A NEW DAY

Thanks for not leaving us. We have put your warm words in our hearts. My heartfelt thanks, dear friends. 

We will soon be back.

Love,

iza & alliot

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CHRISTMAS SHRUB

You made a christmas "tree" ... a beautiful shrub indeed ...

Very abstract. Very conceptual.

I admire how your tutor has inspired you.

" Mama, I wish to study in secondary school. I think it's more fun there.

媽媽, 我想讀中學。會好玩得多。"

You said just after the second class with Tutor Doraemon.

Your Tudor D does have clever tricks to stimulate kids.

" It's better to dig ( explore ) things by ourselves than being told.

I soon forget things people just murmur to my ears.

與其由別人告訴你, 不如自己找。說。說。說。轉瞬, 忘了。"

you said in class.

" How you grab my secret ?!!!

你怎麼知道我的秘密 ? "

Tutor D.

This is such a sweet response.

"The little secret" has built a magical bridge, a secure connection, abides you and the Tutor.

You are encouraged, understood and accepted.

It's a bit sad that this beautiful child and teacher relationship does not always happen in regular classroom.

Iza is fortunate in coming into encounter with Tutor D, whom is actually the parent of a P6 student in our school.

A very devoted parent and a knowledgable person.

Thanks for the beautiful twinkling lights, Tutor Doraemon !

PS

Images of iza were taken in Chengdu.

She's in the beautiful craft by Fei An.

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(Milan 2011 April)

My dear friends, i'm so sorry for my absence.

This period of time seems so long to me ... i could hardly see the way out ...

Till i start reading articles, books, blogs related to emotional needs of children (with sensitive emotions) again ... i understand we are not alone ...

Though in real life situations ... i don't know how far i can uptake the pressure ...

Today ...

A blissful day ... i have a camera with me again after the long retreat ...

Wish you all a nice week.

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MY MOTHER AND MY DAUGHTER

A FINE TIE. Interlacing into a knot. Binding us together.

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I'm thrilled and grateful! Thanks sweet Isa for granting us the Gorgeous Blogger Award. This is a kind recognition. For those who would love to be fueled with surprises, armed with fun and infected by her wittiness, please do peep into schlitzohren. ( please do click into the links )

5 questions come with the award:

1

When did you start blogging?
I started blogging in September 2007. At a time I became aware of the fact that iza had rarely seen her baby self in pictures. Her mom was keen on taking pictures but too lazy at printing them.

2

What do you write about in your blog? (what's your blog about?)
A photo journal.

A documentation of iza's growing path.

A record of parenthood.

3

What makes your blog special?

I think our blog is not particularly special. What made us unique is like everybody else, it's the unique context we live in.

If I need to identify a character of the blog, maybe it's filled with trips (both for business & leisure, and study trips from now on).

It may also be iza's unique experience. In her early days, her parents would bring her along for business travels whenever possible and placed her under the conference table in her baby stroller. When she started walking, she was always strolling in construction sites. In case the site was not suitable for a child to wander, she would be in museums or gardens waiting for papa ziggy.

4

What made you take up blogging?
My digital archive of pictures boomed. It became too difficult for me, who rarely organized and did printouts, to browse and share pictures among family & friends. A blog, as a visual organizer, helps me to screen and summarize the pictures. The blog makes revisiting precious moments an ease. The blog grows with our family memories.

5

What would you like to change in your blog (if anything)?
No idea in inducing big changes at the moment. Only wish I could be persistent in keeping the documentary. Dreaming that for a day, iza would take over it and continue THE FINE TIE, knotting US together ... Maybe some minor attempts.

* Bridging of my double life of being a mother and a designer ...

* Bringing stills into motion ...

* Inviting papa ziggy as a guest author ...

...

I would present this award to two of my favorite blogs by two graceful Japanese mothers.

Peacefully time : Soak into her peaceful space and be lifted by her delightful girl.
Sara smile : Meet the gentle soul and the soothing smile of little sara.

With warmest thoughts to their beautiful country and the future of our children.

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MY EMBROIDERED CLOTH

From the talk by Sir Ken Robinson (a shared link on my last post), I was struck by his quote on dreams:

“

Aedh wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by W.B. Yeats Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half light, I would spread the cloths under your feet; But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams. ” " And, everyday, everywhere, our children spread their dreams underneath our feet. And we should thread softly. " said Sir Ken Robinson in the talk. " ... We have to go from what is essentially an industrial model of education, a manufacturing model, which is based on linearity and conformity and batching people. We have to move to a model that is based more on principles of agriculture. We have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process. It's an organic process. And, you cannot predict the outcome of human development; all you can do, is create the conditions under which they will begin to flourish ... " * These images were taken before last summer (early June 2010) ... After a rainy and windy day, unripe fruits were found everywhere on the ground. Iza picked them up and opened to see what they looked like before fully grown ... They were green and sour ... The fruits had not yet begun to flourish before they were taken down by the wind.

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2001

In these three and a half years, every post marks the growing of us ... both iza and I. It also records the evolving of a personal journal to a precious little network linking a few mothers and children together.

When I went over all the posts again from the very first post last night ... so many memories recalled. I enjoyed seeing how a little girl has grown into a little lady ... and i missed her bob hair. I laughed at her funny talks and weird thoughts. I am surprised how many lovely trips we've made. I treasure every piece of her artworks from doodles to "fine" sketches. I relish our little collection of books and little treasures. I see, a little more clear picture, after the many struggles in the mist ... This little journal has documented how my eyes cannot stay away from my child and am almost forgotten who i am.

I thank this blogland for easing off my panic in browsing over tremendous archives saved in my computer (which are now quite impossible to dig into) ... and, i accustom to be selective and more organized through posting.

Though i'm overwhelmed by the massive archives ... i still need to do the back up. It's a far too important task in this digital era ... (i lost 3 months of archives last Nov). As i did, one single file caught me ... it was there before iza was born. The images contained in the folder were scanned from positive films ... the days before we adopted digital cameras. It was a trip to Belgium, Amsterdam and Rotterdam in Jan 2001. Iza was not there ... i found my eyes are excited again by the architectures, structures, forms, lines, lights ... i am desperate for a pure architecture trip ... touring around the buildings of Le Corbusier ( i want to go Ronchamp again, and more ), Alvaro Siza, Carlo Scarpa, Santiago Calatrava, Tadao Ando, Kazuyo Sejima ...

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THE HEART AND THE BOTTLE

"Once there was a girl ...

whose head was filled with all the curiosities of the world."

Till one day,

"She was no longer filled with all the curiosities of the world,

and didn't take much notice of anything ... "

A beautiful new book " The heart and the bottle " by Oliver Jeffers.

As written on the book,

"He deals with the weighty themes of love and loss with an extraordinary lightness of touch ..."

We were once children.

But few of us have sustained our curiosities, our boundless thoughts and imaginations, acute senses to the smallest and the most inconspicuous, the wonder-filled world ...

Many times, we do not understand why children have so many questions, why they do not behave as we wish, why they are always running around and cannot sit still, why they have such a behavioral or emotional response ...

We do not understand children even we were once one of them.

Holding the baby iza on my arms, i had an urge to survive her inborn sense of wonder, curiosity, imagination and the adventurous spirit throughout her growing path. I believe, all children are born with these.

Here is another lovely book by Oliver Jeffers.

Today, I read an interesting article on creativity via imagine childhood.

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