Cambodia and Me

I am back! Back to blogging. Back from Cambodia. I went to Cambodia this summer with a team from my church who also happen to be some of my closest and dearest friends. We brought 900 lbs of medicines, hygiene items, baby clothes and jewelry making supplies. I was especially excited to visit my friend Holly who I have mentioned before. She runs a home for vulnerable young women in Phnom Penh called ‘The House of Refuge’. 

The rehabilitated girls at Refuge make jewelry to raise funds to live without ever having to return to their old lives which usually involved sex trafficking. Unfortunately it is the norm for the poor people to sell their young daughters to pay off family debt. Holly rescues girls from different places, but one way is street outreaches. This is when you go out at night to the red light areas, speak to the girls, and offer them a new life.

Much prostitution centers around the temples, such as this one. We split up to cover more ground, each of us had a Khmer (Cambodian) girl from Refuge to translate. The girls who are rescued are so brave and eager to go out to the brothels and streets to help others. One girl did come home with us that night, which was beautiful. My heart broke though for the countless girls who didn’t.

My favorite place has got to be the province of Kampong Cham. I fell in love with the place and the people. They are living in a kind of poverty that we don’t know here in the US. This is a small “village” that is actually the dump. The garbage trucks dump the trash, the people here sort it and the trucks pick it up another day and pay them a pittance.

Such Beautiful children! Dirty and scarred from playing in the trash, but ever eager to flash you a playful smile. They are malnourished and are in great need of clean water and medicine. We hooked up with a local church that makes weekly visits to bring food and supplies. For these people the church is their lifeline.

This beautiful woman was left in the dump by her children. She lived through the Khmer Rouge. I asked her how she survived, I know they killed everyone who had a defect and she is blind. She says they spared her because she could cook! Everywhere we went we heard amazing stories like this. I so badly wanted to take her home, take care of her, and hear all of her stories. 

We got the word out that we would be having a medical outreach at the church near the dump. Many people came, for 6 hours we nonstop served the people. I was helping out my friend Jodi who is a chiropractor, she told me where to rub, massage or tap. She had 5 tables set up with patients and a long line out the door! It was hot and I should have been exhausted, but it wasn’t that bad. Once you get a patient you just want to do anything to help. Many people walked away who hadn’t walked in years! Crooked people stood and walked! 

Jodi said never in her practice would one treatment cause results like that. It was all God. We prayed with and for all the people we treated. Many people renounced Buddhism and walked out with Jesus after witnessing his power. Truly amazing!

We were able to get into a prison and a hospital. The Aids Ward at the hospital was my most horrible memory, it just makes you feel so helpless. I didn’t take any pictures because I think it wrong. We asked them if they wanted prayer, that we could give them. 

At the prison we had to leave everything electronic at the gate, all phones, cameras. Pictures are a no-no. They offered the prisoners the choice to come talk to us, sing with us and study the bible. We also brought gift bags of hygiene products.

It was all emotionally and physically draining, but great! I definitely want to go back and stay longer. I continue to support my friends who are full time missionaries with encouragement and finances. They are doing amazing, life changing work and it is not easy!

Yes, it is very hot and humid and it floods… There are bugs. I even ate some. (Yep)

But, Cambodia is one great adventure that I highly recommend. You will overlook the uncomfortable parts because the people will touch your heart and hopefully you will be able to touch theirs. 

My daughter's Cambodian Adventure HERE

Morning Mushroom Walk

 We are experiencing a NY heat wave, so we haven't been in the woods lately.  The heat makes us droopy and the most annoying loving bugs are out.  My family is missing the nature walks that are such a integral part of our life. This morning we set out extra early to avoid the heat and the bugs.

I didn't think that we would see so many mushrooms, the burning sun dries them up quickly. 

We were happily surprised that there were so many.

We stopped to eat our breakfast and the girls fed the fish.

Enjoying my morning tea on a nice shady rock, looking forward to autumn.

Beach Holiday

We just came back from our annual beach holiday. We have been visiting the same place for the past 8 years. Not only the same beach, but the same hotel and when we can it, even the same room.

We go on many collecting walks up and down the beach. Each of us looking for what we consider treasures.

My husband is always on the lookout for the smoothest stone he can find. It has to be the best, he will carry it in his jacket pocket all year long.

I always go for the interesting textures and colors. I usually end up trying to figure out ways that I can wear them, like my seaweed scarf. My teen's favorite part of collecting is organizing and categorizing her finds afterwards.

This is so pretty. It could be a soft lacy knitted something.

It's not easy finding healthy snacks at the beach. A lot of fried foods and ice cream. At trip to the local Mart provided fruit, veggies and Larabars in convenient 5 packs. Snob that I am, I brought my own tea. The electric kettle is my friend. 

A friend and I are reading Out of a Silent Planet by C.S Lewis together. After my younger one got super slammed by an ocean wave I offered to take her to the pool. Thinking that she could use some calmer fun and I could get in some reading time. She had a grand time but I did not catch up on my reading! 

About my bag...I picked it up at a thrift store earlier this year and saved it for the beach. Little did I know that everywhere we went this coral motif would be there. Every fancy beach shop was filled with it on towels, blouses, bags, curtains, greeting cards, etc. Our usual hotel room was redecorated this year with this pattern. The lamps were even made to look like coral with lampshades on top! I appeared to be quite fashionably "in the know" with my thrift store treasure.

Looking Glass Flowers: mAd TeA 2015

'O Tiger-lily,' said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, 'I WISH you could talk!'

'We CAN talk,' said the Tiger-lily: 'when there's anybody worth talking to.'

Alice was so astonished that she could not speak for a minute: 

it quite seemed to take her breath away. 

At length, as the Tiger-lily only went on waving about, she spoke again, in a timid voice--almost in a whisper. 

'And can ALL the flowers talk?'

'As well as YOU can,' said the Tiger-lily. 'And a great deal louder.'

'How is it you can all talk so nicely?' Alice said, hoping to get it into a better temper by a compliment. 'I've been in many gardens before, but none of the flowers could talk.'

Put your hand down, and feel the ground,' said the Tiger-lily. 'Then you'll know why.'

Alice did so. 'It's very hard,' she said, 'but I don't see what that has to do with 'it.'

'In most gardens,' the Tiger-lily said, 'they make the beds too soft--so that the flowers are always asleep.'

This sounded a very good reason, and Alice was quite pleased to know it. 'I never thought of that before!' she said.

The Menu:

"It's my own  invention."

Mushroom Tarts- chickpea shortbread with mushroom and wild arugula topping

5 Layer Cake- orange cake with cranberry cream and blueberries

Flower Sandwiches- pickled beet butter on whole wheat with chopped egg centers

and of course lots and lots of TEA

The Alice Dolls: Little Pullip Alice & 1966 Madame Alexander Alice

My Mad Tea Party 2013 

click here

watching the celery grow

We are coming down from a week of busy- busy- busy. It feels so good to just stay home and *watch the celery grow. 

By coincidence (more like divine synchronicity) two of our friends, Rin and Holly  happened to be visiting us here in NY from Cambodia during the same week.  They both work with an organization called Water of Life. That's how we met them. Water of Life is a church and an orphanage in Pnom Phen. A couple of years ago my church began visiting and helping to support Water of Life. Through our close contact visiting and working together on various projects these folks have been knit into our family.

 Rin had never been to NY before so of course we wanted to show him a good time. Central Park, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the B'way production of Les Miserables were some of the things crammed into our week together. On top of that we had to show them the natural beauty of NY State. So we climbed a mountain...and had to climb back down. Whew!

Add to these activities VBS (Vacation Bible School) every day. My daughter signed up weeks ago to work at VBS, so we couldn't very well back out now. Our crazy week finished up with my big girl's 15th birthday. By then neither of us wanted or needed to plan a celebration. The whole week was a party! A friend suggested that a bunch of us gals could meet at our favorite tea room for a no stress/ no work birthday tea, so that's what we did. 

It was a wonderful and memorable week, but I'm really happy that I have no plans or obligations this week. The only deadline I have is to make a dress for my young one to wear to the Ren Faire this weekend. Ahhh. 

* The celery thing is fun to do with kids and you get some bonus food. It's a kind of recycling. My young one likes to measure and document the growth. Just take those cut base ends of celery stalks and put them in water. They will not only grow roots, but they will grow more celery. They won't get as big and as thick as they once were but they will grow. 

Berries are Back!

The berries are back. I've posted before about my compulsion to pick. It seems like every time we go for a nature walk these days we end up stuck (literally!) picking berries. Blackberries and wild raspberries are ready to go right now. We get all scratched up and sticky. We battle thorns, poison ivy and spider webs. We need tick checks when we get home (we have lots of nasty ticks here). But we still go into the thickets because it's fun and the reward of wild berries is worth it.

We were lucky to find a running stream to wash off our very sticky hands.

I have been making a lot of berry crumbles, the days have been fairly cool for this time of year and I'm in the mood to bake. I use oats, coconut sugar, butter and whatever flour I happen to grind up. I keep coconut, wheat berries, and other grains in the freezer to make into quick flours in the Vitamix.

Yummy berry scones for tea.

 I am out of berries, so we will be off and picking again later this week. I am always on the lookout for more yummy berry recipe ideas, so if you have any please do share!

My trip to America (I mean Utah)

People from NYC have certain misconceptions about the rest of the country. They tend to look down on the rest as being well...less sophisticated. I am not one of them. In fact I have always had a kind of mythology that everything out there must be sweeter, nicer and cleaner. Everything must surely be less expensive than it is here. 

I have been up and down the East coast. I have been to the West coast. LA and Santa Monica were not what I had in mind when I thought of going "out west". I have been to and around Chicago. No place that I ever visited fit the picture of the America that I have in my head. Until now. Last year our friends moved from NY to Utah. My husband and I decided that visiting them in Utah would be a great way to spend our summer vacation.

As soon as we stepped off that plane things were different. The people were just as friendly as I had imagined. I admit, at first I wasn't comfortable with such effervescence. It seemed a little too "Stepford Wives". But I got used to it pretty quickly, who wouldn't enjoy common curtesy and cheerfulness? I found myself easily slipping into that slower paced, stop and chat with strangers way of life. And those establishments I'd only heard of in the media- Hobby Lobby, Chick-Fil-A, In-N-Out Burger, they were all there to enjoy. 

That was all fun, but the highlight of my trip was experiencing the desert. We visited Arches Park and Goblin Valley and they were both AMAZING. Yep, I found my America. These are the kinds of places I'd seen only in cowboy movies. 

Goblin Valley was like an alien landscape.

It was 110 degrees of blazing sun at Arches Park. We were there for seven hours because  there was so much to see. I used this unusual experience to try a little experiment with the sun. Instead of using sunscreen I covered up with fabric. I dressed in loose cotton clothes. I was covered from my hat to my socks. It provided full coverage protection. Not only did I not burn, but I actually got no color at all! I was also pretty comfortable, as comfortable as one can be in an oven. My daughters were also dressed like this at Arches and the only sunblock I needed to put on them was on the tips of their noses. 

Another beautiful place we visited was Little Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains.  We took a 20 minute chairlift ride up 11,000 feet to the top.  It was 98 degrees at the bottom, when we got off at the top of the mountain there was...

Snow!

We hiked around up there, the view was breathtaking and we saw many Alpine type plants and flowers. It was spectacular.

We went to The Utah Natural History Museum to see all the dinosaurs and to Fantasy Con. When my daughter found out Fantasy Con was going to be in Salt Lake City during our stay we had to go. Not only is she crazy for cosplay, but the Bored Shorts Kid's Snippets guys were scheduled to be there and we are all fans of theirs. All around this was the best family vacation we have ever had and Utah lived up to all my mythological dreams of America.

my summer book pile

I' m very deliberate with my book selections for each season. It's the same with my craft projects. I enjoy certain things more at specific times of the year.

 When the weather is cool I look forward to holing up with a long, long "people" story. Novels in which a hard life builds character or historical fiction are exactly what I want to read when I'm snowed in with a big pot of tea. Similarly, I want winter craft projects that are long and challenging. 

When summer hits I want short and topical. I'll also go for a quick biography. Just the facts please, not something that will be emotionally draining or need pondering over. My attention span is shorter in the summer. I get easily distracted by everything that is so good about this time of year. Summer is spontaneous while winter is well thought out. I must move a plant to a new location because it just doesn't look right, I have to quickly get a bucket for a jelly fish or a jar for some fire flies. Food prep is quicker, getting everyone dressed and out is quicker. These summer days are flying by and I'm not going to miss a thing.

My problem this year is that I seem to have gone a bit overboard with my summer book pile. It's hard to pick which one to read next because I want to start them all right now!

Grabbing at Summer

The last couple of weeks we have been running here and there grabbing at the last drops of summer. I am a follower of seasons and traditions, I don't want to miss out on anything that a season has to offer. Even though I'm just as crazy about whatever season is coming up next, I need to soak up everything, feast my eyes on what is here, RIGHT NOW. I had my last look at the water lilies at the Botanical Garden. They have some of the most beautiful I have ever seen, deep burgundy and apricot. My nine year old snapped this picture. I think it is pretty good,  it's funny how they go for the pink at this age.

That same daughter has a certain hamster toy (named Cream Puff) who has crossed over from inanimate object to vibrant member of our family. She goes everywhere we go. Which means I end up driving back to where we just came from because she somehow gets left behind. I can't tell you how many times I have asked God to lead me to Cream Puff when she has been lost in the woods, restaurant, library, church,  or store. Once I even had to go through a public garbage can to get her back. So far she has always come back to us.

 My daughters get in a tizzy when they think she may be gone for good. I guess it's because there are so many memories of every place they have gone and everything they have done over the last four years. I think she should be retired and made to be house bound. But she is a wild adventurer, always tempting fate, floating in the ocean, getting thrown into trees, being buried in snow. We celebrate Cream Puff's birthday each year, another of our summer rituals. This year she had a party with a blue layer cake, human friends and their hamster toys. 

As long as my family is able to visit a beach, we will. The ocean can take us away from the everyday sometimes petty thoughts that life can bring. It is so big, so deep. Every drop is teeming with life. Any bit you take home with you becomes a treasure. It is both calming and terrifying. There is nothing that compares to the wonder of the ocean. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to share these summer days with my girls.

My elder daughter has been looking forward to The Ren Fest and it has finally come. Another summer treat. She has developed a new character for herself, a gypsy-ish wood elf. She came up with a pretty convincing costume that included latex elf ears, crazy contact lenses and a dagger.

Now I can say that I am officially done with summer. I am ready and excited to welcome autumn. I will now start pulling my favorite fall books. The ones that inspire me to make, cook, and knit all things cozy!

What's for breakfast?

 I don't have a huge appetite in the morning. I like picking though. A cup of good tea is essential. After that we pretty much eat whatever our bodies want. That could mean anything from soup, salad, salmon, to the more traditional oatmeal. Our tastes are seasonal. Pancakes are definitely a fall thing. Fresh baked buns, winter. Tea is the only constant in my breakfast offering. My littlest one needs the most food in the morning. She can't sit still, always burning energy. She wants miso soup, my goat cheese, berries and olives. So she gets it. It keeps her busy and satisfied.

One of my summer day breakfasts. I wake up with a craving for very vinegary salad, so that's what I eat.

During the summer we enjoy pesto bread for breakfast, tea and bedtime snack. My daughter could live on this stuff and sometimes she does. Along with our daily salad dressings it's another way to get loads of fresh garlic into us.

Some days (quite often), this is all I want. I crave good butter. Every day. Some fat is needed in the diet. This is how I take mine, with no guilt. 

We do eat "real" breakfast foods too, like oatmeal or waffles. When the mood strikes I make my all time favorite Vitamix recipe whole wheat waffles. While my girls are having oatmeal with maple syrup I might be eating my oatmeal raw, with lots of seeds or nuts and a shredded apple. Food, like all of life is best lived when it is not monotonous. When I wake up I never know exactly what the day will hold, there are so many choices, so many possibilities. As the seasons and our moods change, why not what's on our plates?

Yarn Berry

My daughter was busy working on Photoshop. "Don't look!", "It's a surprise!" she said whenever I would walk by. She surprised me with this Yarn Berry that she based on my berry blog post.

Of course I had to share it here!

Then we went picking again...

I promise my next post will have nothing to do with berries.