March has been busy...and promises to get even busier.
On Saturday, I took Valentine to sign up at the fine arts school in Annemasse. It's her "Plan B" school if things don't work out for the school in Avignon.
I'm sure it will all work out, but it's good to have a backup plan, right?

That afternoon, our pal Max, Alexa and I went to Geneva to do a bit of shopping. I ended up finding an amazing pair of shoes on sale for 60% off! But mostly we wandered around the flea market at Plainpalais. They have one there every Wednesday and Saturday.

Plainpalais is a neighbourhood in central Geneva and here's and interesting fact about it: Historically, it was an area outside the densely populated city of Geneva where they brought the sick to avoid contagion and an epidemic.
Everybody looked pretty healthy there on Saturday, though- so that's good.....
It's such a drag to contract the plague. Amirite?
Something for everyone!

It was a bit cold and windly, so we stopped in a nearby Starbucks for a shockingly overpriced snack. But it was so good!!!!

On Saturday, we spent the day in downtown Geneva. It was a cold day to be walking around a lakeside city, but we were on a mission. My mom had a ton of souvenirs still to buy for the family back home...and she leaves Monday morning!
So, we got busy helping her choose chocolates (free samples, FTW!), t-shirts and suchlike items.
While the twins and I helped out Mom, Valentine, her boyfriend and Severin ran over to the Apple Store to try to clear up an issue with Tya's iPad (it never really has worked properly!). They were promptly given a brand new iPad and sent on their way.
How's that for customer service?!
After our labors, it was good to sit down to a nice lunch in an adorable Swiss-style restaurant:

Deliberations over the menu were long, but the three older kids finally decided on...fondue!

We were all pretty tired by the day's end and glad to be heading home!

Bob was happy to see us all.

As far as we can tell, anyway.

The house is tidy, the garden weeded, laundry done, fridge cleaned, and suitcases packed.

In short, we are ready to leave for the U S of A!

We'll go to the Geneva airport early tomorrow morning and catch the 9am flight to Newark...then another to Chicago....then, finally, a plane to my home town of Lincoln, Nebraska.

I just hope the housesitters turn up! They're supposed to be driving in tonight, but it's already 9:30.....

Yesterdays's shopping spree was great fun, but today hasn't been so shabby, either. We spent the day in Geneva.
Our Guest Twins were particularly keen to go, as they'd never been to Switzerland before.
All the girls had a great time shopping and doing all the usual tourist stuff:

From the photos, you'd guess it was a perfect day.

And it was, mostly.
(Except for the part where Mallory vomitted in the back of the car and got it all over her pants, obliging me to immediately buy her a new pair at the H&M. And then when the parking ticket machine short-changed me 30 Swiss Francs and the attendent said I'd get paid back "eventually, probably".)

Birthday Girls!

Last Sunday, the twins turned 12 years old. As a friend recently pointed out, this is probably the last "kid" birthday for them. At 12, they still ask for Barbies and Playmobil as gifts.

At 13? Not so much.

Actually, Mallory asked for books. As is often the case, Alexa didn't have any idea of what to ask for. It's funny that Mal has such definite ideas about...everything, while Alexa is much more laid back and vague about things.

And it's been that way since they were born. When she was small, Mallory would grumble and howl to get things just how she liked them- while Alexa laid ( and then sat) around looking serene and generally ok with the world as it was.

So, the zen girl got a video game involving music (she likes music) and a tiny digital photo frame

Then we had our outing. The buffet at the Chinese restaurant was a big success. The food was good and the decor was satisyingly oriental, in that crazy-tacky Chinese restaurant way that is so entertaining.

Afterwards, we went to Geneva:
The Museum of Art and History is rather small, but has some great pieces. Severin enjoyed the swords and armour, while the girls preferred the paintings.

Here's Alexa in front of some gorgeous peonies by Renoir.

And here's Mallory's favorite- a painting depicting a happy family of farmers apparently enjoying a picnic with all of their livestock. That's what I call cruelty-free farming!

That evening, for about 20 minutes, Mallory was 12 years old and Alexa was still only 11. Mal enjoyed it while it lasted, but Al was very happy when the clock finally hit 8:50pm. She could finally say she was really a whole year older!

I interrupted my blogging for a few days for the best of reasons: a visit from an old friend. I hasten to add that E. is not and does not look old- she's gorgeous. It's our friendship that is longstanding.


When I arrived at Everett Junior High on a fall day in 1977, I didn't count on finding many friends. I was very tall (a head above any boy in the class), glasses-wearing and extremely bookish. In short, I was a geek. Little did I know that I would quickly find an ally- a tall, frizzy-haired girl even smarter than me.


She's the one who figured out the secret to the answers to the multiple choice quiz in English class. Being a true pal, she caught my attention during the test and mouthed "Opera" at me, pointing down at the paper. Sure enough, my first few correct answers spelled out T O S C A. So, after answering all the questions I was sure of, I was easily able to fill in all the others. Aida and Die Fledermause, I believe, were the other keys.
When E. handed in her quiz, she couldn't resist a quiet remark to the teacher "So, you like opera, huh?" Wicked girl. His face fell, poor man. He'd thought he was so clever...
From E. I learned to revel in my geekhood.

Our many adventures are too numerous to recount in a single blog post. I could write a book, srsly.


E. moved away three years later. We wrote for a while, but then lost touch until the magic of the internet got us back together again about five years ago. She ended up coming to visit me in Burkina and we had a great time.


This time around, she arrived in Paris from her home in NYC, looking for a job. After attending to that small task, she left Paris on Friday and came to visit us here in the Haute Savoie.


On Saturday, I took E. and my girls all in to Geneva for a day in the big city. It was E's first time in Switzerland, so she was keen to go, despite the fact that her Parisian pals had warned her that Geneva is "very boring and full of Swiss people". We ended up wandering the streets of the old Town- the ancient walled heat of the city. We took in a couple of museums- which was good, as otherwise we would have frozen to death. It was a freezing cold and windy day.


I tried to take pictures, but somehow nothing went right. I had them all posed in front the the imposing St. Peter's cathedral and kept pushing the button, but my phone refused to make that "click" sound that means it actually took a photo. I stood there fussing with the thing, cursing and grumbling as the wind whipped at us mercilessly. It seemed to be stuck in "movie" mode and I couldn't figure out how to make it take photos. I'd click a few buttons, try to take a photo, fail, curse and then try again. This went on for a while.


Instead of photos, I ended up with a series of avant-garde short films. That's what I tried to tell Ellen and the kids, anyway. "I meant to film the sidewalk and the front of my coat. That shot of my button is masterful and full of meaning. Don't you agree? "


E. just shook her head pityingly as Valentine gently pried the phone out of my hands. She pressed a button and handed it back to me. It was back in camera mode, just in time to get a few pictures of. ... our visit to the Geneva branch of Starbucks. Very exciting.

On Sunday, we went for a walk in the mountains. The camera worked fine.









Today I took E. to the train station at noon. She has another job interview there before heading back to NYC on Tuesday. I am SO hoping that she gets offered a great job. It would be great to see her more often than once every five years!

My family will soon possess the world's only talking Chilean Degu. I'm thinking it will mean big money. Yes, judging from the financial success of other talking rodents (ever hear of Mickey Mouse?) we'll soon be raking in major cash.
Not that Mallory's pet has uttered his first word yet, but that day is not far off if love, attention and hard work can make such a thing happen.
I actually don't think teaching him to talk is her goal, though. She just loves him and wants him to be happy. She does all the things her care manual says she should do for him: dust baths, a varied, sugar-free diet, reguar changes of toys and furnishings in his cage, etc . But besides this, Leon is also treated to other, far more exotic amusements. Mallory puts on shows for his entertainment using her magnet board. Or sometimes finger puppets.
She also reads him stories daily, often holding up the book so he can admire the pictures or maybe even try to read along, if he fancies.
So, between her beloved Leon, her cats and the back to school hassles, Mallory is very busy so far this year, as we all are.

The New Years Eve party turned out to be amazing. Severin spent the first half of the evening sitting silently at the table, looking semi-autistic. But then the music started and he was unstoppable. He put on an unbelievable, crazy, hilarious dancing and lip-synching extravaganza that had everyone in the room laughing. My MIL was astounded. "I didn't know Severin could DO that!" she exclaimed.

The next day, we spent the afternoon at a friend's house and then I had to be back at the hall by 5pm to help clean up. There was so much food left that we heated everything up and had a second meal that night. but we'd packed up the sound system, so Severin didn't get a chance to dance again for us...

Then on Friday morning, my MIL left, headed back up north to her home in the Lorraine region. And I drove the kids into Geneva.
Yes, I ventured into the big city with the car! I'm so proud of me!
Actually, it was very easy. Most people were still away on holiday, so downtown Geneva was practically deserted. I easily found a parking spot and took the kids to a special one-time showing of Twilight in English.
Valentine was VERY keen to go, as were the twins, and I thought it would be a fun final outing to end the holiday. Severin was somewhat less keen, but very motivated by the idea of the promised dinner at McDonalds before the show.
So, we got to Geneva at about 7pm. The show wasn't until 9pm, but as I wasn't sure where the theatre was located, I decided that we'd go find it, double check the showtime and then go eat dinner. And it was incredibly lucky that we did. The electronic board showing the films and numbers of seats still available revealed that there were NINE seats left for Twilight!
EEEK!
I quickly bought five tickets and the board flashed down to zero. We 'd got the LAST tickets! Maybe you anti-Twilighters would say it would have been no loss...but it would have been pretty bad to have the whole goal of our mission snatched out right from beneath our noses. It's the principal of the thing...
Tickets safely tucked away, we ate a quick dinner and were back in line at 8pm, at Valentine's insistance. We were second in line, just behind two teenaged girls. And then then more showed up, and more and still more....By 8:30, the lobby was jammed. It was mostly teen girls on their own, but there were a few parents and even a few grandparents with grandchildren in tow. We were lucky that Valentine had insisted that we be at the front of the line. That meant we managed to get excellent seats. Latecomers ended up sitting on the stairs.

Maybe it wasn't a great film; but it was a great audience to see it with. There was lots of cheering, clapping and respectful silence when appropriate. It really elevates the level of the film when you see it with people that want SO badly to be pleased by it.

I enjoyed it. Really.

What I am NOT liking is the book I am reading right now. Never Let Me Go is supposed to be a remarkable novel by a brilliant writer. And I suppose it is.
It's very restrained and subtle and Remains of the Day-ish. But it also has a really, really horrible twist to it.
In short, I feel like I'm eating a big bowl of oatmeal with shards of glass in it.

I've GOT to find something else to read...

JP arrived on the Air France flight last night. So, I have a husband again!
He was greeted at home by this very flashy poster masterminded by Mal. She and Al laboured over it for days. The animals are cut from cardboard and based on patterns from a craft book. The girls did a fabulous job. (I didn't help them at all with it.)


After two months in Geneva, JP seems pretty happy to be back home in Ouaga. This morning, he's wandering about the house and garden adjusting, moving, or throwing out assorted items. I guess it's his way of re-asserting his territory. If he were a dog, he'd be peeing on all the trees.
He has decided that the turtles would be happier over in the goat pen. I'd say they look a little confused, but not traumatized.
Hopefully he'll get tired out before he does anything too crazy.


Tonight is American Idol night for us! Every Sunday night, I get the tapes recorded by some friends that have sattelite TV. Then some other TV-less pals come over, we watch AI and eat pizza.
The thing is, as I mentioned in a previous post, we are several episodes behind. We are getting the show off an African channel. So, we are still at the final 10. We haven't even seen "Idol Gives Back', which was aired in the US on April 9 (I think). So, I have to keep very alert when online, so as not to stumble across any AI news. I try to stick to my customised iGoogle newspage. I have BBC, Reuters and NYTimes only...all pretty unlikely to put AI news in the headlines.


What am I reading lately? Classic Andre Norton sci fi!! Great stuff. She wrote 182 books in her life and quite a few of them are here in Ouagadougou. How weird is that? A few years back, someone donated her father's sci fi collection to the Rec Center library. Some of it is kind of valuable, as well as being a good read. One of the items is a first edition paperback of Norton's Sorceress of the Witch World from 1968. I just looked it up online and found other copies for sale from $20 to $45 US, depending on the condition!