Summer '16 in review, pop song version

This year I almost feel like I didn't have a summer.  Cue the violin music.  I moved, which took up so much time.  We only took a few days here and there to do a few day trips while my family came to visit.  I am not feeling sorry for myself.  Ok, a little.  It's just that, I feel like summer came and went without me enjoying it to the fullest.

Of course, we knew this summer would be a transitional one.  Moving is such a big event and it takes a lot out of you (still is!).  So, here's a little summer in review for you, brought to you by a few summer hits that kept me going through all the packing, unpacking and cleaning...
  
This is what you came for (Rihanna)
Yes, this is what WE came for.  A house.  It was our big summer project.  We'd been waiting for over three years to have a place of our own.  And so the summer of sacrifice was for this reward.  But there is always that "be careful what you wish for" backlash.  With a bigger house comes more to clean, suprise repairs, and, of course, a house payment.  Adjustments, transitions, deep breaths!

Making our mark on the new place. 

Cheap Thrills (Sia)
The opening lines of this one were practically my summer anthem.  "Come on, come on, turn the radio on."  I have never listened to the radio at home as much as I did this summer.  When I say home I also mean the old apartment, too.  Without my favorite pop radio station, I might have nearly gone crazy as we scrubbed the grease off my old kitchen floor.  And re-painted the walls.  And then painted the walls in our new place. When Juliette hears some of those pop songs now, she says it reminds her of when we cleaned.  And she sometimes even asks me to turn the channel.

Cleaning the apartment floor.  Mommy's little helper.

Cake by the Ocean (DNCE)
I don't believe I ate cake by the ocean this summer. But we did get away for a day trip with my mom in August to a local beach. And we had a picnic and I did eat an ice cream cone...by the North Sea.  It wouldn't be summer without toes in the sand!

Beach trip and ...check!

We don't talk anymore (Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez)
We don't talk anymore, except about the house... Typically, like most couples, Remi and I tend to have animated conversations about home decorating now, or the most urgent repairs we need to make given our small disposable income. And what I knew before is still true today: having a house doesn't make everything hunky-dory.  It just makes your life a little bit more comfortable, but also more complicated.

To buy or not to buy.  Ikea visits and decorating, oh my!

 So as fall wiggles its way in, I'll try to look back on the summer of '16 as a busy but essential one.  Full of memories and singing along with the radio and elbow grease and family visits.  And a disturbing number of Justin Bieber songs that I actually liked.

New Year, New You...nah!

I'm sitting here watching the sky turn dimmer on a winter evening.  It's 5.40ish and luckily the days are getting longer.  But they are still short enough to make me want to hunker down when it gets dark.  Christmas and the warmth of the festivities is over and we have to turn our thoughts to the new year ahead. 

But do we really have to? 

It's so predictable.  My new year phobia.

As predictable as all the weight loss and gym membership ads after Christmas.
As predictable as all those year-in-review montages.
As predictable as white sales in January.
As predictable as...all the predictions experts and astrologers are going to make about 2016!

Because another year means stock taking and measuring up.  It means comparing where I was last year to this year.  And generally realizing I haven't fulfilled all my goals/dreams/wanderlusts... Hence my new year phobia.

But remember last year I made a "to do" list?  I thought it would be more doable, after all.  Let's see how I did...

Last year's list included:
Getting published: still not there yet but I did submit two short essays to Chicken Soup for the Soul and sent one pitch to an online publication.  Nothing back, but I will keep trying.  I guess I mostly write for me.  I don't get many pageviews, but your comments (here or on FB) really encourage me.  So I'll keep writing, because it's part of who I am.

Visit Barcelona: Not yet, but I did buy a book about it!  And talked to my husband about it, who didn't pooh-pooh the idea.  Still dreaming about that one.

Find physical activity: I have done a few (ok, just three) classes at the fitness association that meets in my neighborhood.  For 70€ a year, I don't feel bad if I don't go every week.  Plus, I did learn how exotic I was! 

Try new recipes: I did make a chocolate mousse charlotte.  And recently brioche, using my bread maker to mix the dough.  This is one of the easier ones to fulfill because I do love sweets and especially eating them! 

So for this new and shiny year ahead, I hope to keep working on those goals.  I would also add that I want to learn to knit!  I have a few people in my entourage who know how to do it and have said they can teach me.  Heaven help them.  I bought the yarn and needles, so I am ready.

And I hope to find more balance in my life.  It's not that I work non-stop, but I need to find the right mix of work and play and take care of myself.  And not feel guilty about doing nothing.  Because doing nothing is sometimes the best way to realize what you need. 

So, deep breaths for 2016, which I hope will be a kinder and gentler one for this planet and its people!

Doing vs. Being in the holiday season

I always have this holiday vision.  Not of sugarplums dancing in my head.  Wouldn't know a sugarplum if it rang my door anyway.  Rather I dream of having a cutesy gingerbread house and perfectly decorated sugar cookies.  And every year I fall far short of my expectations.  This year is no exception.

There I was searching for the perfect gingerbread house template online.  Something simple and small.  I found a basic one but was afraid I didn't have enough dough for the dimensions.  So I cut down the paper templates a bit and reduced the slope of the roof.  I was calling up old middle school geometry wisdom and modeling my paper cut-outs for size. 

Then I rolled out the dough after letting J have a go at it first.  I cut out my templates rather approximately and removed some dough for windows and doors, too.  Then it was in the oven for 10 minutes followed by cooling on a plate.

Meanwhile J had found my iPad and was "liking" things on my Facebook account without me knowing.  Perhaps even liking my own posts and passing me off as a narcissist.  That's when I realized I had been going about this all wrong.  Plus she told me the Charley Brown Christmas music I had put on was "sad."  And though I normally love the 60s jazz myself, I had to admit it was perhaps not always so joyous for today's seven-year olds.  

So since I had my main pieces cut, I let J roll out and cut cookies to her heart's content with the remaining dough.  She's come a long way since her three-year old self.  At seven she proclaimed herself an "artist" as she expertly cut out her snowflakes and angels.  And I switched iTunes to my Bollywood's greatest hits album.  We were improvising Bollywood dances while the cookies cooked.

Once the house pieces had cooled, I used my royal icing to start assembling the gingerbread house.  Two side pieces, stable.  But all four walls and the roof, err, not happening.  Total cave in. 

I tried saving the structure, reconstructing, bracing.  But my front piece with the door now had a crack and J was seriously doubting my architectural skills.  I had to laugh.  I started eating one part of the roof and just used the remaining piece for a flat roof.  At least it tasted good.

But this is just another example of me aiming high and falling low.  And often ignoring the most important thing: spending time with my daughter and having fun.  We did end up having fun but not before my perfectionist tendancies nearly made me scrap the whole thing.

It's the old battle between doing and being.  I get so absorbed in "to do" lists and think that everything will be great when that list is done.  And I often forget to have fun while "doing."  In the holiday season we seem to have so many more things to "do".  Or "make."   

Make pastries for the school Christmas market, for colleagues or students.  Do the Christmas shopping, of course. Make Christmas meals and organize visits.  Do the decorating of the house just so.  Do the caroling or church events.  And while all of these things can bring joy and fulfillment, I mustn't forget what I need to "be" this season.

I need to Be Generous.  Not just by buying presents.  Anyone with a credit card can do that.  I need to be generous in my words, in my acts, more forgiving of my husband, child and myself.  Be generous to those outside my inner circle: charities, the homeless.

I need to Be Cozy.  With all that "doing" and "making" I forget that some couch time and holiday movies or reading are also great soul food.  Relaxing with my family, That's more important than a perfect house, and heaven knows I'll never get that anyway.

I need to Be Present.  If I keep telling my little girl, just a minute, hold on a sec, I'm not being with her and enjoying the moment.  It's such a balancing act being a mom anyway, but I need to just be there for her and put aside some of the things on my list.

And that goes for me, too. I need to Be Here Now and enjoy the season instead of waiting for everything to be perfect to feel contentment.

So my gingerbread house wasn't perfect this year.  But after a day the royal icing had cemented the structure well.  We kept decorating together the next day (to Echosmith on youtube, this time).  I put the frosting on the candies and she placed them.  I added a chimney. 

It's an improvement on my gingerbread ghetto a few years ago.  Maybe an Alabama gingerbread barn that is in need of repair.  There are chinks where the light comes through this house.  But it's not too bad and I hope it has made some nice holiday memories for Juliette.  And in a week we can look forward to eating it while we're being cozy and chilling.

To be honest, I will still keep my "to do" list and hopefully get some of the things actually done on it.  But I will also keep in mind my "to be" list and try to maintain that precious balance.

So friends and family, Be Kind to yourself and others this holiday season and I'll try to do the same!

Scarves and changes

I just stocked up on a few scarves.  Not the wooly kind but the "cover-your-neck-cause-there's-a-mean-breeze-out" kind.  I used to scoff at scarves and the French obsession with them.  Now, after one too many throat infections and a pneumopathy a year and a half ago, I cover my neck when it dips below 70°F.  And as we are now officially in the fall season, more of those days will be around the corner.

It might not feel very fall-like as I write this, on a brilliant late September day, but I am feeling that seasonal change.  Juliette had to memorize a poem at school (so many poems!) and it sums up the change and emotions that go with it quite well.  As I helped her learn it, I now know it, too!

Un champignon et trois marrons
Sont venus en délégation
Accompagnés de feuilles mortes
Ils ont frappés à ma porte.
"Avis à la population!
Aujourd'hui, changement de saison.
Mettez les vacances au placard
Voici l'automne et le brouillard."

Didier Dufresne

English translation:
A mushroom and three chestnuts
Came in a delegation
Accompanied by dead leaves
They knocked at my door.
"Notice to the population!
Today the seasons change
Put your holidays in the closet
Here is autumn and the fog."

Ok, slightly less poetic when translated, but it does feel like we're turning a page.  Vacation memories are farther back in our mind.  School is back in swing, work routines settling in.  Days are still long but we feel them creeping in on us in the morning and evening now, condensing time.  As my mom said, this season seems to bring out emotions and melancholy like no others.

Does it mirror our own fear of ageing, I wonder?  Now is the autumn of our lives.  Sometimes I feel I am in that season now.  (Coincidentally, I am an "autumn", in the color scheme and feel my warmest and coziest in those colors.)  The end of the year is coming soon, and I wonder if I've done all I wanted this time around. 

And so we feel like hunkering down, storing our nuts and settling in for a long autumn's nap.  We can do that in autumn, right?  I am not quite ready for the glittery lights of the holiday seasons, but Halloween and a walk in crunchy leaves are coming soon, so I better get used to it. And I won't forget my scarf.

What emotions does autumn evoke in you? 

Thursday's child has far to go

Do you know this nursery rhyme?

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace;
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go;
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for its living;
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay. 
 
I was born on a Thursday.  I guess you could say I did have far to go, too.  I used to be afraid to go farther than ten minutes from my house (my criteria for my university!) but somehow I ended up crossing the Atlantic.  Thursday has always been one of my favorite days of the week, too.  It's not as giddy as Friday.  But it still has the (comfortable) routine of the week with the promise of the weekend around the corner.  Even a rainy Thursday doesn't seem to bother me as much as other rainy days.  

Luckily last week we were blessed with a pleasant Thursday.  And I didn't really have "far to go" (like the nursery rhyme says) but I ended up going farther than I intended. I had a two-hour break between lessons in a company so set out to find a supermarket to buy some bread and figured I'd eat in my car.  But the signs indicating the supermarket seemed to disappear and I kept driving straight ahead.  I saw another car turn left just in front of a huge sign for a fishing ground and park.  I made a mental note to go back there another time or after the supermarket.

But ten minutes later I still hadn't found the supermarket so decided to turn around and go back to the park.  It was set back in a residential neighborhood.  The sign said cars should drive slowly into the area.  I found a well-paved parking area in between a pond and a marshy field and playgrounds and parked there.  I ate my cold salmon and rice in the warmth of my car as the March sun beat through the glass.  Then I decided to explore a bit. 

It was mild for mid-March but the wind could still pick up and blow some cold air around.  The plants still had their winter appearance but signs of spring were coming.  I was charmed by this little bridge and the happy ducks.

Yes, they're happy. Can't you tell?

They don't call this park "The Marsh" for nothing.  I did have to be careful stepping on the sometimes muddy grass.

If you look closely you'll see a daisy!

This is one of my favorite bushes because the bright red branches make a winter day less blah.  Leaves are about to spring forth.

I decided to relax a bit on this bench.  The fountain made a soothing sound.  

There are actually some industries and companies around this park.  I could also hear the sound of machines but it didn't take away from the charm of the place.

I ventured onward (cause I can't sit still for long) and saw a willow tree just starting to get its spring coat.  It's the yellowish tree in the center towards the left.

When I got closer I could see the leaves on the trailing branches.

I like the light this time of year.  Days are getting longer but the shadows still remind me a bit of winter.

And the sun glinting off the water is magical.

But I had to go on back.  I did eventually find that supermarket and got my bread, but I think my Thursday turned out better than I planned.  I may have gone a little farther, but it was worth the trip.

What day of the week were you born on? Find out here. Does the nursery rhyme fit you? What's your favorite day of the week?

Musings of a Part-time Housewife

Notice I did not say "desperate".  January, and now February, being rather slow work months, I've found myself with a little more time on my hands than usual.  My job teaching English to adults often leaves me with some holes in my schedule, but since the beginning of the year those holes have been more like craters.  In fact there have been a few days I didn't work at all.

I've essentially always worked since I finished school.  I was lucky enough to find work pretty quickly in France, too.  And I only took a few months off when Juliette was born, though I again had some very light work days when I returned to my job.  But it has taken a bit of adjustment to have this much spare time.  How do I fill that time, you may ask? 

Tea, tea and more tea
Luckily I've got colleagues and girlfriends who are kind of in the same situation lately.  And what do ladies with gaps in their schedule do?  They get together for tea.  And cookies.  And chatting.  This slow period also being in winter, tea or hot chocolate are the things to drink.  So in addition to checking out a salon de thé with one friend, I've had girlfriends over for a quick tea.  And I've been able to go to morning tea with the Anglican group.  That's something I could never do when my schedule was filled.

I'm so lucky to have discovered this group through my other expat friends.  It's quite amusing just to listen and observe. The women who come range in age from 30 to 75.  Some are British with chirpy or crisp sing-songy accents, as compared to my "flat" American one.  There is tea, Marks and Spencers, last time, and conversation.  Last time an older Scottish woman asked in her soft voice if anyone was going to England and could pick up some black currant throat losenges.  When the other ladies said that brand was available in France, she said, but not the black currant ones.  Some French women come to practice their English.  Once a year they do a book sale with mostly English books.  It's a very pleasant way to pass the time.

Time sort of well spent
At first I had high hopes of getting some of those old projects done.  Like finally finishing my photobook creation online or, who knows, actually filling the photo albums from Juliette's toddler years.  So many projects, so little motivation.  Because now that I actually do have some time, I generally prefer to do other things.  Like drink tea.  And get Juliette for lunch or on Wednesday afternoon when she has no school.  I have done a wee bit of organizing.

It's also been an opportunity to get some long-needed doctor visits out of the way.  I've been to the dentist and Juliette, too (her first time, mind you!) and I took her to the dermatologist.  It's just a little easier to arrange these things when my schedule is lighter.

Say "cheese"!

And as you may have noticed I've been a bit better about regular blog posts.  It's a slightly positive note that in no way will counterbalance what will surely be puny pay for January.

I also was able to snap some photos in the snow one morning (since I had the time...)

Clean-ish
I wish I could tell you I've cleaned my house from top to bottom and totally solved my organisational issues.  That would be lying. But I have cleaned my living room windows a bit more than usual.  And I must say, of all the methods mentioned to me by overzealous French cleaners, the winner is... good old Windex.  Whenever I try the white vinegar and soap, it still seems to leave streaks that look worse than before.  Even trying to use a squeegee to dry it up leaves streaks (guess I'm not ready for Olympic Squeegee trials).

Let's face it, I'm just not a clean freak.  When I have time to spare, I'd rather be doing more interesting things like baking, writing, playing with Juju...  But not having to rush off to work right away some mornings means my kitchen is generally a little cleaner than when I have to start at 8 o'clock.  I've been able to stay a bit more on top of my recycling bin and trash.  Anyway, when our lives are over, I don't think we'll say, man, I should have scrubbed my house more often.  However, they do say, cleaning can help you "clean out" your mind, too and settle things for you.  Just seeing something that you made cleaner yourself can give a feeling of satisfaction. 

The best of both worlds?
In the end I know that I need to work both to keep us afloat financially and for my own mental health.  By saying that I mean absolutely nothing negative for those women who are full-time housewives, be it by choice or because circumstances have put them in that position.  I just see for myself I need activities to get me out of the house (work or otherwise) and the company of colleagues and friends (lucky for me my colleagues are friends, too).  That said, I really enjoy having some flexibility in my schedule and being able to participate in other activities.  Soon my work will increase (I hope!) and these will just be distant musings. I'm glad to have had this time for myself.

Where do you see yourself on this issue?  Can you stay home? Do you want to? What's ideal for you?

Resolving to dream

Here we go again!  Cold, grey skies, and that blah feeling pervading.  Could it be...January? Despite a few sunny days, January has been rather cold and dreary, moreso because I'm dealing with the departure of my family.  I know I'm not the only one dealing with post-holiday blues.  It takes me a good two weeks, it seems, to get over the new year hump and feel cheery again.

I think I've pretty much given up really making resolutions because either I never keep them or they are too ambitious and just make me feel bad about my life!  I don't even think I made any last year.  But this year I came across a list of doable actions that really could be good for me (and YOU!). 

I'll give you the short version, and besides there are only three of them:
1. Breathe deeply (it helps you think AND reduces stress)
2. Smile more (it makes you happy and helps you make contact with others)
3. Express gratitude (count your blessings and don't forget to thank those around you!)

See, so simple.  As I write this I'm reminding myself to breathe deeply, but as there's no one here but the cat, I'm not smiling. Nor thanking him. 

And instead of resolutions I'll make a "me" wish list.  Like a "things to do" list but with no expiration date.

Things to do (medium-/long-term):

• get published! My friend Crystal went from blogging to free-lancing and I'd love to follow in her footsteps (while keeping my day job).
• visit Barcelona. Everyone raves about this city and I'd love to do a quick trip some time.
• find physical activities that make happy and calm.  Even if it's yoga on youtube or dancing in my living room, I do need to get a bit more active.
• try new recipes.  Last year I tried eclairs (kind of small) and cinnamon rolls.  I want to get a bit more ambitious now though.   I've got the pastry bags and tips and charlotte mold to help me on baking adventures!

I'll keep the list short for now so it won't intimidate me.  Aren't dreams a bit nicer to think of than old workaday resolutions?

Langston Hughes said it best:

 

Dreams
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Coincidentally, that last stanza sounds a bit like January without hope!  So here's hoping that you and I can hold fast to our dreams.  For that is what keeps hope alive.

A Vacation State of Mind

I put the start of a sentence on Facebook (yeah, I know, I am still battling that addiction) and asked friends to complete it:

"August is..."

Most people said "hot", which is not the case in my current location, where we barely ever hit 85°F.  Others talked about back to school.  But for most French residents, it's still about vacation or at least a slower pace of life due to all the other folks being away. 

You almost have to experience it to believe it. That eeriness when you drive to work and feel like you're practically the only person on the road.  How places like supermarkets and intersections just seem quieter.  The next two weeks there will only be two instead of five teachers at my company.  That's gonna be super quiet...

But that's ok, because I like having August to myself.  I feel like I'm still on vacation and can get some home projects done when I'm not actually working.

Besides, I did have a nice longish week in the mountains in July.  It's funny how when I told my family in the US I'd be gone a week, they said, "Wow, a whole week!" while most French people said, "Oh, just a week?"  I even took to replying that I'd be gone "une petite semaine" ("a little week") to French people, but would sometimes hastily add that I also had the last week of August (since Juliette's daycare is inexplicably closed that week). 

Ah, French people bask in their five weeks off and can't conceive of having less.  Americans can't conceive of five luxurious weeks and make the most of their two to three weeks. 

That must be why the French have truly got vacationing down to an art.  Packing up a million household items if they're going camping, leaving at midnight sometimes to avoid traffic and heat, carting three-month olds anywhere including in high altitude. 

I, however, was not born with vacationing in my genes.  And though my adopted country is rubbing off on me in the strangest of ways, I don't know that I am totally at ease during my vacation.  Like one of my favorite authors, Sally Vickers, says in several of her books, life is lived forwards but often enjoyed and understood backwards.  Vacations seem to be the same.  Try as I might to truly appreciate the moment, it seems I reminisce the week after and kick myself for not enjoying it even more.  During the vacation I let little things get to me: hubby's grumpiness or Juliette's whines.  Afterwards, I don't totally forget it, but my mind goes back to the misty walk on a hillcrest or the soothing green of the conifers surrounding our vacation village.

Maybe like this picture, strangely fuzzy from the misty weather, vacation memories become mottled, hazed over with what we want to remember. 

At any rate I am thankful to have had the opportunity to get away and see some beautiful landscapes, a big breath of fresh air in more ways than one.

More reasons you know you've been in France too long (summer edition)

Frightening but true, summer time seems to bring out the latent French person in me.  I hear myself thinking or saying things that are oh so français that I might need to check the nationality on my passport again. So in addition to those normal French-isms we expats can experience, here's a quick list to see how French one can become once June 21st rolls around.


1. You can't stop thinking about your vacation and you know about everyone else's holiday plans down to the last detail.  Blame it on the generous five weeks a year holiday plan in this country.  The French are obsessed with vacations.  But it's even more apparent in the summer.  Some folks routinely spend two or three weeks in the south of France.  Once June rolls around people can't concentrate on much else. 

2. Any excuse is perfect for eating outside or in a sidewalk café.  We are lucky to have a balcony to eat on when we feel like it and the weather is behaving.  And when I walk through the main squares in my town on a nice evening, I see crowds of diners outside eating as if it is their birthright.  It is sort of a way of life in the warm months around here.

3. Apéro!  Along with eating outside, summer rhymes with cocktails, or apéro.  This is also a sacred tradition around here.  There are many variations but it generally consists of a glass of rosé or your favorite cocktail or cold drink with chips and salty snacks. It's just a great excuse to get together and snack and drink (in moderation!).  Our 70ish year old neighbor even said we should come by for "apéro" some time!



Check out this campy scene from the French movie Camping.  Warning, guy in speedo!

4.  You put off any serious plans till September.  Cause, really, what's the point? Some companies close in August completely.  How do they expect us to get any work done?  I hear my students who are looking for a job say they'll just relax now that summer is here and start seriously looking in September.  And they're right.  Even job ads dry up in the summer.

5. You have an intense desire to clean your car inside and out.  This is intimately linked with the vacation time.  I just never seemed to notice Americans getting so gung ho about cleaning their car before heading off to the beach (since the car will just get sandy anyway).  The French, however, start vacuuming and cleaning with religious fervor come late June.  It's a telltale sign that your neighbor is about to leave for a few weeks.

Well, this list will only have five points since I'm already experiencing that summer laziness.  But I'll leave you with a few pics of us enjoying the long days of sunshine.

Juliette blowing bubbles at a British garden party.

Me and my shadow.

Sand pit and our shadows.

So enjoy summer and don't forget, apéro at my place!

Wanted: Indian Summer

I'm sitting here looking at an anemic sky: some greyish clouds billowing around on white; there is sun sometimes but not much blue sky.  This September has been one of those partly sunny-partly cloudy deals.  Some days down-right chilly and rainy.  So I guess I must face facts, it IS autumn.  Tomorrow in fact.

So I've been a bit nostalgic about my summer and the good times we had.  Maybe because the weather was actually very summer-like (for once) and now the chillier air is quite a contrast. Allow me to indulge in some summer memories.

My new solar-powered lantern that comes on at night.

Strawberry wine and strawberries with sugar.

Enjoying a meal on the balcony.

And as you know, every year I go through some pre-Autumn depression. But this year I'm determined to make the best of things.  Setting goals and looking forward to things.  I'll let you know more later on just what (but I've got some ideas...).

Last Sunday we got out and did something to beat the blues- a little visit to the port city of Boulogne and its historic walled town center. 

We also ate at what had to be the worst restaurant in Boulogne in terms of service (s-l-ooooo-wwwww) and which boasted a very mediocre menu.  And one of the funniest menu translations I've ever seen!

Google translate at work, people.  Pavé is a piece of meat but they translated it as "paved", as there is also the verb paver (to pave).  Emincé should again be pieces of meat which are sliced thinly not simply "sliced thinly", and filet is the same word in English, but in French it can also mean a net, as in the net when you play tennis.  I should have seen it coming that this restaurant wasn't up to snuff by its menu alone! 

This weekend I'm just cleaning a bit (as Juliette's school friend and next-building neighbor has come to play) and tomorrow will be in-law visiting.  We're settling into our school and work routine and trying to go with the flow.

Here's wishing you a cozy and productive fall, y'all!

Heat and Miss

The heat.  I'm from Alabama so I know heat.  But once again I am surprised how hot and muggy Northern France can actually get.  Especially when there's no air conditioning.  We've had a hot spell for the last three weeks and though I'm really not complaining about the brilliant sun, the stickiness is not so pleasant.  My routine after waking up has been cracking the windows but keeping the blinds mostly closed.  Wearing light clothes is a given since my car only blows a bit of air on me and some companies I visit don't have a/c either.  We even put an umbrella up on the balcony to block some of the sun and some nights it's been too hot to eat out there! 

Luckily the hot sun has been useful for drying clothes while my dryer is OUT OF ORDER!  As I write this I'm waiting for the repairman and hoping there is nothing major wrong with it.  For all my recent railing about life without a dryer, I just can't go back to a no-dryer existence.  And I don't particularly want to fork out money on a new one considering the one we have is only three years old!

The miss is because a week ago my mom and sister left.  Two weeks went by too quickly, as I knew they would.  I feel they really connected with Juliette and it warms my heart to see her keeping a strong bond with her American family. I am also glad we were able to squeeze in so much fun with side trips and home projects and even a little kid birthday party for Juliette.  In the end I opted for a home party and judging by the kids' squeals, I think they enjoyed it.

And on her real birthday I made her a chocolate box cake that was so very moist!  And put her name on top, of course.

Five-year old Juliette is proving to be quite the spitfire.  As if she weren't already!  I've noticed she's been calling me "mom" or "mama" more instead of "mommy".  I figure it's from hearing my sister Jessy call my mom these names.

So for the time being we're just hanging out here, working (lightly), going to summer day care (in Juliette's case).  Summer languors on, punctuated by thunderstorms and trips to the park.   I'll try to finish some home projects (the perpetual "organize the house" goal that mom and Jess helped immensely with) and enjoy some down time. 

What are your summer plans?

Delicious Days

When you live in my part of France (the North), you learn to drop everything and head outdoors when it's sunny and above 70 degrees Fahrenheit.  And though we've still been having a mixed bag in terms of weather, there have been some lovely days that inspired me to pack up Juliette and go to a park.

Such a peaceful moment at the duck pond.

Do you see the bunny-shaped cloud in the middle?  Reminds me of The Runaway Bunny book.

 

Making "cakes" with flower petals and such at the greenhouse.

Me getting a bit of sun on my legs in the fake turf outside of Ikea. 

 I took this one myself holding the camera backwards.  I'm near my favorite blue flower, lobelia.

I love peonies.  This one was outside Remi's grandfather's retirement home and smelled just divine!

Meanwhile the last month has brought two birthday parties from my North American pals' kids.  Juliette and I got to go to an indoor playground and a farm visit for these two parties.  Interesting thing we North American moms have noticed is that the French moms, with just two exceptions out of the say, ten invited for both parties, just leave their kids at the party and pick them up after.  It seems odd to us but I guess it's yet Another Cultural Difference we have discovered.  So now the question is what to do for Juliette's birthday as it falls in July when most people are on vacation.  Must put my thinking cap on.

Luckily work has been picking up and I've realized again that working makes me feel better.  I may not always be wild about teaching but for the most part I do like talking to my students and helping them discover things.  I certainly feel better at the end of  a day when I've worked a bit. 

My Juju is still a joy to me but there are times I'm not such a model parent and I lose my patience and yell more than I should.  Nearly five is still a bit far from the so-called Age of Reason (six or seven) and many a day she will whine about something that seems so insignifcant to me.  She'll make it her mantra (like, I want a doll, I want a doll....) until I want to scream and sometimes do .  Then she'll make up silly songs in her little voice and I just want to squeeze her and put some of that cuteness in a bottle and keep it forever. 

Ah, such is life but we keep on going.   And a sunny day does make it seem a little better.