How about more spring flowers?
Everybody loves them some spring flowers, and last time I forgot to post the nice view off our balcony these days. It's always lovely, but it's even better with a few geraniums.
Isn't everything?

Around here, you HAVE to have window boxes of geraniums on your house. I think it's required by law. If you don't have at least a few planted by May, they send burly agents in black suits to take you away to a gardening-oriented "reeducation" center.
True story.

Now, on to another important matter: Severin's LOTR bedroom. It's not quite done, but all the big stuff is finished. JP and CtRH worked the whole time I was gone to Paris. As I swanned around the Louvre and pranced about on top of the Eiffel Tower, they slaved away tearing down the strange wood panel covering the ceiling, insulating the two outer walls and then wallpapering everything, even the ceiling. I do NOT feel guilty, only wickedly gleeful. I usually NEVER get out of work and here I finally managed to weasel out of something. Sweet!

Here's how the mural of the Forest of Mirkwood turned out:


The mural wasn't quite tall enough to cover the wall all the way up. So they painted the empty area white and figured that Severin (with my help) could probably paint on a band of Elven runes to fill in the area.

As you can see, the poor child has no real furniture yet- just a futon on the floor. But we're hoping to get him an actual bed really soon. And JP is re-finishing a great antique desk for him.

The other three walls were done with a metallic silver paper that we hoped would look a bit like granite in a mystical cave...






The guys even took down the radiator and painted it completely silver! Nice detail.





Severin is quite happy with it all, as far as I can tell. 13 year old males often aren't all that demonstrative, you know?
When we finished the twins' room, they were squealing with excitement. Sev, on the other hand, just kind of grunted. But it was a pleased kind of grunt. I think...

I woke up this morning and learned that there's a holiday to celebrate: International Book Day. (Thanks, Oreneta!) It seems like it's a bigger deal in Latin American countries than elsewhere (as far as my quick internet search shows, anyway) but I hope that it will catch on all over.

So, everybody everywhere remember to hug a book today. And also go have a look on my right sidebar and click to take a peek at my very own new Amazon bookstore. I'm still choosing books and having lots of fun with it.

What else can we celebrate today? How about spring? I am loving it this year- it's my first in nine long years.

April back in Burkina means super-hot temperatures and frequent power cuts. It means dry dust and dripping sweat. It means just hanging in there until the rainy season finally begins in June.

I was talking on Skype yesterday with a friend in Ouaga and she handed her toddler son an M&M candy to distract him while we chatted.

"Don't squish it!" I heard her say. And then, "Oh no! He just squashed it in his hand and there's melted chocolate all over him now!!"

In our house in France, even a determined toddler could not squish a candy coated chocolate. they stay hard. No melty M&Ms- just one of the many things to enjoy about being back in the Alps.

Another thing is the fabulous spring flowers. I am loving going outside to admire all the wonderful flowers that we planted back in the fall: hyacinth, daffodils, jonquils, crocus, etc..

I have been gardening like crazy the last few days. On Wednesday, I was out for nearly five hours, mowing the lawn, whacking the weeds, planting flowers and shubberies (one that looks nice. And not too expensive.) and weeding the beds of spring flowers that are already blooming nicely.
As you can see, the lawn is no small affair:

There were also the planter boxes to fill. I have three like the the one below. They weren't weren't much trouble because the pansies were planted in the fall and they suvived all winter long! All I had to do was throw a few marigolds in the middle.

I also planted a couple of lilac bushes and some lavender- two of my absolute most favorite ever flowers.

Yesterday I was out in the yard with the twins. I was fussing over the flowers and the girls were hunting around the yard for small dandelions for a salad that night.

Alexa said "You like lavender, lilacs and lilies. You, know, you should have named us after them! Valentine could be Lily, I could be Lilac and Mallory could be Lavender." She thought it sounded like a great idea and that I had really let the side down by not giving my girls a set of matching flower names...

Well, there's an idea.

And I guess I could have called Sev Larkspur? Or if were's going with flowers I love, rather than by matching the first letter, maybe Hyacinth?

Yesterday I woke up to a blizzard.
It snowed all morning, quit for a bit and then snowed again all night. It was nasty, windy and snowy.
I thought it was supposed to be spring now! I'm SO ready for daffodils and green grass.

I was pretty cross and confused until I remembered this little saying that they have here in the Haute Savoie about the month of March:
"In like a lion, out like an enraged polar bear."

Ok, I just made that up.
But they NEED a saying like that so that people don't get crazy, unrealistic ideas about lambs...