2 days left and less than $100 to go!

All - there are only TWO DAYS left in Matea's charity:water birthday fundraiser.

http://mycharitywater.org/matea

She decided to give up her birthday presents / money so that others can have clean drinking water.

thank you SO MUCH to those who have already given.

If you can give $5, $10 - or whatever - she will meet her goal of $800 for her 8th birthday - and give clean and safe water to 40 people who desperately need it.

Sprung

It has been a really nice last week or so here. Tonight when we were driving home from church it was still 19 degrees at 8:00pm.  The daffodils are probably getting close to being done, and the magnolia tree in the yard is in full bloom (it isn't quite as nice as last year as it was tricked into budding during a warm spell in the middle of winter)  It's definitely spring time in the Alpes

The tulips came up this week - well, down in the city they did. Due to the elevation difference everything up by us is about a week behind.

Matea had picked so many daffodils, and taken bouquets to pretty much everyone she knew, so she starteed making soup with them.

Down in the park there are thousands of them that poke up in the middle of the grass. You can't tell they are there all winter, then all of a sudden there is this huge band 2m across - that runs all along the side of the park.  Then in a few more weeks, when they are done, they just get mowed down when the grass is cut - not to be seen again until their appearance next spring.

Friday Lunch

Friday we had to go downtown to get passport pictures for Alma.  We had learned from the 5 attempts, 49 hours and 16 stores that we tried for her citizenship card that it was not as straight forward as one would assume - but we now knew the one store downtown that could do infant photos, with strange dimensions for the Canadian requirements. Of course we got down town only to find major renovations going on, and the store has permanently closed. Hmm. But after some more walking, and asking at other places we did find a photo place to take the pictures.  We were done in time to stop and pick up pizza on our way home for lunch and to put Alma down for her nap.

We had our favorite pizza -Raviol. Cream sauce with small cheese-filled raviolis with cheese, garlic and herbs on top.  De-lish.

Well - if I did feel bad for the kids for having to eat at school - knowing what they were having made that go away pretty quickly.

That would be:

 for entree: Green bean salad with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing

for main course:  roasted chicken breast in herbs

and  Gratin of potatoes and zucchini

followed by: plain yogurt (not sour - they put sugar on top of it)

and for dessert: fruit

(and of course there is bread with the meal...I mean come on...they're children, not savages)

So I guess the difference between our lunch and theirs is that we had better wine. The difference between theirs and a lunch bag with a sandwich and juice box - is not even really explainable.

misc. March

Nothing of particular note has happened in the last few weeks - but I thought I'd get a few pictures up of what we've been up to.

1. Lego. always lego. lots and lots of lego.

2. Daffodils.  The neighbors yard is basically a flower field - and Matea has been harvesting almost daily. She has taken bouquets to I think every teacher at her school, our neighbors etc.  Yesterday she was making 'daffodil soup' in jars from the recycle.

3. Fire in the yard.  The kids decided that a big yard is a terrible thing to waste.  If by 'waste' you mean 'not containing a fire'

3. Reading and writing articles for Phd...with assistance

4. Jedi gets its due.  We let the kids watch Return of the Jedi for the first time ever -and decided to give the event the proper amount of ceremony

Matea's charity:water birthday fundraiser

Hi all - thanks for your support so far.  As you may have read here, Matea wanted to raise money for clean water instead of getting birthday presents this year

Charity:water is a foundation that gives 100% of all donated money directly to water projects. They have a foundation that raises money for their operations - so you know when you give money to them for water - every single penny is going to give water to someone who needs it.

When her $800 goal is reached - another 8 families or about 40 people will have access to drinking water that will not make them sick. Not just for a week, or a year - but there will be a well in place that will give clean water for a long time to come.

Please consider giving $10, $20 - or whatever you feel like.

thanks - in advance - from Matea - and even more - from some other 8 year old who will no longer have to wait for their mother to lug home diseased water to drink.

http://mycharitywater.org/matea

shopping

Here are just some pictures that I have taken recently of things that I've found interesting when we're out shopping.

"petit' you say.  Really? 800g of cheese is petit?  Then what, might I ask would you consider grand?

All right then....duly noted.
A wheel of cheese that is probably a bit more than 1m across - 30cm deep -and I can't even imagine how much it weighs.

Up next - in the frozen food aisle we have - side by side - Cuisses de Grenouilles et Escargot.

 Frog legs and snails - prepared and frozen.  

Sometimes the stereotypes are just too easy.

This was in an Italian food store. Some sort of special cake - most of them were the size of a cantaloupe - this one was as tall as Alma - and over double her weight. And also €149!  Yikes.

This is a ceramic bust of Jonny Hallyday.  An individual who cannot be avoided in France - and an individual whom I believe no one except the French can understand.  From my vantage point he appears to be a combination of  French-Elvis, with a bit of Neil Diamond cheesiness and the kitch of Celine Dion, all rolled up in a highly produced over-the-hill rocker.  Nice. 

Seriously - he is something else. There is every imaginable type of cliché merchandise for him - and I even saw one time - and I wish I was making this up - a type of Wii RockBand - Jonny Hallyday 

A toaster - with the we-have-need-of-this accessory - the croissant holder.

One time I was in the wine aisle - and looked to my right and say this €99 bottle of Saint-Julien - and on the other side were these little plastic barrel-looking jugs of €6 for 3 liters of pure swill.
(or as my father-in-law accurately calls it: Château de Plonk )

A guy in front of me buying 'lunch': A bottle of Pastis, and a bag of Haribo candy

A giant armoire that must have been almost 3m tall

A radio that you could tune in to stations by the name of the city from which the broadcast originated.

close up on the base of the trophy given to the 1905 Grenoble city Boules champs

Another well balanced diet. (sensing a theme here)

8!

Matea turned 8 last weekend. Hard to believe

She had two friends over for her party - which was a good french lesson for me as I get little girls correcting my grammer on more informal vocabulary.  First we went skating 

  

Then came back to our place for individual pizzas and cake

It was a great day to celebrate another year with a great girl.

Below are some pictures of Matea over the past year.  

She has learned to ski - and has taken to it incredibly well. It is a real joy to spend the day with her in the beauty of the mountains, watching her learn something new.

Last spring when Susan's parents were here - we got to go to Disneyland Paris  - which was as much fun for a little girl as you would imagine.

She loves southern France (as we all do) and runs around exploring, finding new things, and loves going to the sea shore.

She absolutely adores her new sister. She is a great help, loves to take care of her, and does anything she can to be a good big sister.

 

Matea is a great hiker - and amazingly fast runner - and loves playing outside.

She has picked up French freakishly well - and now has gone from correcting my pronunciation - to merely trying to stifle her laughter.

The thing that we absolutely delight in her however is her gentle spirit and her concern for others. Living here has really brought out her tendency to be aware of others who are left out, and makes an effort to make them feel included. 

Her concern for others lead her - completely on her own- to ask if she could set up a fundraising campaign with Charity:water in lieu of birthday presents.

Please check it out at  http://mycharitywater.org/matea and give what you can to help those who don't have clean drinking water.