No Coincidence, No Story

Today I was taking a break from learning JavaScript and Gutenberg.

I put on a podcast. It is about coincidences and people telling their best coincidence stories. There are some good ones, like the one of the man, the love story and the dollar bill. Listen and you will see.

I start making coffee and see the boxes of books that I am procrastinating to unpack. I open one. I find this book on The Story of Art that I was reading and then misplaced it. I had been looking for it for more than a year.

I open the page with the bookmark and start reading. It is about wood blocks and Gutenberg movable letters, on the Chapter of Tradition and Innovation II. There is an example, ‘The Art of Dying Well” book: a book printed with a combination of woodcuts and Gutenberg letters.

No Coincidence, No Story.

Zao Wou-Ki Exhibition at MAM in Paris

If you like abstract art and happen to be in Paris before January 2019 you shouldn’t miss Zao Wou-Ki exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. With the title “L’espace est silence”, it is not a retrospective but a selection of large format paintings. The exhibition is well curated and the paintings shine in the big and bright rooms of the museum. 

I took some bad pictures. The official video is thousand times better:

The only thing I missed on the exhibition was more detail on the painting process. 

I would love to see Fabienne Verdier and Zao Wou-Ki paintings exhibited together.

On Moving

Here comes again. That sadness of leaving mixed with the butterflies of a new adventure.

It starts with a possibility that opens somewhere else. You fall in love with the idea of this new place, and as love does, you see it through enhancing glasses. Everything is brighter, neater, more colorful.

The place where you are now has made itself discreet. But it is there, holding your hand. It is the road you know by heart, that winks at you when you have to look. The doctor that remembers the name of your children. The neighbor that calls in because your gate is open. The restaurant with that dish you like. The parking spot that always waits for you. The light switches that move to your hand if you are awake at night.

You will not have that where you are going. All roads will be unknown, all similar and shouting for attention. You will have to find a new doctor, and meet your neighbors, and try new restaurants. Parking spots will ignore you and the light switch will play hide and seek.

It is going to be exciting, interesting, playful. And tiring, so tiring that you will not have time to miss what you had, fully alert to your new reality.

Then comes a day when patterns and familiarity start to form. Most parts of the road are silent, a new doctor number has found its place in your phone. Your neighbor says hi, there is a parking spot you can rely on, the light switch is moving around less.

You think you have made it, you are happy, this is the right place.

Until you miss a turn and get lost, your doctor is on holidays, your neighbor is busy with family over, there are construction works on your parking spot, you wake up at night and don’t remember where you are.

You miss the old place, it was better before, this was a mistake.

You try to call, you try to visit, you compare, you tell others how good it was, you are mourning a loss.

As days go by, silent roads form a net, connecting the dots. A doctor replacement is now on your phone book. You have lunch with your neighbors family. You know there are more parking spots behind the construction works, you can find the light switches before the count of one.

You call it home.

Weekend Coffee #7: Moving to Wisconsin, Python for Kids and a Song

Next Monday the movers are coming, they will empty our house and put our things on their way to Wisconsin. We will fly a few weeks later. We will have spent 3 years in Lamorlaye, France. I wanted to declutter as much as possible but time is ticking, and it is more fun to meet friends, drink wine and eat pains au chocolat, baguettes, fromage … I feel like I have disappointed Marie Kondo.

In the garden we had a rose. Plants that survive me deserve special attention. I am really bad at gardening. My father would have liked it.

Rose in Lamorlaye

I went to Paris, walked for hours around the city, stopped at WMSmith, and had lunch with a friend at Les Tuilleries. It is hard to say goodbye. It was grey, it rained, still beautiful.

  • Les Tuilleries
  • Les Tuilleries

I am excited that I am going to start working with a coach. Automattic gives me that chance and I am planning to make the most out of it. Moving to another country is an opportunity to reflect, change and grow.

Summer holidays are here with tons of free time for the kids. I bought Pablo a Python online course in Udemy ( https://www.udemy.com/teach-your-kids-to-code/learn/v4/overview ) and asked him to do one hour per day. He likes it so far and has done 15% of the course. Let’s see if it works because we tried before a book “JavaScript for Kids” and he got bored very quickly.

I have been reading Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I really liked the first 300 pages, learning about the pioneers, the Homestead Act and all the miseries. I am now getting  a bit bored of the mother-daughter relationship and mixing it with Pachinko, that I am loving. I am liking better the Korean family saga than the American one. There is danger in that, we are not in the US yet and I am already thinking about other places… This time I plan to fight the itch. 

And a song from the latest album of Arctic Monkeys:

This post has been written with Gutenberg. What else?

A mi padre

Oírte cantar ‘Ines, Inés, Inesita, Inés’ y los CDs de canciones populares que me grababas.

Aquel día que pasamos 5 horas en la cocina intentando hacer comida india.

Cuando me decias los nombres de plantas y flores en latín. El cariño que le tenías al huerto de Triollo.

Las partidas de cartas que echabas con Pablo en la Huerta. Aunque le hicieras llorar varias veces.

Verte de rodillas, jugando a las casitas con Inés.

Todos los helados que te comías con los niños. Las excursiones a la tienda en las que volvíais con todos los sabores porque no podíais escoger.

Tus cartas, con letra pequeña, poemas y referencias complicadas.

Los paquetes que enviabas a los niños por su cumpleaños. Con libros, cartas, comida y un tarro de miel para mí.

Las mermeladas de fresa y frambuesa y cómo te jactabas de que no tuvieran pepitas.

Los viajes a Italia en el barco.

La excursión de verano a Triollo y el verte disfrutar viendo a los niños bañándose en el río.

Buscar tesoros con Mateo en la casa de arriba.

Las barbacoas de sardinas en hoja de parra y las largas sobremesas.

Aquel día que defendías a capa y espada que el Gyn Tonic es lo que mejor quita la sed y nunca supimos si lo decias en serio.

Tus historias sobre viajes alrededor del mundo y cómo te acordabas de cuando contamos los escalones de la torre de Pisa.

Cuando ibas caminando al Brezo y me mandabas un WhatsApp.

Que todavía me llamaras chiqüitina.

Lo orgulloso que estabas de mi.

Easy Chocolate Cake

Easy chocolate cake, for birthday or school parties. Quick to make, just a few ingredients and children can do most of it!

Chocolate Cake
Print

Easy Chocolate Cake


Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 10 people

Ingredients

  • 200 gr baking chocolate
  • 4 eggs
  • 100 gr sugar
  • 100 gr butter

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C

  2. On a deep bowl, beat the eggs (with a whisker or electric beater)

  3. Add sugar and flour.

  4. On another bowl, melt chocolate in the microwave (using defrost settings)

  5. Add the butter to the chocolate, cut in chunks, mix until melted.

  6. Add the mixture of chocolate-butter to the bowl with eggs-sugar-flour and mix.

  7. Put in a buttered mould and bake. Do not overbake.

  8. While the cake is cooking, let the children lick the bowl.

Note: Post using WP Recipe Maker, shared with Jetpack Publicize.