My family has two central themes that I discovered in the exploration of my genogram: adventure and togetherness. I took a look at these themes in my genogram presentation but wanted to expound upon them a little bit within my own nuclear family, with a focus on self identity. Sometimes these...

GOD, brilliant Lord, Your name echoes around the world! ~psalm 8:9 (The Message) We fly to Tennessee...

I once performed Mozart’s “Laudaute Dominum” in Salzburg Cathedral with about a dozen high school classmates. Mozart wrote that piece of music for the cathedral’s archbishop in the 1780s. It was to be part of evening vesper services. For us, it was a normal day in one...

I used to think of myself as a pretty hospitable person. But that was before I met the Samuels… and the Stonemans… and the Carlsons… and the Bultemas….. and the Chaveses… and the Pughs… and the Eubanks… The list of guest presenters in my Hospitality...

My view this morning from a park bench in Seoul’s Sajik Park. As early walkers looped past me every so often, I considered my last morning on foreign soil. Tomorrow, we wake up in Hawaii. Today, on a bench — I read in the Old Testament about something the Israelites did after...

While planning for our year, both in advance and on-the-go, TripAdvisor became our sixth family member. We poured over reviews and suggestions of restaurants, apartments, hikes, hotels, trains, and self-guided tours. As a school writing assignment, we even studied what makes a good review and...

“Writing writing prompts”???? Sheesh, I sure am glad J is teaching them writing instead of...

W is practicing for his Algebra End-of-Course exam in a park in Seoul. H and E are back at the apartment with J working on writing writing prompts. Tomorrow is our last day of...

The perfect place for a date excursion here in Seoul later this week: I plan on cake and wine, he plans on bread and cheese. Happy...

Big mystery from today in Takayama, Japan: At 1:30 in the afternoon, we heard music played on — it seemed — a loudspeaker mounted on every other lamp post in the city’s wide valley. Then … a voice began saying something. Echoes from that voice bounced from loudspeaker...

Years ago before a seventh grade math class, a newly sharpened pencil started rolling down my pitched desk. I moved quickly to catch it before it landed in my lap. I missed … the pencil landed eraser end down … and the lead tip dug deeply in to my left palm. A mark has been inside...

According to legend, the floors of Nijo Castle in Kyoto, Japan were crafted to squeak like the song of a nightengale — to warn the Shogun and his bodyguards of prowling ninja. Here’s a brief clip of the that sound (presented here on the website). H, W and I visited Nijo Castle...

This morning was lazy, unplanned — and glorious. I went for a long stroll along Kyoto’s central river walk. It was unhindered time. Whole groups of falcons soared in circles above. I passed families eating picnic lunches. A cormorant came in for a landing next to me in the river,...

While riding one of Japan’s bullet trains between Kyoto and Tokyo earlier this week … S and I employed a tried and true parenting/teaching tactic to get some substantive schoolwork done: If you write four haiku poems about ANY experience so far in Japan, you can play on the...

When our Kyoto landlord asked W, H, and E this week about some of our trip traditions, they told him about what they have come to call “forced marches” — required journeys and hikes and walks through beauty or history or both. Their description of the phrase got a big laugh...

Since last July, our three boys have lost a total of 13 teeth. E lost our latest Wild tooth yesterday — after visiting Tokyo’s Sensoji Temple. We celebrated with ice...

I had the most beautiful ice cream cone the other day. The rain was just stopping, and the Kyoto street colors were accentuated by the wet. Red lanterns, dark wood, carefully arranged potted plants, flocks of bright umbrellas. As I savored both the green tea color AND flavor, I remembered...

A memory of my maternal grandmother, who used expressive words and expressive gestures to carry everyday conversations so well: Mama Liz often worked in references to music in her stories. She would say something like “Dah dah dah dah dah” in a particular rhythm, and her hands and...

When we started this journey, our itinerary was a list of PLACES we would visit. Looking back on our journey so far, it is PEOPLE who are the milestones. We REMEMBER the steps of our journey through the litany of people we met — and loved. These are a few dozen steps of the many...

When you think of Kyoto, Japan — you think of a “hamburg(er)” restaurant decorated like an Alabama southern cookin’ joint playing “You make me wanna roll my windows down” to a host of empty booth tables, right? Pass the fried chicken. Seriously. At...

Ah, the joys of the universal language of….. Adele?? Last July, during the first week of our adventure, our family cozied up for pizza around a tiny wooden table in one of only two restaurants in a little coastal town of southern Iceland.  We were giddy with anticipation of our year...

This slideshow requires JavaScript. When S called out from inside our Xian bathroom for a volunteer to cut her hair, E was the first to scramble off the sofa and take the scissors from her hands. She’d been inspired by a friend who described how you can grab a fist of hair just so...

As rush hour clogged the Bell Tower area of Xian’s old city this evening, a handful of women stood shoulder to shoulder in the middle of a busy sidewalk. They shouted from their military-like formation at young, smartly dressed women who passed by. The scene was puzzling. Had the...

Monday afternoon in Xian, China: Two blocks of vendors hang calligraphy brushes and stack thick parchment rolls in stalls under canvas umbrellas. A dozen women in comfortable clothing move through the delicate choreography of a sword dance, as their teacher — an elderly man —...