The big six-oh

My birthday has come round again, but this time I’m going up into a different decade. I’ve had lots of presents and fuss from my family and enjoyed the Happy Birthdays from my Facebook friends . It has been a good day so far.

I’ve been thinking what to say about this decade; We had “Life begins at forty” and I said myself “But it really gets going at 50”. “Sweet 60s”?!

I can still play air guitar with the best. So here, live and all the way from the Red Square in Moscow is Sir Paul McCartney and friends just to wish me – and anyone else in Blogland who has one today;

Happy Birthday!

Yet another birthday

Olivier came home this weekend to celebrate his 23^rd birthday.  Christian was 4 years and two weeks old when Olivier was born.  Struggling every winter with two indoor boy’s birthday parties sometimes had me asking “Why me?”  Fortunately, today they are both grown up enough to sort out their own celebrations.

I can’t believe that February is on its way out already.  Like almost everywhere else we’ve had non-stop rain.  Though we did have a couple of days of sunshine, but usually with a cold wind. There are one or two violets in the garden and around the village quite a few daffodils in flower.

Just before Valentine’s Day I had my monthly Glossybox with a rather interesting make-up pencil that I never thought would have such an interesting effect.  Those who have followed my blog for a while will know that my eyebrows dropped out about 7 years ago.  I learnt how to draw them in, but they do tend to look as if they’ve been drawn with a crayon.  I had a clear wax crayon which normally you use to slick down your natural eyebrows.  I was a little disappointed that it wouldn’t be much use to me… or so I thought.  A little bit of wax picks up and emphasizes the one or two hairs that I have and makes the overall effect more natural.  So now you know.

A bit older than 6, but still a birthday

Happy Birthday to Christian who is 21 years older than this picture of him on a birthday long, long ago...

Twenty-five years ago today

I remember it was quite misty as we drove off in the early hours of the morning. When we got into town the market traders were setting up and the road was blocked by someone unloading a van. I thought that I was going to give birth there and then in the car!

A couple of hours later, a beautiful baby girl was born and I shed a few tears. I never thought that I would have the privilege of having my own daughter. Today is Dom’s quarter century. The first of many, I hope.

Happy birthday Dom!

22 today!

Happy birthday to Olivier who celebrates his 22nd birthday today – the 22nd - and he was born on a Friday. It must be a lucky day!

Unfortunately, I know that he has 4 hours Friday afternoon and 4 hours Saturday mornings with the same lecturer every other week (VIP who travels to Bordeaux from one of the financial capitals of Europe). Fingers crossed that this is one of his free weekends.

Here's a picture of him when he was three

Strange week

It has been rather strange and Rob and I have certainly been feeling a little strange coping with the flu. 

I had a new pupil this week. A farmer, who had lessons with Rob when we first came to France. I met him and his wife when I was expecting Christian. He asked me how my little boy was these days, expecting him to be 10 or eleven. Christian was 26 on Thursday! We had a lovely long phone call to celebrate. He’s now as old as Rob was when he was born.

Something else that is strange, though I don’t expect to feel the impact until next week, is that ExposeYourBlog! is closing down this weekend. I’ve just sent out my last newsletter (twice as usual – I never did get that right). Friar Don and I are sad to be letting it go, but we both have busy lives elsewhere now. Don needs to devote more time to his spiritual life and I wish him well for the future.

 Me? I’m busy with my postcards and hopefully more blogging and writing.

Has the World Ended yet?

I thought I might as well climb onto the band wagon.(Google it and see)

I phoned my Mum this morning as it’s her birthday. She’s 77! She was hoping that her hairdresser would arrive in time to have her hair done for the end of the world. She was also saving opening her presents for later – it appears that she must have had the time to do all that she wanted in the end.

When is the next End of the World due?

Time to buy a dress

Dom and J-M came to visit this weekend. Saturday morning we had the agreeable job of shopping for clothes for Dom and J-M’s wedding at the end of December! We went into a lot of shops, some of which were very different to others. Dom found several dresses that she liked in Burton of all places (considering the chic French shops we have here in La Rochelle). As they are having a civil marriage, she decided on a very simple purple dress, with geometric black lines, very 60s. Me? Absolutely nothing. I tried on three dresses, none of which flattered my lumpy figure.

We were exhausted after a morning’s shop and the weather was dull and damp so we just popped out for a drink late afternoon. We celebrated her birthday which was on the 15th and talked and talked.

Next time they will be here it will be Christmas.

Heads and Shoulders, Knees and Toes

What a lot has happened since I last wrote. When Olivier packed up his things I asked him to take his bag of weights downstairs. He left the bag on the landing. I decided to move it so that Rob wouldn’t forget to take it down. I was being so careful about my knees it never occurred to me that I would finish with a trapped nerve which has left me with stabbing pains in my left shoulder blade and loss of feeling in my left armpit ( and you don’t realize how important that could be until you haven’t got it).

Dom and J-M came and we had a good weekend. Dom cooked me a birthday meal and made carrot cake which we all enjoyed very much. Rob was working on Sunday so she could make us a curry for lunch (Rob has threatened me with divorce if I ever try to feed him curry). It was sad when they left, as I had to take Olivier to his friend’s house to leave for Bordeaux. I came back to a really empty house

We drove to Bordeaux on the Tuesday morning with the remainder of Olivier’s things. It took two hours to get to Bordeaux and the same to travel the 10 or so kilometers off the ring-road and to Olivier’s apartment. We also had to check the place with the agency, drop of his things and then Olivier and Rob went to collect the rest of his furniture from his friend. Going home took just as long for as well as the evening rush hour traffic, the weather was bad and there was patchy fog. We were exhausted.

Wednesday was my birthday, but I didn’t feel too birthdayish because I was worn out and my shoulder was painful. We went out for a cup of coffee to celebrate and I mustered the energy to make scrambled eggs on toast for my birthday meal.

 Thursday I had lessons.

 We left the house on Friday at 5 am. to catch the train to Bordeaux for an auction. I slept almost all the way, it’s unusual for me to be able to sleep outside my bed. We did have a good day, the weather was good and we found a nice restaurant for lunch and ate in the sunshine. The auction is hard work. There is an hour and a half to view 400 lots and then the concentration during the auction itself. We did come away with some good postcards and kept to our budget. By this time I was dosing myself with paracetamol pretty regularly.

 I went to see the Doctor on Monday and actually thought that it was feeling a little better. The Doctor’s examination put paid to that. I was in agony last night despite pain killers. Tomorrow I’m going for an X-ray.

One good thing; I started my winter session of injections for the veins in my legs this afternoon. The pain killers helped there too.

Nearly a month has gone by…

I’m sorry that there hasn’t been an update for so long. Rob went back to work this morning – 5 weeks after his accident. Our 27th wedding anniversary passed without divorce proceedings due to my driving. It’s not that I drive badly I just don’t drive like him and get nervous when I’m constantly ‘given advice’.

I met up with another blogger for the first time ever in my blogging career. Caroline and her partner were passing through La Rochelle on their way home by car. They usually wave as they fly over, so it was nice to see each other for real. We sat on the port and drank coffee and chatted. I wish I could have stayed longer. Here’s the proof:

 (Weather was a bit windy)

 Dom and J-M came for the weekend as it was Rob’s birthday on Saturday. Dom made one of her wonderful cakes; Chocolate on Chocolate (can’t get more wonderful than that). It’s always good to see them and we all spent Sunday morning browsing around local Brocantes/boot sales/garage sales. I found a lovely leather wallet and the partner to a candle holder we found last year under similar circumstances. Dom’s paper has now been accepted completely for publication. She’s just submitted her second and I think, has started on a third.

That about wraps up the update.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to Dom, 22 years old today.

Here she is when she was three being an elf at the school end of year festivities.

Today is my turn

Today is my birthday!! Dom and J-M are slaving away in the kitchen. Dom is making ratatouille and J-M has finished making tiramisu (and he let me lick the bowl). Among my presents I had this beautifully illustrated book!

It’s beautifully sunny, but will it be hot enough to eat lunch outside?

A Taste of Garlic

My blog has been reviewed! Just as I remembered that I’ve recently passed my 7th blogging birthday. A Taste of Garlic must be the ultimate collection of blogs written by ex pats living in France. Here’s the review of my blog if you’d like a well researched summary of what I’ve been up to over the past few years.

As I’ve been asked very nicely a couple of times, I’ve now added one of those blog follower widgets to the sidebars of my blogs so that I can see if I have any fans.

Did someone say February?

Half term has come and gone, so has Olivier’s 19th birthday. Two weeks ago (already!) Dom and J-M came for a quick visit. J-M never comes empty handed and presented me with a glass vase with mini daffodils in it, the kind where you can see the roots. When he arrived there were about 7 flowers, now the plant is past its best with 20 blooms!. Does anyone know what I should do next? Should I plant the bulbs out in the garden for next year? Olivier is back this weekend for the 20th birthday of his friend. I remember the 20th birthday party of one of his sisters which was more of a thanksgiving*.

I’ve been enjoying the signs of spring. Walking to the post office yesterday I saw a red squirrel and the tree in front of the house looks as if it is about to burst into blossom. We had high winds last night (with more to come), this morning the skies were blue and the sun felt quite warm in places sheltered from the wind. The robin is still hanging around waiting to be fed in the mornings. I keep meaning to find out where they go to in the summer.

Where did February go?

*"This is my story of September 11th, even in a small village across the atlantic we felt the vibrations when the towers fell....

Our neighbours daughter, Hélène, had just come home the week before from working for a year as au pair for a family who lived close to New York. In fact the Mother of the family worked in one of the towers. She changed to a new job in a different place the same time that Hélène left them. Hélène also found herself a new boyfriend Mike. She spent several days trying to contact everyone, the phone lines were down and it was impossible to send e-mails. To make matters worse her families computer wasn't working properly, so she came to us checking her mail box regularly for news.
Everyone was safe and sound, Mike studies in France now so that they can stay together. It's nice to have a happy ending, isn't it? "From September 11th 2003

Happy Birthday Christian

Twenty-three today. February is a big month this year; new job, birthday, moving away to share a new home with a friend. No doubt parties all the way!

Happy Birthday Dom!

Dom was seven and a half years old when this photo was taken. Today she’s 21. I just can’t believe how the time has passed. Happy Birthday Dom! Hopefully she’s been able to take some time off from studying to celebrate in style. I wonder what time I should phone her up?

This is the second weekend that Olivier hasn’t been home. I’m really pleased that he’s bonding with his fellow students, as it were, but it’s very strange, especially today as Rob is working and I’m all on my own. Oh well, I can dream about all of the washing that’s sure to come my way…

Last night was a first for us. We’d decided to fetch a pizza from the pizza place in the village. It’s only open on Friday and Saturday nights. We discovered it’s not open at all in the winter months. So we decided to phone and have one delivered. Olivier and his friends have done it lots of times so we chose one of the companies he uses. The service was excellent, they delivered before the time they told us and the young girl (was she really old enough to drive?) that came to the door was really polite and chatty. Our call went though the Yellow Pages so she was in a bit of a panic when she saw the Parisian number (five hours drive!), she told me. Oh yes, the pizza was very good too.

Happy Birthday!

This photograph was taken 15 years ago today on Olivier’s third birthday. Today he comes of age. Happy Birthday Olivier!

He didn’t tell me until Tuesday that last week was the week of the mock baccalaureate. Perhaps it was for the best or I’d have been agonising over whether his biro would run out of ink or should he replace his calculator batteries. He showed me some of the papers..

Philosophy: His worst favourite subject of all. They only have to do a year of it and they either get it or not. Olivier doesn’t get it. He chose to write for 4 hours on ‘Is it possible to be yourself?’

Maths: I didn’t do ‘modern maths’ so I don’t understand most of the paper (plus it is in French). Probabilities was quite good , he says, all about a drinks machine which ignores orders and gives out drinks as it likes….

History: For this you have to remember that a French man is supposed to know something about every thing, so his choice of history questions covered the recent history of USA and of Israel.

English: A doddle for Olivier, an extract from something by Ken Follett

Last night he went to a night club to celebrate his birthday. It’s in the north of the department on a very busy road. I was a little concerned about transport as there have been youngsters killed on that road in the early hours of Sunday morning in the past. Some friends took him up and then he was staying with a friend who lives halfway because they put on free transport home to some of the nearer villages.

Happy Birthday!!

Dom is 20 years old today. I haven’t managed to speak to her on the phone yet. I imagine her struggling back from the post office with the parcel we sent her. I remember driving to the hospital in the early hours of the morning. I started to panic when we hit the streets around the market and there was a lot of unloading going on. We got blocked in for a couple of minutes…. The rest is history. Yesterday she phoned me for a recipe for mustard cake, she’ll be making her famous carrot cake and asked me for other ideas. Hope you all have a great time tonight Dom!

Bad Medicine by Bon Jovi was the number one hit according to Billboard magazine the week that Dom was born

I got my page a Day diary out for 1975 to see what I did on my 20th birthday. It was a Friday so I went to work as usual. My friends at work gave me a couple of books ‘The Fortune Tellers’ and ‘Natural Magic’. In the evening I went to see some friends and we went out for a drink. It was the start of a new relationship which lasted 4 years. I didn’t have the time to write much else.

Why didn't I find this last week?

You must try this. It tells you everything you need to know about your birthdate.

Wasn't I cute?

It's my birthday today!