Water Pistols

Four girls in a bath

Bonnie's friend Fanny came for a sleep-over last night. The girls stayed up VERY late, but as there is no school today we didn't mind. Then this morning they got into a gun-fight with some boys in the street. The boys are a year or two older and their weapons were superior. Their tactics were more sophisticated too. When they took Fanny hostage and demanded that she squirt the other girls or she would get hurt it was time to call in reinforcements. So Mum was called out of the shower and marched down the road wrapped in a towel to rescue the hostage and repatriate the water-soaked girls to a warm bath.
No-one had the camera out to catch me in my towel (it scared the boys off though), but I got it out to take a snap of the girls in the bath.

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Bumerang

A French boomerang toy

We did wonder what the Australian pronunciation of this French toy would be...

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Happy Birthday Nanna

My Mother with her grandkids in Australia. Jennifer's three big
teenagers are at the back, Angela's are the three smaller kids
on the front left, and Fiona's are the three at front right.

Today it is my Mother's 70th birthday. She had a party in Perth on the weekend with family and two old friends. That's where the photo of her with the grandkids was taken. Tonight in York she is having another celebration - a dinner with a group of ladies who dine together in York.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!

Vélo Vs Voiture

There are lots of bicycles (vélos) in France. More than we are used to seeing in WA. In the mountains every weekend there are hundreds of people riding their bikes. Bikes with lots of gears, and cyclists in their cycling gear.
Recently, when we were cautiously driving down the narrow winding road of a mountain, we were overtaken by a cyclist. Whoosh and he was gone, so fast that I didn't have time to get my camera focussed to get a photo of him. Indeed I wanted to take a photo of him, as it is not every day that your family wagon is overtaken by a bicycle!

May - The Month of Holidays

France is said to be the holiday capital of the world, because public servants have more holidays than in any other country. The month of May illustrates this perfectly.
There is a holiday (labour day) on the 1st of May. The celebration for V-E Day (the end of WWII) is on the 8th of May. Pentecost (or Whitsunday) falls in May this year.
The children seem to be hardly at school this month. Apart from the public holidays they have their regular Wednesdays off school, and the teachers are having a strike (school closed) on the 15th.

1 May Labour Day
8 May V-E Day
9-12 May Pentecost
15 May Teachers' strike

We may well profit from the prolonged break this week-end and take a trip somewhere...

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Deux Chateaux

One of the four towers at the Château de bon repos

Sophie's class outside the château

During the week Sophie's class went on an excursion to visit two chateaux near Grenoble. I was one of the few parents who went along to accompany the class, and my job was to translate for Sophie. I hope she learnt a little bit... It was certainly interesting for me!
The first château, le château du bon repos, was in ruins but undergoing restoration. The second, the château de sassenage, was lived in by family members until the 1970s when it was bequeathed to the Fondation Française. It now hosts functions (conferences, wedding receptions etc) to pay for its upkeep.

Sophie in front of the Château de Sassenage

Sophie (who wears glasses full time now)

The most interesting thing for me at the first chateau was the refrigerator. This is in the 1600's and there was a fridge in the kitchen! Not exactly a fridge as we have in our kitchen today, but it did the same job. Being close to the mountains there was a supply of ice and snow not far away, so ice would be hauled back to the chateau to fill a very well insulated section of the cellar which was reminiscent of a well. This was directly below the kitchen, where a series of ropes and pulleys allowed perishable foods to be suspended in the "fridge" and hauled out when needed.
At sassenage Sophie was fascinated by the "clyster stool". This little piece of furniture was used for cleansing the colon by administering an enema. I have found a picture on the internet which I have posted here because I didn't know how I would describe it. The user sits astride the stool and uses the syringe to pump water (or a solution), well, um... up his backside!

Vendredi Soir

Now that the weather has fined up Friday evenings are taken up with socialising. Families meet behind the mairie where there are tennis courts, a soccer field, children's playground and a pitch for petanque (boules) for "le sport en famille". Last night was the first time we had been, as we were away last week. The men and boys seemed to be playing quite an energetic game of football (soccer) judging from the amount of sweat on t-shirts. Roger said he might have a game next time, so that will be interesting...
Each family takes their dinner - a pique-nique - and it is a very social time. We met some new people, and the second half of some couples.
Next time I will have to take my camera!!

French Lessons

Roger had his first French lesson with Marielle on Monday. Marielle is a friend of the Marcouxs who is a French teacher, and she has agreed to give us private lessons - 2hrs per week for Roger and 1hr per week for the girls.
He had already mastered a few French words like "bonjour", "merci", "s'il vous plaît", "oui" and "non". The girls would tease him by asking him "Où habites-tu?" (where do you live?) and he would answer "oui". Then they would crack up laughing and say "Daddy lives in wee!!"

After his first lesson he came away with several sentences to practise. Like "Hello my name is Roger" and "I am Australian". The pronunciation is much more difficult for him than it is for the children. They laugh a lot when he tries to say something in French and it doesn't come out quite right. He is learning to count up to twenty (!) and he seems to have a memory like a sieve. His brain is not tuned in to language development at his age. So if anyone has a young child who has the opportunity to learn a new language, please make the most of it. Because in 40 years time it will be ten times as hard for them to learn a new language.

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Les Gorges du Verdon

A bridge across les Gorges du Verdon

Billed as France's little Grand Canyon (how do they get away with that?) the Gorges du Verdon is apparently only second to THE Grand Canyon in USA. Second in what way I'm not sure - size, popularity, beauty? I thought the gorges in Karijini National Park in WA were pretty stunning, and now I would just like to line them up side by side and compare them.

We took the long road home from the coast so that we could take a peek at this spot. Sophie just wanted to get home as quickly as possible, and wasn't keen on the detour.
SOPHIE: I want to get home but all Dad cares about is scenery.
ODETTE: What is scenery?

Sophie at the gorge

Hello Australia!

A message from Sophie...