Kinésithérapie

Healing hands...

To help clear his lungs after his illness Hugh had some kinesitharapy. There is a lady who lives just in the next street who works from home and is a kinesitherapist, so she came up and gave him his massage. Hugh liked it so much that he went to sleep each time!

Hugh in Hospital

Sorry I don't have any photos for this post. Despite my motto of "don't go anywhere without a camera" I rushed off to the doctor's surgery on Saturday morning with Hugh, but without my camera. Hugh had been coughing on Thursday night/Friday, then had a fever on Friday night. By Saturday morning his pulse was racing, and he was breathing rapidly and sucking in his belly and throat trying to get more air. We knew this was not good, so administered some ventolin, which had little effect. So while Roger took the girls with him to deliver Nanna and Granddad to the airport at Lyon, I took Hugh to the doctor. The doctor got Hugh's shirt off to listen to his chest, measured his temperature quickly with a forehead sensor, and then lay him down for an examination. The doctor was quick to say what I didn't want to hear: that it was serious and that Hugh should go immediately to the hospital. He suspected pneumonia, so ordered a pulmonary x-ray.
Didn't I say one time before that we should find the hospital so that we know where it is in an emergency?? Luckily Roger hadn't left yet for Lyon so I called him and asked him to bring TomTom, our GPS, so I could find the way. Despite what everyone said about it being easy to find I am glad I had TomTom or I would have become extremely flustered trying to get there. So I took the autoroute all the way and made the most of the 130km/hour speed limit, and kept glancing back at Hugh to make sure he wasn't going bluer around the mouth.
Once at the paediatric emergency section of the hospital I just had to give details to fill in some paperwork before we were shown in to a consulting room. Hugh lay on the examination bed with his tummy pumping in and out. Being a teaching hospital (CHU) there were plenty of medical students, interns, externs, and doctors coming and going. The x-ray showed something in the top of one lung, and he had a blood sample taken to confirm the infection. The doctors also said that asthma was causing Hugh's breathing difficulties. He was treated with ventolin and another drug I can't remember the name of (something like avent) and had oxygen. For the pneumonia he had intravenous antibiotics, and something else to control the fever.
In the hospital we shared a room with a lovely little girl called Chaima and her mother. Chaima and Hugh would have their nebuliser masks at the same time, and we would watch their blood oxygen saturation monitors flash up at 100% for a few minutes. Then when the 02 got down to 91% the machine would start beeping.
For the night there were fold down beds for the mothers to sleep on, which made the room extremely squashy (nurses probably have to have a slimness test to see if they can squeeze through small spaces and reach long distances in order to work in rooms like that.) So I lay on my bed in my clothes and watched Hugh's breathing on the graph on the monitor. There wasn't much sleep to be had, but in the early hours I must have slept heavily, as I didn't hear the machine beeping when Hugh's 02 saturation dropped and the nurses put the oxygen mask on him.
By late Sunday morning Hugh had discovered that the playroom down the hallway had not only books, but a ball and some ride-on toys. He was feeling much better thank you, and his biggest problem was that he was running around too much. The nurses kept telling me that he was to rest and stay calm, but I don't think they told Hugh...

Le Chemin d'Autrefois

Autumn in the forest.

On Wednesday my parents offered to look after the children so that Roger and I could go out together. (Which was just what we needed.) We went and had lunch at our favourite restaurant, the Auberge de Saint Vincent de Mercuze.

The Auberge de Saint Vincent de Mercuze - our favourite restaurant.

We had a long lunch and a good discussion without any child-induced interruptions. It is time to start thinking about our next step after so much time over the last few years has been concerned with getting our exchange experience happening. Now it is nearly finished!! Well there are three months left, but that doesn't sound like much to me...

After our long lovely lunch we set out to walk the chemin d'autrefois up to the cascade (waterfall).
The autumn weather was perfect for an afternoon walk, and the colours of autumn were at their best. Roger took a little backpack with a snack and some water, and I took my SLR camera.

The beauty was mesmerising. No wonder it took so long to walk up...
I had to keep stopping to take photographs!

The stream cascading through mossy rocks.

The colours of autumn leaves in the stream.

An interesting rock formation?? No, some metal debris...

The path criss-crossed back and forth across the stream, and it was very well maintained with hand-rails, steps, and cables in place.

Roger ascending with the help of a metal hand rail.

Another, more natural handrail.

A path being held up with wire netting.

A plastic-covered metal cable for protection,
lest one should fall to the stream below.

I am glad we did the walk while the weather was good, and before it rained, because I don't think I would enjoy it so much if it was slippery and muddy. And I am definitely glad that we didn't try to take the children. Odette would not have the stamina for such a walk, Hugh would be a danger and too slow. Sophie and could probably make it, but not with her foot still unfit after the sprain, and Bonnie would want to know where we would be going next (she has that much energy.)

If I had read this sign first I doubt that I would have considered walking...

Roger walking down the easy way.
There was an alternative route back to our starting point.

The village at Montalieu; we drive through often
but had never explored the narrow back streets before.

Apart from the day we went to Grenoble to change our airline tickets and have a medical check complete with chest x-rays, this was the first day we had had someone else look after the children so that we could go out. It was much appreciated, and Nanna and Granddad got to spend some quality(!) time with the children.

The Princess Party

There is no doubting that Odette enjoyed her birthday party.

We have had a lovely afternoon and evening celebrating Odette's birthday with friends. Her beautiful princess dress and shoes, which I had bought on e-bay, arrived in the mail in the nick of time. They weren't here in time for her to open her present on her birthday morning yesterday, but they arrived in time for her to wear them to the party today. And wow didn't she look like an absolutely stunning princess!!

Odette and some happy friends
(I don't know what Eric was doing behind my back,
but I might have to hire him to work in the studio.)

Does this pose remind you of another more famous Princess?

We had lovely birthday food, like cornflake crackles, fairy bread and lamingtons. Yes the party had an Australian flavour... The birthday cake was a dolly vardon style - hardly as magnificent as I had imagined it, but effective none-the-less.

Lighting the candles

Eating the cake.

Cornflake crackles

Lamingtons

Fairy bread

Sophie organised games, as she does very well. The children played pass the parcel, musical chairs, pin the crown on the princess, and a treasure hunt (although the treasure hunt was somewhat spoiled when Odette took a shortcut straight to the treasure instead of following the clues.)

Pin the crown on the princess (a variation on a theme...)

After a couple of hours for the children exclusively the parents and other brothers and sisters were invited to join with us to continue into the evening with drinks and food.

Once the boys arrived the tone of the party changed.

But it wasn't only the boys who enjoyed the "red carpet" (paper tablecloth) slide.

And it wasn't only the children either!!

My Mum and Dad had prepared some finger food, and Roger made pizzas and a zucchini slice. There was also cheese and a fruit platter. And more cake. And wine and beer.

Roger in the kitchen

School Cantine

Sophie at the school canteen (cantine).

Every Tuesday and Friday the children stay at school all day, instead of coming home for lunch. This means that they eat at the school canteen, as there is no such thing as a packed lunch in French schools. Unlike the good old days when there was a cook at each canteen serving up delicious French food to the children, today there is a central kitchen in a large centre (Pontcharra in our case) that delivers the food to the canteens at smaller schools. Our children regularly complain about the food they have to eat, and I am regularly told by the canteen supervisors that my children don't eat the food they are given.
On Tuesday I had the pleasure of photographing the canteen in Sainte Marie d'Alloix, where Sophie eats. The menu was potato salad, followed by crumbed fish with green (well greyish green) beans, a cheese, then an orange.

Mmmm... delicious!

After the meal the children play in the canteen or an adjacent room with games and puzzles, before going out into the playing fields for an hour before the afternoon session of school starts at 1:50pm.

Sophie setting up a game of Hangman.

Green Beard?

I have heard of "Blue Beard" before, but never Green Beard. La Barbe Verte...
This is how Hugh came home from school yesterday.

Hugh painted green.

The teacher said that there is always one kid who will experiment with paint in this way. But why did it have to be my kid?

Joyeuse Anniversaire

Odette cutting her cake this evening

Today Odette celebrated her birthday. She had an early morning, up while it was still dark, to open presents and celebrate being six.
Here is a picture of her tonight, when she was cutting her birthday cake. We had to sing both "Joyeuse Anniversaire" and "Happy Birthday" before she blew out the candles. Tomorrow she will be dressed like a real princess in her new princess dress and shoes to host her princess party with half a dozen of her princess friends coming around in the afternoon.

Odette's umbilical cord knot.

This is how Odette looked when she was born six years ago. Her umbilical cord had a double knot in it. We are extremely lucky that she was born quickly and that the knot had not tightened previously.
Since that day I have been fascinated by knots, and I have photographed hundreds of them in many different locations. Here are just three of them below...

Wednesday

At the back: Georges Marcoux, Wendy Solly, Caro, Gaby Marcoux, Ken Solly, Hugh, Roger Front: Sophie, Odette, Bonnie.

Because there is no school on Wednesdays, we were free to do some other things. Georges and Gaby Marcoux invited us to lunch at their home near Grenoble. In May Gaby had been to Australia to stay with Steph and Mariedo and kids in Dalyellup, and had visited my parents at Hope Farm guest house in York. Now was their turn to visit Gaby's home and to meet her husband Georges. As Georges speaks no English and my father speaks no French a conversation between them was always going to be difficult. But Sophie stepped in as translator and she accompanied them around the garden translating. She said there were only a couple of words that she didn't know, and they were names of plants or trees. Now that she has learn a bit of French she is keen to learn German and other languages. Gaby's german friend Renata also had lunch with us, so we were a multilingual lot.

Georges with a bundle of mushrooms.

George had been in the mountains (he loves walking in the mountains) and picked some mushrooms. At this time of year there are hundreds of people gathering fungi in the mountains, and I have seen posters with photos and descriptions of all the varieties of mushrooms, and warnings about which are the poisonous ones. Georges had broken his mushrooms up and laid them out on newspaper to dry. That way they can last all year, and just be hydrated when needed for making a sauce or adding to a dish. Gaby didn't think they would last all year though, because Georges was likely to eat them all quite soon.

Georges' mushrooms drying on newspaper.

The meal we ate was delicious, and as good French lunches do, it lasted quite some time. After a nice lunch I usually feel like a good siesta, but unfortunately we couldn't linger because we had promised the children that they could go to the puppet show (Theatre Guignol) in Sainte Marie d'Alloix at five o'clock.
The Theatre Guignol was developed in Lyon 200 years ago, and the main character is a funny man called Guignol. There was only one puppeteer who played all the different characters and he did a brilliant job. All the children, especially those aged about 4 or 5 years, got right into the spirit of the show and we shouting out when necessary.

Children watching the puppet show. Bonnie, Sophie and Odette in the middle.

Hugh and this little girl were more interested in
what was happening behind the scenes.

The parents enjoyed seeing the children having so much fun. Well, those parents who were still awake... (I guess Roger had an excuse because he couldn't follow the dialogue, and the lights were turned down low.)

ZZZZzzzz...

Le Tunnel de Mont Blanc

After travelling through the Mont Blanc tunnel between France and Italy, we have researched the history of the tunnel and learned about the disaster in 1999 in which about 40 people died.
A truck carrying 20 tonnes of margarine and flour caught fire and spread to other vehicles. The resulting toxic fumes and thick black smoke trapped dozens of people inside the tunnel. A lack of coordination between the two companies managing the tunnel (Italians managing the Italian side and French managing the French side) made the rescue effort even harder. The tunnel acted as a huge chimney, drawing oxygen from the south and funnelling the smoke through the tunnel at an alarming rate. The fire burned for over 50 hours and melted the vehicles which were caught at the centre. It was three years before the tunnel was re-opend.
Thankfully my mother was not aware of this history before we travelled through the tunnel! She was nervous enough as it was. But how could we not remember such a disaster?? It happened the day before Sophie had her first birthday, on the 24th March 1999. Surely the Australian media reported what was happening on the other side of the world? Maybe it just seemed so far away that it didn't sink in, and probably there were no Australian victims which minimised the media coverage. If you want to learn the sad facts of the event, an internet search will provide plenty of facts. But the horror is unimaginable.

Travelling through the Mont Blanc Tunnel.

Happily the safety mechanisms in place now are much improved since 1999. There is a separate escape/service tunnel, and new surveillance technology means the response to an emergency would be much quicker. After paying our toll of 32 euros we were made to wait for five minutes before we entered the tunnel, and our car radio was tuned to a special channel to receive any information or warnings. We were given a leaflet outlining closing times for tunnel safety inspections and emergency drills. All trucks must now stop at a special inspection point before entering the tunnel.
Despite the terrible history of the tunnel I felt quite safe driving through it, and even comfortable compared to the alternative, which is a winding mountain pass.

A weekend Road Trip

The kids with Nanna and Granddad at our first snow stop.

We hired a 9-seater van to take us all comfortably away for the weekend. Roger was the driver, and did a very good job (we got all the bond money back from the hire company!) We set off on Saturday morning, with our picnic packed and some warm clothes because we could see that new snow had fallen on the mountains overnight. We planned our route to take us into Italy via the tunnel under Mont Blanc (at ~4,808 metres the highest peak in Europe) and then to spend Saturday night at Aosta before returning over the Alps the next day.
Nanna was a bit nervous about going through the eleven-kilometre tunnel, but after experiencing the mountain roads on the way back she thought maybe the tunnel was not that bad. That was before she had heard about the 1999 disaster that claimed dozens of lives in an inferno in the tunnel.
Everyone was excited when we saw the first snow. First we saw snow on cars that were coming down the mountain, and it was a challenge to be the first one to see snow right at the edge of the road. But higher up there was snow everywhere.

Nanna and Granddad preparing their picnic.
Note the trendy picnic basket!

We stopped for lunch at an information bay and once again we were reminded of the lack of public toilets in France. (It is not uncommon to see travellers squatting at the side of the road, or for parents to supervise their children doing their business in gardens or car parks.)

Although the snow was quickly melting, children soon got into the spirit of winter and made a little "bonhomme de neige", even pinching one of the carrots and some cucumber from the picnic to decorate it. Nanna thought that it was too cold for her, and Hugh got very wet in the snow.

Odette with the little snowman that the girls made.

Sophie aiming a snowball...

I guess she hit the target!