as a few of you know, i got an unexpected invitation to work (with a former employer from paris) for a week in tuscany at the end of august. the deal was very sweet and i couldn't fathom saying no. here is a slideshow of the hilltop where we stayed and the various vistas we enjoyed, in the hills above the village of barbischio. the closest decent-sized town is gaiole in chianti. i love italy. love love love. if the photos show up too tiny, go directly to my flickr page and see them there...the link:
dimanche 6 septembre 2009
la rentrée 2009 - first day of school
the first day of school (last thursday) has come and gone. all is well. léonore has started kindergarten and was very luke-warm about going, but her first words when i picked her up after school were: "I LOVE SCHOOL!!" so i think it's safe to say she's happy. kindergarten here is the third and final year of pre-school so she is in the same place as last year, just with a new teacher. many of her old friends are still with her. odile (who fell from her scooter the evening before school started and has a hairline fracture in her wrist) is also very happy, and has what she calls "the best teacher in the school". she's in a mixed 2nd and 3rd grade class. she seems very happy too, although her two best friends are in another class.
in other news, our doggie is also going to school (private tutor, to be precise) and is beginning to behave and cooperate. a great relief although to my chagrin it is too late for my shoulder, which got tugged one too many times by his fox terrier drive and is now experiencing a painful tendonitis. yoga limited, household tasks limited, taking a natural treatment and starting physical therapy tomorrow. with some luck it won't bother me long. the little guy remains sweet though and he had a real treat last night when odile fell asleep while watching their current heartthrob, "TOPSY TURVY," which features Gilbert and Sullivan's "Mikado". Major cuddle on the couch. Just like his youth, when everyone was babying him and getting a kick out of tandem puppy naps.
lundi 10 août 2009
you get what you ask for...
right. so, before we left france and headed to the states at the end of june, things (linguistically speaking) had gotten pretty sorry around here. léonore had completely stopped speaking english, except for easy stuff like 'yes,' 'no,' 'please' and 'thank you.' even odile, who, since she was still in diapers, has always been good at keeping the languages separate and responding to me in english, had begun to seriously slip. constant french, so constant that i even started to slip and respond to their french queries in french. it was a sad state of affairs.
"they need to spend time in the states," i told hervé. "not just visit once in a while. but seriously be immersed in the culture...i want them to be american, not just frequent visitors."
well, one month immersed in massachusetts life has certainly changed some things for odile and léonore.
they are both speaking very respectable english once again. léonore even seems proud of her progress and her ability to express whatever she wants, in english. odile is back on track, talking a mile a minute in her unique, unidentifiable odile accent. (their french doesn't seem to have suffered in the slightest bit, by the way).
but, you see, there's just one thing. i've gotten what i asked for and much, much more. the following words have officially made their way into the girls' active vocabulary for the first time: BOOBS, STUPID, RUMPUS, KILL, BLACKBERRY (not the fruit), DAMMIT! (gabie gets credit for that one), S.U.V., SMOOCHIE-WOOCHIE, DRUG-DEALER, QUESADILLA, and MOSQUITO BITE. i'm sure there's much more but for now those seem to be the ones that stand out.
OH!!! how could i forget...most gloriously american of all...odile seems to have really gotten the hang of "like"! a few days after we got back to france, she said to me something that sounded like this: "i have a mosquito bite, like, randomly, like right behind my ear!". i know it's bad english, but it's good american and i can't help but, like, smile when i hear her sounding so authentic!
ok that's it for now, but more soon. thank you to all who made our trip not only loads of fun, but also an excellent extended english lesson for my little frenchies!
singing happy birthday to charles (on speakerphone)
climbing in flip-flops
at the playground
joking around
on the ferry with adored babysitter, lily
the climbing wall in northampton - odile
the climbing wall - léonore
"they need to spend time in the states," i told hervé. "not just visit once in a while. but seriously be immersed in the culture...i want them to be american, not just frequent visitors."
well, one month immersed in massachusetts life has certainly changed some things for odile and léonore.
they are both speaking very respectable english once again. léonore even seems proud of her progress and her ability to express whatever she wants, in english. odile is back on track, talking a mile a minute in her unique, unidentifiable odile accent. (their french doesn't seem to have suffered in the slightest bit, by the way).
but, you see, there's just one thing. i've gotten what i asked for and much, much more. the following words have officially made their way into the girls' active vocabulary for the first time: BOOBS, STUPID, RUMPUS, KILL, BLACKBERRY (not the fruit), DAMMIT! (gabie gets credit for that one), S.U.V., SMOOCHIE-WOOCHIE, DRUG-DEALER, QUESADILLA, and MOSQUITO BITE. i'm sure there's much more but for now those seem to be the ones that stand out.
OH!!! how could i forget...most gloriously american of all...odile seems to have really gotten the hang of "like"! a few days after we got back to france, she said to me something that sounded like this: "i have a mosquito bite, like, randomly, like right behind my ear!". i know it's bad english, but it's good american and i can't help but, like, smile when i hear her sounding so authentic!
ok that's it for now, but more soon. thank you to all who made our trip not only loads of fun, but also an excellent extended english lesson for my little frenchies!
singing happy birthday to charles (on speakerphone)
climbing in flip-flops
at the playground
joking around
on the ferry with adored babysitter, lily
the climbing wall in northampton - odile
the climbing wall - léonoreroom 10 on mount tom
it's been over 3 months since my last entry. suffice it to say that these past three months have been eventful, emotionful, questionful...et cetera. as it has been so many times before, it is my intention and conviction to get more serious and more consistent with this blogging. but one step at a time i suppose.
here are some photographs (all taken by my friend and former student, barbara morales) from a recent hike i organized with some of my former 5th grade students from the brightwood school in springfield, massachusetts. they are now, of course, of voting age, many in college and/or working and quite a few already parents.
much to my chagrin, i was poorly organized and wasn't able to get in touch early enough with some people to allow them time to plan to be there. and frustratingly, i have also had a b-tch of a time, over the past 9 years, keeping track of a good 50% of my class, so there was a lot of sleuthing to be done.
in any case, i feel so grateful to be in touch with many of these marvelous human beings. they have taught, and continue to teach me, so very much.
joining me and odile and léonore on mount tom last month were: shelda, shakei, eddie, his daughter jayla, and barbara (the photographer). for some, it was the first time they'd climbed a mountain (ever)!
it was a hot day, there were blood-suckers flying about, some folks got lost on the way to our meeting point, and others (my lélé) were tired of walking...but overall we had a great time and were treated to a beautiful view of the oxbow and parts of the connecticut river valley once we got to our destination.
i so look forward to more reunions with these friends and with others who couldn't make it this time. they really make me laugh. they are good for my soul!!
here are some photographs (all taken by my friend and former student, barbara morales) from a recent hike i organized with some of my former 5th grade students from the brightwood school in springfield, massachusetts. they are now, of course, of voting age, many in college and/or working and quite a few already parents.
much to my chagrin, i was poorly organized and wasn't able to get in touch early enough with some people to allow them time to plan to be there. and frustratingly, i have also had a b-tch of a time, over the past 9 years, keeping track of a good 50% of my class, so there was a lot of sleuthing to be done.
in any case, i feel so grateful to be in touch with many of these marvelous human beings. they have taught, and continue to teach me, so very much.
joining me and odile and léonore on mount tom last month were: shelda, shakei, eddie, his daughter jayla, and barbara (the photographer). for some, it was the first time they'd climbed a mountain (ever)!
it was a hot day, there were blood-suckers flying about, some folks got lost on the way to our meeting point, and others (my lélé) were tired of walking...but overall we had a great time and were treated to a beautiful view of the oxbow and parts of the connecticut river valley once we got to our destination.
i so look forward to more reunions with these friends and with others who couldn't make it this time. they really make me laugh. they are good for my soul!!
lundi 20 avril 2009
berlin!
Here is a slideshow illustrating various and random moments of my recent trip to berlin. To read the titles I gave to each image, it's preferrable to go my flickr page and look at the photos one at a time (click here)
otherwise, there is so much to say about berlin that i keep waiting to have a few extra hours to sit down and do it justice. however now is not one of those times and i am approaching my new-and-much-earlier-but-oh-so-satisfying bedtime.
can i try to be super succinct and yet informative and expressive?? here goes me trying...
silke + françois: relaxed and welcoming hosts, warm and passionate human beings, wonderful engaged parents, and not hard on the eyes either!
éloi: same age as odile, they used to play together in paris when silke and i first met and did baby-exchanges to allow each other a few hours to breathe...he has grown, he has changed and matured yet remains a funny, talented and easy-going kid.
mina: more and more stunning each time i see her; same age as léonore - they used to play together too... she is perfectly bilingual now (german + french) and is an extremely easy-going playmate. she is not shy but definitely scrutinizes you before she lets you into her world.
the sleeper train or as the girls called it, 'le train couchette': lived up to the ENORMOUS expectations. the girls brought along the the richard scarry book (in french and english) about the cat family's sleeper train adventure. they seemed to love every moment they spent in the train. we had a private room (more like a closet) with three bunks. odile slept on the tippity top, lé in the middle, i on the bottom. for those of you who didn't know, hervé is bogged down with work right now and decided it would be imprudent to take even a short vacation. he expects the workload to start lightening up in a few weeks.
berlin: i admit we didn't do large amounts of tourism what with the 4 kids in tow (not to mention the 5th who is currently swimming and growing in silke's middle) but there's no way one can be in berlin and not feel its history. it was only twenty years ago that the people of berlin, west and east, ripped into the wall and put an end to a totally strange and often painful way of life. the former east and former west remain fairly different in character, apparently, though most of what i saw was former-east. it was of course frustrating not to know any german at all. though one is easily comforted by the germans' impeccable english and smiling welcome. we had much sun and warmth for the duration of our visit, and found berlin, especially under the sun's rays, to be a relaxed, ecclectic, inviting, tempting, fun-loving, and colorful place. i definitely want to return as soon as life permits.
health: léonore came down with a stomach bug the day we were to leave caen for paris then berlin. her teacher even sent her home from school in the morning. not only did we not manage to see a doctor that day (i swear, i tried), but she did not stop having diarrhea (meanwhile everything else was more or less status quo) for 3 days. including the nights!! squirt, squirt and more squirts. it was awful for her, and we certainly lost some sleep. i also did a lot of handwashing of underwear. on the second day léonore agreed to pretend to be mina and the rest of us vacated the apartment while silke called a doctor to come to the house. the doctor (opposite of french doctors) gave no prescription whatsoever other than to let the malady run its course! the final night of the bug, léonore also puked (in the bed we were sharing) and finally, that morning, as we headed to the woods, miraculously it seemed, she was better.
day trips: silke and françois have a very sweet set-up in frohnau, a sector of berlin which is surrounded by a forest. in addition to their city pad, they also rent two artists' studios, one of which is good sized and the other of which is mammoth, and they go between living in town and in the woods. with no more than a 45 minute commute. at frohnau we breathed much fresh air, silke orchestrated a chocolate easter egg hunt, we saw frogs doing very bizarre things in groups, we ate meals together, the children played like crazy and enjoyed driving a battery-operated child-sized car up and down the immense hallway of their forest apartment (françois keeps a scooter in the hallway at all times, in order to lose no time when he must go from one end to the other and is in the middle of painting or some other important occupation!)...but that's not all... silke got her hair cut (by me) ... we all slept like babies... and i photographed baby pine cones and what look like pine cone flowers, although someone should explain to me what it all really is.
unexpected wrinkles? oh, just how i lost my giant suitcase at the train station 10 minutes before we were leaving for berlin. and how instead of going to look for it i told each and every train station employee i could find that someone had stolen my suitcase. we spent the 6 day journey without the bag (which was mistaken for a bomb, luckily not destroyed, and stored for us at the lost and found in the Gare de l'Est). the girls had pj's, and a change of clothes which i had smartly packed in our small suitcase to be used on the train. for myself i had forgotten to pack anything other than one extra pair of clean underwear and my toiletries, but i turned out totally fine and not even too stinky, despite wearing the same sweater for 6 days in a row.
biggest surprise: dunkin donuts exists in germany!
best meal out: amazing thai restaurant (so cheap too!) about 100 paces from silke and françois' apartment. delicious coconut curry soup.
best meal in: fresh pasta with pesto and salad! what could be better?
cozy moments: watching movies (and various other televised amusements) snuggled into bed with silke and françois. very gracious hosts i do say.
huh? moments: françois amused me at first, and later baffled me, by his obsession with silke's hair! in the slideshow you will see a photograph of the woman who's hair he fixated on at the spielplatz, because it was exactly the way he wanted silke to wear her hair! we had many laughs throughout the visit, trying to get her hair 'just right'.
small victories: standing on my head on the grass in the courtyard of the city apartment, i managed for the first time to do and upside-down lotus in the air. what a totally insane and beautiful feeling.
SILKE AND FRANCOIS: Ich danke ihnen vielmals! I/We had a most excellent time in your company. XXXOOO!
otherwise, there is so much to say about berlin that i keep waiting to have a few extra hours to sit down and do it justice. however now is not one of those times and i am approaching my new-and-much-earlier-but-oh-so-satisfying bedtime.
can i try to be super succinct and yet informative and expressive?? here goes me trying...
silke + françois: relaxed and welcoming hosts, warm and passionate human beings, wonderful engaged parents, and not hard on the eyes either!
éloi: same age as odile, they used to play together in paris when silke and i first met and did baby-exchanges to allow each other a few hours to breathe...he has grown, he has changed and matured yet remains a funny, talented and easy-going kid.
mina: more and more stunning each time i see her; same age as léonore - they used to play together too... she is perfectly bilingual now (german + french) and is an extremely easy-going playmate. she is not shy but definitely scrutinizes you before she lets you into her world.
the sleeper train or as the girls called it, 'le train couchette': lived up to the ENORMOUS expectations. the girls brought along the the richard scarry book (in french and english) about the cat family's sleeper train adventure. they seemed to love every moment they spent in the train. we had a private room (more like a closet) with three bunks. odile slept on the tippity top, lé in the middle, i on the bottom. for those of you who didn't know, hervé is bogged down with work right now and decided it would be imprudent to take even a short vacation. he expects the workload to start lightening up in a few weeks.
berlin: i admit we didn't do large amounts of tourism what with the 4 kids in tow (not to mention the 5th who is currently swimming and growing in silke's middle) but there's no way one can be in berlin and not feel its history. it was only twenty years ago that the people of berlin, west and east, ripped into the wall and put an end to a totally strange and often painful way of life. the former east and former west remain fairly different in character, apparently, though most of what i saw was former-east. it was of course frustrating not to know any german at all. though one is easily comforted by the germans' impeccable english and smiling welcome. we had much sun and warmth for the duration of our visit, and found berlin, especially under the sun's rays, to be a relaxed, ecclectic, inviting, tempting, fun-loving, and colorful place. i definitely want to return as soon as life permits.
health: léonore came down with a stomach bug the day we were to leave caen for paris then berlin. her teacher even sent her home from school in the morning. not only did we not manage to see a doctor that day (i swear, i tried), but she did not stop having diarrhea (meanwhile everything else was more or less status quo) for 3 days. including the nights!! squirt, squirt and more squirts. it was awful for her, and we certainly lost some sleep. i also did a lot of handwashing of underwear. on the second day léonore agreed to pretend to be mina and the rest of us vacated the apartment while silke called a doctor to come to the house. the doctor (opposite of french doctors) gave no prescription whatsoever other than to let the malady run its course! the final night of the bug, léonore also puked (in the bed we were sharing) and finally, that morning, as we headed to the woods, miraculously it seemed, she was better.
day trips: silke and françois have a very sweet set-up in frohnau, a sector of berlin which is surrounded by a forest. in addition to their city pad, they also rent two artists' studios, one of which is good sized and the other of which is mammoth, and they go between living in town and in the woods. with no more than a 45 minute commute. at frohnau we breathed much fresh air, silke orchestrated a chocolate easter egg hunt, we saw frogs doing very bizarre things in groups, we ate meals together, the children played like crazy and enjoyed driving a battery-operated child-sized car up and down the immense hallway of their forest apartment (françois keeps a scooter in the hallway at all times, in order to lose no time when he must go from one end to the other and is in the middle of painting or some other important occupation!)...but that's not all... silke got her hair cut (by me) ... we all slept like babies... and i photographed baby pine cones and what look like pine cone flowers, although someone should explain to me what it all really is.
unexpected wrinkles? oh, just how i lost my giant suitcase at the train station 10 minutes before we were leaving for berlin. and how instead of going to look for it i told each and every train station employee i could find that someone had stolen my suitcase. we spent the 6 day journey without the bag (which was mistaken for a bomb, luckily not destroyed, and stored for us at the lost and found in the Gare de l'Est). the girls had pj's, and a change of clothes which i had smartly packed in our small suitcase to be used on the train. for myself i had forgotten to pack anything other than one extra pair of clean underwear and my toiletries, but i turned out totally fine and not even too stinky, despite wearing the same sweater for 6 days in a row.
biggest surprise: dunkin donuts exists in germany!
best meal out: amazing thai restaurant (so cheap too!) about 100 paces from silke and françois' apartment. delicious coconut curry soup.
best meal in: fresh pasta with pesto and salad! what could be better?
cozy moments: watching movies (and various other televised amusements) snuggled into bed with silke and françois. very gracious hosts i do say.
huh? moments: françois amused me at first, and later baffled me, by his obsession with silke's hair! in the slideshow you will see a photograph of the woman who's hair he fixated on at the spielplatz, because it was exactly the way he wanted silke to wear her hair! we had many laughs throughout the visit, trying to get her hair 'just right'.
small victories: standing on my head on the grass in the courtyard of the city apartment, i managed for the first time to do and upside-down lotus in the air. what a totally insane and beautiful feeling.
SILKE AND FRANCOIS: Ich danke ihnen vielmals! I/We had a most excellent time in your company. XXXOOO!
lundi 30 mars 2009
Dream Catchers
this post is dedicated to sister emily...whose very beautiful hand-made dream catcher ("attrape-rêve") inspired a flurry of creativity in wee fontaine-étoupefour.
léonore's class (4, 5 and 6-yr-olds) is currently studying american indians. i brought in the dream catcher emily made for us in 2002 and let the teacher borrow it for a while. the next week i came in and noticed that the whole class had taken inspiration from her work...
here are some pictures i took of the results.
léonore's class (4, 5 and 6-yr-olds) is currently studying american indians. i brought in the dream catcher emily made for us in 2002 and let the teacher borrow it for a while. the next week i came in and noticed that the whole class had taken inspiration from her work...
here are some pictures i took of the results.
mercredi 25 mars 2009
the boy keeps growing (and biting)
responding to a recent request for an updated wiley photo, i am posting a couple... with his "sisters" in the background for size comparisons. we think the little guy is at about half (or slightly more) of his adult weight. he continues to bring us all a whole lot of sweet moments throughout the day...
but also continues to bite like mad. it is not unusual for léonore, as pictured below, to accept having her fingers chewed on. she's crazy about the little guy and he is consistently the first one she greets and hugs every morning. she, as we all do, is collecting clothes with small but prominent tooth holes near the leg area.
today was a shoe day, he was ALL ABOUT SHOES, i think i saw him with eight or nine different ones.
he also continues to have a serious penchant for all-things DOLL, as you can see below. He quickly kidnaps any baby doll he can find, but in their absence will content himself with rolled up socks, empty plastic spring-water bottles, or when he's truly desperate, pens and markers seem to do the trick.
as i finish this little post i must report something funny that just happened...hervé headed upstairs and within half a minute there was a rhythmic, burpy sound as hervé tried un-stopping the sink with a toilet plunger. wiley jumped off the couch (which, alas, he seems to have claimed- at least he's not a big shedder!) and began barking more aggressively and sustainedly (is that a word?) than he ever does. there he goes again!! i can tell you the little man does not have a future in plumbing. totally wigged out, he is.
but also continues to bite like mad. it is not unusual for léonore, as pictured below, to accept having her fingers chewed on. she's crazy about the little guy and he is consistently the first one she greets and hugs every morning. she, as we all do, is collecting clothes with small but prominent tooth holes near the leg area.
today was a shoe day, he was ALL ABOUT SHOES, i think i saw him with eight or nine different ones.
he also continues to have a serious penchant for all-things DOLL, as you can see below. He quickly kidnaps any baby doll he can find, but in their absence will content himself with rolled up socks, empty plastic spring-water bottles, or when he's truly desperate, pens and markers seem to do the trick.
as i finish this little post i must report something funny that just happened...hervé headed upstairs and within half a minute there was a rhythmic, burpy sound as hervé tried un-stopping the sink with a toilet plunger. wiley jumped off the couch (which, alas, he seems to have claimed- at least he's not a big shedder!) and began barking more aggressively and sustainedly (is that a word?) than he ever does. there he goes again!! i can tell you the little man does not have a future in plumbing. totally wigged out, he is.
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