The Holidays, Week One

So it's been 3 weeks since my last real post. We've been gone for 2 of those and all around sick, struggling with heartburn, struggling with immigration services, struggling with the damn post office (no, Joan, your $60 box is no where to be found, most likely on its way BACK to you), and just struggling in general! So here's a look back on some of the action:
Dec 20th, Saturday. We spend the day packing up getting ready for our flight to Nantes that afternoon. In the morning I have the misfortune to have to go to the P.O. to pick up packages (which, it turns out, were 3 even though they insisted there were only 2, now the 3rd one that my sister paid a fortune to send is floating in never-never-hell-land). But of the 2 parcels we did get, one was some lovely Xmas books for Estelle from my sister Mary. Here is Estelle opening them:
One of the books was "The Sweet Smell of Christmas", this little scratch-and-sniff book from the 1970's that I totally associate with the Holidays and has been reprinted. Mary found a copy somewhere and sent it to Estelle. Here's the thing, though: Last year Mary's twin, Martha, had found a copy and sent it to Estelle for Christmas. Now we have two. It's like having my twin sisters right in the apartment with us, each book inscribed with a lengthy "here's why we bought you the book, Estelle" explanation. That's some weird twin thing going on there!
The day after we arrived in Angers at my in-laws, Thomas and I traveled back up to Nantes to see his good friend Stephane and his new baby, Clara. Stephane and his partner Laure have been our guest in Nice before. They have this new 2 month old baby and look very together, compared to us in August of 2006. Here we are in Couëron, where they live in the suburbs on Nantes.
Stephane has recently opened his own optometry shop. We went by to pick our new frames. Here is Thomas trying on the latest in sunglasses fashion.
Here they are with Clara!
Monday back in Angers, a little tour in town with Tata Agnes. You see the cathedral of Angers in the background.

Enjoying her room at her grandparents:
Tuesday we enjoyed a nice walk in the sun across the bridge of the Maine river, Angers answer to Paris' Seine. This bridge is very famous as it was a railroad bridge during WWII and the Americans used it to get troops across and sneak up on the Germans. It is called Liberation bridge, or something to that effect.
Some fishermen:


A few swans on the river. These are for my brother Cedric:

The houses you see in the background are in the "development" where my in-laws live. Their house is not right on the water but a bit further in.

Wednesday, Christmas Eve: This is the big event in France as opposed to Christmas Day itself. We attended mass in the evening and then came home for a lovely meal and opening presents.
My father-in-law has officially moved into retirement. Here he is sporting our gifts - work pants and a construction hat to help him prepare for the major additions and renovations he is undertaking at their second home in the Auvergne.
The Christmas Eve table, set for us.
This is the creche - lots more characters in French creches then in American ones. As far as I know, American creches have Jesus, Joseph and Mary, 3 wise men, an ox, a cow, a donkey, a drummer boy, a sheperd, and an angel. That's pretty much the standard line. Here you have all kinds of village folk, each with a different trade or distinguishing characteristic. The figurines are called "santons". Estelle broke one within 5 minutes of being next to it.
Here is the "buche de Noel". This is in fact two small buches on one platter. They were from a distinguished shop and delicious. One was chocolate cream and one praline. Excellent. You can see the white blobs that are to be mushrooms growing on the logs. They are made of meringue. There are also plastic trees and lumberjack tools (the French word for lumberjack is "bucheron") and presents. Very decorative.
We got to bed around 1:30 or so. I was up early tending to my King Arthur flour almond sweet buns, thank you very much. And Estelle was totally uninterested in looking for presents when she woke up. She just wanted to go see Daddy. But an hour later, once she got into the swing of it, she enjoyed herself. Her she is with her loot. You can see a pair of her shoes sitting on the boxes. This is the French tradition - laying out gifts around each person's shoes next to the fireplace. Not under the tree.
Here's Estelle trying out her new baby backpack carrier.
Here's Thomas rehearsing for 4 months from now. Incidentally that doll makes all kinds of noises, including saying "I love You" in English. And burping. Both of which are alarming. Meanwhile, is my husband hot or what?
Here's Estelle feeding her doll. Really she is trying to shut it up because if you touch the spoon to the button hidden in her lips, she stops squawking.
Basket of play food.
Christmas dinner. Hmm, who's the wiped out chic with child in the photo?
Christmas Day, 5 p.m.: We go to visit good family friends, The Saulniers. (I should add that I took a nap first). Oldest daughter Virginie lives in Wisconsin and attended our VT wedding, so some of you may remember her - the one whose luggage never came and she wore my funeral dress to the wedding, ring a bell? ha ha Anyways, here's her sister Dorothee setting us up for Buche de Noel #2. Theirs was orange cream and praline. Yummy.
Here's their creche. Note the village setting and the numerous santons:
I am wearing a crown from a cracker because Virginie brings them from America - crackers are not a tradition in France. You can't tell from the photo but Estelle and I are wearing matching tights, a gift from my mother-in-law.
Here's where we tried to do some family photos in front of the Saulnier's fireplace. Yes I am that huge.
Estelle is on a Buche sugar-high in this photo I think.
Guy walked in to their house wearing his new hat we gave him, only to have them present him with the same hard hat from the same store! Great minds think alike! Here's Virginie modeling it:
Estelle enjoyed some silly reindeer ears:
...ears that made the rounds.....
....again.....
Friday Dec 26th: We take Estelle to the doctor as she has a bad cold. Then, Guillaume, Thomas' best man, pops in for a quick hello and to give Estelle a gift before jumping back on a train to Paris to leave the next day for NYC. We were very jealous!

Friday evening: Thomas participates in a "Jubilee" for an old hockey friend, Antoine. Antoine is "retiring" from hockey (roller hockey, in this case) and his brother organized a surprise reunion game with all his old teammates and then there was a lovely cocktail evening and dinner at their parents home, which just happens to be in the same neighborhood as my in-laws.
Here's Thomas after the game - he's on the far right, white helmet. Just behind him is the goalie -- one of his best friends from childhood, Francois Mallet. I use his last name because his other best hockey friend from his childhood is ALSO named Francois. So whenever anyone in Thomas' life talks about either of them, they say their entire name to distinguish. It is funny. I have trouble addressing either of them as just "Francois". I'm so used to saying their whole name!
Later that night, at the party at Antoine's parents villa, I tried to get a shot of all those hockey players. Whoah, baby. That's a room full of cute hockey players, let me tell you. Yowza. And French, to boot. They had names like Mathieu, Edouard, Vincent, Julien, etc. Thankfully no one was named Guy Lafleur or I may have swooned. This was a very fun evening with amazing food. The guy in the pink shirt is Antoine, the guest of honor. His adorable brother who organized it all, Pierre, is he one 3 over to the left of him with the glasses. Darling, all of them. Can you find my own husband in all of this? He's the one with his eyes closed, of course! The older man far right is their old coach. Francois Mallet is lying down in front like he's making a save. What can I say, this was far into the champagne. (not me, of course!)
Saturday the 27: CREPES! Andrée made crepes and they were yummy:
Check out those pans, Mom.
Estelle enjoying one. She doesn't look like she is, but she was!

Hmm, now she looks more interested that she sees a big container of sugar!
Meanwhile, this is what happens when you retire at 62: You get silly with crepes!
Saturday afternoon: Good family friends, the Rigollets, have us all over for tea. They live acros s the cul-de-sac and have been longtime friends. They have 3 kids, all of whom are married and with kids. It was a free-for-all with lots of lollypops:
Next to Thomas is Sebastien Rigollet and his son, Adrien. The other LolliPop man is Brice, Anne Rigollet's husband, and his 2 older daughters Capucine and Annaelle.
Here's the women's side: Lucy Rigollet, whose son Feriole is 3 weeks older than Estelle, and she is also expecting again and due shortly after me. Agnes, Claudne and Virginie Saulnier, Anne Rigollet and her baby named Philomene, her 3rd daughter. Gauchia is standing in the red with the video camera, just behind Dorothee Saulnier. Gauchia is Sebastien's Polish bride. I am not the only foreign wife in this neck of the woods. But she can hold her vodka better than me, that's for sure. We were invited to their wedding in Poland but it was one month after Estelle's birth so we couldn't go.

Here's Guy, Claude Rigollet and Roland Saulnier. And my husband, still working on that lollipop.
That evening we went with the Saulnier's to see a fun play spoofing all of Shakespeare's tragedies. It was very enjoyable!
Well, that's week one. Stay tuned for Week Two: Our trip to Paris, etc...

Hang on

Yes, we are still alive over here in Nice. We just got back Sunday from being away for the holidays and when I finally sat down last night to do a blog, our internet was down for the evening.
Stay tuned for a blog tomorrow with lots of photos of the Noel Bonanza with Estelle.

Vermont Birthdays, New Hampshire Darkness

Today my niece and goddaughter Heather Renee turns 2 up in the white winterwonderland of Vermont. It is also my nephew Jacob's 11th birthday, also buried under the snow in VT. A big happy day to both of them!
Here's an photo of Heather this summer. Quite a contrast to how things look at the moment up there in Santaland. Of course I have no photos of Jacob because who can catch an 11 year old baseball fanatic boy long enough to take his photo?

Meanwhile, my mother enters Day 7 of No electricity in southern New Hampshire where she resides chez ma sister and brother-in-law. Day 7. Now that is a long time in cold conditions. The ice storm that hit last week on Thursday night is one of the longest power outages in modern history.
They have a generator, and a wood stove in their living room, so they certainly have it better than most. Their phone line is connected to their cable, but between on again off again cell phones and my brother-in-laws work phone line that is still going, they certainly are able to get by. 2 of their daughters have just arrived home for the holidays so things are getting festive despite the lack of juice.
Still, I do think of the eldery living alone, those people with young children, or a newborn baby, and wonder how they are managing.
Makes the constant rain we have had here lately in Nice seem not so awful!
Here are some shots from Vermont and New Hampshire after the ice storm hit last week:


And my personal favorite, this photo of some people who don't mind the situation one bit:

We Need a Little Christmas!

Right this very minute!
Haven't posted in a while as we've been out for the count - Estelle has a bronchial virus, when then moved into her intestines and produced lots of interesting vomiting episodes. I had the pleasure of undergoing an amnioscentis which produced perfects results. Did I mention yet I'm expecting?
Thomas had the good fortune of waiting on me hand and foot after the amnio for 3 days and cleaning up after poor Estelle's troubled tummy. His parents also helped up by standing in for 6 days. I was too laid up in bed to take any photos and it appears Thomas didn't either - so we have no visual documentation of their visit! Sorry...
But now life is back to normal, and here's Estelle getting into the Christmas spirit eating and making Christmas sugar cookies:



On Friday we enjoyed a Christmas teatime with buddies Thomas and Eliott. Estelle looks like a gypsy because her tights got wet so we put on pink sweatpants under her skirt
Enjoying our little tree

A video of some kind of dance she was doing: wait until the Christmas song in th background of this blog entry finished to press play on the videos so you can hear what is happening in the video....

Singing a French children's Christmas song:

Sunday after making cookies we went to another Christmas gathering = an "advent" party, at Helene and Sylvain's place. Estelle had 3 playmates, but she was by far the oldest child there.
Here she is trying to blow out the candles (for the 7th time)
Helene, our host, graciously accommodates Estelle's candle obsession
Special friend to Estelle number one that afternoon: Eloise.

More soon!

Thanksgiving

No that's not a pumpkin pie. It's a tourtiere, a Quebecois meat pie. I made this a few weeks ago when we had out friends Guillaume and Caroline for the weekend. They flew down from Paris for a visit.
Caroline won points by playing with the sticker book, also appreciated by Guillaume.

Guillaume teaches Estelle the finer points of rugby. Readers who attended our French wedding may recognize Guillaume as one of Thomas' "temoins" - or witnesses - the French equivalent of a best man.
The next weekend it was Thanksgiving. Since there is no Thanksgiving over here, Americans have to make it happen themselves. Last Saturday we, along with about 30 other people, congregated chez Uncle Craig and Uncle Doug for a fabulous feast. Here's Craig hard at work deciding what goes where.....
Doug, official taste-tester, savouring a moment.

After the meal, there was a nod to the French culture with a cheese plate.
Just a few of the items on the dessert table: my pumpkin cookies.
And my pumpkin pie - yes, Mom, I did make that crust from scratch!
Here's Doug explaining the rules of the Yankee Swap/Secret Santa game, part of the tradition at Thanksgiving at their house.

Here are some of the gifts waiting to make their entrance into the game. We came away with a "Mamma Mia" DVD and some great a set of stacking cups - good prizes. Our gifts were big hits - especially the French Rugby Team calendar - highly coveted by all the women and most of the men in this crowd. Thomas adds he too respects it, as an athlete.

In any event, a nice Thanksgiving. Estelle was perfectly well-behaved. As we were!
Now we are enjoying a visit from Thomas' parents....more photos on that later this wkend!

Requiem

These keys are all I have left of my bike, which was stolen in the night.

When I walked outside at 8:15 this morning, ready for my day, showered, make-up, prepared for my lessons and meetings, I went to the bike parking area in front of my building only to find my locks cut and lying on the ground, like forlorn cast-offs, mangled and pitiful in the gutter.
This bike has been with me 7 long years. I've had it longer than I've known Thomas.
It is a sad, sad day for me. Not to mention that my whole way of functioning, working, making the logistics of my day and my daughter's day happen depended on that bike.
People seemed surprised that I got upset, that I had some tears. Those are people who have never had their bike be their right arm. This bike is my car, my access to everything, work, options - freedom.
This bike took me to job interviews, to hockey games, a thousand trips back and forth to the university for 3 years. It took me out to bars, to dates with Thomas, it took me to try on wedding dresses, to my pre-Cana classes, to ultrasound appointments, to the theater, to the movies. It took me to teach all over this city, from the hills to the beach to the airport to all the various campuses of the university that I have worked at. It has taken me to homes for private lessons, to the train station. It has taken Thomas to get his hair cut, to get new glasses, has taken me to the gym and yoga. It had a top-of-the-line seat for a kid and a brand-new basket on the front, a mother's day gift.
It has taken Estelle all over for well over a year now and she has loved every second of it. And back in the day, Thomas pedaled standing up while I sat on the seat, legs splayed behind, laughing on the way home from a night out.

I walked to my guys at the bike shop, stepped in and looked Francois in the eye and said "My ride was stolen last night." Everyone in the shop stopped and sighed, shook their head, paused for a few seconds, and carried on. They took my details, they're gonna hook me up hopefully soon.

But now someone else has it, and it is amazing how much it bothers me. I just stood on the sidewalk in shock this morning, holding the pieces of the locks, like a kid. I literally thought to myself "But I didn't say goodbye!" Such is life.
I hate to think of it out there, being taken apart, covering up the hockey stickers, stripping off the basket so it won't be the same bike.
I have faith that God, or some higher power, or at the very least my Dad, is gonna do something very very mean to the guy who has separated me from my old friend, my bike.

Come on, Post a Blog!

Well, I'm busy. What can I say.

So, here's a few shots from last weekend, which is pretty much the last time I had enough time on my hands to think about pressing the shutter release button.

First, father and daughter having a lazy Saturday morning..

Sunday we went to Cap Ferrat and did the entire walking tour.

There you see the phare (lighthouse) of Cap Ferrat. You see Thomas carrying Estelle on his shoulders.
What a view.
"ESTELLIOT" rides again.


Here's Elliot with his parents, Arnaud and Fransiska.
I made banana muffins for the picnic.
Fransiska made a yummy quiche. Here's ESTELIOTT enjoying their lunch.

Later there was a big game of peekaboo. Live vicariously thru photos:





Just another cruise boat.
This looks more dangerous than it was.



That's all for now. Since then, things've been hoppin'.

Getting back in the Groove

Well, the jetlag has subsided, no more me and Estelle waking up at wierdo hours.
Just a few photos to show life "back to normal".
The day after our arrival, we went to a olive harvest as we have for many years. Too bushed to participate - but we did get invited to the meal - boar stew on polenta. Yes, I did say boar. Killed by our host himself. Who I will not name, as it is illegal. But they do SO much damage, it's incredible. In any event, TASTY!



Enjoying an early Christmas gift from Grammie - a hand-made Monkey Doll.

This is a photo from Heathrow, where it was already Christmas last Saturday! Apparently even my camera was seeing blurry-eyed after crossing the Atlantic.