The Twins celebrated their 6th birthday! We had a donut themed party with their buddies in the afternoon followed by a family supper at Amigos.
September means back to school and we’ve got a new bus stop this year. School is going well so far, at least I think so.
Extra curricular activities have also begun (hockey, soccer and gymnastics not shown). Life is about to get extra busy around here.
I bought myself this clutch at the Saskatoon Farmer’s Market. Check out Aladdin’s Crafts on Facebook or head down the market to see for yourself. There are more colors and sizes, a vibrant assortment of leather shoes as well as moroccan poufs (currently on my wishlist).
I finally bought myself this book (which means maybe I shouldn’t have bought a new purse?).
I’m really hoping it helps me deal with this constant mess.
Last saturday the weather was perfection! We stole a few hours of sun and savoured the last bit of summer out at Fred Heale boat launch with friends. It’s so great to have such a stunning beach 20 min away. And how cute are all these kids??!
For months now (or a couple of years maybe?) I’ve had this plan to make a jewelry holder using a piece of driftwood. Last week while my house was a total mess it seemed like perfect timing to tackle this project. Apparently feeding my kids or cleaning up could wait. Maybe I thought I’d feel better if I accomplished one task that day? Anyhow, it took all of 10 minutes so the kids didn’t starve but the mess is still pretty much the same. I’m not sure what held me back for so long to make this; I am thrilled with how it turned out.
If you’re interested in making your own, here’s what you will need:
-A piece of driftwood (or branch or whatever you like)
-finishing nails (an uneven number)
-string or twine
-a hammer
-a lot of nice jewelry (I’m still working on that).
The piece of driftwood came from the beach at Tobin Lake. We are headed back there today for the long weekend with our good friends. Here are a few throw back photos from last year. The highlight was cliff diving into soft sand. It was a lot warmer last September compared to what we’re headed into this weekend. My raincoat, parka and bailey’s are packed and ready to go.
Back to my project now. I simply eyeballed where the nails would go and tapped them in, tied twine around the ends and that was it! I love it and it’s way better than trying to untangle my necklaces moments before heading out the door.
The other thing I love about this little *vignette is my clutch. It was a Mother’s Day gift from Shamus, one that I had picked out online. I don’t use it often (more GNO’s needed) but it’s too pretty to keep hidden away.
Also dear to me is my bottle of Nuxe oil. This ‘Huile Prodigieuse’ was given to me by a friend I met in Uzès. It smells so good, makes my skin feel silky and reminds me of her and of France. Oh yeah, and my new sunglasses… one can never have too many pairs of Ray-Bans.
If driftwood isn’t your thing, here is the link to another nature inspired option (with a much more impressive jewelry collection) that is beautiful. Check out Feed And Dress under Hillbilly Modern: A DIY Project.
So no matter how messy my room gets, I like to keep this little ‘vignette’ tidy and pretty cause it just makes me happy.
Have a great long weekend everyone!!!
*The word vignette comes from the French for ‘little vine’. It is also frequently used in fancy decorating magazines refering to a cluster of objects that makes your dresser or shelves or coffee table look casually styled.
For part of our holidays we went to Waskesiu in Prince Albert National Park. We go there every summer for a week, it’s become our family tradition. This year the weather started out nice but it sort of crapped out mid week. It then got really beautiful the day we were packing up but that’s the way camping goes sometimes.
The great thing about Waskesiu is you can always find something to do no matter what the weather. For one of our activities we decided on a hike called The Narrows Peninsula or what we refer to as the fern hike. It’s an easy hour long hike, perfect for the kids.
It was so quiet and lush and peaceful.
It was nice to look at so many different types of mushrooms. How perfect is this yellow smurf house! (and probably deadly).
The lake was calm and stunning.
One thing about being in the wilderness is you never know who you might run into. Etienne spotted this guy when he was already way too close…
We picked up the pace quite a bit at this point especially since we had four snack sized children with us. The bear went down for a drink in the lake then followed us a little while before finally veering off.
Why did the Canada goose cross the road? To let us know we were back in Canada. Nico and I went for a bikeride along the river the first week back and I was blown away by it’s beauty. The family of geese made it that much more special. I tried to get Nico to capture it with an awesome photo…it’s not bad for a 5 year old I guess.
We’ve already been back for 1 month now. Back to work, back to school, back to running around to activities, for groceries, for milk, to fill up van, to birthday parties and football games, dental appointments and year end school concerts…I feel like we haven’t stopped since we got back and that being in France for 5 months was just a dream.
We often get asked if we’re glad to be home and the answer is yes. Not that we didn’t like France; we loved it and easily could have stayed a while longer. But once you start thinking of home it’s like there is a psychological shift. The excitement and thrill of being in a new place now changes and you begin to long for the familiarities of home. One of the great things about traveling for such a long time is that when you return to your everyday life it seems exciting again for a little while. It also helps to show up during spring when the weather is beautiful and everything is green and in bloom. I loved coming home to the scent of lilacs and we got to experience that twice this year! I don’t think we would have been so thrilled had we arrived in -30 degree weather.
Here is a little recap of our trip home which went as perfectly and smoothly as it possibly could especially when compared to the way over. No barfing on an escalator, no nearly missing our flight, no near death experiences…I guess we’ve become seasoned travelers!
This photo was taken in front of our house in Uzès. 5 months of our lives packed into these 5 suitcases and 5 backpacks. My dad suggested we throw at lease 3 of these bad boys in the Mediterannean ocean to make it easier on us.
Thankfully we didn’t have to do that because our landlady offered to drive us and our luggage to the train station the same way she magically appeared that first day we arrived in Nîmes. She is one awesome lady!
Here we are hanging around at the Gare in Avignon. There were a few nice piano performances to entertain us.
One last glimpse of the beautiful french countryside from the train.
We stayed in Paris for 2 nights and rented a hotel room in the airport. There really wasn’t any other option because we simply needed to park those 5 giant suitcases before they took us down. We settled into our hotel, had a fancy meal at the McDonald’s in the airport (see how cultured we’ve become?) and turned in early.
Cheers to a licensed McDonalds.
The next day we headed into Paris for a fairly easy going day.
I spy with my little eye La tour d’Eiffel.
La Sorbonne… I wonder if one of these guys will attend one day.
After picnicking in the park the kids rented these little sailboats and pushed them around the pool with a bamboo stick.
We walked down Les Champs-Élysées and had a quick glance at L’Arche de Triomphe, the only major landmark we took in that day.
The next morning we grabbed some croissants and coffees for breakfast. The kids were pretty happy to share with this little bird.
Then it was back to the airport for the final trip.
This is what an 8 hour layover after a 9 hour flight looks like in case you’re wondering. We found a cosy corner in the Minneapolis airport and grabbed a few zzz’s. I have no idea who took these photos but I’m glad they did.
Once in Saskatoon, Shamus’s parents were there to greet us at the airport and drive us back home. They had our fridge stocked and our beds freshly made. Our wonderful neighbors had taken care of our lawn and it has never looked better. I don’t know why they stopped…
Our last days have arrived and it has been a bit strange. I spent the last week trying to sort out all of our belongings as well as my emotions and feelings. It was really hitting us that our trip was almost over so we tried to do and see things we have grown to love before we go. It’s the little every day moments we’re going to miss the most I think. So here is a series of ‘one last time’ as we say goodbye to this pretty town, this beautiful country and our once in a lifetime adventure.
Last weekend we took a last minute road trip to Carcasonne for one last castle visit. The kids weren’t excited about seeing yet another castle but I think in the end they were impressed. It is rumored that this castle was the inspiration behind Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. This is likely the closest our kids will get to seeing Disneyland although they would prefer Disney anything over this 2500 year old pile of rocks.
On our way home we stopped by ‘La Mer’ for one last swim.
The way Pavlov’s dogs salivate when they hear a bell, I have a strong urge to pour a wine when I begin preparing supper. (At least I can make it to supper). Anyhow, here’s a pic as I prepare one last meal in our kitchen.
One last walk down our path. I call it our path because we actually created it by walking to school and to town every day. Now all the other renters use the path as well.
The property is gated and every time we drove up to it, a fight would break out among the kids to see who would get to punch the code. We won’t miss the fights so much but the memory will always be there.
Here I am having one last café at my favorite coffee shop. It was served in the prettiest glass cup with a delicious little cookie on the side.
Our last supper before leaving Uzes. This was Etienne’s choice, one we all agreed on and that’s not easy with a family of 5.
The twins walking to their last day of school…
…and from town.
Un dernier petit déjeuner de croissant et café. Well, it’s a hot chocolate for Etienne, coffee for me.
One last early morning walk to the bakery for a baguette or two.
And of course one last French Door.
I love to bake. Back home I’m often making muffins, cakes, cookies and pies. I haven’t done much baking here. There really is no need with so many beautiful decadent desserts to choose from. One of the many things we’re going to miss about France is La Nougatine, one of our favorite bakery/coffee shops. They make all their own desserts in house and from scratch. Etienne and I went for a croissant and pain au chocolat a few mornings ago and snapped a few photos.
I look forward to baking in my own kitchen again but since we will soon be back to reality (where the hell did all that time go?!!!!) I don’t mind indulging a little bit more.
It is asparagus season here. White or green, it’s everywhere. A few weeks back Shamus and I helped out at Etienne’s school with Rugby sessions as ‘parents accompagnateurs.’ One of his classmate’s grandmother was also voluntering. She has an asparagus farm and invited us to come visit. This morning we finally made it out there for a visit and what a treat!
We learned that the green ones are less exensive than the white ones because the white ones need to be closely monitored and picked every day. They are buried in the dirt which makes them more work to harvest. Once they see the sun they turn green. Depending on the weather the transformation might only take a few days. On a warm day like today they can grow up to 2 inches.
If you are wondering who that guy we’re hanging out with is, that’s Thomas. He is the brother of Shamus’s brother-in-law (did you get that?). He came from Switzerland to visit and I’m on his Ipad right now in heaven even though it is a german keyboard. I thought I hated computers until I didn’t have one and now frankly any language will do (pinterest is universal anyhow). I also have an overwhelming urge to to write ‘Gesundheit’ and ‘Was ist das’.
Back to my asparagus lesson, they are also more expensive depending on size. Skinny ones are the least expensive, medium ones are mid range and the fat ones are the priciest. It’s the opposite back home which worked in our benefit because I actually prefer the thin ones. Regardless the size, the flavor is the same. We bought 1.5 kg of fresh asparagus for supper.
Solange offered to show us how it all works. We hopped in her SUV and headed out in the field. They have had this farm since 1965! They also harvest tomatoes and zucchini, everything that makes a ratatouille.
The first stop was the white asparagus.
Can you see the tip slightly poking out? With her tool she popped that cute little guy right out of there.
Once that was done we headed over to see the green asparagus. The difference is that they’ve grown out of the earth and are getting some sun. Basically they have a tan. Can you believe they hand pick every strand of asparagus???? Seasonal workers are hired between the months of March and september.
This family also grows cherry trees and grape vines. The cherries aren’t quite ready yet but the few we sampled were delicious.
The vines are coming along nicely too. We’ve been waiting so long to see them bloom, they’re so beautiful!
We headed back to the house and Solange showed us what happens to the asparagus once it’s been harvested. First they get washed…
…then cut.
They come out looking like so!
Now they are ready to go. Some are sold privately but most are shipped off to Lyon to be sold at the Marche.
Once back home, Thomas insisted on cooking supper. He bought Cabillaut (a type of white fish) and made asparagus pasta.
I love it when someone else cooks for me, it was delicious!
Hi there, remember me? It’s been a while. We had a mishap with our computer a few weeks ago so I haven’t been able to blog. We accidently poured water into it and rather than letting it dry for a long time we gave it a few hours, hoped for the best and turned it back on. And fried it for real. We knew better but we assumed it was toast anyhow. Plus the urge to resist checking was too much, we were headed to Italy the next morning and thought we really really needed our laptop. Somewhere along the way we had officially become addicts, completely dependant on our MacBook. Thank goodness for our iphones to help curb withdrawal symptoms. They’ve been our methadone, our electronic cigarettes (we see a lot of those here). After the electrocution and once it was way too late, we tormented ourselves and googled what to do if you got water on your computer. We watched one guy completely immerse his MacBook in water, take it apart, let it dry for a week and turn it back on. It was totally fine. All we needed was patience. Learn from us.
Afterwards we spent a few weeks trying to figure out what to do; whether to buy a new one, get it fixed, buy a keyboard…. We analyzed every option but with only a few weeks left we decided we would take our beloved computer home and make do with our iPhones for the remainder of our trip. I’m acting as if its a tragedy. Of course it’s not really a tragedy but see how you feel next time you trash your computer. The worst thing is that 1) I can’t blog very easily from my iPhone and 2)that we will likely have to replace our laptop when we get home. That’s ok cause we have all kinds of cash lying around after being on a sabbatical for the last 5 months. I am hopeful that the hard drive and all our photos will be retrievable and choose not to worry about it till I need to. Anyhow, that’s the story about why I’ve been neglecting the blog! I will try and keep up a little and hopefully will continue to properly blog when I get back to Canada.
Computer or not, life must go on and we were (still are) very aware that our adventure was coming to an end soon. Since the kids had yet another 2 weeks off for Easter break (the French have a strong holiday ethic) we decided to check out the French Riviera. Here are a few photos from that trip. Grant and Vivian were still with us. We visited Cannes, Antibes and Nice. Etienne spotted his first topless sunbather.
As I briefly mentioned, we also went to Italy. Such a different culture and country but equally as beautiful.
This week it’s all about the pool. The kids have time on their two hour lunch break to have a little swim, and again once home from school. It’s still a little chilly for me to dive in but I sure don’t mind sitting on the lounger watching them have fun.
So there you have it, my first iPhone post. I have no idea how it will look on a big screen but I’m glad to be able to keep things going.
Our Menagerie keeps growing and shrinking as the animals and insects come and go. Lately though it’s all about molluscs. With spring showers come snails, and they are everywhere. The really cute ones that look like Turbo. The kids easily found over 30 of them the other morning crawling around in the grass.
Back when Bob and Helene were still here, the kids found 3 gorgeous snails. You can see one in my spaghetti strainer (yumm) and the other trying to escape from his jar. They were upgraded to a better home (no where near our other pet the scorpion for those who might be worried about that).
Etienne named his new pet Morris, Evi named hers Slow Motion, and Nico named his Malcolm. They were on a lettuce and flour diet with lots of water. Add wine to that and it sounds a lot like my diet these days. You wouldn’t believe how much lettuce they go through! Or how quickly lettuce goes through them. Speed wise they are actually faster than you think. Etienne remarked that these were the fastest snails he had ever seen. Of course they’re the only snails he’s ever seen so he’s technically correct. We decided to set up a snail race to see who really was the fastest. Evi strategically changed her snail’s name to Turbo right before the race.
You know you’re no longer in the rat race when you literally have enough time to host a snail race from start to finish.
Ever heard of a snail whisperer?
The winner would be the first to cross a complete tile. Evi’s strategy worked and Turbo (formerly known as Slow Motion) took the title for the First Annual South of France Invitational Snail Race. Afterwards they were set free. The kids loved their pets and were sad to let them go. Bob, however, did not get attached or sentimental at all.
I had been eyeing up this lemon tree since we got here. It was covered with plastic for the winter months but I could see lemons in there peeking through.
We use lemons a lot, they are a staple every week on our grocery list. I would love to have a lemon tree. I finally got the nerve to ask Françoise if I could have one or two. This is what she brought me.
A giant bowl full of extra fresh, extra juicy lemons with thin rinds that are easy to squeeze and easy to zest. Not the thick peeled ones we buy at Superstore back home that only Arnold Schwarzenegger could squeeze. So what did we do with all these lemons (other than lemon rosemary chicken, squeeze on delicious cauliflower or broccoli and add to salad dressings)? We made homemade lemonade of course!
A bowl of lemons wasn’t the only thing Françoise was kind enough to give us. Around here, the animal to hunt is ‘le sanglier’ which translates to wild boar. Her son hunts them every weekend (during the hunting season) and I think he shot 3 of them this year. Wild boar is to this area what deer is to Saskatchewan. I guess the last few years there have been way too many sangliers and they are ruining some vineyards. It is not a good idea to mess with wine producing in France. About a month ago, Françoise brought us some ‘sanglier’ stew to try. It was delicious! Even I ate it, and I’m sometimes/almost/practically a vegetarian. Nothing political or environmental, I just don’t really like meat that much.
Since it’s something we don’t typically have in Canada, we thought it would be nice to make a wild boar stew for Shamus’ parents, Bob and Helene. I asked Françoise if she had some extra and this is what she brought us. No wonder she was adamant that I needed a full day for it to thaw!
For those who know me, I don’t deal with raw meat very well at all. I certainly have never butchered anything in my life, and sometimes I even let out little high pitched screams of ‘grossmetheeffout’ when I’m cutting the white stringy stuff off of boneless skinless chicken breasts. This thing had a ball joint and socket.
Lucky for me Shamus got very excited at the prospect of dealing with the beast (definitely some evolutionary psychology behind that) and that Bob came back a day early from his trip to Switzerland. They were both very happy (as was I) to take over. I was delegated to buying wine for the bourguignon (before, during and after). Look what I found! Too perfect!
It was delicious and enjoyed by all! And in one afternoon, Shamus went from savage…
The French Door 