Two (half) Americans in Paris

During the last school vacation, Estelle and Léna went to Paris for a weekend to visit Tata Agnes with their grandparents.  They had a GREAT time!  Below are photos Estelle & Léna took with Estelle's camera.

This is the Louvre, for those who might not recognize it.

Estelle apparently appreciated this trumpeter who was in her metro car.

This is Sacre Coeur in Montmartre.

Léna was, I'm told, fascinated by all the street artists and this one in particular.

They had such a wonderful weekend in Paris!  Thanks Papy, Manou &Agnes!

Léna singing "Let it Go" in English

Canal de Gairaut

 One recent sunny Sunday afternoon, we took the girls and their bikes to the hills of Nice.  There is an old canal there and there's a nice path that goes along it.

 At one point there's a little work-out station.

It was a great way to spend a few hours!  We hadn't been in 3 or 4 years.  We were running to keep up with the girls on their bikes.  Léna is totally autonomous.  No more baby.  :-(

Olive Harvest

On Oct 12th we had our annual day for the olives at Xavier & Valerie's.  It was great fun and hard work, as usual. 

 Above:  portable rolling generator powers an electric "gaule" which vibrates to knock down the olives.  Below:  picking out stones.

 Hothouses seen in the background below Mont Chauve.

 Gas powered wheelbarrow used to transport olives up all the terraces.  Moves slowly.  Reminds me of Dad's tiller.

 Time to eat.  This is Polenta.

 Here is the man himself, Xavier!

 Below:  Philippe, to whom I owe my connection with Xavier, Valerie and Thomas & Quentin, their now adult sons.  Without Philippe, I am sure I would not have stayed in France for a second year.

 Valerie!

 Léna happy to eat her spicy sausage.

 My lemon-poppy seed cake.  It was gooo-d.

 So the harvest was in fact very poor this year.  There was an attack by a certain kind of insect.  Xavier tried something organic this year, rather than pesticide, and it didn't work AT ALL.  He was very disappointed.

 If you look closely you can see many of the olives have been gnawed away by the insects, who suck the oil out, rendering the olives at a significantly lower value = much less oil is produced.

 Picking the sticks out of the nets at the end of the day is a tedious process, but necessary to keep them for subsequent use.  Folding the nets is a work of geometry.  But sitting on the piles when it is done is SO fun.

 Different crews worked on different trees up and down the hillsdie

 The girls "cooled off" in the pool at lunch.

 What a motley crew  What fun!

Wedding in Italy

 2 weeks ago we drove along the coast to a wedding in Montegrazie, Imperia, Italy.

 The pinnacle placement of the church was sublime.

 The groom, Agostino, used to work with Thomas about 4 years ago, and they have stayed in touch and get together every once in a while.  He's been on this blog before.  Couldn't be nicer.

 We had just enough time to wash and iron all our clothes that we had just worn the weekend before to the wedding in France!

 This little flower girl was cute.

 You see the Mediterranean in the background.

 Apparently Teddy Roosevelt visited in 1910.

 This is the first time I had met Mela, his bride.

 She's some kind of stylist for fashion.  Her dress was pretty cool.

 This guitarist was the only music.  He makes his living playing guitar.  Has played at Carnegie Hall.

 Throwing risotto!

 Tradition:  Lifting up the bride and groom.  No they are not Jewish. I think it's cause Agostino plays rugby.

 Photo for women only!

 At the reception.

 The reception was down off the hilltops, closer to the coastline.

 There were some fun things for kids.

 This little girl, Rebecca, became Estelle's best buddy all night, even though they could not speak one single word to each other.  So they would draw pictures and use gestures.  Adorable.

 Léna showed off her ability to stand on her head.  This went on for 45 minutes.

 After I while I just gave up and let her stand on her head.

 This is the lovely cake.   We left right after it was served.  Past midnight.

 This was how we found our tables.

I was too busy gesticulating with my hands to communicate and thus couldn't use my hands to take many photos at the reception.  In the end I just smiled a lot and said "Adiamo!" and then went around saying "Arrivederci" to everyone before slipping out into the darkness full full full of food and heading back to France.  It was fun!