A glimpse of Paris for Aunt Virginia

This post is for my mother’s aunt Virginia who said her one regret in life was that she didn’t get to see Paris again. Since it didn’t work out to skype with her from the eifel tower (wouldn’t that have been cool?) we wanted to do a good post of our visit, including the things she said she wished she could see again: the daily life in Paris, the little shops, the streets, etc. We lost Aunt Virginia last week so she didn’t get to see this entry. Therefore this is for the rest of the family. Here’s to our curious, observant, artistic Aunt, who will be greatly missed.

Here she is with daughter Betty Anne at our family wedding reception. I'm emotional that she (and BA) were there.  

Anticipation

So we were all so excited to get to Paris. Each one of us had something we were looking forward to. When asked, Sebastien said he was looking forward to "seeing France” (he meant the eifel tower).  Here we are on our way to the train super excited:

The mobile family

First we drove our car to the bus stop at the next town from us. And we left it in a spot RIGHT next to where the bus picks us up (that doesn’t happen in Berkeley!) For 1.50 euros per adult, we get to the Montpellier train station in 45 minutes with no hassle of driving and parking. We feel mobile as we trek to our train with our big stroller and only 1 bag. We get everyone on the train without problems (unlike last time when we almost missed the train and accidentally dumped Sebastien out of the stroller). And we’re off to the city of lights!

Arrival

We’re on the high-speed train, the famous TGV with only 1 stop. So that means we arrive in just over 3 hours. When we finally arrive, Sebastien’s excited and looks out the window and says “I can’t see France”. I tell him the eifel tower is in the middle of the city and we’ll see it the next day. We’re all excited when we get off the train and make our way outside. Soon we see our lovely friend, Yvonne (the sister of Genevieve who you’ve met in previous posts). She has come all the way into the city center to pick us up and take us back by Metro to her house in the suburb of Lardy. We manage to get off the train easily with the kids and here is this exciting view of the Gare de Lyon, the same train station depicted in that famous series of Monet paintings. It's amazing that something painted hundred plus years ago was my 'advertisement' for Paris and comes to mind when there.

See-this was painted about 100 years ago:

And here it is in 2011!:

Yvonne and Daniel

We enjoy a nice evening at Yvonne and Daniel’s interesting home. Aunt Virginia, who had an eye for building and designed her beautiful home in Shell Beach, would surely be intrigued with this house, which is also a very personal house. There are huge canvases of modern art everywhere, the house is made of wood with a huge garden in the back and a wonderful sun room overlooking it. There are books or art tucked into every nook and cranny. And nooks and crannies seem to be everywhere. And the whole house is furnished with wooden furniture from the family furniture business, hand crafted wooden furniture with wooden joints and leather upholstery. One of a kind.

I’m always interested in the meals I am served in French homes. The first night for the first course, we have little mini pancakes (that come already made in a package) with smoked salmon and creme fraiche on top. Then for the main dish, we are treated to a dish from the North of France. It is herring with boiled potatoes served with crème fraiche or butter (not both like we are accustomed to.) There is perfect bread and a plain salad.

I am also always struck by the simplicity of the meals. It is really ‘plain’ and ‘no fuss’ by our standards. And now that I’m used to that, I really appreciate it because it is so straight-forward. None of the inherant flavors of the meal are hidden or masked or manipulated at all. They are right there. Perfect, sometimes average, but standing there with nothing to hide.

After dinner we have the customary large plate of different cheeses (nice and stinky, if they don’t smell, they’re no good) and after that we’re presented with a bowl of fruit to peel and enjoy if we wish.

The next day, our lunch is lentils with boiled meats. The lentils are amazingly delicious and Yvonne has cooked them in a pressure pot with fresh thyme from the garden, carrots and onions. I am curious if pressure pots are as used in France as they are in Brazil. Yvonne says they are quite common. For dessert, we have a sort of charlotte which she’s made in a mold lined with ladyfingers then filled with Bonne Maman black current preserves and topped with Crème Anglaise. It is (politely) devoured.

Our activity with the kids that day is a visit to one of the many local chateax. This one is owned by the state and has been turned into a home for mentally disabled kids. There’s a boarding house, a hospital and a farm. We get to visit and feed the goats, donkeys, pigs, sheep, chickens, geese and even a llama. See the gorgeous surrounding landscape:

Our next highlight is to head back into the center of the city to our friend’s home right next door to the famous eifel tower in the 7^th arrondisement. And again, the family is so excited. This is truly the first view we get when we come up the stairs from the underground metro. Sebastien is ecstatic:

Our friend's neighborhood in the 7th is really lovely with cute shops, delis, and even an American joint selling all things American (which I can’t find anywhere near our town, only in Paris. I pop in to get some much needed brown sugar for our holiday baking.) They have candy corn, cake mixes, pop rocks and other fun American candy. With all the colorful products, it is a pretty kitchy (and happy I think) place. I am happy to hear some American English on the street after all these months. Very rare experience in France. Apparently it is quite an international neighborhood. We get some fantastic views of the tower and streets throughout the weekend. Check out my shadow and Sebastien running ahead to get all the way to the tower (we finally had to stop him-he went really far!)

then Sebastien stumbles on a boot camp class and is riveted. Imagine working out under this view!:

Also, I am so lucky that there happens to be a Paris flea market happening here on this same weekend. Something I’ve always wanted to see:

Look at this chandelier:

And these madmen like chairs!

Our hosts showed us their favorite bridge:

And this was just there in the middle of our walk. Like a postcard!

And Aunt Virginia wanted to know what the streets and little shops were like. The following pics are taken from right downstairs from our friends' apartment. When they need something, they just pop down there.

A drugstore:

Wedding dresses:

fruit/veggies (not much organic)

and flowers:

Aunt Virginia would have loved to see our friends' beautiful huge apartment. There are huge ceilings with French elaborate moldings througout. There are glass french doors separating each of the rooms. There are wooden floors throughout. There are marble fireplaces in every room, including the bedrooms, with the original marble and French mirrors above them. Our friends have painted each room perfect white so that it is all uniform throughout and all you see is the beauty of the architecture. They furnish sparsly with modern lines and are saving for beautiful crystal chandeliers to perfect the look. 

We learned that Paris is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world because it is unified by one beautiful style (Haussman style).
(See wikipedia for more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haussmann%27s_renovation_of_Paris )
After my friend's lesson and passion about it, I paid more attention when looking around.

The louvre:

A door:

the famous French balconies:

                                            

another door I liked (Dev's favorite color)

Food

Our meals throughout the weekend: the first night, we are treated to smoked salmon and homemade apple crumble. Another night we have pork chops and another night we have a sauerkraut dish from the Alsace Lorraine region--a broth with finely shreaded (like vermicelli) cabbage and 2 different sausages and corned beef. Almost like an irish dish. Always we finish with the best, gooey cheese and salad. One night it's our turn to cook so we get some ingredients from the lively street just around the corner of our friends' house. First we show our host kids how to make chocolate chip cookies. We don't have as much access to different (even Italian) foods in our country village. So we get some fresh homemade Italian pasta from the nearby upscale deli and make a sauce of fresh tomatoes with organic shrimp (from Madagascar apparently). With a fantastic bakary right downstairs and all this homemade food, we eat well the whole weekend!

Sebastien's really a pro by now--he loves helping me!

 
And our Parisian host was a natural and Anais loves to help too!

Cite des enfants:

We take the kids to this children’s museums where they get to play with all kinds of cool kid exhibits. Like this pretend work site:

Then Anais loves the water one where she gets to pour water into buckets and throw chips into a pretend river. She wears an apron and manages to stay dry! Sebastien loves these mini movie theaters they’ve set up to show movie clips that represent major emotions. There’s the happy one with a cool montage of happy scenes from movies from all genres. Then there’s the sad one and the scary one. Interesting idea. Anais also loves the one that plays with the senses. Sounds, Smells, Touch.  The exhibits are well marked with the age that matches the development milestone the exhibit is based upon. They are so well thought out. As are the kids’ school. My conclusion is that France understands kids.

The next day, we get to go to an adult museum. We go to the Georges Pompidou center for the Edvard Munch exhibit. He’s the one that did ‘The Scream” although that particular painting was stolen recently. There’s also an exhibit on dance that is interesting to me. We don’t get a chance to soak up everything thoroughly but we do see that it is amazingly well curated. I loved how they tried to figure out what Munch was going through at the time of his paintings to construct a narrative of what he was trying to accomplish and what he felt about things. Each president is supposed to build a monument  to leave for the city upon his departure. This building is the controversial one left by Georges Pompidou, the one with the inside of the building showing on the outside. So we ride up the escalators that are located on the outside of the buidling (not unlike the one in the beverly center!) and here we discover the BEST VIEW OF PARIS. The entire roof line is even, as in the same height below us except for the major sites are sticking up out of that line. We see the Notre Dame, the montmartre, other churches, the eifel tower, etc. poking out of the horizontal line of rooves. Plus we are there on the ONLY clear day of the weekend. It is gorgeous and we feel good.

We have lunch with Devin’s good friend Sven and have a wonderful time walking back along the rue de rivoli, past mainstream stores (ugh, so many american stores, I feel like I’m on Market Street in SF!) We finish outside the louvre before we have to get back for the kids naps and I take this fun panaromic picture there:

Last but not least, let me show you some Christmas decorations.

An intersection on the Champs d'elysees:

OMG: the karl lagerfield homage at the galleries lafayette. You would not believe the effort that went into the 30 windows of puppets all with different themes. I couldn't tell who sponsored them-they were just pieces of art and there were millions of people there to see them!

You can't see it very well, but these puppets are ballet dancers that are really moving. Gorgeous!

And this was from neighboring dept store Printemps and it was so classy. There was a different window done up for each major city (Istanbul, Moscow, Singapore, etc) Here's Paris:

Finally, some pics of the children on our way back to Aniane.

   

                                              

back in the train:

Thanks for reading. May Aunt Virginia rest in peace. 

Dirty Bath Tuesdays

So before purchasing in Aniane, I scheduled a "cordial visit" with the mayor. In small towns and especially being a foreigner, this is de rigueur. The mayor was quite pleased that I had made the effort and I was happy to have about 10 critical questions answered  which would make both Lara and I more at ease purchasing in a town which we only discovered 1 month beforehand.
Questions of the nature:
When it floods, does the water ever reach the level of your desk? 
Any future plans to build  freeway through town?
Any plans for a nuclear waste site nearby?
Etc.

Do you recall that Pink Panther film where Inspector Clouseau asks the concierge if his dog bites? And only once he has pried the jaws away from his ankle, Clouseau screams at the concierge 'you told me your dog didn't bite'. The reply? That's not my dog, Monsieur

Because the principal river - the Herault - as well as its tributairies flow through or nearby the town, I was kind of serious about flooding. In fact, the canal running through the center of town contains just about all of the water. However on a few occasions, people's doorsteps have been inundated.
Fair enough. The answer was ' have no concerns about flooding.

My small mind has not yet completely grasped what's taking place. but when it rains heavily  for  5 days straight, the water supply becomes turbid. At this time, 1.5 liter bottles of water are distributed for days to all of the villagers until the water has returned to its pure form.

We've been through this twice already this fall . No big deal. It's kind of fun. However, even in the dim light of our bathroom, the tub water can be a little less than welcoming. Showering afterwards makes us all feel cleaner.

Typically, it doesn't rain that hard and long here in Aniane, so we shouldn't have to worry too much about the lightly brown water.

Oops, gotta go. Lara is calling me. It must be Tuesday!

Lara Post-Devin's Big Birthday Surprise

So November 5^th was coming up and I wanted it to be really special. Here we are in Devin’s favorite country. We won’t be here for his birthday for a couple years if all our plans go well. Next year is a big birthday year. So why not party this year like it’s next year and have a big blow out? So our dear friend , Joel (the kids favorite ‘uncle’ who stops by to visit  almost every day) planned the party and told me what I had to do. He arranged for one friend to donate their family picnic area (side bar: this is a thing here—everyone who lives in the village here without gardens, has some kind of access to a large field where there’s a cabin that they can use on weekends for large family meals and grow some fruits and vegetables for personal use.) Then he planned the menu of paella, sangria, chocolate birthday cake. Then he had Devin decide who were his closest friends in the ‘hood and he had me send real invitations, which were basically little kid invitations that I found at the grocery store.

The day before the party, we realized the huge storm of the last 5 days was going to make Helene’s retreat up the road impossible to reach--the unpaved road up the rocky hill to the cabin would be full of mud and all the cars would get stuck. (plus imagine the mud on Anais) Where are we going to accommodate 25 adults and 10 kids in this rain? Out in front of our house in our neighborhood meeting spot is out of the question—it is absolutely pouring down rain. So we had a neighborhood huddle and finally settled on moving the furniture in our house to accommodate the 35 people. (When you see how narrow our living room is, you will wonder how we did it)

Kids table:

adults table:

Even though we tried to encourage the adoption of the American ‘please no gifts’ custom, our friends truly would have nothing of it. They told me absolutely not, they must get a gift. And they insisted on organizing a ‘big’ gift and collecting money from everyone. It was very thoughtful too. They all know Devin took guitar lessons from our neighbor Remy (they heard Devin singing, “it was the first part of the journey” every day for 3 months ;) so they got him a really nice guitar. Joel organized it and Ludevine found big enough paper to wrap it up nice.

Devin made 2 nice speeches thanking everyone for welcoming him and us to the community and here’s to many more years of gatherings together, etc. It was heartfelt and really a lovely day.

Some more pics of our guests:

Silliness:

 and Anais wants to do it too:

And here's what we ate and drank:

Parties last around here and people were here from 12 to 8PM!! This picture makes it look like a 'kegger' ;)

The party was great fun. A couple of the old timers (Devin’s favorite thing to do in France is chat with the older generation) stayed late to drink man drinks and eat more food while I got the kids ready for bed.

But this is not the whole story. This party is on the Sunday-the day after his real birthday, But I have something up my sleeve for Saturday, his actual birthday. And he knows nothing! I lie a few days before and tell him that for his real birthday we’ll probably go for a bike ride with the kids and keep it simple in preparation for the big party the next day. He buys it. I have planned a rather complicated menu symbolic of Devin’s interesting  life so far. Each course shall represent something special about Devin. I’ve arranged for his very best friends who live about 1 hour away to come over while we are out and we’ll have one of those long French lunches together. The catch is, with all the other activities, when am I going to prepare the complicated menu? How do I keep him from knowing I’m doing it? And how do I get him out of the house so the friends can surprise him?  The morning of his birthday I am a nervous wreck. I lie several times that morning to cover my tracks and keep him from suspecting anything. I feel so guilty because my lies are so good and believable. Then, as if he knows about everything and is playing right into my hand, at the perfect time, he offers to go on a long errand to pick up the wine for the next day’s party. The minute he is out the door, I set up the kids with a movie and I race around the house to prepare the scene. We are to have each of our courses on a different floor in the house. So I have to set 3 tables! Then I have to finish frying the Brazilian appetizers and warm all the side dishes, frost the Spiderman Birthday cake with a complicated spider web, ice the drinks, etc.

Our dear friends arrive and I realize I can tone down the worry because that important part has happened, they’ve arrived while he is out. But it’s hard to calm down and now I’m practically hyperventilating. Finally though I am almost calm as I realize the big ‘reveal’ is almost going to come and we’re really about to pull it off. It’s really important to me to make this a special birthday for Devin. Every year my gifts do nothing for him. Of course he thanks me but I can see that there is almost no material thing that will ever impress him. I must figure out how to show him how much I care!! Hence the pressure I’ve put on myself.

Thankfully the kids are super chill. Sebastien is so happy to be watching his movie. And Anais is happily puttering about entertaining herself like usual. Finally Devin shows up and he had delayed because he took a nice walk by himself-his favorite activity. I thought for sure he was doing that on purpose but in fact it was perfect idea on his part. Then he sees I’m frying the Brazilian dish and he says ‘Oh, you’re making those!” and I say yes, “surprise”. And then, “I have another surprise for you. Come in the living room” There sort of hiding in the corner of the dining room, are Genevieve and Henri, his second family, the friends he’s had since he first stepped foot on French soil. They are really important to him and he named our daughter after her. They are super cute, and say surprise at the perfect time. The joy on Devin’s face is rewarding. Just what I was hoping for and I am thrilled:

Each course was served in a different level of the house. The apero was in the cave (wine cellar):

Then for "the philosopher" course (symbolized by Russian Borscht-for his love of Russian) I ask everyone to look under their plates for little pieces of paper with Devin's favorite quotes:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
— Upton Sinclair (author of The Jungle-a favorite book)

“The noble title of "dissident" must be earned rather than claimed; it connotes sacrifice and risk rather than mere disagreement.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian (favorite author/book)

But remember, with strength goes responsibility - to others and to yourselves. For you cannot conquer injustice with more injustice - only with justice and the help of God.
--How Green Was My Valley (a fav movie)

We have some fun discussing those and what the quotes mean to each person—the interpretations are different for the French minds. I had fun looking them up. I'm so proud of Devin's love of books and these noble ideas...

For the main course, we have Genevieve's famous Blanquette au Veau. I chose it because it reminds me of France and the Morel family and symbolizes their great importance to Devin.

Finally we end with Sebastien and Anais' Spiderman Chocolate cake. (really they helped design and make it!)

It was all so much fun and Devin said it was one of his best birthdays ever. We all had a great time, both parties were a great success. Devin is such a wonderful friend and father and husband. We all wanted to make him happy on his birthday and he was. J

Devin post-3 months pile poil

We're approaching 3 months "on the nose" as the title says that we've have been here in France. It's been fascinating to witness Sébastien's acquisition of the French language and culture. Anaïs is trailing behind as well with commentary such as "oui maman" or je ne peux pas, soleil, par là, ici, ça.

Sébastien gave me the best birthday present ever when he fired off two french questions back to back to me. This was proof enough for me that he has begun to navigate in a second language.
We're excited to see what the next three months will produce.

Lara outdid herself twice this month in the kitchen. The first event was a surprise birthday party. One rarely is able to surprise me perhaps because I'm too observant. Lara's thoughtful menu was a culinary tour of those places which I've visited over the years.

We began with borsch from my Petersburg days, then coxinhas from Brasil, afterwards blanquette de veau from France, culminating with chocolate cake from Berkeley.

Three weeks later, Lara seized the kitchen once again and began the preparation for Thanksgiving. We celebrated it on Friday so as to include our closest friends who are almost like family. The donkey was cooked to perfection. And the stuffing was superb. Did I say donkey?

In a week or so, we will set off for Paris for a petite semaine - 5 days. We'll stay with two different families and give the kids a taste of Paris which has already begun to be decorated for x-mas. Sébastien is looking forward to the Tour Eiffel.

Aside from taking care of the kids and working on the house, I've been enjoying studying Italian in my free time. Once a  week, I meet with 1 of 2 Italian speakers in town and put to the test what I've just learned.

I'll close by telling you what we do each Wednesday. The kids do not have school this day, so Lara and I alternate by surprising each other with a family adventure to some cool location within an hour or two from Aniane. There are endless destinations in the Languedoc-Roussillon. We'll never discover it all, but we plan on seeing as much as we can. We will be heading towards http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirque_de_Navacelles soon.

Come and visit if you can.

A+

Lara Post--Ladies Night Out

OK so I was very kindly invited to go out with my neighbor Dominique and her friends for girls night out (soiree des filles I think). After several attempts that were cancelled cuz of Dominique’s crazy work schedule (she works for the French post office in Purchasing) we set it up for Tuesday  evening. Even though it’s hard to stay up late and hard to leave the dinner hour to Devin, I was excited to make some friends on my own, meet a group of working women/moms I can relate to, feel connected here away from home, improve my French, etc. I made the arrangements by phone for 2 of the gals whom I’d never met before to pick me up on the side of the road by our house. Just as I walked (staggered in some uncomfortable boots I put on at the last minute, not realizing how uncomfortable they are) out onto the street, a car slowed down for me and I got in hoping it was really them (it was!) We made the 30 minute trek (like Berkeley to SF) to Montpellier, a lively San Francisco looking town which is known for its charm with Spanish looking influences, many young people, many medical students at the famous medical school nearby, etc. It looked like North Beach and the outdoor seating areas were packed! Even in the Fall weather! We parked underground and then walked in the cobblestone narrow, hilly streets past lots of cool shops, both couture and hippy fresh, to a bar where Dominique and another girl Sophie were waiting. It was the bar of her husband’s cousin. Called the Distillerie and it was decorated all Rock and Roll. The “barman” had those huge holes in his ears and tattoos and talked kids with Dominique. (love the contrast) There I had this yummy beer that tasted like lemonade. Then we walked across the street to an Italian place where we had reservations. Everyone ordered a main course and later dessert and we had another novelty—Italian red sparkling wine. I had never heard of it. It tasted like grape juice (I liked it). We were not rushed and I was so surprised that we sat with our empty plates for quite some time before someone took them away and for another hour and a half before someone finally asked for the check. That was at 11:30PM. The food part of dinner is really just one of many requirements, and it’s not the central one! In total we were there 3.5 hours. It was great fun!

The conversation was just like at home—universal topics… Everyone talked about the men and kids in our lives. I didn’t get everything of course but got the gist of some of it. One girl talked about the Italian boyfriend she didn’t choose (3 kids and 10 years ago) and she thought she make the right decision because being a wife in Italy is really hard and another girl talked about the difficulty of dealing with trading daughter time with her ex. Another one is separated but still ‘friends with benefits’ with him. The women all have interesting jobs, and are mothers. One runs a division in the post office, one owns a store, one is a professor.

One girl asked me an interesting question—what is it like in for us Americans between men and women in the home. I understood the question was about the division of labor. I told her how in Berkeley there were many men that were staying home to take care of the children and that at home we shared the cooking and cleaning. Next time I will tell them how I at times I wished to go back to the traditional route because I felt I was missing a part of my maternal identity by not taking enough of it on. (weird?) Right now, while we are in France, I am doing most of the shopping, meal planning, house cleaning and I ask for help when I need it. And we split child time about 50-50. This set up feels good for us. It is interesting how we need to go to different extremes of the pendulum to find the right balance, in terms of social trends and per each family. Really it seems to me there’s no rule anymore, every family needs to find their best fit. The gals used the term “France isn’t that evolved yet” They included the word “yet” because it seems to me they feel there has been progress. But they still feel they have to do all the cooking and cleaning and it’s not going to change. I understood an acceptance because to do otherwise would be too difficult. Which is kind of true. At a macro level, I think the university feminist agenda must be to concentrate on sexual harassment in the workplace a la DSK before anything else… Don’t worry people, I’m not going there, just curious how things work here...

Again, a testament to the universality of women everywhere, 3 of us ended the evening making plans to exercise together. On Sundays, we’re going to try to power walk between the wineries. Everyone wanted to do it for one reason or another, one is quitting smoking and is fully expecting to gain weight because of it. Another needs to lose weight and I am trying to prevent against bad health now that I’m turning 40 in 4 months.

Speaking of health, I am so surprised that almost all the women I know/see are smokers! (And like in Devin’s post, they often blow smoke in their kid’s faces!!) It seems like a different planet where people have no idea they shouldn’t smoke or smoke in front of their babe’s faces. I wonder how many things we do that are totally completely strange. (drinking coffee/eating anything while walking down the street) Isn’t traveling interesting.

All together it was a lovely evening and although I was exhausted and couldn’t wait to get in bed, I was so happy to meet these women. I hope to get to know them all better. By the way, just a petit shout out to my girls in Berkeley/Bay/LA/CA/US. Miss you all and our own nights out... ;)

DD- Breaking laws in France. For the kids!

It's been a month or so since I've blogged. Time has sure flown by here in a country where we think time ticks slower when compared to the States.

Our routine is more or less in place. Why more or less? We often have impromtu invitations to have a drink or a play date with neighbors and/or people that we bump into here and there during the day. Otherwise, our mornings typically begin by getting ready for school. Sebastien  attends school 5 days a week. He returns home at noon for lunch and then at 1:45 we bike back to school - all of 1/2 a mile.

Anais is at the same school which Sebastien attended last year. She is thriving there according to the staff which is 4:5 staff to kids.

After dropping off Anais at 8:30, Sebastien and I proceed to his school a block away. There, the doors open at 8:55, so we are typically early. The first few weeks, I couldn't get over the number of mothers with babies in a stroller, their three year old in tow, and a malboro in one hand. Is it possible that all of them did not get the e-mail, say 20 years ago, that second hand smoke does no one any good??

I took it upon myself to head up to the school at dusk one day with Sebastien's backpack. I jumped the fence and opened the pack to unload a cartridge of glue as well as 2 no smoking placards. The backpack was handy for two purposes. One to carry my gear and two in order to have an excuse as to why I hopped the fence after open hours. "My son left his back back at the  door, officer", I would say. I posted the signs on two pillars 20ft from the door. The next morning I arrived glad to see that my signs had stuck but disappointed to see a guy leaning against the pillar smoking.

Here's what it looks like:

And here's what it looks like in the morning while people are waiting for the doors to open:

A week passed, and the trick worked. Significantly fewer people are smoking in proximity to the kids. I figured that I killed two birds with one cartridge of glue:
     a) The kids (and non smoking parents) are a little safer
     b) The administrators at the school will not have to hold 2-3 meetings to determine if no-smoking signs are really necessary as well as if they have the budget (3 euros) to purchase and post such signs.

Next week, I have a few cross walks that I'm going to paint :>)

LSD: The Careless Whisperer in France

So I’ve been talking to my friends in the village to try to find another George Michael fan to come with me to see him in concert. Each day when we take the kids to school, I tell the other mamas I’m going to go online to look for tickets but I never seem to find the time. Finally while the kids are napping I get online and search around on both French and British sites to find the best seats. I try to read the map of the arena to figure out which seats are close to his face so I can see his expressions as he croons…. I go for some seats up in  the balcony but in the front row, hoping they’re good. I buy 2 tickets hoping one of the gals really is interested in going. I am so excited. I can’t wait to find out so I go to her house and call her name outside her door because I don’t have her phone number. She comes down and says she’s in!!! I'm so stoked! I spend the next 2 days searching the internet for songs and interviews. I check the songs he’ll be playing it's George Michael all day all night in the house. Even Sebastien and Anais are rocking out.

In my research I learned that he wanted to cover some of his favorite songwriters, he wanted to use the tour to exercise his vocals and after the 3 months see how good they could be 'at his age' (his words-he's only 47!). He said he thought people would be surprised by his choices. He covered Roxanne, a Stevie Wonder song, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtIy3pcwNA8&feature=related (apparently he credits Stevie Wonder as a great influence). He covered a Terrence D'Arby song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae3NcTBmU5I&feature=related and an interesting song by a guy called Rufus Wainwright   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuSNgI9RBgQ&feature=related It's been 3 weeks since the concert and I still have the song "Amazing" in my head. The show was great. I bought a t-shirt. :)

But last, I was impressed by this interview at about minute 10:17.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guuJ98XWvV0&feature=related  where h
e's talking about his next 'up tempo' album he's working on (and seems to be energized by-so great that he's not bored in his career like I was in mine!) He's been asked a sort of dumb question if he feels he'll be excluded in this genre due to his age and he has a great answer for what is motivating him write lyrics on this album--to help young gay kids! I was impressed and happy to call him my teenage idol! Let me know if you're also a fan and any thoughts!!!