Thomas Turns 33!

Wednesday was Thomas' 33rd birthday. In the afternoon, before swimming lessons, we made him a chocolate tart. I only had one "3" so had to fudge the second number.
Pierre offered to babysit so we could go out.
Funnily enough, when he arrived, Estelle noticed that on Pierre's shirt were "two threes, just like Daddy's birthday". A coincidence!
The restaurant we went to (around the block) used to be just a "cave" (wine shop) and now has been totally remodeled and is also "dégustation" (tasting/eating). There are 5 tables and the owner, who is an oenologue (wine specialist, with years of schooling) serves you the Plat du Jour and selects glasses of wine to accompany.
Charcuterie (smoked meats from Italy) are a focus of this place and you nibble on them to go with your wine. In the middle of the floor is this massive hand-operated meat slicer, which can be rolled up to your table. He explained that an electric blade would have the negative effect of getting warm, which melts the fat on the charcuterie- indesirable effect.
It is very modern - one wall is alive, literally.


The next morning, no mercy. Both girls awoke around 6 a.m. (strike day AGAIN, no school for Estelle). So Estelle wanted to have an oatmeal picnic in the living room.


On Fridays I stay home with Léna. Yesterday she helped with the laundry.

Here's a little video of nothing, just eating.

The Week in Review

Above - Estelle modeling a new outfit from Manou - start of the week. Below: end of the week, Estelle and Eliott enjoying their dessert after a homemade pizza dinner and Ipad show of 300 photos from Slovenia, where they went on vacation this summer.



Saturday (yesterday) I harvested grapes all day at Xavier's property. Thomas stayed home with the girls just to make life easier.
Vines over a kind of terrace trellis-cover.
The view from the pool (where we all stuck our legs after being in the vines all morning).
Getting ready to press. We harvested all of those except 4 crates, which Xavier goes and buys from someplace out in the country to add variety to the flavor of his wine.
This is the press over the "cistern". Each crate of grapes is dumped into the "funnel", and someone turns that hand crank to smush them up. At the bottom of the cistern is a bunch of sticks, strategically placed in a bundle above the spout, with a huge rock on top of them to weight them down. This is to keep all the stems of the grapes from stopping up the hole and spout, that way just the liquid passes thru.

Here's the main course of the meal we sat down to after we got all the grapes in and before the pressing began. Xavier made this lasagna himself, it was ridiculously big pieces - interestingly, no ricotta cheese at all - only bechamel and bolognaise sauce. The entree was breaded fried eggplants and tomato salads, all from their garden.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch at dinnertime - I gave Léna her bath while Thomas took Estelle to swimming lessons. She was happy to see Daddy when he returned!



Other news this week: Estelle began her two Wednesday activities: collective swimming lessons (also Sat) at the municipal pool which is in the old town, a 10-minute walk. She enjoyed it a lot, so far! Also began a music lesson, a small group (only 2 other children). This is with a professional and is in the showroom of used pianos of a well-reputed Maison de Piano in Nice. It is an initiation to music course, which will run the whole year. All different kinds of instruments are presented as well as notes, chords, etc. Wish I was in that class!

Rosh Hashanah & the Tetine Fairy

Last Saturday night, the Tetine (pacifier) Fairy came in the night. Estelle left her a note:
This card explained that Estelle was ready to give up her pacifiers, and that in return she of course expected something! During the day we went to a toy store and Estelle looked around to pick out what she wanted from the Tetine Fairy.
She explained inside her card, I wrote exactly what she dictated to me:
When Estelle woke up in the morning, there was a new doll. That poor Tetine Fairy, she was in sticker shock when she went to the store and found that the doll Estelle had selected cost 46 euros! 46 euros! That is over 58 dollars. That's a lotta Tetines. Dang.
Here is Estelle playing NOT with her 46 euro doll:
That doll is one my sister Martha made me, with a whole bunch of custom-made clothes. Estelle enjoys playing with her now.
Léna is holding the doll's nightgown, for which Martha had made me a matching one back in 1974. Meanwhile, our little Rugby Player is on the move at all times:

This week on Wednesday we had a visit from Lucas Bule, godson to Uncle Craig and Uncle Doug. He was born in London, has already been to Bermuda to visit his mom's family, and now is on his way to go live in Abu Dahbi for 3 years. We enjoyed meeting him. I enjoyed looking at his exhausted mother and knowing I will never relive those early months. Hallelujah.
In response to reader feedback/comments (Martha!), last weekend the Apron Fairy got Estelle a 2nd "tablier", this one with short sleeves. She wore it every day this week (only 3 days, big strike on Tuesday, don't get me started on THAT!)
Curious readers (i.e. my sisters) will be happy to know I have ordered badges with her name on them which I will sew onto the aprons. My dreams of embroidering her name myself were quickly put into harsh reality when I went to the sewing store and the ladies cocked their eyebrows and said "if you can't sew on a button, you better let this one slide, order the badges and move on". Ouch.
Last night, on the eve of 911, I was invited to a Rosh Hashanah dinner - the start of the Jewish New Year. Including myself, we were 6 - 3 Americans, and 3 English - 1 of each being Jewish. I learned that you eat sweet things to bring sweetness to your new year.

Above left, Leslie the host, who is an American NYC Jew, straight up. She owned an art gallery. Anyways, her husband is English and after 10 years in Nice they are moving to Durham England where he is some kind of astrophysicist researcher or some such nonsense. They have a daughter Zelda who is Estelle's age.
Who says we don't talk with our hands in our family? I remind myself SO MUCH of my sister Mary in this picture I laugh every time I see it.

Leslie had a lovely table set for Rosh Hashanah, with the first course being apples in honey - something sweet!
Below, John and Diane - English. Diane is a BBC writer/journalist.

Liz, also English, who lived in Turkey for 11 years, married a muslim Turkish man, had a son by him, and then left him. Then she lived in Bucharest for 3 years (where I have been). We had a lot to talk about. John is a retired yacht captaine in Antibes.
John's wife Jackie, on the left, is American and from Massachusetts - she has been in Nice 32 years. Her children are in London and Boston. Liz and Jackie work at an international school here where Leslie has worked a decade.
So much interesting conversation! I even learned a few Hebrew words but of course now cannot remember a thing as to how to pronounce them. Anyways, morning came calling with a vengance since Léna woke up EARLY and Thomas left at 7:30 for a hockey tournament far away.
I've been thinking of all the fun I had last night and of all the people lost 9 years ago, such contrast.

Happy Birthday Wayne!

Today my godson and nephew Wayne turns 9! He sure is a special boy. The photo below is him with Estelle on HER birthday this summer, so that's our way of celebrating with him today.

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Above: Wayne running to beat the ban at the Kid's Race on Glover Day this summer. Below: Looking for something to discover....
The future's so bright, he had to wear shades....
4th of July - Wayne with a goat!
When I think of Wayne this summer, I think of him humoring Estelle a lot by watching over her and helping her play with whatever interested her...like this punchball below, with Heather...

Happy 9th, Wayne, wish we could be there with you!

School, Hair

The day after Estelle returned, she decided a clump of hair in front of her eyes was a nuisance. This is what I discovered.

For the moment, it is only visible to those searching. When it starts to grow out, she may look a bit silly. Oh well! Here she is, going off for her first day of school yesterday.
This is Year #2 of nursery school, called "Maternelle", and Estelle is in the "Moyenne" section - ("middle", as it is 3 years - last year she was in "petite", next year, "Grande"). At her new school, this year, she is to wear a pink checked smock every day over her clothes. I'm supposed to embroider her name on the outside.....um.....yeah, get RIGHT on that. Joan, when can you fly over?

Nothing Gold Can Stay

After 16 days away from Nice, the girls will return tomorrow. Thomas hasn't seen them in 2 wks, for me its 12 days. We look forward to welcoming them home, feel rested and ready. Yesterday we "went out with a bang":

Craig took us out on he and Doug's boat, a 36 foot Elan. Motorized, with a galley and 2 sleeping cabins below deck.

We left from Golfe Juan, in between Cannes and Antibes where they have a dock space, and went out to the Iles de Lerins, 2 islands off the coast of Cannes. To drop anchor in the "channel" between the two islands is a popular past-time on the weekends, so we were in good company - i.e. check out that yacht over my shoulder - and that was a SMALL one....
Do I look 40? Does Craig look almost 50? We think not! ha ha
From 11 a.m. until 8 p.m., we sunbathed and jumped off the back of the boat into the water over and over and over to cool off. The weather couldn't have been better. Above, Craig and I and below, Thomas getting ready to climb up the ladder.

In the first part of the afternoon there was a breeze that would sometimes rock the boat - it made me feel very lightly nauseous, but all it took was a quick dip to settle my stomach and I'd be right as rain. It was a good way to get in and out of the water all day!
Above - the Esterel Mountain range is visible behind the haze....
Behind Thomas: Ile de Saint Honorat - no cars. The building you see is a restaurant, which has 2 dingys that drive around the channel all day, ferrying customers back and forth from their boats/yachts to the restaurant.
There was also a blonde bombshell driving another boat around selling sodas, coffee and ice creams to anybody who flagged her down. Thomas succumbed to her ice cream wares (as if we hadn't already had a fabulous meal on board!)
Driving back we swung thru the bay of Cannes. Thomas and I rode on the bow (or is that stern? Starboard? Whatever, the front of the boat!).
Craig was taking photos from behind the wheel!
Like being on a honeymoon.
If we look like 2 teenagers, it's cause we felt like it. SUCH a decadent day. Delightful!
Below: on the other of the 2 islands, Ile de Sainte Marguerite, is the famous prison from the legend/story The Man with the Iron Mask, (Dumas).
Here's Captain Craig!!

What a day. We got home at almost midnight. The entire time we were getting ready for bed, brushing teeth, etc we both had the sensation of being on the boat - it was too funny. Everything was rocking back and forth - and NO we hadn't been drinking! Even lying in bed we could both feel it - we both started giggling about it and couldn't fall asleep. Just like teenagers.

Have been rather lazy all day - though I did sell some maternity clothes and my breastfeeding pillow (sniff sniff), Thomas got groceries, we made an apple tart, stuffed vegetables, went thru paperwork, made compote, watched sports (not me, bien sur), did laundry, and vacuumed, dusted (WHAT? I know, my cleaning girl left!) and cleaned the toilet room, bathroom, and shower room. Let the girls come back, let the games begin!