two birthdays and a funeral

I have compulsive move planning disorder. I would like to escape from my own thoughts about moving...but the question is where...

and then I'm back to planning.

My mind is like a radio on search mode, looking for a signal strong enough to land on. I think about the familiar comforts of this place and the opportunities in that place. I hear Mary singing in Chinese, a song about a "little well-behaved rabbit" and I think "stay in China."

But the sun also rises in Beijing, in a word, eerily, like the mysterious dawning of a new red orb shrouded in grey film.

"Is that the moon Mama?" "Is that Mars?"

...and health issues become a concern. Airlift us please! We need real sunlight.

Here's a picture of Thursday morning. I just sent the kids off to the bus stop. I hope they find their way. I'm sure this is mostly fog, but it doesn't smell good.

I think about how to make everyone happy. Saturday morning I was getting Grant ready for the day.

"Mama, I go see lion." He said.

I think about a place with a good zoo...Salt Lake City, D.C.

"I go jungle." He says with a roar.

Sorry Grant. I'm not thinking about Africa.

Saturday afternoon, Olivia and Sora were looking for something on the refrigerator.

"Where's that picture of Michael Jackson?" She asked.

"You mean the magnet I bought in Nashville?" I asked.

"That's Elvis."

Easy mistake. Does anyone have a copy of Third Culture Kids?

What does any of this have to do with cherry pie? Monday February 22, we celebrated George Washington's birthday with our traditional cherry pie.

I think it's kind of too bad that we have President's Day and Martin Luther King Day on a convenient Monday, It makes me forget the real date, and you don't feel the real aura of history. Having said that, we also celebrated Abraham Lincoln Monday night, with our second annual Chicken Fricassee dinner. Last year, I had Kyle Google Abraham Lincoln's favorite foods, that's what we came up with.

It took me all day to make this and the pie . I think everyone would have preferred if I had stopped at the crunchy fried chicken pieces stage...

... but after the frying stage you have to add water to make a gravy and then boil the dumplings in it.

I couldn't sleep Monday night. That meal was so rich that when I closed my eyes, I just saw simmering dumplings.

Monday afternoon, Ben made a sad discovery. Stripe, his turtle of two years had passed on. He was heartbroken and in tears, but cheered up when I suggested a burial.

Grant pronounced the eulogy.

"Turtle is died."