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.

Vermont: Halloween & The Final Chapter

Thursday October 30th - the day we celebrated Wes' birthday, which is of course on Halloween itself, but not even an option to try and do that on the same night as trick-or-treating - so....we made a nice roast dinner (Thomas cooked a 7-pound roast) and look at this amazing pumpkin cake Darlene made, decorated by Wayne all by himself:
On Halloween Friday, we went down to the Glover school to check out all the pumpkins in the Carving Contest. What a display. Here's one made to look like a hamburger. Darlene hams it up:
You can see what Vermont boys have on their minds at Halloween: Deer season. But seriously, check out this pumpkin. Painted, with antlers.
The table of the First Grader's pumpkins. There's Cole checking them out. Behind that hairy wig is Wayne's pumpkin.
I just like this one cause it was so tall.

Now, by some oversight, mainly dead batteries, I have no photos from the actual trick-or-treating event on Friday night, but if you go to the link at the top of this page on the left for "Wayne, Cole and Heather", you'll see photos. Thomas dressed as "A French Man" is particularly winning.
Estelle, the Glover Busy Bee, was a bit confused at the first two houses but then she quickly caught on and by house number 4 was running up to the door hollering "Happy Halloween". She was very into the candy.
Before we left to go door-to-door, Wes had a birthday visit from Peter and Jeanne and cousins Katie and Lizzie - here they are:
Saturday Thomas left and I put him on a bus in NH that took him to the airport in Boston. Sunday morning we had another visit from Peter who came to sight his gun (if you don't know what that means, then you ain't from 'round here, as we Yankees say). Here he is speaking French to Estelle, who was feeling blue missing her Papa.
Then Joan and I drove to Cabot (yes, the cheese) to see Aunt Pearl. You've seen her before on the blog. The woman is just short of incredible. She could and should be the next person mentioned in Obama's NEXT victory speech. Cedric, who lives in Cabot, stopped by for the visit also. Here he is giving Estelle a ride on Pearl's walker:

Monday morning I made a sour cream cranberry coffee cake and Aunt Yolande came for a visit. Here are the gals and us:
Monday afternoon was warm and beautiful. We enjoyed the "playground" next to the garden.


Tuesday afternoon another coffee hour with my cousin Michelle. Pictured are Michelle holding Cole, her daughter Olivia and her friend Libby, Wayne, Me, Estelle and Michelle's other daughter Maria. Michelle, Darlene and I had a great chat session while those three teenagers entertained the younger crowd.
Tuesday evening, Wesley says goodbye to Estelle before he leaves for a hockey game in Quebec
Meanwhile, the rest of the country holds its breath until 11 p.m. when history was MADE. Proud to say that I voted absentee ballot as I am still a citizen. What a thrill to be here during this election. Here's hoping better days are ahead for the USA and for their image in the the world at large.
D-Day Wednesday: Cole and Estelle enjoy one last happy moment in the leaves before we hit the road. Do you think those smiles are for the new president? ha ha



Joan drives us mid-way to West Leb NH, where Lisa meets us in a cafe. We goof around in front of the cafe's fireplace

Today, Thursday, in NH. Estelle and I enjoy one last full day in America. Estelle spends a lot of time with Grammie, whom I also escorted to a Senior luncheon. It was supposed to be soup and salad and turned out to be a Thanksgiving-style meal. What a delight! I filled up on stuffing. To boot there were whoopie pies for dessert!
Here's Estelle, who sat quietly in cousin Anna's room, "reading" books to herself for 25 minutes this afternoon. This particular one is Peter Rabbit.

And tomorrow afternoon we're off to Boston to get back on the plane. What a wonderful 3 weeks. So many family seen, not enough friends seen unfortunately, and yet even then there's family I didn't make it to! But we had Halloween, moose season, Antiques Road Show on PBS, chinese take-out, whoopie pies and krullers, Estelle speaking loads of English (yeah!), the Channel 3 News (ah, Marcelis, so great), Rice Krispies Ice Cream treats, Salsa (hallelujah for America's ethnic food), HOT DOGS, rootbeer (there's just nothing in the world like it), deer on the back lawn many mornings and evenings, all my brothers talking so loud at the same time that you can't even hear yourself think, the World Series, Hockey Night in Canada, and the election that got people out to vote in record-breaking numbers. A great trip, and great times had by all.