Tag Archives: Morocco

Flowers on a Spring Morning – Viburnum – Reminiscent of the Fresh and Fragrant Jasmine of North Africa

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There’s nothing like a Spring morning. The sun comes up and bounces light off the different flowering plants in the yard. As the birds start their wake-up singing, it’s as if the sun also turns up the fragrance of those flowers blessed with sweet scent.

Outside my kitchen window a large bush stands bare-branched all winter. By March, leaf shoots give way to soft green leaves. Then pink buds pop out, and as they open, clusters of soft white flowers unfold.2016 March - Spring Flowers - like Jasmine 004

This bush is a Viburnum. As best I can tell, it is a Viburnum carlesii ‘Aurora’ (aka Korean Spice Viburnum). There are many varieties of this flowering shrub and it grows in various spots around the world, including the Atlas Mountains of North Africa.

The flowers are lovely but the best part of this plant for me is its fragrance. It reminds me of the Jasmine flowers we enjoyed in all the countries we lived overseas (Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco).

This morning, I pushed open the backdoor of our house to enter the yard. Coffee in hand, I wanted to just experience this brightening morning. The fragrance of that flowering Viburnum carried me back across the Atlantic – to a life lovingly tucked deep in my memory.

Breathing in the scent of our flowering Viburnum takes me back to Spring mornings in North Africa – with the sun streaming early through the bedroom windows. Then as now, I started my morning early, lingering in bed with coffee (thanks always, Dave), Bible, and journal. The slightest breeze would deliver that magical scent of Jasmine. The scent of Jasmine and the sounds of morning. Birds singing. Dogs barking on the street. The sellers passing by on bikes and donkey carts calling out their wares. The traffic noise building as the minutes went by. Still…the smell of Jasmine in three countries has stayed with me all these years.jasmine by boisdejasminPhoto Credit: BoisdeJasmin

In those days, the weariness of travel was brightened by a necklace of Jasmine bought with little from a seller at the airport or on the street. We would wear these little flower strands or place them around our rear-view mirror in the car. Sometimes sellers also had mini-bouquets of Jasmine. One of these tucked in a pocket or just carried could ease a hot, troubling day. Jasmine would become my favorite flower.

Jasmine necklace at atalorder (2)Jasmine - mabellereceptionPhoto Credit: Atalorder, Pinterest

We haven’t planted Jasmine yet, but my friend Kathy, in Tennessee, has it on her deck. I can practically smell it through her pictures.Blog - Jasmine - Kathy VisneskiPhoto Credit: Kathryn Visneski

The flowers of our Viburnum won’t last long.  In fact, this one week is its glorious high season. Because of the connection it gives me to our years of Jasmine, it’s like two flowers in one. The scent of one reminding me of the other. We are doubly blessed on these flowering Spring mornings.2016 March - Spring Flowers - like Jasmine 007

How To Start a Garden – Jen Miller of Jen Reviews

5 Friday Faves Plus a Bonus – New Year, Fruit in Season, Shepherding People, Decluttering & Thrift Shops, Self-awareness, and a Playlist

Blog - Friday Faves

Happy New Year! Thanks for stopping by. It means a lot. Here are 5 plus 1 faves of this week. Hope you find them helpful and/or refreshing for your first day of 2016.

1) New Year StormsLeslie Leyland Fields wrote a fascinating piece for us as we face the New Year. She reflects on the Apostle Peter’s experience of a stormy sea and applies that to our personal storms. The One who calms storms is the same today as then.  We all hope for a fair weather year, but staying storm-ready is wisdom.Blog - Winter Storm - gull - Theo BosboomPhoto Credit: NaturePhotoBlog.com – Theo Bosboom

2009 May Trip to Scotland 276Our son Daniel in Scotland

2) Fruit in Season – When we first moved to Egypt, I was happily surprised at the long growing season of this desert nation. With irrigation from the Nile River, and the hot sunny days, we had yummy fruit for many months. Fruit that, in the US, we would have too briefly. Large luscious strawberries in December were a special treat in Egypt.Blog - Fruit in Season - Strawberries - EgyptPhoto Credit: Fresh Plaza

Mandarin season in Morocco is also very special. Ripe from the tree. Sweet and perfectly juicy. It’s mandarin season now. Happy New Year!2015 December - Phone Pics - Christmas, Delaware, Sadie, Blog 045Photo Credit: Sarah Storm

3) Shepherding People – Think of those for whom you steward leadership. Shepherding does not just apply to pastors and churches, but to parents and children, and to those in our charge in the workplace. Abraham Kuyper writes of our example of the shepherds watching their sheep on the night of Jesus’ birthday. “If the shepherds in Ephrata’s fields had not been faithfully involved in keeping watch over their flock, they would have seen nothing of that night’s brilliance, witnessed nothing of the Lord’s glory shining around them, heard no angel song, and would never have paid homage to God’s Holy Child. Doesn’t the same apply to you? The heavens still sometimes open.” It is often in the ordinary faithfulnesses of the day that we see the most extraordinary…if we keep watch.Blog - Sheep & Shepherd - bpnews.netPhoto Credit: BPNews.net

4) Decluttering & Favorite Thrift Shops – If December doesn’t drive us to look at our household clutter, January sure will. I struggle with this. Holding on to beloved books and sentimental bits of this or that. Or those precious piles of “things I may need later”. The article 200 Things to Throw Away Today was very helpful for me this week. She gives a tremendous array of things I can work with, and there is no judging. Whew! You also don’t have to “throw away” all these items because there are various avenues through which you can recycle, repurpose, or reuse (including local agencies that help house the homeless, for instance). Two of my favorite small business thrift shops in our neighborhood are 2BInspired and Nomadic Attic.

Blog - Small Business - Thrift Shop - 2 Be InspiredPhoto Credit: 2BInspired

Blog - Friday Fave - Small Business - Nomadic AtticPhoto Credit: Nomadic Attic

Decluttering: 300+ Things to Throw Away Today – City Waste Services

5) Self-Awareness – Matt Monge of The Mojo Company published a great pre-New Year article on 13 Questions to Increase Your Self-Awareness. Our default with people is to scrutinize those around us as to how they are doing life, work, relationships. Self-awareness seemed a negative thing because anything with “self” in front of the word must not be good. Right? Wrong! The questions Matt presents are so insightful. Two of my favorites were: Did I demonstrate vulnerability today? If not, why not? What is the root cause of my reluctance to do so? and Was my leadership today reflective of someone who views his role as one of a steward rather than one who views the team and organization as something to be used for my benefit?

I want to go into 2016 having done my homework such that, at least, I have looked at my own heart, thinking, and motivations…first! Don’t miss this gem of a piece before heading back to work on Monday.Blog - themojocompany.com - self-awarenessPhoto Credit: The Mojo Company

6) A Playlist – What a delight when someone else does the work of putting together a playlist. I still have some audiocassettes, from our days in Egypt, that local friends put together with our pop music favorites of that time. Mary Carver (co-author with Sarah Frankl of the new book Choose Joy) put together a playlist to take us into the New Year. Every one will make you smile, dance around, or just have a mind break to reset toward job. Enjoy!

Blog - 31 Songs of JoyPhoto Credit: GivingUpOnPerfect.com

The video below is a bonus bonus. It’s been viewed a lot, but I only saw it yesterday. It reminded me of a book I read years ago by television producer Bob Briner. In Roaring Lambs, he challenged us to use whatever profession we are in to be “culture-altering” for good. These hair stylists are sure an example of that. Lovely.

Would love you to share one of your week’s favorites. Please use the comments section. Have an amazing start to your New Year! Step by step.

O Holy Night – a Christmas Memory Set in Casablanca, Morocco

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As we tuck our Christmas 2015 memories away, one sweet distant memory was stirred this weekend. First, a little background of how it came to mind after many years…

We listen to Christmas music starting in October, so we delight in those radio stations that play it non-stop from Thanksgiving through December 25. My favorite radio station (Positive Hits PERS)  continues, this week, to intersperse their playlist with Christmas songs…maybe until the New Year, and I am grateful.

Because of all that playtime, it was in the car, on Sunday, that I heard Mariah Carey sing O Holy Night. Blog - O Holy Night - TwitterPhoto Credit: Maxwell on Twitter

Then the memory flooded in…with so much joy… of another singing of O Holy Night. It was during the month of Ramadan over 10 years ago, in Morocco. That year Ramadan fell during November/December. One of the delights of Ramadan for us expats  (who were foreigners to its observance) was an international merchandise fair held every night. Blog - Ramadan Fair - MoroccoPhoto Credit: The Daily Beast

That year we went to the Ramadan Fair for Christmas presents. The fair is held in a massive exhibition hall, and the aisles are filled with imported and specialty goods of all sorts – specialty foods and other edible treats, clothing, toys, and décor. My friend, Terri, and I drove to the center of Casablanca one evening when the fair opened, after the breaking of the Ramadan fast. Our three teenaged daughters were with us.

It was a festive, funky time. We spoke Arabic to those vendors who spoke Arabic, and English to the Chinese, Pakistani, and Indian vendors, and broken French to the Senegalese vendors. It was a great night of shopping as we carried bags of treasures back to our car in the packed parking lot.

On the ride home, we sang Christmas carols. These family friends are known for their incredible vocal abilities. Terri and her daughters, Stephanie and Vanessa, are masters at 3-part harmony. My daughter Christie and I could at least blend in well enough.

We drove through the city, on that mild winter evening, singing our hearts out for Christmas. Pulling in front of their house, we were just starting O Holy Night. I don’t think we give it a thought as to who might be listening and wondering at that car loaded with women filling the night with that glorious song.

When we finished the song, we didn’t speak at first, silenced by the magic of that moment. To be so far from our homes and traditions in the US, and yet to find that place of sweet community. In a dark car, on a Ramadan night, in Casablanca…for us, a tiny group of American friends – it truly was a holy night.

Blog - O Holy Night - Christmas MemorySteph, Nessa, and Terri holding Christie (with brother Jared’s help)

2006 June -- Plant fam #3 fullsizeThat Family – All I Want For Christmas Is YouChristie, Steph, NessaHigh School Buddies

Maroc Mama website – for a taste of Morocco

Crossing Cultures and Making Friends with Music – Friendship Fest, Marrakesh, Morocco

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I missed hearing David Crowder sing last night in a city not too far away, because a first grandchild could be arriving any day. Priorities.

Blog - Friendship Fest - Crowder Band (2)Photo Credit: BPNews.net

Still, thinking about how much joy his music gives me got me reminiscing about another concert…in a far place…years ago.

We were living in Morocco at the time, and all our children were high schoolers. Somehow we heard about this crazy music event called Friendship Fest being held in Marrakesh. It was a weekend-long festival of Moroccan artists sharing the stage with international bands. Some of our favorite bands were on the roster.Blog - Friendship FestPhoto Credit: Friendshipfest.com

It was May, 2005. Our kids were still in school, but we took off for a long weekend in Marrakesh. Carloads of friends (local and foreign)made that trip. To be a part of such an event would probably be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we weren’t going to miss it.

The Newsboys band (in those days with Peter Furler) was my draw. For my husband and guitarist son, Nathan, it was more Phil Keaggy maybe. The thrill of just being there also compelled us all, joining an audience of friends and hundreds (later we found out it was 1000’s) of Moroccans. So amazing!2015 Aug Flowers, Blog, Friendship Fest 007

All that balmy May weekend, on this open fairground, the artists took turns on stage. A Moroccan group (hiphop, reggae, pop) and then a foreign band would perform. The audience was pumped. People coming and going but most of us staying, mesmerized.Blog - Friendship Fest - Moroccan BandBlog - Friendship Fest - Moroccan Band playing with Phil KeaggyBlog - Friendship Fest 2 (2)Blog - Friendship Fest 4Blog - Friendship Fest 6Blog - Friendship Fest - Newsboys 7Friendship Fest Delirious Blog - Friendship Fest - Newsboys 5

So I’ll stop with the pictures. If only there was a way to describe the sounds, the emotion, the energy, the unity we felt together on those evenings. How the artists engaged the audience. It was completely captivating.

I’ll close this out with a YouTube video of Delirious? singing History-maker during Friendship Fest. At 3:09, you will start seeing a bit of the huge audience (85,000 people over a weekend). Our teenagers and their friends were up front, but we hung in the back of the crowd. Seeing all those Moroccan young people and kids from other parts of the world jumping together to that great song still gives me goosebumps. Joy!

Musical Event Celebrating Community and Friendship Between Americans and Moroccans to Continue

YouTube Video – Jeremy Camp Live at Friendship Fest, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2005

Friendship Fest DVD

The First Waltz, Documentary of Friendship Fest (if you can find it)

Finally, Spring

2015 March American Idol & Spring Blog 027“So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.”Hosea 6:3

Our first March in this house, and we are surrounded by the gray, brown, and dark green of winter. After the cold dreariness of winter, you wonder if Spring will ever come. Then, the miracle of life unseen, nurtured somehow under the topsoil, unfolds itself pushing through to the sun. With the melting of our last winter snow, came the first flowers…as if by magic. 2015 March Downton American Idol  Trip to Georgia  Papa 099 (2)

This time of year is such a mystery and a marvel to me. For months, the ground is gray-brown, seemingly barren. Dead. Dormant. Then the first signs of life, and each day more pop up, heralding another Spring. A picture in nature of the faithfulness of God – “as certain as the dawn”.2015 March American Idol & Spring Blog 0012015 March American Idol & Spring Blog 0022015 March American Idol & Spring Blog 011Most of the green shoots appearing right now we didn’t plant. The last homeowner left us a beautiful garden that we now tend and make our own. Dave, the resident gardener who is my husband, has an idea of what all these plants are. For me, it’s enough that they are growing, inches a day, with the promise of flowers soon. It’s part of the wonder of Spring: what all must happen underground to yield all the green we see now, and the amazing colors we will soon see.

Dave did plant irises for us last June – they were a gift from our neighbor, Liz, who has a yard full of purple-blue, bearded irises. These remind me of my mom’s yard. She loved irises and I love them because of her. 2014 May Flowers 004These iris shoots are coming up, and whether they bloom this year or not…just seeing them has given me that springtime hopefulness.2015 March American Idol & Spring Blog 028

When we lived all those years in Morocco, Spring came early. By March, the temperate winter weather and soaking rains had already produced fields of flowers. We had pots of flowers on our apartment balcony all year round. I miss Morocco…and the glory of those early Springs.2006 March -- Boys at full size

Here, we plant in our gray-brown garden beds in March, trusting that just like with crocuses, daffodils, irises, and daisies of Springs before, we will watch seeds and bulbs do what they are created to do…grow and grow and grow.2015 March American Idol & Spring Blog 033

2015 March American Idol & Spring Blog 015

We moved into this house the end of May last year. After living for decades in city apartments and rented houses, this was our first summer to enjoy a yard of our own. It was so beautiful, and we look forward to the return of all those flowers from last year. We will not wish one day away from Spring, though. Finally, it has arrived.2014 May Flowers 0212014 May Flowers 0432014 May Flowers 0372014 June - Visits with Friends 013 (2)

Food Favorites Cross Cultures – but Not Always – Hilarious Foodie Videos

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“Culture, when it comes to food, is, of course, a fancy word for your mom.” – Michael Pollan

Food and culture are such an important part of each other. Our relationships and our memories are flavored by the food we share. It could be Thanksgiving dinner in our home in Morocco (photo above), or Thanksgiving on my Mom’s buffet in Georgia (photos below).Blog - Foodie - use this one too

Blog - Foodie - Use this one

When you think of holidays, certain favorite foods always come to mind. At my mom-in-law’s table at Christmas, it’s brunch together.Blog - Foodie Videos #6

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MomMom is well-known for her strawberry salad which only sounds healthy but it’s so yummy.Blog - Foodie Videos #5

Our family had the great blessing of living in North Africa for our children’s growing-up years. With the living, came the friends, food, and memories of those wonderful places. The British are well known for their afternoon tea, and rightly so. Less may be known about a Moroccan tea, but that’s the one I know best.Blog - Foodie Videos - #13

I have learned hospitality from some of the best women in the world, in the US, and across North Africa. The Egyptian table, although very different from that of my childhood, felt very Southern to me. Blog - Foodie Videos - #16

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Now, that your tastebuds are all geared up and your mouth is watering, if you love food of all kinds, here is the hilarious deliciousness of cross-cultural dining.

This morning, a South African friend posted a Buzzfeed video skit portraying Americans trying South African snacks. I laughed out loud. Then, as happens with the internet, other videos followed. It was so much fun finding the videos below.

Enjoy…and I would love to hear some of your favorite cross-cultural food experiences through the comments section below. Here, in Richmond, Virginia, we don’t have a Chinatown or Arab Quarter or anything like that. However, we do have wonderful little restaurants that serve up authentic Moroccan, Armenian, Ethiopian, Bosnian, Pakistani, Japanese, Thai, Indian, Cuban, Greek and Korean food. What else, fellow Richmonders?

YouTube Video – Americans Try Southern Food for the First Time

The Way Folks Were Meant to Eat – by Ray Blount, Jr , from book Long Time Leaving: Dispatches from Up South Essay & AudioFile – Do NOT Miss This. So much fun, whether you’re from the South or not.

YouTube Video – Irish People Try Irish Stereotypical Food

YouTube Video – Chinese People Try Panda Express for the First Time

YouTube Video – Americans Try Persian Food with Their Driver

The Most Famous and Greatest Food Quotes of All Time – not sure this is necessarily so, but fun list nonetheless. My own children have made pretty hilarious comments on food over the years. Put people around a table, and you get a lot of good from it.

Blog - FoodieOualidia, Morocco – Restaurant L’OstreaBlog - Foodie #2Our first sea urchins – let the adventures roll on!