at the emergency room, which would have invariably brought out more psoriasis cream. WHERE DID THESE DOCTORS GET THEIR DEGREES? While we´re on the topic, I find it so unprofessional when the doctors look up your symptoms on their computers while you´re sitting in front of them. Honestly, shouldn´t they be looking at YOU, instead of on their computer screens? I mean, really, excuse yourself and look it up while you´re pretending to go to the bathroom or something...

To make the matter worse, while M´s face is slowly recovering from all the bites and scratches, she met a boy in the playground. I have always thought Mia would be the bully, so whenever we´re with other children, I´m always keeping an eye out that she doesn´t accidentally hurt another child. Last time we saw the boy (2 year-old), he threw a bucket of sand in her face and hit her
in the face with a toy. Yesterday, he took a metal toy full of sand and banged in straight in her eye. It happened so fast, first I gasped, then I realized that M was so shocked she didn´t cry. Then in one sec, blood started to trickle down her face, and a few hours later, the nose was purple. Now, I´m not experienced with bullying, bullies or the whole topic of bullism. It was something I´ve always been afraid to confront, but secretly worried about. I held her while she screamed and sobbed, all the while, trying to get the sand out of her eye. I was about to cry myself when I noticed the mother of the boy was speaking in Spanish with him instead of German (German mother). I can only imagine this was for my sake, and not for the boy. So I looked at the boy straight in the eye and spoke to him in Catalan (his other maternal-paternal tongue), that we don´t do things like these to each other. The mother told the boy to apologize, the boy cried, apologized, and got some time out. I took M home and cleaned her up. She was very distant from me all day, and would periodically remember the incident and starts to cry. It was the first time she was hit. Her niceness to other kids was not rewarded, but rather, punished. I don´t really know quite what to do about this. Children learn by imitating. I see only aggression in the park, both from the parents, as well as the kids. I wonder what it´s like in another culture, since I´ve never spent any time in childrens´ parks in another country. Oh wait, that´s not true, while we were in France, we met some lovely French children, and although we didn´t speak the same language, they were more than respectful.

I wonder about this ´free education´ that we´re so interested in. Schools like Montessori and Waldorf, that stress individualism, independent thinking and creativity. From some of the successful adults I´ve seen, what I find is a huge lack of compassion. Sure, they´re independent thinkers, confident and creative, but when it comes to working or living in a group, it´s all about taking care of oneself. I don´t know if that is enough to build a new generation on. Perhaps the world is what it is today because we´ve had too many ´free thinkers´ who were only interested in taking care of themselves.

Mia playing by herself in another playground...
photos taken from H´s new iPhone...just experiementing.

Happy October

2008-09-27T23:18:00.006+02:00

With the rainier season and shorter days approaching, Mia has had to learn to become more introspective. She can now read by herself up to 15 - 20 minutes without stop.

Mia just got her very own pet spider, thanks to her very crafty mommy, Heidi Crafty

here's the pet spider up close, the astute viewers may recognize the shape of the spider to be H's hand, but shhhh, don't tell Mia

here she is, complete with a black cat, and a spider, ready for Halloween

taking the pet spider for a walk in the garden

Nigella, the black cat, watching, ready to pounce

big love, when M wants to show her love, she puts her face next to your face :)

huge inedible chestnuts from the park

harvesting olives

Castell de Montjuïc - circus

2008-09-22T23:06:00.012+02:00

This was the kiddy part of the Festa Major in Barcelona. There was an old fashioned
circus from France, which we found so quaint and appealing :) all the rides were
manual.

This ride was complete with an original pianola player/pedaler, click to hear some lovely old tunes:

Um, the Fisher-Price part of the festival, rather lame if you ask these parents...

Barcelona harbor from Montjuïc

sleeping guy...

pianola dude in still photo

crop

father and daughter

papa

Mia

that's right, toilets...

I can't think of a better way to potty train a child

the guy who makes this thing move

the fallic clarinetist with his woman

lights

I have NO idea what this is

the beautiful garden

cable cars overlooking a very crowded Barcelona

the end... :)

The rest

2008-09-10T20:03:00.008+02:00

M at play in one of those fancy French kiddie parks

the best things about this park are the toys for adults

a medieval stone bridge - Pont du diable

arranging skirt, not doing yoga

just a regular driveway to somebody's house

Ax-les Termes - soaking in warm water, beautifying our feet

this stunning creature got stuck in our windshield wiper, poor fella

a young tree hugger

one of the old castles in ruins

chasing after Ms. M

gates of the Grotte de Niaux, where we were not admitted due to the tender age of our young one

The Young Household

2008-09-10T12:51:00.005+02:00

I admit, when it comes to the topic of moving, I can be very easily persuaded into moving to just about anywhere in the world these days. After picking our dinner straight from a fabulously kept bio garden/farm, and watching Mia chase chickens and caress rabbits, AND finding out the public school is BETTER than the Waldorf school, I think my new secret plan is to move to the Ariège region. Robert´s house is renovated in the style the house was originally built, and the materials used are breathable and natural (hay, cedar, hemp), even the coloring of the wall is non-toxic (copper and others). His more-than-cool kitchen sink is carved out of a huge piece of rock from the mountain (600 kilos) by a local stonemason. I´ve never been very envious of other people´s lifestyles, but I really, really want one of these houses...

We love your house, Robert!

our dinner freshly harvested

a wheelbarrow full of love

the kitchen

a window

Mia putting her face on a bunny

Robert´s studio

Excursions: Foix

2008-09-09T15:23:00.006+02:00

downtown

market

the castle of Foix

Silence in Ariège

2008-09-09T14:17:00.015+02:00

Sorry for the sudden silence after our big project. We took an impromptu vacation to the French Pyrenees for a week, and silent, it was. The thing with silence is, if there is enough of it, it's easy to begin hearing EVERYTHING, both from the inside as well as the outside. So, I heard a voice from within telling me that it's time to learn French and move to France.

There are a lot of photos, so I'll try to break them into categories.

Here are some photos of the little cabin with stayed at.

The following are from the morning hikes next to our cabin:

hikes into the near village, Anyat:

to be continued ---

Project Chiaoscuro - Part II : tour to Ribadeo, Galicia

2008-08-28T22:42:00.010+02:00

Nabí´s pre-concert lecture

Gerard tuning

post-concert questionnaire

streets in Ribadeo

hoodlums

boats at Ribadeo´s harbor

Bernat´s foot on the boat

Ribadeo skies

As Catedrais - low tide

Juliano :)

gangstas

As Catedrais - a few hours later, high tide

Project Chiaoscuro - Part I: meet the protagonists

2008-08-28T15:00:00.024+02:00

Mr. Gerry von Amsterdairy - as the expert tuner

our back-up violone player

as the consecutive winner of 8 H&N stars Chef

as one of Mia's favorite people

as the birthday boy

Robert - our very own cello and violin maker and emergency instrument fixer/photographer/philosopher/vaccine expert

Robert working on Antonin's violin in our garden until wee hours

Philipp - imported Grammy monopolizer sound engineer from Berlin

Philipp as Mia's buddy

yours truly - in Vilallonga

yours truly - kind of serious

yours truly's beloved

TWO of yours truly's beloveds

Amanda

Juliano - our super violin/viola trans-performer

Bernat

Oriol -or else known as the Dolce & Gabbana boy

D&G hard at work

D&G plus Antonin

Antonin - the Alpha mascot

self named Beavis and Butthead

Jan and his very tall instrument

the girls at as Catedrais in Ribadeo

matching girls in Girona

the dynamic duo with one very dirty foot

Gerard, Francesca and Jan

La Mafia Barroca

The Barcelona Village People

a bunch of monks and two matching maidens

group photo 1

group photo 2

The Language of Mia

2008-08-01T13:24:00.002+02:00

I thought it might be fun for our friends to get to know some of M's words, especially for those of you who are joining us in August for our big Bach project. She's combining both English and Catalan, and adding a few of her own vowels here and there. Talkative and expressive, we spend most of the day trying to figure out what it is that she's pointing at, or saying. It's all soooo, cute :)

Here's the list:
Ball
Bo (book)
Bir-t (bird)
Ai-ya (water, or Aigua in Catalan)
Nee-a (Mia)
Mama (to express when she's upset)
Papapa (the rest of the time when she's not upset)
Nana or na-Nana (banana, or whatever fruit she sees)
o-LA!(when putting a random object by her ear, as a phone)
NA! (NO!)
naynaynay (when she's REALLY upset)
and finally, the latest, and by far, most advanced, AND our favorite:

DIE-per (diaper)!!! YAY for Nee-a!!

summer

2008-07-29T20:13:00.003+02:00

view from couch on up

close-up of hibiscus

first 'real' harvest, almost an entire salad (from left to right: basil, lettuce, parsley, and rucula)

Greek Salad with the ingredients above (minus basil)+ some

Girona Province

2008-07-25T23:40:00.006+02:00

here are some photos from Girona for now, I'll add the descriptions tomorrow. Just for once, I'd like to 'send the postcards' before I get home...

Playing with the Giants at Sta. Maria del Mar

2008-07-25T21:15:00.004+02:00

N and I played in an event last week at Sta. Maria del Mar. There were more than 3000 people there including the ex-president of Catalunya, Jordi Pujol. It was a part of the 300-year celebration of Queen Elizabeth Cristine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel´s
marriage to Charles VI, which took place right here in Barcelona.
As in most Catalan festivities, it involved many bobbing giants, loud cobla music, some type of a mass, and a human tower. I´m not quite sure how baroque cello music figures into all this, but ok, it was exciting
to participate in something on such a grand scale. Besides, I got some ice cream and slipped into a few stores for sales while waiting for the endless mass prayers and activities. I loved the feeling of being anonymously important, being both tourist as well as local, like a chameleon, knowing and not knowing, changing colors depending on the situation. Cool.

these giants are carried by ONE person. I was told the giants generally weigh near 50 kilos. This man (and all the other men) was not doing obscene things to the queen, but the only entrance into the giant is through the front pelvis area. What makes it worse is that they
need to look out from somewhere in there, so the natural place for a peephole (pun very much intended) is well, near the peehole...

we think this purple giant is the Giant from the near chapel, Sta. Maria del Pi (pun not intended). There is a great nursery song after this particular giant, which M loves.

view from the stage, I mean the altar, looking into the audience, I mean the congregation.

us

midsummer birthday plants

2008-07-22T22:53:00.006+02:00

for my birthday this year, my mother-in-law gave me this amazing yellow hibiscus. It's so unusual, I love it. Merci, Montserrat!

Wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) - this is an invasive WEED!!! I let it flower as long as I could, but I had to pull it out because it was drinking so much water!!!

but...they're so pretty...

Portulacas - a great low maintenance summer plant

great for hanging basket

I made this big pot of mixed plants for Tia Coloma's 90th birthday party

Coloma's surprise birthday party - Happy 90th!

2008-07-20T19:43:00.014+02:00

N's aunt turns 90 this week, so the family decided to give her a surprise party. We housed the event, which means we literally housed the event. People brought food (ALL the food), plates, cups, drinks, decorations, etc...

the women

the men

downstairs, checking out (showing off) the veggie garden

M got some gifts, too

Coloma's arrival

crew

uncle Goel

Martina, a VERY apt juggler!!

Martina

Oriol

harder to light them than blow them out

pretty cake :-)

90 candles for 90 years

Indian princess

per molts anys, Tia Coloma

yes, the kitten is STILL here...anyone? anyone?

the indoor after-meal bar

the Palaus

the gang

before and after: early harvest :)

2008-07-20T15:29:00.004+02:00

our first batch of rucula: succulent, fresh and just the right amount of kick

ruccula with leftover homemade pesto pasta with sun-dried tomatoes (nope, didn't grow nor dry these tomatoes, but will try when the tomatoes come in this year!)

zucchini flowers on the plant

same zucchini flowers stuffed with anchovies and goat cheese....mmmm

the evil twin

2008-07-15T14:57:00.004+02:00

suspicion
I should probably explain to our non-Catalan speakers, that M is pointing in the mirror saying ´nen´, which means child...

tongue

little people ride little trains

2008-07-14T22:55:00.006+02:00

We have no idea where M learned to stick her fingers in her ears when it gets too loud. There was a gathering in the woods for the Socialist Party (don't ask) in the midst of our kiddie train ride. The party music just got too much for her :) or
was it the ideology?

the socialist gathering

Garden in July part deux

2008-07-11T16:14:00.010+02:00

evening primrose from seeds, I waited 2 years for these to flower!!

agapanthus Africanus

hoya ying and yang

hoya milkyway

zucchini flowers...here's hoping for some big ones to come

pepper flower

rucula, plus weeds

I hope neither of the cats had anything to do with this...

the IU alumni reunion

2008-07-03T22:43:00.002+02:00

Many people have been asking me about the impromptu IU alumni reunion we went the other night, so I thought I would write something about it in the blog. Among our musician friends here in Barcelona, there are a lot of people who have gone to IU at one time or another. Someone told someone, who told someone, and they told N that there was going to be a reunion for international alumni (which obviously, I wasn't one, but whatever), so we decided to go and invite everyone we knew here who also went to IU.

As it turns out, very few people showed. The reason for this could be that we were still calling people to come as we were sitting down at the bar in the middle of the reunion. There were about 7 people all together, 3 musicians and 4 business people. I never thought I would have anything in common with a bunch of business people whom I never met before, but after 6 years of living abroad, I felt clever, charming and funny again in a language which somehow transforms me. Some people are funny and clever regardless which language they happen to speak at the moment, me? no, I become lame and awkward in any language other than English. In fact, I become mute...

Throughout dinner, we talked about living abroad, having children, satellite channels for English programs and Bobby Night (I have no idea how to spell his last name). All in all, it was actually great fun and very refreshing. I miss non-musicians, I miss talking about anything and everything that's not music related. Left on my own, I probably would have never befriended these particular individuals, but on a serendipity night such as that night, it was really great fun. We took silly and geeky alumni pictures, we passed around IU stickers, pencils and t-shirts. I expected them to ask for money, but the organizer never did (I still wait for a contributition letter to arrive!).

At the end of the night, the difference between business people and musicians was painfully clear. All the business people took out their cards and exchanged them, the musicians received the cards and thanked the business people, then we muttered something about forgetting the cards at home, or the cards being outdated...

We didn't pay for the dinner, the organizer paid for a very large dinner bill. If all reunions are like this one, I say: bring it on! Go, IU! Go, Hoosiers!

Catalunya en Miniatura - a place where M is the giant

2008-07-03T22:18:00.005+02:00

can't start'em too early

2008-07-02T23:33:00.000+02:00

Garden in July

2008-07-02T19:12:00.007+02:00

rice

2008-07-02T19:06:00.004+02:00

Litte red riding doorag

2008-07-02T18:54:00.004+02:00

Veggies

2008-07-02T18:44:00.003+02:00

tomatoes, tomatoes, more tomatoes

lettuce

I never knew zucchines get so big...and they're still young!

more glories in the morning

2008-06-22T22:10:00.003+02:00

these are for papi, who is far away. We miss you.

2008-06-22T22:06:00.001+02:00

One of M´s favorite people - avi Enric

2008-06-21T22:45:00.002+02:00

newbies

2008-06-21T13:21:00.005+02:00

my wisteria seeds sprouted!! I asked my father-in-law Enric to bring some seeds from a neighboring garden last year. Now all I have to do is wait 15 years for it to become a tree and flower!!

finally, a white morning glory...

I wanted to see what Syriana Hibiscus looks like, so I bought one...from LIDL! and here it is, after waiting forever for it to flower, and it was immediately eaten by something :(

Dress Sanchís - merci, oncle José

2008-06-21T13:11:00.005+02:00

M´s got a new toy, a spanking new tractor (yes, quite butch of us, I know). As you can see here,
she´s yet to figure out what the conventional way of riding one looks like.

here´s M deadheading her favorite white flowers

then pretending it´s a treat to attract Skippy

Garden updates

2008-06-15T15:23:00.015+02:00

Charles de Gaulle on a gloriously sunny day

C. de Gaulle with his brother on a cloudy day

C. de Gaulle

Perspiring Sonia

Night Scented Stock - RIP (learn your lesson, H, they DO NOT transplant well, AGAIN!)

nursery

fucsia

self seeded morning glories

pansies from seeds

double leafed geranium

more border flowers

column

single lonely strawberry

Romaine lettuce

zucchini

bougainvillea

bouggie

lavender blooms

wild asparagus

empress' clothes have almost reached her upper torso

bitter oranges

door and gate

hoya buds

possibilities

Mia's garden balls

Gerry, can you remind me what these were called? they came in your last batch of seeds...edibles

also, could you ID this one for us? we got it as a cutting from our neighbor, it has heart shaped flowers (see next photo)

el nostre hortet - our baby veggie garden

2008-06-02T13:08:00.007+02:00

so, THAT´s how you dig horse manure....

the hole...with a baby in it

first we had to pull out all the roots from the pine, ok, N had to pull them out

and the pine did not feel a pinch

final beginning state....

we have: tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and zucchinis

walking

2008-05-23T23:04:00.003+02:00

M has been taking solo steps for about a week now. She concentrates very hard when doing so without holding onto anything. We never push, she does everything on her own, and once she reaches us, she breaks into giggles and laughs. Here is M cruising around the garden, deadheading flowers that are not dead in the head yet, putting them in her cart as she goes along.

I CAUGHT you taking a picture behind my back, mommy!

yelling at her cart for getting stuck

bonding time with Skippy

2008-05-23T22:49:00.009+02:00

stealing Skippy´s food

a kiss is not worth a thousand sardines, says Skippy

Skippy: damn! she found me under the laundry, too??? can a cat have no peace???

no worries, Skips, there´s always the other eye

stalking

rustic dinner

2008-05-23T22:44:00.003+02:00

So, as everyone must already know by now, our family really enjoys fava seasons. Here are some photos of shelling activities, and gifts from our lovely neighbor Robert: swiss chards and celery.

Dinner was a big omelette made of eggs and swiss chard flowers, curried celery soup, tomato bread and cheese. Yum!

Uncle Gerry´s Delft Kimono

2008-05-18T23:09:00.010+02:00

Dear Uncle Gerry from Amsterdam,

I wanted to thank you for the pretty blue Delft print kimono you made for me for my un-birthday.
Today after my morning nap, mommy tried it on me, and it fit perfectly!! With the little exception of my tummy, which is growing very rapidly. I had a garden day in my Delft kimono, which is more like tunic jacket now, please see below for pictures.

Thank you for thinking of me, we love you.

Love, Mia, mommy and papi

Here´s the first try, the front doesn´t quite reach

but oh, never fear, the velvety strap can be a toy

or a hairband

here´s me doing some naughty things

me, trying not to pull off the exploding pink petunias

I´m helping mommy organize, she puts them in, I pull them out...etc...

papi came home from his Sunday morning concert, making a ooo face at me

more help from me, where I take away the tools

ok, occassionally I manage to put things IN, too

my own ooo face

phew, that was tiring, time to go back inside for some lunch, ciao, uncle Gerry! :)

post-party party

2008-05-12T18:44:00.006+02:00

after a few days of rain, we combined cleaning with some celebration of the resurfacing sun

first beach day

2008-05-07T17:47:00.005+02:00

celebration, flowers, and good wishes

2008-05-06T18:06:00.017+02:00

preparations

Mia's good wish book

next day...opening Auntie A's books

Barb and Metz's chair - Mia welcomes her first 'real' Spring

2008-04-24T11:29:00.004+02:00

A girl's gotta have her shoes

2008-04-24T11:02:00.002+02:00

Natural phenonmenons

2008-04-24T10:56:00.003+02:00

this happened here last week, it was orginally heavy hail, then because it came down so much and so fast, piles of while fluff gathered against the sidewalk, making the Mediterranean land look like the Northeast...wait, what country are we talking about?

a fabulous storm in Shanghai the last few days we were there, I do love how lights sparkle in the mass confusion of rain

Updates

2008-04-14T20:18:00.003+02:00

Finally, we've made it back alive. How we did it is beyond me. In the long run, it will definitely make all three of us stronger people, but for now, I'm still left with something that is suspiciously reminiscent of an ulcer, or a stomach flu that won't go away.

Sitting here in a semi-dark kitchen with a fading, but golden light in the sky, I can honestly say that life has never been more challenging, or more rewarding prior to motherhood. Moments like now are almost impossible to come by, and if not for the stubborn jet-lag, or possible new tooth coming in, I may not get another one like it for a long time.

Since we've been back, M has definitely crossed some important growth threshold. She has been extremely alert (even more so than before), interactive, affectionate and communicative. Her affections are no longer strictly breast related; there seems to be clear joy in having other body contact. She will take my hand, grab my legs, lean on my back while I'm on the floor, giggle, smile and laugh. It still amazes me to see her smile, and when her face lights up, I still find my eyes tearing up. I could never have imagined motherhood to be this intense.

M will be one-year old in a few weeks. We're planning a little party for us, and she may decide to join us from time to time if she wishes :) Everybody is welcome, and as a party is with children, you are free to come and go as you wish. We are delighted to share any part of this event with our friends and families. The birthday celebration will be a day of celebration.

While we were talking to Auntie Mande last night via Skype video, :) it occurred to me that I haven't updated Mia's changing likes and dislikes for a long time. So here it goes:

M gets great joy out of listening to upbeat music and loves (LOVES ) to dance to it. She hums along occasionally and moves and rocks to the rhythm. She enjoys flipping through books, magazines, especially the page turning part. M definitely doesn't care for plush toys of any sort, doesn't seem to like toys at all. Pictures of friends on the wall, posters and recognizable faces definitely peak her interests. She loves shoes, particularly likes to chew on them. She's managed to figure out how to un-velcro her own from time to time, so she can take them off to chew them. M has 6 teeth now, and more are coming in as we speak. She is in the stage when putting things in and out of boxes really intrigue her.

Time to feed for the parents, good night, world :)

Transportation in Shanghai

2008-04-05T02:55:00.004+02:00

not really transportation, but interesting and seemingly dangerous way of curing your meat, or is it meat?

sugar canes

water

let the sleeping bull sleep

Shanghai harbor

hands-free

Spiderman club in Shanghai

2008-04-05T02:42:00.004+02:00

grey skies and smog provided especially by Shanghainese industries for this photo shoot

amazing photos by amazing husband, Nabí

Spring in Shanghai

2008-04-05T02:35:00.005+02:00

here's one for Amanda: Magnolias - Shanghai's city flower

Spring has definitely arrived in Shanghai, we saw these on our morning walk, maybe uncle tree-berry Gerry can identify them for us?

Happy 11th-month, Mia :)

2008-04-04T17:56:00.002+02:00

just one month away until she gets a whole number to herself! :)
Happy birthday, my love.

Mia meets Bloomington

2008-04-04T16:59:00.008+02:00

I can' figure out how to move pictures around on my new Mac from blogspot, so the order of these photos are rather random...sorry :(

Alissa, Giulia and Mia

Me, Mia and Giulia

dinner at Elisabeth and Jairo's

tapas at the Farm with Stanley

Kool-Kroger-Koche

late night shopping at Kroger's

Stanley

the Northwards...

mama Erica, Nigel, and big brother Gabriel

and we're back to Stanley again

and now back to little Giulia

the one-shoe club

Tummy flu :(

2008-04-02T22:54:00.003+02:00

So, it turns out everybody has the stomach flu in my mom's house.
I spent the day shivering, aching, and fevering, not to mention all the other
fun stuff that goes with a stomach flu. My mom was puking, and Mia
still has the runs. Geez... So far, our stay in Shanghai has not been
too fruitful or fun :(

Dr. Li prescribed some terrible tasting herbs which seemed to have worked.
My mom lit some suspicious herb to 'smoke' one of my chakras. The herb
smelled awfully similar to pot. Hopefully, things will look brighter by tomorrow,
and less painful.

On the upside, I seem to be able to access Blogspot periodically throughout
the day. Maybe it's the fact I do so between 3 to 4am each day that grants me
more access than a busier time of the day.

Who knows, off I go to rest my sore bones!

Greetings from Shanghai!

2008-04-01T12:50:00.002+02:00

This is amazing. I just accessed my blog from China, this has never happened before, so I thought I would post a quick note to celebrate, and then leave the page open for my mom to see in case the access is denied later.

I am officially a "D.M." now, I plan to do great things with these two little letters after my name
from now. What? I have no idea, but they will be great. I'm sure of it!

N just bought a cheap cello to keep here for future uses when he visits. M has the runs, poor baby. She does love her food though, and is brave enough to keep on experimenting. For now, I
think I'll put her back on a clear porridge diet if she'll have it.

We're loving being in the big city and as always, are overwhelmed by the myriad of colors, sounds, and smells. The journey from the US to Shanghai via Paris was long and heinous, I hope
we'll never have to take such a long trip again.

Meanwhile, a big hello to everybody. And to all those who we've just visited, it was great to see you and these visits are always way too infrequent and far too short. I look forward to catching up again, hopefully not in a future too distant. Love from all of us.

It feels good to be surrounded by friends again

2008-03-22T22:57:00.004+01:00

Boston: Teddie brought green bagels to meet us at the airpot on St. Patty's day (THANK YOU, Teddie! :)
Maria in Maine
M's little birth buddy, Giulia, who's one week older than Mia
Bartholomew's (Stanley's dog) toys seem to be a favorite for both M and G
mommies and babies
M stalking G
we love you, Giulia

Our first around the world journey

2008-03-16T22:03:00.003+01:00

Tomorrow morning at 6am, we're heading off to the new world.
I'll try to keep everybody updated with our progress on this adventurous
journey :)

First stop: Bangor, Maine.
I'm giving my lecture recital on Expression and Aesthetic Changes in the Eighteenth
Century at University of Maine. More to come once we're there.

All I know is it's -3 (Celcius) there.......bbbbuuuuurrrrrr.

outside and park play

2008-03-06T22:40:00.006+01:00

Spring

2008-03-01T00:11:00.002+01:00

indoors

2008-03-01T00:07:00.002+01:00

a sunny day

2008-03-01T00:01:00.003+01:00

we're back in the saddle, or rather, the hamack

2008-02-29T23:44:00.004+01:00

pink

2008-02-29T23:41:00.002+01:00

Grandma Annly took these when she was here, I forgot to post them earlier.

Skippy found his way back into our bed

2008-02-29T23:39:00.000+01:00

the piano

2008-02-18T09:16:00.002+01:00

Mia's Secret Santa

2008-02-17T12:11:00.002+01:00

Our mysterious Secret Santa from California resurfaces :)
Mia got some cute onesies and sweet Santa shoes; incidentally
we also have a mysterious poster on the blog from California now.
Mommy H is wondering if it's the same person, and would like
to guess the identity of S. Santa. Even if it's not the same
person, one of the two Californian friends should 'fit the shoe', sort
to speak, since all of the packages come in shoe boxes of size 9 and
a 1/2.

Is it tia Tia? am I way off?

activities

2008-02-16T23:37:00.002+01:00

visita de la Martina i l'Oriol

here's looking at you, kid

helping mommy organize

HELPING more...

grandma Annly

Spring...sort of

2008-02-13T16:45:00.002+01:00

while Mia was sleeping...

2008-02-13T14:40:00.001+01:00

last week's concert in Santa Coloma's new auditorium

these following videos are in reversal chronological order

2008-02-13T00:08:00.000+01:00

this was Uncle Goel's (one of the three Kings) gift
for Three Kings' Day back in January

vocalizations

2008-02-12T23:56:00.000+01:00

our first duet

2008-02-12T23:46:00.000+01:00

food, cat, love

2008-02-12T23:26:00.000+01:00

they grow them with extra sun here

cabin fever

quality time with Skippy

there's that unconditional love again

What Mia is up to now...

2008-02-02T23:39:00.000+01:00

Well, let's see now: Mia has lived outside of the womb exactly the same amount as she did
when she was inside. In two days, she will be nine months old!!! I am absolutely amazed each day by the new things she picks up, physically and mentally.

N and I have a concert this coming Friday. So far it has proved to be very challenging (not to mention interesting) to rehearse with M around. Originally, we could put her in the same room, and she would be self entertained for a while. Just within the last few weeks, she has been crawling around, rapidly. We would put her in one end of the room, and by the time we reach the development (no pun intended) section of the first movement, she's scooted herself all the way across the room to my feet, and pulls on my leg to be picked up. It's very funny, but not very productive to the rehearsals. We tried asking our neighber Emilia to look after her for an hour the other day while we rehearse, after 15 minutes, the door bell rang and we could hear Mia wailing from inside the house. Emilia came to drop her off, apologizing profusely (as we should to her), and saying how "this" has never happened to her before, and maybe she will do it again when Mia is a little older. So that makes it two neighbors so far who will think twice before taking Mia in next time....(sigh)

One other interesting 'development' is sitting. M has been sitting for a long time now, but for some reason, she now really enjoys 'sitting' in bed, especially at night when it's time to go to sleep. She will roll around and sits herself up repeatedly, and as an aknowledgement of her
accomplishment, she then applauds herself. It's really, really cute, but again, not conducive to sleeping.

What Mia really excels at is eating. She's a great eater. She will eat everything and anything anyone gives her and she seems to truly enjoy it. We are very happy about this :) At the moment, we give her 3 meals (her size), one giant bottle before she goes to bed, and I still nurse her throughout the day (about three times).

The girl's got rhythm, and taste. She will dance (ON CUE!) to one of the CPE Bach sonatas I am preparing for Friday's concert. She recognizes the tune and will only dance to this particular movement, she even recognizes it when I sing it to her, and will also dance to the sung version, it's really amazing :) When she dances, she looks at me and smiles with an acknowledgement of the tune, we never tried to teach it to her, she just started doing it one day while I was practicing.
And my sweet daughter is an unconditional lover. I will find her clapping for me under the piano after I play a piece, or when I sneeze.

Anyway, just wanted to update you guys from afar, hope this finds everybody smiling, we miss you.

more on motherhood

2008-01-30T14:32:00.000+01:00

I'm embarrassed to say that I'm hopelessly hooked on Dawson's Creek.
The Spanish/Catalan TV is playing the series everyday at 2:30. As
an embarrassing time to zone out, I place myself in front of the TV for
about 45 minutes, letting some fantasized dream from an imagined
youth take me far away from 'the now'. Every character/actress bugs
me in some way, maybe with the exception of Pacy, whom I find to be
very cute (again, back to some imagined teenage immaturity).

Some of you, my single friends out there have asked me how life has
changed since babyhood. Not too long ago, I remember asking
the same type of questions to my own friends who were already parents,
and remembering that whatever their answer was, I just couldn't relate.
Sure, I tried to listen and understand what they say, but
in retrospect, it just isn't possible to describe the experience of
'becoming' a parent to a non-parent, nor is it possible to fathom
the experience that is so life altering without having gone through it.

I remember one day, I think it was very close to my due date, I
was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, contemplating on my ever
expanding waistline. I looked around at all of my bottles and bags of makeup,
hair adornments and whatnots, thinking how different it would feel to be
looking at the same things a few days later. I tried to imagine what life would
be like living with a complete stranger that I would have created from a part
of my body. It was impossible to imagine.

Now that I've gone through it, I still think it is undescribable. Since last
May, this is what I know: each day still provides me with endless
opportunities to learn about Mia, my daughter (something I found very
strange to say for a long time), myself, and family dynamics.

This is what else I've learned: although there are days and moments when I
am so lost as to what I should or should not do, both as a mother, as well as
Heidi, that I can just sit down and cry out of desperation and frustration; then
just in a turn of minutes, my entire life will make perfect sense when Mia
flashes me a smile or I observe a new sign of connection or bond between us.
These extreme emotions are something even I (being the emotional one) have
never experienced, and I truly, truly love them. I think if I had stuck to my original
plan of never getting married or had a child, I would have been very sad.

What I learned about myself: sometimes even I don't know what I want...who could have
predicted that I would love mothering so much, and take such keen interests in diapers,
diaper changing, baby clothes, food, bibs, etc. such benign parts of mothering.
Even up until last year before I found out I was pregnant, I never thought I would be a very involved mother IF I ever got pregnant. Once again, when you let a door open, and it's
life changing, let it.

It turns out people are right, never say never :) .