French websites

Have I mentioned yet that French websites suck?

OK, I know I'm a prejudiced American, but I have been dealing with French websites for about 6 months now and I have seen quite a few - and I'll tell you, one of the things I will enjoy when we go back home is NEVER having to visit another French website.

But, cyber duty called. As the stay-at-home section of the family, part of my job is travel agent. I do all the research, budgeting, packing and (unfortunatly) web purchasing for our adventures. With the trains, the earlier you sign up for tickets, the cheaper they are. We are so excited to finally be going on a long train ride. We will be taking the bullet train to Paris - it only takes about 2.5 hours!!! So, got to get those cheap seats, right? You can start ordering as much as 3 months ahead of time, which would have meant the beginning of Feb since we are heading out the last week in April. The cheapest seats they have are at 22 Euros each - well, I wasted 2 weeks and couldn't get those so our tickets will end up being about 25 Euros each - still a bargain! This low, low price is opposed to one time when André had to go to Paris suddenly (to retrieve the cat) and it was over 100 Euros for the same ticket!

So, here I am on the website, trying to nail down those seats. Like the other French sites I've been forced onto this one is poorly designed, slow, inflexible and crashes constantly. I spent over 2 hours this morning trying to reserve the tickets. The site crashes, the site won't let you order more than 6 tickets at once (we need 7) the site won't put the 7th person next to the other 6 - or even in the same train car.
OK, worked out all that out, sort of (guess lucky Grandma and Grandpa Peterson will have a quiet ride to Paris in another train car). I'm finally ready to order - and the site has, irrevocably, it seems, decided that the country I hail from is......... Belgium! (Do you think they analyzed the roots of our last name, or know about our upcoming vacation???) There is no way to change this option, and of course, the credit card will not work that way - so I have to start all over from the beginning - but when I go to reserve the same seats I had 5 minutes before - they are now somehow unavailable????

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! It's like being back in the 90's on some dial up machine, only worse, because I've come to expect better by now.

OK - give me the 118 Euro ones instead of the 101, no? How about the 140 Euro spot? No? Hmmm... can we go first class??? We are livin' the dream, right? No matter what I do I get the red letters of death:

Nous n'avons pas pu réserver vos places, car les dernières places qui étaient disponibles lorsque vous aviez choisi le train, ont été depuis réservées par une autre personne. Veuillez ressaisir vos choix pour un autre voyage.

Which means:
We could not reserve your places, because the last places which were available when you had chosen the train, have since been reserved by another person. Please seize again your choices for another voyage.

Seize what chance??? You have been telling me that all the spots - on all the trains, at all the times, are gone? I am translating as I go along, which is slow, but the English language site crashes more often than the French - I just don't trust it.

Well, can I just buy the outward trip (which still works)? Of course not. No choice but to start over again. I decide to divide and conquer! I split the outward and return trips into two separate purchases - it makes no difference in the price and I figure, at least I'll get us halfway there. This works, finally, although Grandma and Grandpa are still in another train car. (Or maybe if we can convince them to let it be André and I.... train date sounds good to me.)

I dread next week, when I will attempt to reserve our spots on a trip to Versailles and a visit to EuroDisney.......

The sound of spring?

So, we get these free magazines and papers at our house periodically and they often feature lists of local things to do. Shows, art exhibits, concerts, etc.... I always read through them, not only to
improve my French skills (and, I must say, my reading comprehension is pretty high at this point - for example, the other day I found a paragraph advertising a local running club which I lovingly clipped out and handed to André - his response: "Um, this is to learn how to be a beekeeper" Well, don't you think he should broaden his horizons a bit?) Anyway, I look to see if there might be anything interesting for us to go see or do. Of course, we always prefer those 'somethings' that are also free.

Last weekend we hung around the house, and, by the end we were all a bit stir crazy, so I was
determined to get us to go somewhere this weekend. This is why we all got up early on Saturday, told the kids they would have to wait (again) to open their Valentines packages, and bussed on over to Centre Ville.

We were headed to a free, guided bird watching tour - in the 'collines' (i.e. hills) of Besancon. All
went according to schedule and we joined a group of about a dozen others. A few of them looked pretty serious. One guy had a giant spyglass on a tripod - when I got a bit closer I saw the imprint of an eagle and the brand name "Swarovski" - ooh la la! I am a bit worried that perhaps, we are supposed to be completely silent during this, which would, of course, be impossible for my 3, less than quiet, children. (There are way too many commas in that sentence!) André and I have pre-agreed that if the going gets too hard, we will not hesitate to bail. Of course, we were the only people in the group who had children. I'm not sure why this is, but our experience, both here and in the US, is that people just don't bring children with them on these types of outings. Do they have more interesting lives than us? Are they sleeping in? Don't their kids like hikes in the woods and birds??? So, who does go out on these tours? Usually the population consists of older couples or friends and there is often a few college aged thrill seekers. (The same type of thrill seeking that I did when in college, since frat parties and night life were never all that appealing to me).

Of course, it takes like, half an hour to get everyone together, wait for stragglers, do introductions etc.... The kids are fine during this, actually they are happy since there is a giant half filled fountain nearby where we are meeting. They are all very busy throwing snowballs in it, scratching at it with sticks and (until stopped) attempting to climb into it. They could have done this for several hours, more than likely. But, nature calls! The leader of the group gathers us up and tells us we are going to take a nice walk over to Fort Chaudanne and stop and listen and look for birds along the way. We will go slowly and gently. (Luckily she doesn't mention a need to maintain silence). We call the kids (none too happy to leave their fountain shangri-la) and head off. Well, for whatever reason (probably because we ruined his fountain game), Zander decides to be a pain in the ass. He is cold, he is tired, he is bored, he doesn't want to go bird watching.....blah, blah, blah. The worst part was, that he had fallen in love with a giant stick which, of course, needed to accompany us on the walk. That kid drives me crazy sometimes. He is having lots of difficulty keeping up with the group - he almost whacks someone with the stick about 17 times etc... etc.... It is a delicate balance, I'm torn between keeping the peace and tossing him head first into the Doubs.

In the first few minutes I get my closest look at wild birds. Unfortunately, they are a couple of pigeons and a whole slew of mallard ducks - nothing I haven't seen before. Callie wonders if the ducks are having a Valentine party. We also stop and try to listen to bird songs. The guide (a passionate young woman clearly in the right profession) explains it is important to know which birds sing which songs, so you know what to look for and how rare it is. She also says that sometimes you may think a bird is common because their call is easily recognizable - but that might not be true. It may just be that their call is unique and stands out from the crowd. Hey, my friends and teammates my life through have always told me that they could find me anywhere. I just have that kind of voice that carries right across the room or field - perhaps this marks me as a rare bird..... (better than just being loud and obnoxious, right?)

The guide also said after one bird call (and I'm not making this up): "That is the sound of spring."I find this amusing not only because it is so overly poetic, but also because it is FEBRUARY and it is snowing!!!! Spring is not here yet, at least not in my book. I also wonder, what is the sound of winter? (jingle bells - hmm... but that only covers early winter - how about the sound boots make squeaking in snow) Of fall? (crunching leaves) Of summer? (the sound of waves on a beach) What do you all think of as the sounds of seasons?

Finally, we get into the woods. Once we are there, Zander gives up on his snit and starts having fun (whew). We walk a bit down a little used road and then head up the hill. It has been snowing on and off since Thursday and we had gotten another 1/2 inch or so that morning. This makes the (extremely steep) hill very slippery. We were all wearing our snow boots but it is definitely not easy going. Luckily we are all experienced hikers. I can't say the same for the rest of the group. Some of them are wearing Keds, some are just in sneakers and some are just not in shape. A couple of people turned back at about halfway up the hill. All I can say is. How humiliating! Can you imagine knowing, as an adult, that you can't make it up a hill a 3 year old can handle? Of course, as we all know, Griffin is not your average 3 year old hiker. He has been hiking the hills since birth, in our arms, in a backback and toddling along. I vividly remember taking him hiking in the Wissahickon when he was only 2 years old and he would absolutely REFUSE to hold my hand. He would be stumbling (it really wasn't walking) down a steep hill (from the Indian statue, for those of you who know this walk) and falling every 4 or 5 feet - but he would hop back up and keep on going. I would walk kind of sideways with my hands spread out - a moving mama fence. This was to make sure he didn't tumble down the cliff! OK, I know, MOST moms would have insisted on holding his hand, or just not taken him at all. We let our kids do all sorts of strange things. Climb trees, go around and around on escalators, explore caves, body paint, climb over the top of monkey bars.... After playdates and hikes with my family, I have had many a friend say, with a bit of dismay, some version of the sentiment: My kid never wanted to do that until he hung out with you guys.... Hello, and welcome to the dangerous, messy world of the Dhondts!

Well, this little colline (probably a 300 foot climb, full of slippery switchbacks) was no match for Griffin. For whatever reason, although he was at the end of the group and fell quite a bit behind near the end, he was determined to make it up to the top on his own. He only used the walking stick for about 5 minutes and that was as a 'snow stabber'. At one point, when the summit was pretty near but the going was tough, he literally began to chant. (I think it may have been a mantra) "grand garçon, grand garçon, grand garçon...." I made no comment, didn't want to break his concentration. Guess all the yoga I did when he was in utero and ever since must have made some impact.

Where were the other two? The 6 and 7 year old, by the end, were heading up the entire procession and were the first to make it up to the fort. This shot shows how they were already conquering the next switchback while I was sticking with 'grand garcon, grand garcon, grand garcon" Zander is the red dot in the photo - and Callie is the beige one next to him. André was the cameraman, in charge of the bags and binoculars, and was trying to hear some of the talk and see some birds.

Oh yeah, this is a bird walk right? So, uh, did you see any birds? Well, not really. We did bring 3 pairs of binoculars and stopped a few times while the lovely guide told us that a certain bird was in the area. They are so fast, the little buggers, and whenever I located a flutter with my eyes, it would be impossible to find with the binoculars, or it was completely out of focus. To be fair, Callie saw quite a few, she has a gift for spying things in nature. Luckily the guide had brought some close up photos with her of the local birds - to help those of us who didn't get a chance to see first hand.

Once we got to the summit there was a terrific view of Centre Ville. We stopped and broke off from the group to have hot cocoa and heartshaped Valentines cookies. André was excited to be able to have binoculars and find exactly where our house was located. I must be binocularly challenged, since I couldn't find it - and it doesn't move like birds do. After a bit, the group headed over where we were and we heard how some of the chemicals in the air and in the food that the birds eat is affecting
their ability to reproduce. It seems that the eggs shells are coming out more fragile than they used to and the mama birds just break them when they sit on them. The LPO (La Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux) works to find the nests and scoop up the weak eggs before they get broken. They then incubate them, hatch the babies, and put them back into the nests. Amazing. I wonder if they put fake eggs in to trick the birds while the eggs are incubating? I remember as a child, being told NEVER to touch a baby bird if you found it, because if it smelled like people, the mama would not feed it anymore. Was this a cruel hoax perpetrated on me by my parents to protect all the helpless baby birds out there? Do they have some way to make the birds not smell like people when they put them back in? Hmm.... here is where better language skills might come in handy.

I did spend some time talking with other hikers. One conversation I had was about how different Valentines is here than in the US. I have to say, I am torn over which I prefer. In France, Valentines Day is celebrated solely between people in romantic love (amoureuse) and not even all of them celebrate it - since it is seen as a commercial trap.

This, in many ways, made my life soooooo much easier this year. No making 3 classes worth of Valentines for my kids and no getting tons of candy etc... Callie did make a Valentine for her teacher, which confused her maitresse, but was graciously accepted anyway. That is what is a bit bad about not having Valentines USA style - it is a chance to show the people you love, that you love them. That can never be bad, right?

So, we now decide to bail on the group (bet they were glad)- it is time to head home. We go over to the fort and look around a bit. This blurb was on the outside of it on a board. "Fort Chaudanne was built between 1841 and 1845. It was one of the forts whose role was to defend the citadel. In 1944 it was the site of violent battles between the German army and soldiers from the 7th infantry of the US army, who liberated it on September 7th." It also said this was the hill that Louis the 16th took over and started firing cannons toward the Citadelle. This is what finally ended Bisontine independance, making Besancon an official part of France. It is amazing to look at this ruin and imagine all that happened there. It is so sad that we have such a long ruinous history of war and pain. And it seems like it will never, ever end. Callie said to me: "Mommy, I don't want to have to go to war." Let's hope she never does.

We journey onward and head down the hill on a different path. This one featured a really amazing underground cave of some kind. We figure it must have been an armory or perhaps a bunker for all those soldiers. It is too dark to go in very far. This is definitely a place we will have to return to for further exploration. (Yes, I realize this activity goes in the column of, um, is that really a good idea?) It is funny how many of these things are around in France. Are people here not so sue happy? Are the liability laws different? In the US, something of this nature would be boarded up and surrounded by signs saying: "Trespassers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." The fact I know that sentence by heart must prove something about the fear mongering environment I grew up in. I had a professor that once told me that I should become a lawyer. Hey, I'm still young, you never know.

Well, we finally made it down the mountain and home for a rather late lunch. Zander decided to be in a bad mood on the way home again and did one of his favorite, and most annoying activities, which is throwing his glasses. Believe it or not, this is an improvement over his earlier habit, which was simply attempting to snap the glasses in half (he was often successful). Unfortunately, tossing them also often breaks them and sometimes, (like when it is all snowy and they are brown wire frame glasses on a dirty brown snow trompled backgroud) it is hard to locate them. Took us about 20 minutes to find.
Urgh! We had lunch and then finally opened the Valentine's packages. Grandma Peterson sent a lovely boatload of candy and Grammie and Grandpa sent lots of stuff - highlight being these cute fuzzy doggies which the kids have been loving ever since. Guess my kids had a sort of American Valentines after all...

Well, whether I'm in France or not, I love you all so.... Happy Valentines from your rare bird, Rebecca.

Horseback riding with The Maimer

So as you know, I got Rebecca horseback riding lessons for her birthday. As a teen, she did ranch camp a couple summers and has loved horses ever since, and there's a riding academy just a 5 minute bus ride from here, so why not?

Well, I'm a little scared of horses. Our friend who took classes at this same academy got sidelined for 1 year with a little accident which involved a horse knocking her over, and those animals are just huge. But then again, a roller coaster isn't fun unless it's scary, right? What good is life if we shy away from everything fun? And, I reassured myself, this is just an intro class, sure to be led by an experienced, trained, professional.

Since it was the first class for Rebecca, and with the language barrier and all, we decided it would be a good idea if I came along. We weren't sure what to expect... but predicted something exceedingly boring involving basic skills (i.e. this is a horse, this is the saddle, this is the reins) and maybe, at the end, a chance to actually mount and do some endless walking around and around in a circle. Of course, even this level of equestrian skill would likely result in mass confusion because of all the new French words. We walked into the front door a bit late due to a delayed bus and they instantly recognized the arrival of the American family from our last visit... They informed Rebecca she would be riding Garauffe. She whispered to me: "Why couldn't I have gotten Joel? I won't even be able to pronounce the horse's name right!" I started browsing around at the signs and saw one that said something like: "since 1367 it has been standard practice for all horseback riders to wear helmets". Not all that reassuring. Then the instructor, dressed in ratty jeans and a sweatshirt, appeared. He promptly asked Rebecca if she knew how to brush the horse, and she responded "no" because she had no idea what he had asked her. I helpfully jumped in to inform him the answer was actually "yes" and tried to explain about the language barrier, but, before I could tell him a bit about her situation, he was off, leading her to Garouffe's stall (or as the kids called it, cage). I noticed the instructor was walking with a rather severe limp and really questioned (again) whether this was a good idea. Hmm.... surely Gimpy will be extra cautious with his students. Once bitten, twice shy, right?

Then a few stable hands helped Rebecca saddle and bridle her (gigantic) horse. His shoulder was about a foot over her head. Hmmm... Rebecca is not experienced with English style saddles and reins. This is not going to be easy.

The riding is all inside an enclosed barn. The kids and I went upstairs to a cafeteria where we could watch everything that was happening . In recognition of Valentine's Day (which is basically a non-event here, only celebrated by some with a romantic date), Rebecca has made each of us a picnic dinner, lovingly labelling each brown paper bag with our names in puffy stickers, and adding a valentine's note at the bottom of our meal. She gave us egg salad and fresh-baked sugar cookies....mmm! But for the kids, this was barely noticed. They were completely absorbed in watching mommie (especially Zander). They were so excited to see her on the horse, circling around the perimeter of the barn, then trotting, they were barely eating. Wait a minute, you may be thinking, how did she get on the horse so fast? Well, Gimpy walked the four students and their mounts into the ring and had them up in the saddle in about 2 minutes. Well, he seems to know what he is doing, all the horses are circling peacefully enough and Rebecca seems fine. She is even handling posting rather well and the language barrier doesn't seem insurmountable. But then, when I was lulled into a sense of safety and security, when I began to think maybe this would all be OK, Gimpy, turned on me. I think he must be bitter, having such an injury, this intro class might be his only chance to have another victim join him in his limping misery. As he began to speak, nay shout, commands such as: "Trot, with no reins" "Trot, with your arms folded" and "Trot, with your hands on your head!" I realized that he was no mild mannered Gimpy - he was The Maimer.... More commands followed, each more difficult than the last: "Everyone, walk around these traffic cones, except you Rebecca, YOU will be cantering around the perimeter" (and use that crazy upright English posture, too). This is a first, introductory lesson? Oh no, The Maimer wasn't finished yet. I saw him speaking briefly with Rebecca (she told me later she was explaining it was difficult for her to adjust from Western to English) and then, the worst happened. "Everyone, pull up those stirrups and drape them over the top of the saddle!" No hands? No feet? This can't be right... He started them out innocently enough.... he wouldn't be able to continue if his tactics were too obvious "Oh, just walk along and relax your feet, my darling students..." But then, as I watched in horror, The Maimer started them trotting along and then lined them up and had them canter around the ring. With NO stirrups. And who went first, Rebecca, of course. I heard one of the other students scream in fear at one turn around a corner... Then I asked the kids, do you think Mommy likes it? Zander said, oh yes--just look at her smile.

I asked afterwards to confirm this is the intro course... yup, debuttante. Do you think the owners have ever watched The Maimer at work? How does he keep all the French students from complaining? I would've fallen off the horse 6 times and never come back!

Well, she obviously survived, and even wants to return. I don't think I'll be watching the next time.

Snow!

Well, remember how it was gorgeous and sunny yesterday?

Today it has snown - at least 4 inches. It is that great, beauteous snow that sticks to all the tree branches and makes great snow balls and snow people.

Of course, it was also a school day, so we just hurried as fast as we could to get dressed and ready so we could all play in the snow together for a few minutes. It's amazing how quickly they can move when they have a good reason to.

Everyone had a great time and we made a giant snow man. (well, all of us except Griffin who was very busy shuffling through the snow. He was a conductor making train tracks and wanted us to get on his train). Once we finished decorating, we headed off to school and had a big snowball fight all the way there. I really value the time we spend together as a family each morning. On the way home, I stopped under a tree to read for about 15 minutes - how lovely.

Then my phone rang, turns out Griffin had a giant poop at school and I needed to go pick him up. The poor guy, when I got there he was sitting all alone in a chair out in the hallway - so the stench wouldn't infect the whole classroom (even though it did, I mean, I could smell it once I walked in the door). They thought he was sick, but I told them no, this is just how it smells sometimes! I keep waiting for them to say he is not allowed to be at school, this is the 4th time he's pooped at school since we restarted again after the winter holiday. The other three times it occurred towards the end of the morning so they just let him sit in it until I came to pick him up. This makes it so no other kids will sit around him, or play with him, and once gave him diaper rash. Does any of this dissuade him? Apparantly not. This poop, coming first thing in the morning, could not be waited out!

Trying a new recipe or two today - but it turns out my roasted chicken is, most likely, doomed. You are supposed to roast it, very low (250 F) and slow (for like 4 hours) - but my oven only goes as low as 170 C - which is 50 degrees higher than it should be. Hmm.... guess we'll just go with 170 and keep an eye on it. This is not the first time this oven has thwarted me. Why doesn't it go lower? Don't french people ever cook at low temperatures?

Went sledding on what was left of the rapidly melting snow this afternoon with neighbors and friends. Callie ended up mostly just sliding down on her back - it's a pretty steep hill so she was actually going pretty fast. I was amazed at how well even Griffin could climb up the slippery thing. He and I went down over and over - yes, we did crash into that green wall - but who cared? When we got home we had some yummy hot cocoa - thanks to Uncle Mark for bringing this from UT for us.

Good Day, Sunshine....

I really loved Wednesdays all fall. We went on hikes, explored Besancon, did crafts and just had fun. But then, the winter came, with days that it was too cold or bitter to stay outside, kids who just wanted to fight all day and were seemingly unable to work together as a team on any activity I suggested. I had to get very creative to make Wednesdays go well and my creativity was running a bit low.

Luckily, fate, in the form of an activity advertised in the local paper, intervened. There was to be a book sale somewhere in Centre Ville - ages 3 to 10 years. I was hoping it would be used books that I could pick up for a song (hopefully an american song, at that). It seemed like it would give us something to do and get us out of the house and I have been wanting to buy more French books for the kids. I decided to go for it, although I anticipated yucky weather would make the journey a bit less than idyllic. We all realize, of course it is only February 11th, and, by any measure, it still should be cold and unpleasant for all types of outings. Here, to put it mildly, the winter weather sucks, it has been sleeting or raining on and off pretty much 2/3rds of the days. (No, not snowing, that would be fun) Oh, and on most all those other 'dry' days, it was gloomy and overcast. On this Wednesday, though, the gods must have been smiling down on me, for it was a lovely day here in Besancon. Sunny, clear and brisk but not too cold.

It turned out we had to take two buses to get the closest we possibly could to the location. There was a 20 minute wait for the connector so the kids and I explored a bit around Place Huit Septembre. Here they are near the fountain and you can see the wonderful bustling street behind them. This is one thing I love about France. I remember, as a stay at home mom in Philly, when I went out to a mall during 'work' hours, the only people in the mall like, ever, were other stroller pushers like myself and, of course, the people who worked at the mall. Here in Besancon, people have so much vacation time, free time and work flexibility, the stores are bustling no matter what time you are there (unless it is past 6pm, when all but the restaurants shutter themselves and head for home). We also walked into a courtyard that I had previously only viewed at night. It was beautiful in the daytime. I was especially impressed that the ancient statuary was still holding it's sword - often those details are broken off. Also, amongst the cobblestones were these really cool inlaid coats of arms for Besancon. I'm guessing that since Besancon has changed hands many times over the ages, it has like, 5 different coats of arms. But the kids liked the one with the eagle on it the best. They are well aware that I put things like this up on the blog and sometimes will stop me and say. Mom, will you take a picture of this for the blog? I am only too happy to oblige them.

We get on the bus and hop off at Victor Hugo - near a fabulous fabric shop that was having close out prices on their overstock of fake fur - with Mardi Gras just around the corner, who could resist such a steal? I actually haggled with the guy, which was fun.

We headed up the hill and made it to the book sale. I was really sad at first when we arrived because it was being held in a bookshop and was, obviously, all brand new books. I had told the kids we would have to see how much they cost and was steeling myself to deal with the task of figuring out which ONE we would take home.... I also was trying to figure out who worked there and how to ask about price. I asked them to repeat the answer a few times because it didn't make sense at all to me and I was sure I was misunderstanding. It turned out my French is better than I thought. It was true, they only wanted 85 centimes each! For brand new books??? Well, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, I always say. (Fine, I've never said that until just now but it worked in the narrative, ok?). I scooped up one of almost each title and 2 story CD's as well (about 25 titles in all) and we got out of there. Here you can see our new French library, luxuriating on a bed of beautiful fake fur rejects.

Luckily, this book miracle was on the way to the Citadelle, our favorite fun place in Besancon. We agreed to head up the hill and spend some time there as we are loyal card carrying members. It was a perfect day for it. When we got close, we saw they were doing some work on the first level of battlements - they must have some different sense of 'historic preservation' than I do since they were ripping parts of the ancient stone wall down into wheelbarrows and then tossing them down the chute into some dumpsters. Didn't look like they were numbering or noting where each brick came from to me. Well, what did they do to seal the hole? Simple, they just slapped some (looked like new to me) red bricks down in place of the stone. How authentic! The workers noticed the kids watching and were very nice to them. We finally moved on past the main gate and stopped for a snack and to just enjoy the scenery. The dot of a person is Zander, with all of Besancon right behind him. I sat for awhile, watching them play and feeling lucky to be in this place, and to have this relaxed time to be with my children. We then journeyed onward to explore. We spent a long time observing the birds. They have a huge population of flamingos and ducks and lots of other birds I can't remember the names of. Here is a shot of some of them. Callie is always hoping a stray feather will float towards the fence, since she got a pink flamingo feather on a previous visit, making her day. She wanted me to hop the fence, but I vetoed that activity. Zander commented that Grammie and Grandpa would definitely enjoy all the strange ducks if they ever visited us here. We also saw lots of monkey families with new babies - the baby gibbon was particularly cute. We watched a trio of young mangabeys fighting over a stick - they made bridges of it, ladders of it, threw it, ate parts of it and fought over it with incredible speed and energy. I think I get tired with my kids - mangabey parents must really be worn out. The older ones I saw were just sitting there, chewing on some leaves. Zander got a bit sad, seeing them so trapped - wanted to let them out. This turned into a deep philosophical discussion of the pros and cons of zoos. It is great to have 1/2 an hour to stand at a cage and observe, and just talk about whatever comes to mind, especially when there is no one else there blocking your view!

Amazingly we once again ended up in an area we have never been before, a little farm with small and large bunnies, free wandering chickens, a gigantic turkey and a very adorable colony of guinea pigs. Tonight, at dinner, Zander tried to describe to André how big the turkey was: "Dad, it was so big, it was like bigger than Griffin. It was like as big as Grandpa's belly back when he had a really big belly. Do you know what happened when he stood still? His feet made, like, dents in the dirt." Then Callie added: "Mom said it would be really yummy for Thanksgiving dinner." Guess I know where to go next year, right? There was another part next to this with lots of exotic birds as well - man those things are loud and annoying. I really do wonder if we will ever see everything in the labyrinthian place!

We then headed home. On the way we passed a strange sight - 3 GIANT (much bigger than the turkey) bags of bread ends, apparantly left out for trash, on the street. Where would such a huge amount of bread come from? Is this leftovers from some down on his luck bread baker? (There was no boulangerie for at least 2 blocks, I know because I was looking for one). While we were stopped and wondering at the sight several locals passed by and also commented on it - guess it is not a usual sight for them either. Finally we made it home for a late lunch and, of course, reading some of our new books while lying down on the fake fur. Also Cecile came over to tutor Zander - he is trying so hard - I wish it wasn't so difficult for him to learn.

Wishing some of you could come experience the good life with us.

Rebecca

25 things about me...

This was a facebook assignment that my friend Catherine tagged me with - but it was fun to do so I thought I would post it here as well:



1. My favorite after school snack as a child was saltine crackers with strawberry jam and Goulden's mustard. This was closely followed by same crackers with liverwurst and mustard (which I still like today)

2. My biggest pet peeve is people who drop trash on the ground.

3. When I got married, my husband took my last name. This has caused us annoying red tape type problems for 10 years - right up until today when he can't get his carte de sejour (French green card) approved!

4. I am the only left handed person in my immediate family - a bit sad that none of my 3 kids ended up lefties.

5. I fenced competitively in college.

6. I was the lead for the 8th grade school play - Cinderella Revisited.

7. I haven't gotten a haircut for over 4 years.

8. I associate food with love.

9. I sing full length songs to my children almost every night before bed: Zander, So This is Love, Callie, The Rose or Ain't no Mountain High Enough and Griffin, Castle on a Cloud or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

10. I hope to someday take voice lessons.

11. All my kids' middle names start with E - as does mine.

12. I am looking foward to age 47 - when all my 3 children will be 18 or older.

13. I have no idea what I am going to be doing with my life once I stop staying at home full time.

14. Until I moved to France, I read between 1 and 2 novels per week. I've only read an average of 1 per month since being here.

15. I admit it, I love trashy romance.

16. I started out Roman Catholic, dabbled in atheism, converted to mormonism, became unitarian universalist and now embrace some sort of neo-paganistic/agnostic spirituality.

17. I sleep an average of 8 hours per night.

18. I am having a very hard time learning how to speak French.

19. I hate it when people hold grudges - and I hate it even more when people are mad at you and don't tell you or even worse than that is when they don't tell you but do talk bad about you behind your back.

20. I have a love/hate relationship with television.

21. I really enjoy arts and crafts - especially anything messy.

22. Mr. Softee soft chocolate ice cream cone dipped in chocolate shell - the ultimate!

23. Every morning my whole family snuggles together between 15 minutes and 1/2 hour - the best time of the day.

24. Between Jan 1st and the end of summer 2009, I will have: lived in Besancon France and have visited: Mt. Chamonix, France, Milan Italy, Brugge and Brussels Belgium, Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Paris France, Versailles France, EuroDisney, Philadelphia PA, Mt. Sinai NY, Seaford DE, Bloomfield, NJ, Washington DC and hopefully southern France for a long weekend. Also plans to do other things in the fall!

25.I am overly obsessed with my blog at http://www.blunderingbesancon.blogspot.com/


Hope you've learned something new and exciting! Rebecca

Volcanic eruption, anyone?

We hung around mostly at home this weekend.

It was pouring Saturday morning so we went to the thrift store and got new dishes and silverware. We have been surviving with only exactly 5 plates and forks and knives and cups and bowls for the past 5 months. It was gettin a bit ridiculous, using paper plates and plastic cutlery every time we had guests. We were able to find some decent stuff for only 20 Euros - gosh I love thrift stores. We then headed over for a LONG lunch at Quickos. The food there is disgusting (in other words, the kids loved it) but they have a play place for the kids. We let them play in there while we played canasta for about 2 hours. André won 2 out of 3 games - guess my birthday luck has run out!

We went over to the gluten free store for some bread for Griffin - there was only ONE person working so the line took over 1/2 hour, urgh! This is very very common in France, and no one (but me) ever seems annoyed by it.

On Sunday we spent time together working on French homework. The French are really into memorizing, which is definitely NOT one of Zander's strengths. Callie and Griffin know the little poem about the ant better than either Zander or his daddy (whose genes must have passed along the lovely inability to memorize).

Our afternoon project was an amazing volcano. We made the salt dough, decorated it with trees and a doomed car, and exploded the lava in the bathtub. As you can see, from André's expression, this was a delicate chemical reaction, involving red food coloring. Kids loved it.

Sorry for the boring post. At least the pictures are cute.