Petit Papa Noel - CNRR Dec 15th Estelle & Léna

Another Christmas song from Monday night (Dec 15th) with both Lena and Estelle.
Lena top right on the steps, green turtleneck, red hair bow, standing a bit apart (at the behest of her teacher so she could see him). Estelle front and center with a santa hat on the oboe.

Violoncelle Concert Dec 17th CNRR

Léna's cello "concert" at the Conservatory where she was so stagestruck she never opened her mouth!

Mon Beau Sapin - CNRR concert, Dec. 15th 2014

Estelle is front and center with her oboe and Santa hat, red sweater.

Lena is at the very top of the stairs, just behind the railing.  Green shirt, red bow in her hair.

Very unusual for us to have both girls on "stage" at the same time.

This concert was moved at the last minute to this hall to accommodate the zillions of parents.
I was crushed amid literally hundreds of parents, with elderly grandmothers sitting in front of me in chairs so the shakiness of the video is significant.  Sorry!

L'alphabet de Mozart

Berceuse mozart

Beethoven: Air tyrolien

More Orchestra: Greensleeves

Mozart: Ave verum

Estelle, left side, red sweater.

Let it Go, in French

Here's Estelle singing "let it go" because she was given the option to play or sing and of course she chose singing.

More songs from the Church concert

Estelle's Orchestre Concert at Church

Saturday, Estelle played in a Christmas Concert in her intergenerational "leisure" orchestra that she's a member of.

You can see her to the left, red sweater and red flower in her hair.  There are many songs on-line thanks to the luthier (violin-maker) who set up a camera. 

The Advent Calendar

 Estelle saw a project in a children's magazine to make an advent calendar and she didn't let go of the idea.  Saturday we got our supplies (in between making pumpkin cheesecake and pecan pie) and Sunday we started in.

 There was measuring, cutting, and glueing.

 They decided to fill these envelopes that we made out of craft paper with little ornament disks with their own colored drawings.

 It was hard to choose just 24 things to draw!

 Estelle drew, Léna colored.  I was like Charlie Brown, stuck with the "coal" job - the envelopes.

 Here are their 24 drawings:

 From the beginning, the girls wanted this to be a gift for Johanna and Jean-Luc, our generous and doting neighbors who have a dog and cat.   This one below was for the last day, #24.

 This is a 2nd marriage for our neighbors - they met long ago as co-workers or something.  Johanna has an adult son.  We were stunned to recently find out that Jean-Luc had a son too, who died at 9 or 10 years old of cancer.  Their boys had been friends.    He is always so sweet to the girls.

 We began around 8 a.m. and had things wrapped up shortly after 6 p.m.   

 We left it in front of their door. 

 We heard them come out of the elevator later and heard Johanna go "ooooooooohhhhhh".  The girls flung open the door and charged them with pride.  So cute, and the true spirit of giving.

I remember every year pouring over holiday craft magazines with Joanie, and so many of our siblings plunging into these December projects.  The clothespin people, decoupage, iron-on or dough-bread ornaments, molasses cookies in huge shapes, gingerbread houses, angles, glue stars, dish cap and glitter and pipe cleaners....   It was special to have a memory with my own kids.

Estelle singing "Tourne la Ronde de Saisons"

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!