Do you know how the universe has a way of bringing us exactly what we need? Well… I’ve connected with your post “Home is a cup of tea” because I have been living on the road, on and off, for the past 16 years.
And now I read about your uprooting while I’m in the middle of my own next moving. To Copenhagen of all places. I see symmetry here. And wisdom on the things I find on my path. Thank you for another beautiful post.
“Do you know how the universe has a way of bringing us exactly what we need?”
Pat, my answer to your wonderful question is a resounding YES :) That sense of trust you write of in the universe and in its always-timely provision is one of my greatest beliefs — and I’m so happy and honored to hear that it brought you to “Home is a Cup of Tea” right at such a big crossroads in your own life.
Also, yay Copenhagen! How lovely to hear you’ll be based there, and please be sure to let me know if your journeys lead you to Belgium at all :) I’ll be wishing you a smooth and grounded transition as you plant new roots on Danish soil 🤍
I love everything about Dandelion Seeds, from your lyrical prose to your wonderful artwork (even though they didn’t feature in this one), to the calm philosophy that radiates from every post.
If you ever wrote/drew a picture book, whether for adults or children, I’d buy it.
M. E., I can’t thank you enough for your kind and generous words — it means the world to hear that what I share here resonates with you 🙏 (Also, yes! I’ve been wanting to create a picture book for so long now, so I appreciate the nudge to make that happen :)
Candace, I don’t know if this is something you’d be interested in, but I thought I’d run it by you just in case. I have many ideas for children’s books and very limited art skills. Would you ever consider a collaboration in the future? If you can’t that’s totally okay, and like so many others, I look forward to your future picture book! 😄
This was so beautiful! I find it difficult to leave home because there’s a part of me that wonders if I’ll find home again, and every time, I have to remind myself that I can be my own home. Thanks for sharing!
“Every time, I have to remind myself that I can be my own home.”
Yes! If there is one thing my journeys have taught me, Priya, it is exactly that. I’m so glad to hear this post resonated with you, and thank you for sharing such a beautiful thought with us — you even inspired me to hand-letter your comment, and a few others, for today's post :)
It’s beautiful to see things distilled down to their essence-- the suitcase contains the essential elements of your creative practice. It really shows your heart. To me this is more beautiful than the most lavishly, equipped art studio in the world. Wishing you deep peace and endless creativity in your new home!
Ann, I can’t tell you how much I loved your comment, and how perfectly you distilled what I was trying to say here down to its essence 🤍
It was especially uncanny to read your thoughts about a suitcase full of essentials vs. a well-equipped studio. Perhaps because I got my start as an artist through travel sketching, and because my first medium was just a simple travel case of watercolors, I’ve never felt a huge need to have a studio of my own. I’ve always preferred to think of the world as my studio, and I love keeping my supplies as portable as possible, so that I can meet inspiration wherever it finds me.
Thank you so much again for reading, and for your kind and generous words — it’s wonderful to have you here!
From country to country, when we moved somehow a wedding gift cast iron skillet always moved with us. Plain, basic, tough, necessary, it’s always followed us.
Only once did I ship my library, because mostly I bought books along the way. I annotated most of them on the first page with small descriptions of where and when I read them. “A River Runs Through It” was read on a 747 from Amsterdam to Johannesburg. I read Wendell Berry’s “Another Turn of The Crank” on Mount Kenya, beginning it by fire light in a stone hut at 10,000 feet during a snowstorm . I read Buckminster Fuller’s “Critical Path” on a steel boat exploring the backwaters of Lake Kariba on the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe. The “Complete Works of Tennyson” were with me in Managua when Princess Diana died. I read “Heart of Darkness” at the Intercontinental Hotel in Djibouti the weekend Nelson Mandela was inaugurated. I read Graham Green’s “The Comedians” while hospitalized in Haiti with appendicitis. And one lovely spring morning in Amsterdam at a sidewalk cafe, I read Evelyn Waugh’s “Black Mischief.” In Khartoum, I read Alan Moorehead’s “ The White Nile” and “The Nile.” I read “The Last of the Incas” in Cusco, Peru. And I read “The Shadow of the Silk Road,”by Collin Thubron, a most excellent book, in Naxchivan, Azerbaijan. I read Shiva Naipaul’ “North of South” on a road trip from Malawi, via Zambia, to Zimbabwe and his brother V.S. Naipaul’s A Bend in the River” during a Congo trip. Finally, I read “Slow walk in a Hard Rain,” at the Airport in Jakarta, and Kim Barnes “In The Wilderness” on a beach in Bali.
There are many more, neatly annotated and waiting for my kids to discover them some day. Little bits of pollen, dust and fingerprints in each volume from some far away place. Dirt still clinging to the roots.
“Little bits of pollen, dust and fingerprints in each volume from some far away place. Dirt still clinging to the roots.”
Switter, your comment resonates with me so much, most especially these beautiful last lines. I’m not sure if you can tell in the photo here, but in my favorite books I return to often (such as with Rilke and also with Peter Matthieson’s “The Snow Leopard”), I also love to note where I am in the world for each rereading of them.
It’s fascinating to read your pairings of where you were (or were traveling to) and what book you had with you — I’ve often found that even when the book I’m reading isn’t set in the place I’m visiting, that place still ends up informing the story, and vice versa, and there are often surprising little echoes and moments of connection between them.
Thanks so much for giving us a peek into your ever-evolving traveling library 📚 (and I hope you’ll enjoy seeing I hand-lettered your comment for today’s post!)
aside from the abundant gifts and reveals here there is this: a song of love, truly unequalled and no need as it is singular and shared now and so universal. Oh.... and in Belgium there is as you know always soccer!!! wink
Thank you so much for your beautiful comment, Appleton — it meant so much to read. And yes! There is indeed soccer in Belgium, and Jose and I are both excited to have another team to cheer on in the next World Cup ;)
What I love about Notes is discovering writers and artists like you. This was an enticing piece for me to join your world of posts. Hope your roots find fertile soil in Antwerp.
Sue, I’m delighted to hear that Notes serendipitously led you to Dandelion Seeds last week — it’s wonderful to have you here, and I so appreciate your kind words and well wishes for this new chapter in Antwerp 🤍
That sounds like something my husband would have said, too. :) Thank you for sharing, I've been rolling thoughts of home and roots and settling around in my head for the last few months and haven't been able to redefine them for myself yet. Looking forward to hearing more about your life and art in Belgium, Candace.
I love that your husband would’ve said the same thing, Katie :) Here’s to wise partners and the insights they offer us!
I’m also so glad to hear this post found you in the middle of your own journey of redefining home and roots — that’s a journey I’ve come to know very well, and I’m sending you light and peace on it! 🤍
Barbara, in a single beautiful phrase, you encapsulated exactly what I was hoping to say in this post — so much so, that I was inspired to hand-letter your comment, and a few others, for today's post :)
I’m so glad this idea resonated with you, and thank you so much for taking the time to let me know 🙏
I missed reading this last week. Last week was... a struggle, but it's all ok now. What an adventure your family is on now! I'm excited to see what you will write and paint. Blessings!
Mel, thank you so much for your kind words and blessings -- I'm only so sorry to hear that last week was a struggle, and please know that I'm wishing you lighter days ahead 🤍
I have only recently discovered you and I'm so pleased that I have. You bring joy and delight with every post. All good wishes as you and Jose and baby Elena (who shares her name with my adult daughter) settle into this new chapter. Those roots will hopefully be testing the new soil already :-)
Sandra, it's wonderful to hear from you here (and especially fun to learn that your daughter is named Elena as well :) I so appreciate your kind words, and I look forward to sharing more stories with you soon! 🤍
Best of luck in Antwerp, i just started reading you stack after picking up the story of Uruguayan football and sensed your love of the country. What seems more important reading this post is strength and balance of your relationship. It seems that any where you go you’ll have a great life.
Remo, I can't thank you enough for your comment and support -- that is such a kind thing to say, and I will be forever grateful to have found a partner like Jose. And yes! After nearly seven years there, my love for Uruguay definitely runs deep, but we're also excited to be embarking on this new adventure and to see what it holds for us as a family. Thank you again 🙏
Making big moves requires a full heart, and open mind, and bravery! My own moves have been far smaller – various cities in the Northeastern U.S., but each one is so different, and if you were rooted in one place for many years, as I was, it is still challenging (but can be exhilarating too).
Best wishes for your newest voyage of discovery. I am inspired to read the books you mentioned, thanks so much for that too.
"Making big moves requires a full heart, and open mind, and bravery!"
Joan, I adore that phrase -- and having just navigated a big move, I can attest to the fact that truer words have never been spoken! I'm going to have to hand-letter your comment and add it to this post as an addendum, thank you :)
Candace, I forgot to share a pro tip on moving into a new house or apartment: if the house is freshly paint or if you intend to paint it, the cockroaches run away until the new paint smell fades.
Muchas muchas bendiciones para los nuevos caminos que están transitando Candace!!!! Un fuerte abrazo y ojalá la vida vuelva a juntarnos para pintar nuevos paisajes! Besos
Karina! Muchísimas gracias por tus palabras tan lindas, me alegré mucho escuchar de vos aca! Espero lo mismo y te mando un beso enorme desde Amberes!! 🤍
Hi Candace, Wow. Artist on the move again! Congratulations to Jose for seizing a dream and making it happen. I'm loving reading your writing and seeing your art again. All the best to you and your little family in building roots in your new home in Europe.
It's so lovely to hear from you here, Gayle, and yes! "Seizing a dream" is the perfect way to describe Jose's journey to his new studio. I couldn't be prouder of him and this new adventure for him professionally -- and for what it means for us as a family, too. Thanks so much for your wonderful words, and I'm sending a big hug your way from Antwerp 🤍
Awwww! Hugs gladly accepted Candace. I am so looking forward to how this next chapter evolves your wonderful writing, your delightful art and your life. Hugs back!
Do you know how the universe has a way of bringing us exactly what we need? Well… I’ve connected with your post “Home is a cup of tea” because I have been living on the road, on and off, for the past 16 years.
And now I read about your uprooting while I’m in the middle of my own next moving. To Copenhagen of all places. I see symmetry here. And wisdom on the things I find on my path. Thank you for another beautiful post.
“Do you know how the universe has a way of bringing us exactly what we need?”
Pat, my answer to your wonderful question is a resounding YES :) That sense of trust you write of in the universe and in its always-timely provision is one of my greatest beliefs — and I’m so happy and honored to hear that it brought you to “Home is a Cup of Tea” right at such a big crossroads in your own life.
Also, yay Copenhagen! How lovely to hear you’ll be based there, and please be sure to let me know if your journeys lead you to Belgium at all :) I’ll be wishing you a smooth and grounded transition as you plant new roots on Danish soil 🤍
I love everything about Dandelion Seeds, from your lyrical prose to your wonderful artwork (even though they didn’t feature in this one), to the calm philosophy that radiates from every post.
If you ever wrote/drew a picture book, whether for adults or children, I’d buy it.
M. E., I can’t thank you enough for your kind and generous words — it means the world to hear that what I share here resonates with you 🙏 (Also, yes! I’ve been wanting to create a picture book for so long now, so I appreciate the nudge to make that happen :)
Candace, I don’t know if this is something you’d be interested in, but I thought I’d run it by you just in case. I have many ideas for children’s books and very limited art skills. Would you ever consider a collaboration in the future? If you can’t that’s totally okay, and like so many others, I look forward to your future picture book! 😄
This was so beautiful! I find it difficult to leave home because there’s a part of me that wonders if I’ll find home again, and every time, I have to remind myself that I can be my own home. Thanks for sharing!
“Every time, I have to remind myself that I can be my own home.”
Yes! If there is one thing my journeys have taught me, Priya, it is exactly that. I’m so glad to hear this post resonated with you, and thank you for sharing such a beautiful thought with us — you even inspired me to hand-letter your comment, and a few others, for today's post :)
It’s beautiful to see things distilled down to their essence-- the suitcase contains the essential elements of your creative practice. It really shows your heart. To me this is more beautiful than the most lavishly, equipped art studio in the world. Wishing you deep peace and endless creativity in your new home!
Ann, I can’t tell you how much I loved your comment, and how perfectly you distilled what I was trying to say here down to its essence 🤍
It was especially uncanny to read your thoughts about a suitcase full of essentials vs. a well-equipped studio. Perhaps because I got my start as an artist through travel sketching, and because my first medium was just a simple travel case of watercolors, I’ve never felt a huge need to have a studio of my own. I’ve always preferred to think of the world as my studio, and I love keeping my supplies as portable as possible, so that I can meet inspiration wherever it finds me.
Thank you so much again for reading, and for your kind and generous words — it’s wonderful to have you here!
From country to country, when we moved somehow a wedding gift cast iron skillet always moved with us. Plain, basic, tough, necessary, it’s always followed us.
Only once did I ship my library, because mostly I bought books along the way. I annotated most of them on the first page with small descriptions of where and when I read them. “A River Runs Through It” was read on a 747 from Amsterdam to Johannesburg. I read Wendell Berry’s “Another Turn of The Crank” on Mount Kenya, beginning it by fire light in a stone hut at 10,000 feet during a snowstorm . I read Buckminster Fuller’s “Critical Path” on a steel boat exploring the backwaters of Lake Kariba on the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe. The “Complete Works of Tennyson” were with me in Managua when Princess Diana died. I read “Heart of Darkness” at the Intercontinental Hotel in Djibouti the weekend Nelson Mandela was inaugurated. I read Graham Green’s “The Comedians” while hospitalized in Haiti with appendicitis. And one lovely spring morning in Amsterdam at a sidewalk cafe, I read Evelyn Waugh’s “Black Mischief.” In Khartoum, I read Alan Moorehead’s “ The White Nile” and “The Nile.” I read “The Last of the Incas” in Cusco, Peru. And I read “The Shadow of the Silk Road,”by Collin Thubron, a most excellent book, in Naxchivan, Azerbaijan. I read Shiva Naipaul’ “North of South” on a road trip from Malawi, via Zambia, to Zimbabwe and his brother V.S. Naipaul’s A Bend in the River” during a Congo trip. Finally, I read “Slow walk in a Hard Rain,” at the Airport in Jakarta, and Kim Barnes “In The Wilderness” on a beach in Bali.
There are many more, neatly annotated and waiting for my kids to discover them some day. Little bits of pollen, dust and fingerprints in each volume from some far away place. Dirt still clinging to the roots.
“Little bits of pollen, dust and fingerprints in each volume from some far away place. Dirt still clinging to the roots.”
Switter, your comment resonates with me so much, most especially these beautiful last lines. I’m not sure if you can tell in the photo here, but in my favorite books I return to often (such as with Rilke and also with Peter Matthieson’s “The Snow Leopard”), I also love to note where I am in the world for each rereading of them.
It’s fascinating to read your pairings of where you were (or were traveling to) and what book you had with you — I’ve often found that even when the book I’m reading isn’t set in the place I’m visiting, that place still ends up informing the story, and vice versa, and there are often surprising little echoes and moments of connection between them.
Thanks so much for giving us a peek into your ever-evolving traveling library 📚 (and I hope you’ll enjoy seeing I hand-lettered your comment for today’s post!)
aside from the abundant gifts and reveals here there is this: a song of love, truly unequalled and no need as it is singular and shared now and so universal. Oh.... and in Belgium there is as you know always soccer!!! wink
Thank you so much for your beautiful comment, Appleton — it meant so much to read. And yes! There is indeed soccer in Belgium, and Jose and I are both excited to have another team to cheer on in the next World Cup ;)
What I love about Notes is discovering writers and artists like you. This was an enticing piece for me to join your world of posts. Hope your roots find fertile soil in Antwerp.
Sue, I’m delighted to hear that Notes serendipitously led you to Dandelion Seeds last week — it’s wonderful to have you here, and I so appreciate your kind words and well wishes for this new chapter in Antwerp 🤍
That sounds like something my husband would have said, too. :) Thank you for sharing, I've been rolling thoughts of home and roots and settling around in my head for the last few months and haven't been able to redefine them for myself yet. Looking forward to hearing more about your life and art in Belgium, Candace.
I love that your husband would’ve said the same thing, Katie :) Here’s to wise partners and the insights they offer us!
I’m also so glad to hear this post found you in the middle of your own journey of redefining home and roots — that’s a journey I’ve come to know very well, and I’m sending you light and peace on it! 🤍
I love this idea. The roots of who you are are always with you to be planted wherever you are.
Barbara, in a single beautiful phrase, you encapsulated exactly what I was hoping to say in this post — so much so, that I was inspired to hand-letter your comment, and a few others, for today's post :)
I’m so glad this idea resonated with you, and thank you so much for taking the time to let me know 🙏
I missed reading this last week. Last week was... a struggle, but it's all ok now. What an adventure your family is on now! I'm excited to see what you will write and paint. Blessings!
Mel, thank you so much for your kind words and blessings -- I'm only so sorry to hear that last week was a struggle, and please know that I'm wishing you lighter days ahead 🤍
I have only recently discovered you and I'm so pleased that I have. You bring joy and delight with every post. All good wishes as you and Jose and baby Elena (who shares her name with my adult daughter) settle into this new chapter. Those roots will hopefully be testing the new soil already :-)
Sandra, it's wonderful to hear from you here (and especially fun to learn that your daughter is named Elena as well :) I so appreciate your kind words, and I look forward to sharing more stories with you soon! 🤍
Best of luck in Antwerp, i just started reading you stack after picking up the story of Uruguayan football and sensed your love of the country. What seems more important reading this post is strength and balance of your relationship. It seems that any where you go you’ll have a great life.
Remo, I can't thank you enough for your comment and support -- that is such a kind thing to say, and I will be forever grateful to have found a partner like Jose. And yes! After nearly seven years there, my love for Uruguay definitely runs deep, but we're also excited to be embarking on this new adventure and to see what it holds for us as a family. Thank you again 🙏
Making big moves requires a full heart, and open mind, and bravery! My own moves have been far smaller – various cities in the Northeastern U.S., but each one is so different, and if you were rooted in one place for many years, as I was, it is still challenging (but can be exhilarating too).
Best wishes for your newest voyage of discovery. I am inspired to read the books you mentioned, thanks so much for that too.
"Making big moves requires a full heart, and open mind, and bravery!"
Joan, I adore that phrase -- and having just navigated a big move, I can attest to the fact that truer words have never been spoken! I'm going to have to hand-letter your comment and add it to this post as an addendum, thank you :)
Oops. That should have read “an open mind”. I’m usually more careful with my words.
I am honored! Thank you. Wishing you all the best as you explore and feather your new nest in Antwerp.
Candace, I forgot to share a pro tip on moving into a new house or apartment: if the house is freshly paint or if you intend to paint it, the cockroaches run away until the new paint smell fades.
No need to thank me.
Ha! Duly noted 😬
Muchas muchas bendiciones para los nuevos caminos que están transitando Candace!!!! Un fuerte abrazo y ojalá la vida vuelva a juntarnos para pintar nuevos paisajes! Besos
Karina! Muchísimas gracias por tus palabras tan lindas, me alegré mucho escuchar de vos aca! Espero lo mismo y te mando un beso enorme desde Amberes!! 🤍
Hi Candace, Wow. Artist on the move again! Congratulations to Jose for seizing a dream and making it happen. I'm loving reading your writing and seeing your art again. All the best to you and your little family in building roots in your new home in Europe.
It's so lovely to hear from you here, Gayle, and yes! "Seizing a dream" is the perfect way to describe Jose's journey to his new studio. I couldn't be prouder of him and this new adventure for him professionally -- and for what it means for us as a family, too. Thanks so much for your wonderful words, and I'm sending a big hug your way from Antwerp 🤍
Awwww! Hugs gladly accepted Candace. I am so looking forward to how this next chapter evolves your wonderful writing, your delightful art and your life. Hugs back!