On a trip to France, most people might expect to go visit interesting sites- perhaps the great Cathedral of Notre Dame or the Eiffel Tower.

We are not doing any of that sort of thing with my mom. In fact, today she got to help me clean my house.(Thanks, Mom! Love you!!!!)

But we don't only clean house.
Mais non!
We also....go pick up Mallory when she gets out of school early:

(FYI: My car is the one with the blue "Nebraskans for Peace" bumper sticker.)

Here's Mallory getting her papers inspected as she leaves school:

Back home, Finally!

This is Bob. My mom thinks Bob is kind of cute and sweet.

Bob is actually strange and kind of deformed.
She was like this when we found her and even the vet can't explain how a stray cat could be so hugely obese. She's like a watermelon with four toothpicks for legs. But she's so pathetic that you have to love her....

My mom has been enjoying the lovely fruits and vegetables here in France...

(She took this photo at the supermarket. Kind of pretty!)

She has also sat through two of Alexa's dance classes. She went to ballet on Monday and today was modern dance. As she watched, she had to hold the teacher's dog, Coppelia. Coppelia is quite spoiled and barks at you if not petted and endlessly cosseted.

If my dad shows these photos to their dog back home, my mom could be in big trouble. Bridget seems like the jealous type....

My older kids aren't the only ones getting public attention.
The twins are getting lots of press lately, too.

First, there was their fleeting (but impactful!) appearance on the national news here in France.

And now just yesterday, their dance recital Saturday night was covered in "Le Dauphiné Libéré" It's a newspaper filled with tons of regional news- there's plenty of accounts of village jumble sales and church choir concerts......but this was INTERESTING:
Mallory didn't make it into any photos, but Alexa is not hard to spot. She's the gorgeous one right in the center of the trio in the lower right photo. (I know you can't see well, but trust me-she's gorgeous!)

Here's the short article in a rough translation:
There was a crowd at the Chateau Rouge attending a recital of the ballet school association of Annemasse, given by Pirouette Dance School (located in Fillinges). On stage, several scenarios were created by Corinne C. with the theme "Our Hippie Years". It was a return to the 1970's organized around the songs and music of Gainsbourg, Bardot, ...(etc...)... A remarkable and notable evening.

Weird theme for the show, non?

I have to admit that it was pretty funny sometimes. For example, at one point, all the children came on the stage, waved their arms and started singing the old Baez song "Here's to You":

"Here's to you, Nicola and Bart
Rest forever here in our hearts
The last and final moment is yours
That agony is your triumph " they warbled cheerfully.

Why anyone would think it was apt for a bunch of French children to sing a tribute song to two anarchists executed in the USA in 1927 is anybody's guess...

I know it was popular in 1971, but so were many other songs...
How about "Joy to the World"? It's cute and contains no mention of "agony". Just frogs and fish. And kids like animals, right?

Or "Proud Mary"? That's a classic.

Anything would have been better, really...

Just not "Mr. Bojangles".
I HATE that song with a passion most people reserve for Nazi war crimes. It's one of those songs that makes me reach out and switch off the radio so fast that I'm in danger of fracturing my wrist.
Also "I Shot the Sheriff".

Sorry about the odd little mini-post earlier today. I had just sat down to the computer for the third time, thinking that this time I would finally get ten uninterrupted minutes in which to post a few pictures. Just as I hit the first key, I heard a knock at the door. I quickly typed a few phrases, hit 'publish' and went down to answer the door.

But now, finally, I really do think I'll manage at least a half an hour of blog-time. So, instead of 'Taciturn Tuesday', you're going to get "BurkinaMom Tells You Everything about Her Life and Illustrates It With Below-Average Quality Photos Tuesday."
Sound good?

I hope so.

Saturday afternoon, at 4pm, I started doing the hair and makeup for the big 'African Dream ' dance recital. It ended up taking me nearly three hours to get the three girls ready to go.

But I was glad they looked great. The show turned out to be a pretty big deal. It was staged at this venue:

Much larger and nicer than the school auditoriums or church basements of my childhood.

The show was about two hours long, but it seemed to pass quickly. When my girls weren't on stage, I enjoyed watching the other dancers, as well as the Malian music group that they'd brought in to play for the show.

It was also amusing to see most of our houshold goods from Africa spread out all across the stage. When I'd heard what the theme was, I'd offered to lend any of our African art they needed: masks, mud cloth, baskets, bronzes, carvings. I figured that someone should get some use out of it all We haven't put up much of our Burkinabe stuff in our home in France because JP (the arbiter of all things tasteful at our house) decided that if we put it all out, our house would look like a very small, crowded museum. He also cited his belief that it would be "showing off" the fact that we lived somewhere other than France. I'm ok with reason #1, but find #2 a bit odd. The only people who come into our home are friends and rumor has it that they already know that we lived for nine years in Ouaga.

Anyhow, for now, the masks and all their friends are living in the garage and only get taken out for special events. Poor things.

Sunday morning, I took the kids to Lake Leman for a swim and to try out our groovy new inflatable boat. We had a picnic and a good time was had by all.

Afterwards, fewer good times were had, as I realised that one of Al's legs was badly sunburned. Yes- one leg was alabaster white and the other was as red as .... a really horrific sunburn. It seems that when I reapplied the +50 spf sunscreen, I must have gotten distracted and put it on her right leg twice. I didn't put any at all on her left one.
I'm SO cross with myself. Poor Al.


Finally-Sunday night, we went to a birthday party. Sev and his pals set up their equipment and...well, you'd almost think, from the photo, that they actually played some music for us.


In reality...not so much.

Sev's garage band in front of an actual garage:

They look good, but it will be fabulous when they can actually play music.

The boys horsed about a good while, finally inspiring our hostess to go in the house, dig out her old flute from her high school days and honor us with a rendition of "Danny Boy". Srsly.

I really hate "Danny Boy" - even when it's played right.

I'm just saying.

The end of the school year festivities are piling up fast and furious. And I know I'm not the only one a bit overwhelmed. The other blogs I read have been full of it lately: school programs and plays, concerts, karate tournaments, dance recitals, hamster juggling demonstrations...anything to get the kids on stage.

Last weekend, we were at the twins' school program: The Inoui Inuit Show. This weekend, we'll be at the "African Dream" show being put on by the dance school that my three girls attend. The rehearsal schedule has been crazy, but we've just about arrived at the Big Day. Thank God.

Yesterday was the first dress rehearsal, so I had to get my girls ready to go. The teacher had specified "tribal makeup" and a messy chignon, full of rafia bits. I couldn't resist adding a few feathers.
My policy is: less is NOT more.

I have to say that I rather enjoyed myself and that I rocked the hairdos!
Here's Mal's:

Tragically, the teacher had also specified that the girls HAD to wear the 'special' headgear she created for them. Valentine posted about this topic and I have to agree with her: This is just Not Right.

Poor Mal looks so depressed.

We had determined early on that the round things were the bottoms of the feet and the animal was sitting on a big drum ( like in the circus. KWIM?). The twins then colored them in accordingly.

All of the other little girls, however, had interpreted this really awful drawing as an elephant standing on it's back legs, wearing a gaudy skirt and and XXL pasties.
In short: hoochie mama elephant.

I have to say that the idea had certainly occured to me- but I had quickly eliminated it. But now all the other girls wonder why the twins' elephants have on grey bras. (I told them to say that they used to be white, but got accidentally washed with the dark clothes- an attempt at some mom-type laundry humour. Only Tya thought that was at all funny)

Here's how Al's hair turned out:

Finally, here's Tya. She dances the part of a village woman and doesn't have to wear a trashy pachyderm on her head.

I'll do a more pro job on Saturday- I have some stick-on jewels and such. They aren't reusable, so I couldn't use them for the rehearsal.

There's one more dress rehearsal on Friday night and the big show is at 8pm in a huge auditorium in Annemasse - a huge auditorium that nearly burned down on Tuesday night.
True story!

I have some friends that were there last night for a (what else?) school program and just before the final group performed, smoke poured out of all the air vents and the alarms went off. The place was evacuated and scores of fire engines arrived. Three kids had set fire to the kitchen at the back to the building.

Crazy!

The back looked pretty bad yesterday when I had a look and the whole place reeks of smoke...but the show must go on, right?

Friday night was the end of the year party at the local primary school. We were treated to a show put on by the kids. It was based on Inuit folktales. That's what the twins told me, anyway.

I personally think that any Inuit person seeing it would have been very confused. I know I sure was. It looked to me like an amateur avant-garde dance performance set to assorted opera, jazz and French folk songs.
For a small-town school program, it was definitely odd. But I eventually decided that it was so wierd that it was kind of good, actually. KWIM?

In the days leading up to the show, Mallory kept mispronouncing "Inuit" and instead saying the French word "inoui".
"Today we're practising for our Inoui show!" she'd say happily.
And what does inoui mean?
Inoui: (adj) - unprecendented, unheard of; extraordinary, incredible

We eventually all started calling it The Inoui Inuit Show ...and that turned out to be pretty accurate.

But today's photos are not from the IIS. They were taken on Saturday, when I took my crew (+one pal) to a nearby town for some shopping, sight-seeing, and general fun. It was the day of the French "Fête de la Musique", so there was lots going on. Streets were blocked off and there were two stages for music and dance set up.
It was a bit lively, but not at all crowded. Just perfect, really. I even found a nice bookshop (and bought another book for my lovely shelves!)

We also stopped into a cute candy shop, where the kids each chose a treat. As I paid, the saleswoman said "Can I ask you a question?"
I restrained myself from responding with a logical "You just did," and told her she could, of course.
"Are the children ALL yours?"
"Only four of them." I answered. I almost added "Why? You want to buy one?" but French people often don't get American humor.

And we went on to discover the rest of the town...

La-Roche-sur-Foron is an amazing old place. It has existed for thousands of years as a settlement and many of the builings date from the 10th to 17th centuries.

Here's one of the many old entrances to the center of town: Saint Martin's Gate. It's from the 13th century.

Here's a typical house, built right into a huge rock outcrop.

Here's what's left of the 11th century castle that used to be at the center of town. Now only a tower and a couple of outer walls remain. But the tower is in good shape (though it lost the topmost story hundreds of years ago.)
We bought tickets and climbed to the very top.

Here's another typical view- the town is built on a rocky hill and surrounded at the bottom by a river. There are lots of terraces leading down to it.

We had a great time and despite the darkening sky, we never got rained on. It was just breezy and cool - perfect weather for walking up and down lots of steep , narrow streets!

For the second post in a row, I have photos and not much text. I've somehow suddenly become a woman of few words and many pictures.

I spent today helping out at a regional folk dancing festival that was held for the older primary school students.
I didn't dance or sing...I was the photographer for our group

The picture above is my favorite. The flying feet and swinging hair really give a feeling for how the day went - fast and fun. And doesn't the little girl on the left look completely joyous?

The children practised for months to get ready for this. They learned 10 different dances from Brittany( Bretagne) , as well as several songs.
The twins loved it all and practised hard. They were SO ready to perform! It was all very cute and lots of fun.
(The band was great, too. It was made up of four elementary school teachers that perform in the region on the weekends. They were really good!)

So, it turned out that the twins and their little friends did NOT perform their dance recital chanting "Thees my sheet" in front of hundreds of parents and children. When the twins told me on Friday night that the teacher had said they wouldn't be doing that song at the show, I thought 'What a relief!' They would only perform two dances and 'Hollaback Girl' would not be one of them! So, it was with a complete lack of trepidation that I enjoyed the first part of last night's show.


Severin's fencing team did a wonderful demonstration. Fencing is, like, HARD! Everything has funny names and you have to hold yourself just so. You don't get to swash and buckle however you please. It's very disciplined. And I have to add that Severin looked SO handsome! I have been humiliating him with my near-constant comments on how darn good-looking that boy is. But then, if your own mom doesn't think the sun rises and sets on you, what's the point of having one?


Next, we watched the gymnastics routines (3 different groups) , the circus acts, the hip-hop dances (3 too!!) , the ballet dance, and the Japanese stick fighting. The latter, an activity with only 3 children in it, seemed to go on forever. Considering the fact that there were only three sets of fond parents in the audience that had any interest at all in the proceedings, they would have done well to cut it to a more reasonable length. Folks are mostly kind, but they can only spend so long watching three kids they don't know wave sticks around in slow motion. After about 15 minutes, you've really seen all you need to. If I'd had my own stick, I might have taken a whack at the teacher. He was out of control and needed to be taken down- a boring, pedantic French guy that seems to have the mistaken idea that he is neither of these things.


The stick fighting ended, eventually. Then it was time for the first dance of the twins' modern dance group. The music started like this, and I quote:

Lift your leg up (so petite, so sexy)
Lift your leg up (come on sexy girl, feel me)
Lift your leg up (I want you to come show me, alright)
Lift your leg up, lift your leg up (sexy girl)
Lift your leg up
Yo, you're so sexy, you're so damn fine
Step in every place, you look so divine
Man you are magical, you're one of a kind
When you are ready, come have a good time

It made 'Hollaback Girl" look like a powerful, profound anthem of female empowerment.
It made me want to say: I'm sorry I was so finicky! Bring back Gwen!!


The girls were very cute, of course. They danced so well and the crowd cheered wildly because they were so darn glad not to be watching a fourth hip-hop group or, god forbid, more Japanese stick fighting.


(The song was "Zookey" by a DJ called Yves Larock. Maybe he had to give himself such a painfully obvious "cool" stage name because he's Swiss. It's got to be hard to have rock cred when you're Swiss. You've got centuries of watch-making and cow-milking cred working against you.)


There were a few more acts, then it was time for the final dance. It's a tradition that the modern dance group do the show finale. And I have to admit, I was a little nervous. What song would they be dancing to? 'Baby Got Back' seemed like a likely candidate.


But not to worry! It turned out to be a Russian dance club song- instrumental only! No lyrics!


And here they are at the end of the show.


A good time was had by all, especially us.

Hollaback Girlz

"Thees my sheet! Thees my sheet!"
There I was, sitting at the back of the small room where the twins' dance class rehearses. They've been working hard all year, preparing for the big show that is coming up this weekend. I'd mostly stayed away from the practises, figuring that it could be a surprise.
And boy, what a surprise it was.
Before me were twelve cute little 10/11 year old girls, almost all of them singing along with the song as they practised for the dance recital.

"Thees my sheet!"they chirped enthusiastically.

Well, I thought to myself, Perhaps this is a song about a woman with a Martha Stewart-like love of fine bedding. She has a nice 400 thread count Egyptian cotton duvet cover and has morbid fears about it being stolen. Hence her repetitive insistence that it is her very own personal sheet. Yes! I'm sure that's it!

But then I listened to the lyrics on the tape. And, as you may have guessed, the song was not about decorative texiles for the home.

Of course, the little group of French-speaking beauties obviously had NO idea what they were saying. And Alexandra, the teacher, while fluent in Russian and French, is not so great with English- as we see by looking at her choice for the song about to be played in front of hundreds of parents and children at the French Cultural Center on Saturday night.

The song in question is something called "Hollaback Girl". I don’t know what a hollaback girl is, but she wants to hurt you, bad.
And I quote:

“Oooh, this my Shit , this my Shit  [4x]

I heard that you were talking shit

And you didn't think that I would hear it

People hear you talking like that, getting everybody fired up

So I'm ready to attack, gonna lead the pack

Gonna get a touchdown, gonna take you out

That's right, put your pom-poms down, getting everybody fired up”

It is possible that Alexandra chose it because it's educational, though.
Later in the song, Gwen Stefani helpfully spells out the name of
a tasty and nutritious fruit: 

"This shit is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S"
Perhaps she has plans for future songs where she shows children the joys of
spelling other useful words like "papaya" and "litchi nut"?

It's a very, very strange song.
The word shit is repeated many, many times.I wondered why the
twins hadn’t mentioned this little problem.    
But it turns out that Mal and Al didn’t  see any problem at all.
“Alexandra already picked the song and planned out the dance.
We didn’t want to hurt her feelings.”  Mallory explained afterwards in the car.

“Besides, the other girls don’t even know what the words mean,”
Alexa added.  “And Mallory and I just sing ‘This my chip!”
She illustrated this point by crunching an imaginary potato chip.

Works for me..

When I got home, I did a little internet research and came across this very funny analysis
of the song.
The fact-based Wikipedia take on it can be found here.
Neither of these sources mentions potato chips.

The kids are on holiday for two weeks. So, while I have no shortage of things to blog about, time is the problem. I have been keeping busy.
One project has been to teach my girls the basics of sewing. I got out the old machine my mother in law gave me years back and we went at it, producing a couple of dresses for the twins' favorite toys:












Those were just made from scraps, but I have been spending lots of time in fabric shops, getting material for various projects.
Here's the costume I designed for the twin's dance recital coming up next month. I didn't sew it myself, as there are great local tailors that can do it lots faster than I can. They will be made in five different colors and worn at the big show at the CCF


And here's another design. Valentine wanted a Renaissance Fair costume. (Yes, they are catching on in France!) We had a tailor sew most of the costume, but I did some modifications at home.












Best of all, thanks to support from my friends and family back in the USA, I have been able to help my handicapped friend Yvonne improve her simple home. The mud brick walls were caving in, making it dangerous for her and her children. Now they have a cement brick wall!
And the new gate is wider, making it much easier for her to get her wheelchair through. Here's the before and after:

Here are a few pictures from the Talent show on Saturday night. I will post more in the Photobucket album soon.
Here are the girls all ready to go dance. Are they cute, or what?
Opening moves

Alexa's solo

One more, just because they are so freaking adorable.