mary e. robbins :: moth written

visits to sale, mellah, and birthday sneakiness.

when i first lived with nabil's family, fatiha took care of me through all of those less than lovely moments of travel sickness and exhaustion.  she speaks only darija but is always gentle and forgiving in communication, and she remained patient with me through many months of incomprehensible broken arabic.  her laugh is deep and her smile wide.

here she is with salma. six years ago we celebrated salma's birth and danced the night away--now she is in school learning french.  they are living in sale with fatiha's sister mbarka as fatiha's cholesterol, blood pressure, and anxiety have spiked and she requires rest.  and so we went to sale.  we hugged her and she cried and cried, the balance to her ever present laughter.  emotions run right beneath the surface in fatiha's reality.  true to form, mbarka filled the table with a desperately beautiful meal.  arranged perfectly.  cooked perfectly.  presented perfectly.  our day in sale.

and on thursday morning, it was all business.  earlier in the week, naima had come to me and told me that she wanted to throw a surprise birthday party for nabil--whose 31st year of life was ushered in on april 17th.  so that morning, i took nabil out with aunt soumiya to do some shopping, leaving naima and sanae to start the early preparations for that night's party.  we went wandering into the souqs for gifts and spices to bring home.  a short walk into mellah brought us to this sidewalk herb seller, from whom we bought lemon verbena, peppermint, oregano, spearmint,  and lavender. 

in the afternoon, we convinced nabil to head back to sale with sanae so that naima and i could go out to gather the final items needed for the party--the cake she had ordered from the bakery, the chicken needed for the dinner, the couscous, the soccer jersey i knew he wanted but would not buy for himself.  we strolled along together arm in arm through the crowds, stopping now and again to look at jersey pants and scarves, looking for the qu'ran that naima wanted to buy as a gift for nabil.  it was a lovely afternoon.  time that i hardly ever have with my mother in law.  just us.

that night, friends kept nabil busy while we finished up the couscous and sanae set the room up for the party.  i put on my fancy tkchita and we gathered in the dark, waiting for nabil to come home, trying in vain to keep a room full of moroccans quiet.  sanae certainly tried, but the whispers, giggling and laughing soon turned to snickering and full on guffaws despite her threats and pleas.  within moments, nabil came home and we opened the doors---'surprise!'

he later told me that it was the first time he had ever had a birthday party in morocco.  and i was so glad to have been there to help his mother give it to him.  we ate couscous and cake, drank soda, and laughed for hours--a perfect secret evening. 

creative drive.

so much has been happening lately and i feel so filled to the brim with creative drive. 

it has been a bit over one month since our return from morocco, and though i feel the memories slipping into the recesses of my mind, i have my many photos to jog the memory.  i will continue to share, slowly but surely.

the present, however, has been neglected on this blog, and there is much to share!  since early this year, a student from the salt institute has been following nabil to his many soccer engagements, documenting the international indoor and outdoor soccer community in portland.  between those times, mimi has been sharing our space and recording the moments that make up our daily lives.  this past week, she had her opening at the salt gallery on congress street in portland, so we put on some dressy clothes and made our way intown to see her work.  it was so touching, mimi, and beautiful. 

maine will miss you, mimi!

...and as noted, this past weekend was the tower of song festival in congress square.   mother, sister, and nieces came for a bit--this photo of mya with her sunglasses says it all.  a really good day.

and here we have my mother (now fully in the swing of her role as grammie) holding ms. faye.  faye is growing so very quickly, and is full of smiles and coos.  sweetness all around.

...and after the show, i was reunited with an old pal from NYU!  kirsten and her new husband john came down to stay with us for a couple of nights on their way home from their honeymoon in montreal and quebec city.  how time passes.

much nice seaside walking was done, and lunching in the old port.  thank you for coming to visit, kirsten and john.  and congratulations!

...and now the preparations for renegade craft fair in brooklyn, coming up on june 6th and 7th.  looking forward to seeing you, new york old friend!

back to the stories...

coming up this weekend (no rest for the wicked) :: TOWER OF SONG festival in our own portland--hooray!  if you are a local folk, come by congress square (corner of congress and high streets) on saturday from noon to 7 for a bounty of local craft love.  :):)  looking forward to it!  and now...back to recounting our time in morocco.
* * *
we were mid-week by this point, settled in and entering the second half of our trip.  before departing maine, we had made elaborate plans to travel in morocco while there...visit with the family a bit, then travel for several days in asilah, then come back to visit the family again before taking off.  but by this point in the trip we were realizing how little time we actually had with the family, and already thinking--perhaps we'll just stay...next time we'll travel.  and that's just what we ended up doing, and i don't regret it a bit. 

after eating the best breakfast in the world courtesy of nabil's magic hands (and a 'just-add-water' pancake mix heh heh), we ventured out into the street for a little walk.  that morning we went to oudayas garden, where nabil used to sit beneath the grape arbor and study for tests.  when he got hungry he would reach up between the wooden slats and pull down a warm bunch of purple grapes, fresh and free for all to share.

we soon got too hot and needed to check emails so we wandered back into the medina and stopped into soumiya's house, where we knew we could find hugs, chats, laughter, and perhaps even an internet connection.  we found it all.

this is bahia, on the left.  bahia became a part of the family a few years ago, when soumiya started inviting her to stay at her house. bahia had long been a family acquaintance, and i had seen her many times at the big house in the medina.  she lived with her grandmother in a small apartment not too far from us, and we would occasionally pass her grandmother on the street near the fountain in souq tahti, where she sold individual cigarettes for pennies a day.  it was becoming ever more evident the deterioration of bahia's grandmother's health--and they struggled.  it was then that soumiya invited bahia to live with her.  she has blossomed in the past few years, and this shy quiet girl i met several years ago can now joke along with the best of them, ever maintaining her innocent and sweet demeanor.  bahia bahia...'zweena,' i tell her, beautiful!  'inteeya lee zweena,' she'll say without a moment's hesitation--you are the beautiful one.  and always a laugh and a smile.  here she sits with baby sahar and alae, sahar is the neighbor's baby, passed up to soumiya's house for a little change of scenery.  bahia held her and cooed and fed her...just a little moment in the course of those endless, full moroccan days.

...and young rabie.  rabie has very strong asthma, an affliction from birth.  being an asthmatic myself, and one who has passed through emergency rooms in morocco several times, unable to breathe, i hold a special concern for rabie.  he spent one night at the emergency room during our trip, sounding only slightly better the next day.  will he grow out of it?  will he ever know how it feels to take a full breath of air?  will he ever be able to run?  i wonder and i don't know, but i hope.  amazingly, he laughs perhaps more than most of the children, and with his own special deep laugh, a bit wheezy.  rabie...spiderman!  fzzssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!  we yell with our fingers outstretched, aiming to catch him in our spiderwebs.  he laughs. 

and there she is again, little ms. aiya, with the tortoise snow on her head. 20 minutes of tortoise worship per day keeps the doctor away, we say. 

hello hello!

the opening weekend of south end open market was a super fun success!  much arabic-t shirt love and excitement over new designs and pin back buttons--something i have not had the time to share yet here in my virtual world.  yes, i now have pin back buttons! (photos to come, i promise).  they are most addictive to make, and i fear that my right forearm will soon become freakishly massive from pulling the lever and popping out these lovely little pins.  i love them to bits.  the massive arm is worth it, i think.

the moth sister came along this weekend!  my big sis joined up and came for a day of craft show fun and love--thank you sis!  it was so wonderful to have you with me.  and as always, the ever-important most dear kristan camp saved the day; words cannot express my gratitude.  thank you thank you thank you kristan!  i love you.

in my pre-show craze, i created the light blue fabric sign for the front of the tent.  the fabric was all scored at the salvation army sale, and i had kept this project in mind as i stepped through the doors that day...scoping out the most perfect pieces of thick, lovely polyester.  look at that sky blue--could it be more perfect?  i think not.  i appliqued the letters and images using heat n bond--my favorite no-sew iron on applique adhesive.  it makes projects like these a snap.  it is inexpensive, and readily available at any craft department--i found mine in the local hardware store.  hooray for handmade banners!

another big project i had to tackle before heading down to the show was creating weights for the tent.  oigh.  the wonderful organizers of south end had very clearly instructed all of the vendors to bring no less than 40 pounds of weight for each leg (160 pounds total!).  i will not lie when i say that at first i thought such a regulation was overkill, but having set up my tent for a practice run in the backyard on a very windy day, i am sure glad that they insisted.

i constructed the weights with 30 inch lengths of 5-inch pvc pipe, 3/4 filled with quikrete and topped off with end caps fitted with heavy eye hooks (to hang from bungee cords).  the system worked well.  yes, it was heavy in the wee saturn, but the weights blended in well with the tent and i was pleased overall with the effect.

anyone who has come to my tent knows that i run a tight ship with the folding--it's a labor of love, really, and helps me stay organized/on top of my inventory.  i sometimes wonder if all that precious folding and piling frightens people away for fear of messing up the look, and i hope not.  i always try to make folks feel comfortable--"go for it!  open 'em up!--"  and for the most part people will dive right in.  that makes me happy.  i brought with me some whale in love onesies, and some fadwa clutches.  yes, they look like undies.  i know.  i didn't mean it to happen that way, i swear.  it just happened.  tee hee.  a new corner shape is on the way...

and introducing...the breakfast shirt!  ta-da!  the winner of the weekend for sure.  you'll also notice another new design there in the background--the dog wearing a cone.  that shirt reads "patience,"  and is another popular hit.  you may notice a striking similarity between the patience and breakfast shirts.  well.  that's because the breakfast shirt was a renegade mishap, an accidental eureka.  i was starting a few patience shirts, and accidentally screened a bunch of whole white ovals, neglecting to leave the space for the dogs head.  sigh.  what's a flighty tired screenprinter to do?  so i put them aside, thinking that i would find a way to use them, somehow.  and i did.  i went right ahead and printed a nice yellow yolk right on top of that white oval, and a grey fork next to it.  and the arabic breakfast shirt was born.  it sold out on day one. 

and the i love boston shirt.  well, i know, boston peeps--perhaps too close to the ever classic 'i love new york' t shirt...your rival city?  it's okay.  i understand.  in any case, i love boston, and i loved sowa.  looking forward to heading back down again on june 14th!  thank you boston lovelies!

the white flag. and SOWA!

i am interrupting the regularly scheduled programming of tales and photos from our trip to morocco for a little breather and an announcement.  this week i have been neck deep in shirts, ink and ironing--preparing for the opening weekend of south end open market--this saturday and sunday, may 16th and 17th.  it is bound to be a great time, and i am looking forward to two days of boston outdoor craft show love!  i  have heard tell that opening weekend is quite an event, with upwards of 10,000 people coming through, so if you are in the boston area and looking for something to do, please dears come by and say hello--it is sure to entertain! 

hoping to see you there!

AH-sin ftour fi al-3alm!

the day before at breakfast, we had been laughing about nabil's very *humble* opinion of himself (and anything he makes, touches, or speaks of).  something i love and admire about my husband is that he is very open to trying new things.  the humor comes in when he very quickly decides that not only is he able to do most anything, but that in fact, according to him, he is almost always an aficionado (wink) at whatever he puts his mind to.  if he is to make dinner, even if it is simply boiled pasta with jarred sauce, it is, without a doubt--'AH-sin pasta fi al-3alam!'--the BEST pasta in the world!  he lives life with gusto and flair, and he doesn't even mind when i lovingly laugh and tell his family about it.  and so.  he told us that the next day, he was going to prepare for us 'AH-sin ftour fi al-3alm!'  the BEST breakfast in the world.

never mind that the breakfast was pancake mix we had brought with us from maine, with (fake) maple syrup in a plastic bottle.  (it gets worse--the pancake mix was the 'just add water' kind).  it was going to be a major event, so decreed nabil--prepare the kitchen, get out the best china...nabil was going to be cooking for us. 

oh how i love him.  and so we ladies sat in the kitchen and watched him at work, enjoying the sounds of morning birds in the courtyard.

how much time we have spent in this kitchen, with this stovetop and this oven.  that green oven is where the cookies and apple pie were baked.  (the night before the best breakfast in the world, i brought out my pyrex pie plate and crust bags and made an american classic).

it was victorious, i tell you.  nabil flipped those pancakes like no other.  and the laughter was plentiful.

mwi saadiyya joined us.  her hands.  how many babies has she soothed, how many meals has she prepared, how many hands has she held. 

sun and recovery.

with full stomachs, we packed up a small backpack and headed to the beach for mid-april sun.  this beach.  so very many memories.  something i do not speak of much was the time i spent as a student those many years ago, and the friendships and romance of being there, long before nabil and i were ever a couple but just brother and sister, living under  the same roof. 

during those earliest days in rabat, i met many people on the street, falling into impromptu discussions and walks throughout the city, endless careless time.  one person in particular became very important to my stay there--a dreadlocked drummer of the beach, a surfer, and a fellow july baby.  i remember walking onto the sand one afternoon after classes, hoping to find him, and there he was waiting for me with a rose in hand.  we spent many evenings laughing talking and sharing early-twenties-kisses by the water, a tidal wave of emotion through 4 months of learning.  there is so much more to say about all of this, perhaps for another time.  at once good and complicated, joyful and painful memories.  learning time.

nearly 30 now, i lay on the very same beach with my husband next to me, holding hands, and laughing when within 10 minutes of sun exposure my skin blistered up.  old, i say, old!  nabil pulled me up and helped me cover up, ushering me back to the house where my skin recovered with cool air, shade and smiles.

and though the sun can warm me, it does not have nearly the same power as a joke and a hug from sanae ait hamid, whose friendship has been long in coming, making it all the more sweet.  today i am missing you sanae, wishing you were my neighbor.  wishing i could ask you to show me one more time how to fold the briouat.  wishing i could hear your laugh.

and even wishing that hiba would come into the room, asking for a cookie for the millionth time of the day.  chocolate around the mouth?  ever sweeter.

...

after finishing up shirts at 1 am on sunday morning and waking up at 5:30 to drive to cambridge for design hive, i had a great day!  it was just me little me this past weekend, but as i am so very blessed with good friends, i was not alone for long.  the day was passed with much laughter, good chats, and more feedback on the moth designs work--a full day of craft love. thank you to all who stopped by and shared a bit of the day!

now continuing on with tales from our recent trip to morocco.

* * *

the cookies were just as i had hoped.  after sharing an enormous freshly baked plateful the evening before among the many sitting in the front room, these were the remains of the double batch we had made.  a little breakfast treat.

we were settling in.  the time change was becoming less of a strain on our bodies and we were moving along in moroccan time, a leisurely pace.

sanae and nabil reminisced about their childhood games in the courtyard.  she was still up for the challenge.

but with much laughing, nabil still held the ball most of the time.

somewhere between 9 and 10 am, several hours after sanae and naima had awoken to face the morning's chores, we all gathered for our breakfast.

and by the time we rose from our meal, having eaten, sipped, and chatted to our full satisfaction, it was already nearly noon, but there was no sense of urgency at all. 

sitting together, the most important parts of each and every day.

cookies and bastilla. [and design hive!~]

a wee interruption in the story here to bring you news of upcoming events in my present reality.  this sunday, may 3 i will be heading to cambridge, mass for design hive, a sweet indie craft market.  this will be my first time joining design hive and i couldn't be happier!  looking forward to steamrolling into the spring/summer craft season.  hope to see you this sunday at design hive!

* * *

after much knitting and afternooning with tea and conversation, my baking supplies and notebook of recipes came out and serious kitchen time ensued.  having learned from experience which spices and supplies i needed to recreate the taste of my own kitchen in morocco, i had brought along with me a small supply of baking materials :: measuring cups and spoons, baking soda, ground nutmeg (which i learned is called 'gooza'), brown sugar, ground cloves ('krunfil'), a pyrex pie plate, an oven thermometer, garlic powder, pie crust bags, dried basil ('habaq'), peanut butter, and semisweet chocolate chips.  long before packing our bags for the trip, i had spent several hours going through family recipes, thinking of which would be just right to bring with me to share with the kitchen across the ocean.  i compiled a small notebook and brought it along, my little jars and tools in tow.  i now know that next time, i can leave behind the krunfil and gooza, but i will likely bring my own vanilla extract, a nut chopper, and more chocolate chips, more brown sugar, and perhaps a jar of molasses, which the family was convinced is only for feeding cows.  time to make them a batch of warm molasses hermits.

as i started making the chocolate chip cookies, aunt khadija arrived, her own arsenal of homecooked food trailing behind her in a plaid rolling cart.  khadija is sanae's mother--and there we are up there, the three of us in all our glory.  from within the cart we pulled a warm pot of fish bastilla stuffing, a complex mixture of vermicelli, shrimp, hot peppers, mushrooms, black pepper, salt, oil, butter, and some other magic components i am sure i missed.  next out came the soft packets of warqa, or fillo dough--waiting to be buttered, arranged, filled, folded and baked into perfect flaky pies.  

the cookie dough tasted just right, and we baked them in the small gas oven, watching them closely.  though i had brought along the oven thermometer, knowing that the small gas stove had no temperature controls, i found that i didn't need it.  sitting in the kitchen laughing with khadija, sanae, naima and nabil...watching the cookies, dropping dough onto pans--they came out perfectly with no timer, no dials, no oven light, no window in the door, no airbake pans.  just like that.