Happy Birthday, Dave! Take 2!

A Birthday Tribute to My Husband

It’s more accurate to call this a belated birthday tribute to my husband. Today is Sunday, and tomorrow it will be one week since his actual birthday. Luckily, we have a way of turning events into movable feasts when the situation calls for it, as it does this year. Today, I am in Taiwan and Dave is in the US (in Iowa) with his mother and sister. He is there to help with his sister’s upcoming surgery and recovery. And while we both feel it is important for him to be there, we both find it difficult to be apart.

More than one person has told me I have the best husband in the world. My response is usually to tell them that it’s because he has the best wife in the world! They usually agree, but I think they’re only humoring me. The accompanying eye-roll is a dead giveaway.

Truth be told, he is pretty wonderful. He makes my life easier in so many ways. When he joined me in Taiwan two years ago, we decided that he would not get a job in one of the local cram schools; instead, he would take over the household chores and assist me in my work tasks, so that I could do additional writing and editing work.Of course, Dave, being Dave, goes beyond the basics. In addition to the cooking, dishes, laundry, shopping, and cleaning, he does so many extras. He keeps the water bottle on my nightstand filled; he sets out my pills in one of those organizers; and he even makes coffee for me every day. This last one is particularly significant in light of the fact that he doesn’t even drink the stuff.

When it comes to my job, he goes to classes with me, gets the copying done, and provides coffee and other refreshments as needed desired. Sometimes, he gets to the classroom ahead of me and signs me in to the computer and our online system so that I can just come into the classroom and hit the ground running.

He has gotten to know our neighborhood pretty well. In addition to the grocery shopping, he does the monthly trek to the bank to wire money to the US. He walks me to the coffee shop when I go for a work session there, arranging a pick-up time to come and retrieve me. Sometimes, he checks out stores in the area and arranges to arrive at our pre-determined pick-up time.He accompanies me on crazy adventures when the opportunities arise, even if we’re not sure where we’re going. He even goes to the fabric district in Taipei with me. 

A Gift Paradox

No tribute to Dave would be complete without mentioning his amazing ability to comb thrift stores for treasures. The downside is that sometimes we get inundated with stuff. But there are some amazing treasures and it is clear that he pays attention to the people in his life. He’s great at finding treasures on e-Bay as well.

Interestingly, he is the first person in my life for whom I have difficulty finding gifts.I am a person who makes gifts for others and who enjoys surprising people with all kinds of gifts. It’s fun to figure out what might delight and surprise friends and family. But when it comes to Dave, I’m often baffled. Maybe it’s because he scouts out the things he wants for himself at the same time he’s scouting for others. I don’t know the holes in his collections and hobbies. When we’re separated (like now), I find this gifting thing even more difficult. So when I do come up with an idea, I get a little more excited about it than is probably warranted. But I take my thrills where I can get them.   

Right from the beginning, Dave has been one of my blog’s biggest supporters, even though he didn’t totally understand its importance to me when I first started. He thought he was being helpful when he suggested that I not put pressure on myself to publish on a schedule. He didn’t understand at first that the blog was important to me because it filled a need I had to do something for me. Since I had given up my quilting for a while, the blog has given me a creative outlet that can’t be expressed in fabric right now. When I explained this to Dave, he listened, and from that point, he’s never suggested putting off the blog again. He puts up with my late nights when I’m trying to publish before the clock strikes 12. He helps me with motivation tactics and good humor. He believes in me. After my unintended two-week break from the blog, he was supportive as I tried to get back on track.

So it seemed only fitting that I would use the blog to surprise him for his birthday, even if I am a little late.

Our Ongoing Journey

And in case you think that he’s perfect, I will spill on his one flaw. Sometimes, he drives me crazy when he tries to be Mr. Fix-It Guy, and I just need an ear so I can vent. It can be sweet and irritating simultaneously as he tries to offer suggestions for making everything better again. But he’s gotten better at picking up the signals when I just need him to listen to me, and he can squelch the suggestions–at least most of the time. But when I DO need Mr. Fix-It Man, he’s right there!   

Sometimes I wonder why he is so taken with me. When I’m stressed, I feel like I’m not a lot of fun to be with. And sometimes, it seems like I’m stressed A LOT! But he is patient, gentle, and caring. He makes it clear in hundreds of ways, large and small that he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

During this separation, Facebook chat and Skype conversations keep us going. Memories we’ve created together, and hopes we have for the future keep us strong through the challenges of this time apart. But when all is said and done, I have total confidence in him and his love for me. And I am grateful for another year to show him how much I appreciate him.

H A P P Y   B I R T H D A Y,   D A V E !

 

My Recent Adventures with The Cat in the Hat

The Disappearing Blog Posts

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss, 1957 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You may have noticed that I haven’t posted in more than two weeks. A few people asked me what was going on. I asked myself what was going on. How could something that I wanted and enjoyed disappear from my calendar? Unfortunately, it seemed to have devolved into just one more thing that showed up on my to-do list twice a week. And increasingly, it became one of the things that kept getting put aside.

Interestingly, the subtitle of this blog is TIME, SPACE, MONEY, THINGS.. This post is all about focusing on the THINGS part of it. And who better to start this literary journey than those endearing creatures from Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat—Thing 1 and Thing 2. Aren’t they just so cute? Wouldn’t it be fun to have around?

If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading this book or having it read to you, you’ve missed out. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard it and then read it as I was growing up and then with my own children after that. I think this summer, I may have to introduce Mr. Logan to The Cat. 

Story Time

Sally and her brother (who serves as the narrator) are left alone while their mother goes out for the afternoon, entrusting them to follow the rules. Because it is raining, they are indoors. They are bored as they sit in front of the window just looking outside at the rain.

That’s when the Cat in the Hat shows up. A rather insistent fellow, he’s not put off by our narrator’s recitation of his mother’s rules. He keeps insisting that they need to have fun and that there is lots of fun to be had even when it’s raining outside. Over the course of the next undetermined length of time, the CitH shows them a variety of activities that they can do, all of them threatening to mess up the house and get the the two children in trouble. Even the talking pet fish tries to get them to make the Cat go away, but the Cat isn’t budging.

As if the Cat in the Hat weren’t causing enough trouble on his own, he went outside to retrieve a box. When he opens it, out bound Thing 1 and Thing 2. These two appear to be on an unmitigated mission to create total mayhem. Their success can be measured by the increasing dismay you see on the two youngsters’ faces as they become increasingly worried about how their mother will respond to the mess upon her return.

I don’t want to spoil the ending, so I’ll stop there. The Wikipedia link above has the rest of the story if you can’t stand the suspense. If you have a child in your life (or maybe even if you don’t), you might want to invest in the book. If you like this story, you might want to pick up The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, too. I might have to pick up another copy. I’ll use Mr. Logan as an excuse.  <wink, wink!>

My Own Thing 1 and Thing 2

If you’re a follower of my blog, you may recall (Come on, it hasn’t been THAT long!) my struggle with an overwhelming series of projects and responsibilities. While I’ve made some minor progress in my attempts at clearing away the list of tasks, it takes a lot longer to get out from under the pile than it ever took to create it. I sometimes am not very productive. Or at least, not very productive in MY opinion.

The problem is that I tend to get overwhelmed, so that even when I have time to work on things, I don’t always take full advantage of it. I realized that there is a separate organization issue involved in making progress on these projects. It’s not about just time management, but thing management–the physical organization of stuff. If I motivate myself to work on a particular project but can’t find the pieces of paper and other paraphernalia I need, I am soon at a dead end. Reaching that point reminds me of how I would if the Cat in the Hat brought Thing 1 and Thing 2 to visit me. Except that in my case, I also have Thing 48, Thing 79, and Thing 6,350, and all of the Things in between (too numerous to mention by name). And while 2 of them look really cute, they lose their appeal long before 6,350.

Duh! It turns out that once there are that many things, it doesn’t matter if they’re ones I want to spend time with or I feel obligated to spend time with. There are just plain too many of them. I am overwhelmed by ALL of them, pleasurable or otherwise. It’s like stress and eustress. Good stress, bad stress: to our bodies, it’s all the same, and too much is too much. My containers in were overflowing in multiple categories.

Return of the Blog

Which brings me back to my blog. Every time I thought about getting back to it, there were so many loose ends, so many THINGS that I needed to resolve. How many two-part (or more) ideas had been left undone? I know that the blog benefits are that you can do things in any order you want. It’s MY blog. But I started feeling that my blog was being overrun by those hyperactive little Things threatening my sanity and my blog. I became immobilized. Overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities.

So I sort of lost sight of the clearing that I was working on through the winter season. But now, I’m back. In this moment of clarity, I can focus on eliminating the unnecessary clutter, and make room for what’s important. I will have access to what I need to work to on when a time slot is available. I can plot a course back to the clearing and begin to expand it. And meanwhile, I will be blogging again. I can also order those Dr. Seuss books for my summer visit with Mr. Logan.

See you next time!

 

A Spring Adventure in Taiwan (1): Recharging the Spirit

Outings in Taiwan

Hsinchu_County, Taiwan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lately, I have been thinking more and more about seeing more of this beautiful island I’ve called home for nearly four years. I’ve seen many interesting sites in northwestern Taiwan, but I’ve yet to head east or south. Still, the places I’ve been have been enchanting. Particularly, when I visit the mountain villages near Hsinchu with my friend, Mei-Hung.

I first met Mei-Hung at Christmas my first year in Taiwan at the home of mutual friends. Shortly after that meeting, I was dog-sitting for those same mutual friends while they were in Malaysia. That is when Mei-Hung and I had our first adventure to Old Street in Hukou, a trip I will recap in a later post. Then last year, my husband joined our adventure that took us on a series of errands and outings that resulted in an ongoing day of wonderful surprises. 

My personal tendency is to plan things out and to know what’s going to happen next. But on these days, I surrender to the spontaneity of her “plans.” I say that because, while she definitely researches possibilities and discovers lots of ideas, no plan is ever final until the car is parked. We will be driving along and suddenly, she starts thinking out loud, and the plans start changing form again. But we’ve come to refer to our trips as adventures, and we both like it that way.

When she picked me up at the train station in Hsinchu, she asked me if I wanted mountains or water, and I’m so spoiled by the mountain trips that I opted for that direction again. Our first stop, a bakery that had been closed during last year’s adventure. This time, she had checked and found that Thursday and Saturday were their baking days, so we were in luck.

BK Fun Bakery

Entrance to BK Bakery (Photo Credit: Deborah Kraklow)

I loved this path. The smell from the wood-fired bakery beckoned us to come closer. The building itself was small and old. Screen doors on delicate wood frames were pushed open to reveal a room domnated by a large work table. To the left (and kitty corner from the door) was the stone oven. This bakery is the result of a man who left his job in Hsinchu’s Science Park and took up a dream to have a bakery. During his travels, he discovered German bread. He bought a brick oven bakery and started experimenting with recipes. He and his wife have created a life full of meaning that allows them to do what they love and to give back to the community. Even though the building is very tiny, it is a peaceful place, full of hospitality, and scintillating scents and flavors.

The day we arrived, they were baking nine types of bread. You can check out the varieties they bake here (make sure to scroll to the top before all the comments). Mei-Hung had ordered one of each before we arrived. She went through them and left a few for some other visitors who followed us.Their breads have no eggs. His wife teaches people who come in about the nutritional value of the breads, fruits, and nuts. The sample plates include some of each of the breads they are baking that day, as well as olive oil, coconut paste, and other dips and spreads.

The breads are so dense and crusty. After a taste of cranberry orange bread, I was sold. But then, I tasted the nut bread, and I found out just how fickle I can be. I loved the nut bread. So as Mei-Hung went through the breads set aside for her, she made sure to keep the nut one in her order, and she gave it to me to take home. Yum!

A few more pictures from the bakery:

The largest pineapple cake I’ve ever seen.

They gave us a free sample of this to take home! So different than the usual pineapple cake. That sourdough taste and wonderful crust!

This is a view of the oven. They were gracious about letting me move around the space and take photos. Here’s one of him moving things in the oven.

Here’s his wife, cutting up the breads of the day.

Here are all the visitors enjoying the samples.

You can see the spot on the table where online orders are filled and readied for delivery.

What a great start to our adventure. And the souvenirs we brought home are great, too! If you want to poke around their website, there is lots of information, once you click the translate button. Next stop: a Hakka tea factory.

 

The stuff that really matters

Reblogged from HeatherBlog:

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Ten days ago, a truck pulled up to Steve’s and my rented home and disgorged a pile of boxes into the garage. Boxes full of books, boots, clothes, VHS tapes … boxes full of memories, and the possessions we’ve amassed together over the past 27 years.

But as I stood in front of the pile last weekend, I had an epiphany: “I don’t want it back,” I said to Steve.

Read more… 487 more words

I haven't posted about the "things" aspect of organizing much, even though I have lots to say. But this post from Heather really captures many aspects of why we do and don't keep things. I love her epiphany and wanted to share it.

 

Anticipation: The Shen Yun Performing Arts World Tour

(Photo credit: 精彩绝伦的表演)

Reviving 5000 Years of Civilization

I’m so thrilled to be going to see this performance tonight. On the Shen Yun Performing Arts World Tour, there are two stops in Taiwan, and one of those locations is only a 30 minute taxi ride from my apartment. OK, maybe it will take longer in rush hour, but I don’t care! I haven’t been to a live cultural performance in several years, and never in Taiwan.

A chance email arrived all in Chinese, with a note to click the above link if I didn’t speak Chinese. I’m so glad I did. Take a look at this:

However, I almost lost out. I only waited two days, but when I went to buy tickets online, the night I wanted was sold out. Then when I found just a few seats for tonight, it turned out I couldn’t buy the tickets online anymore. And the instructions for those of us who are pokey about following through were only in Chinese. Luckily, it turned out that we could buy the tickets at the convenience store. So off we went, and I was able to secure the tickets. Whew!

So tonight’s the night, and even though I have a ton of work to do, taking a break is definitely the right thing to do. I’ll explain more about that when I report back on this event.

If you want to learn more, the website has an incredible array of information about all things Shen Yun, including absolutely stunning pictures of some of the costumes.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, even if doesn’t include an awesome outing.

(Photo credit: 精彩绝伦的表演)

 

Accepting the Inspiring Blogger Award

Thank you to Shaun at Looking for Reasoning to a Complicated World for nominating me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. I am thrilled to have this nomination and to have the opporunity to share it with other bloggers as well. Thanks, Shaun!

The rules: 

1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you.
3. State 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them.
5. Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award’s requirements.

Seven things about myself:

1. In January of last year, we adopted a rescue dog, a chihuahua. Truth be told, she acts more like a cat than a dog, but I wouldn’t trade her for the world. Besides, I love cats. I always thought I’d never have a dog, but here she is!

2. My maternal grandmother taught me to knit, and a college roommate taught me to crochet.

3. For many years, I was a traveling piano teacher, going from house to house. Some weeks, I had as many as 55 lessons.

4. I took ballet lessons for two years, in the third and fourth grades. In the fifth grade, my parents gave me a choice to continue dance or start piano lessons. If you wonder what my choice was, see #3.

5. My first plane trip was when I was 18. I flew from Boston (where I was attending a music conference) back home in Michigan (where I was going to play the music for a friends’ wedding).

6. I have eaten stinky tofu (a question asked of foreigners in Taiwan quite often). It’s not bad. I don’t seek it out, but I don’t really mind it.

7. My favorite movie of all time is The Wizard of Oz. I’ve watched it countless times, along and with others.

Now to nominate 15 other blogs.

I know some people accept and some don’t. For me, I love this part of community building and discovering what other bloggers are doing. So, here are 15 fellow bloggers I would like to nominate.

1. Sue Vincent at Daily Echo

2. Kate Ruiz at SincerelyKate

3. Stephanie Verni at Steph’s Scribe

4. Rick Mallery at Power Shorts Daily

5. Joycelyn Campbell at give me a daisy

6. Megan Halvorson at MegGoesNomNom

7. Penelope Jones at Bad Penny’s always to blame

8. Michelle Dicken at And That’s All She Wrote

9. Stephanie Verni at Steph’s Scribe

10, Janine Russell There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. –Ernest Hemingway

11. 52 Brand New

12. Fabulous 50′s

13. Life on a Dirt Road

14. TakingCandyFromBaby

15.80% Coffee & A Little Bit of Sass

Congratulations to all the nominees and thanks again to Shaun. Looking forward to seeing more of your blogging activities.

 

Another Season: Another Keyword

Four Seasons

Four Seasons – Longbridge Road (Photo credit: joiseyshowaa)

Wednesday was the first day of spring, and in keeping with my commitment to seasonal keywords, I am ready to announce my choice for spring. The habit of using seasonal keywords has provided me with a way to visualize my short-term goals in an effort to free-up the future. I want to have more time for pursuing the things that give me meaning, but my schedule has been too hectic, a condition that is a direct result of a lack of awareness. If this practice and focus have done nothing else for me, they have shown me that I have been moving through my life on auto-pilot, responding to distractions without having a solid compass that leads me back to true north, or my authentic self.

For each season, I choose a keyword. Then I look for a visual representation that helps me keep these keyword in sight throughout the season. The picture for each season reminds me of my intention and keeps me focused on the spirit of the keyword. Interestingly, the process also leads from one season to another without a lot of thinking about what keyword is next. In other words, once I came up with the first keyword, the next ones have presented themselves with little conscious effort on my part.

Fall 2012

CLAMOR (photo credit: Gustave Miller)

When my friend recommended that I try this keyword thing, I struggled a little bit to find just the right keyword. Not that I was going for perfection–that’s not my thing. But I wanted something “worthy,” something that was worth focusing on for a whole season. However, I found myself in a state of confusion trying to figure out what keyword could possibly help me focus on what needed to be done. All of my responsibilities were so overwhelming that I felt I was simply rushing from one crisis to another. So whatever activity or project or deadline was clamoring the loudest got my attention. That was how clamor came to be the keyword for fall.

As I struggled to find some way through all of the intense activity and create some kind of path to make the future less chaotic, this picture helped focus my attention on making sense out of all the noise and confusion. I started recognizing how my lack of attention had contributed to my lack of understanding about how I was letting my whole life be hijacked by unexamined requests and projects. Still, I couldn’t just drop everything. So all the clamoring led me to the next season.

Winter 2012

Fall had taught me that I needed to be more aware, more intentional about what I did. By the time Winter was approaching, I knew that my keyword needed to be clearing. While I could not simply abandon the activities that filled my days and weeks, I knew I had to focus on finishing things up and clearing space for the new. The big difference, however, is that the new would not simply be whatever popped into my line of vision and grabbed my attention. The new had to be the things that would bring meaning to my life. Activities that would make it exciting to get up in the morning and would energize me.

I declared a moratorium on new activities and responsibilities, and tried to focus on completion. I did the moratorium for 30 days. I’ve officially renewed it once, and I’ve unofficially continued it into March. It may be time to tighten up the reins on that one and rededicate myself to it.

The winter keyword has been helpful, but still difficult because I don’t have a good sense of what is next. I’ve been so busy responding to all the distractions (disguised as opportunities) for so long that I don’t really know what I’m clearing for. This is partly explained by my personality type. It’s easier for me to let the needs and desires of others determine my path than for me to choose my own. Yet, I knew that the next step required that I find out what exactly will be meaningful to me, not just something that sounds interesting or something that I do for someone else’s definition of meaning.

Spring 2013

In my post about choice a few weeks ago, I discovered that when I’m clear about what is really important, the doing of the necessary tasks is not in question. I just do them. Even if they aren’t pleasant. It’s just what I do. As soon as the clarity is gone, as soon as I start thinking it’s time to choose what to do next, I get tangled up and accomplish very little. So my keyword for spring was simple: clarity.

Like the keyword for winter, this one came to me organically out of the experience of the previous season. By the time fall came to an end, I knew that clearing was important. Likewise, as spring approached, I knew that clarity was essential. The keyword of clarity is my attempt to create a sense of space and meaning in my life. To enjoy the day to day experiences of doing activities that reinforce that meaning. It can lead me to know what my next move is. If I have a strong inner compass and know who I am and what I want to create, I won’t be lost. I wilI stop choosing activities and responsibilities that have no connection to meaning. More importantly, I will stop simply responding to the multitude of diversions floating around me. I am looking for my center and will test new ideas and projects before giving them a home in my calendar.

The clearing isn’t finished, but as I continue the process, I now seek clarity as I take the time to know myself better and discover what kind of meaning I really want to create in my life. I have so much Farther to Go!

Related articles

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