The Unstopabbles
It's been a long bank holiday here, unofficially starting last Tuesday night. For me, it's been largely family orientated and I think we've managed to enjoy a huge part of it. Gone are the days when these holidays turned into a blurr of rhum and high heels under the pouring rain. And I must say I kissed those nights goodbye with both nostalgia and relief. Bye-bye hangovers and not remembering the lousy details. Hello sunny cold days in the pursuit of penguins and acrobats.

Because that is what we did. On Wednesday afternoon the three of us drove to Faunia, an animal theme park featuring penguins as the star creatures. Bruno was thrilled. His class in kindergarden is named Penguin and that is their pet, whom they craddle and speak to and put to sleep. His name is Nino. When Muffin got to see the Ninos for real, his eyes nearly popped out of his face, giggling and pointing to the water around the fake iceberg. We also saw kangaroos, meerkats and pelicans, but the next big hit was undoubtedly the area called The Farm. If you're 19 months old, nothing beats a dwarf horse, some goats, sheep, two donkeys and four Vietnam pigs.

This unstoppable family was on a roll. Poor Pablo had to work the next day, but Bruno and I were still enjoying our break so we went shopping with Grandma. We wanted to get Little M's birthday present (she turned a massive NINE years old on Sunday) and so Muffin helped me pick a Captain Jack Sparrow action doll for her at the Disney store. He tried to trick me into buying him a talkative squeezable car but i managed to drive my eyes away from his shining grin. Speaking of smiles, that very afternoon I had to go to the dentist but even that wasn't too bad.

As my mum was housesitting for the Mountain Family (in Paris), we stayed over for the night with her, thus managing to throw some babysitting in the deal. The miracle happened and I went to the cinema with Pablo. We watched Stephen Frear's 'The Queen'. I wonder what made Frears direct this film, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Boys and girls, you may now give your ovation to Lady Helen Mirren.


On Saturday we had tickets for the Cirque du Soleil with my in laws. Sadly, Pablo's father had to stay in hospital and we went without him. If you have never been to a show by Le Cirque du Soleil, my advice today is to go get tickets, wherever they're performing. I had been following them on and off for the last ten years and it was a pleasure beyond words to witness this particular 'Alegria'. The costumes, the music, the acrobats, the clowns, the arena... I loved everything about it. At the end of the spectacular show, as a girl in a magical white dress sang the very same song Martin used to play a decade ago in his Québec apartment, I could feel tears running down my cheeks and onto my skirt. It was one of those minutes.

After visiting my father in law at the hospital, I made an unexpected last minute reservation at one of my favourite Italian restaurants. We rushed off to Luna Rossa (I could kill for their rucola pizza, seriously) and then we took a beautiful walk around the renovated pedestrian area at the city center. It was so cold we couldn't hold hands.

And then yesterday, as my sister tried not to notice the pain on her back, we showed up for Little M's birthday lunch at the Mountain Family House. Chops, salad and ice cream cake. We talked about Paris in particular and large European cities in general, we discussed traditional buildings and smoke coming out of restaurant kitchens, and we gave a delighted M her pressies, which i think she liked. But next year, I think I'll skip the pirate theme.

December!
December landed in the middle of our living room but i payed little attention, busy as i was controlling Bruno's temperature and keeping track of the two lonely Christmas ornaments i'd managed to take out of the bag. I played my Starbucks oldies season song cd a couple of times before Pablo begged for regular music to return home.

I wanted to put our tree up but lacked the time, with the constant renovation finishing touches going on in the kitchen and Muffin's schedule of naps and attention to attend. It was a minor miracle to be able tothe door for the four guests on Saturday lunch and not hand them four helmets and workmen glasses. We managed to dust it, clean, keep the baby at bay and cook a two course meal in the maigre space of an hour and ten minutes. As usual, it was worth it. As in spa worth it. As in de luxe spa worth it, really. God i need to have my friends around more often.

When the lovely guest list (Six, Kurt, F, Dwalks) made their exit, i suggested a quick drink at our local café just because we hadn't been out all day and as i shivered my way down the road i remembered again December had landed just the day before. I saw some lights and a few decorations, but clearly the buzz hasn't swallowed our town just yet. Things are perhaps going differently as off this year. Or maybe it's just me and calendar going on loops again.

On the first day of December
Muffin stayed in sick today.
Shockingly long night. Slow day. But he is so sweet.



A Christmas ornament became his buddy for a while.

Spotless not
The cardboard nightmare is slowly coming to an end. Our kitchen still looks far from a place where you'd like to have your meals prepared, but it is taking the shape of a lovely white and red room, full of places for the dust to settle in to. Not that i have an obsession with spotless rooms, anyway.

A before shot was an obligation. If you click on the pic you'll get to see the little explanatory notes.

Darling your head's not right
I'm living a Strokes trance, rediscovering every little guitar, the angry lines, the love statements, the drumming of my feet. I listen to The Strokes albums day in day out. This has been going on more or less steadily for two weeks now. Something similar happened four years ago with one of Eminem's albums. Or that incredible trip to the South of Portugal, trapped inside Coldplay's white album. Everything But The Girl had an entire three months of devotion, back in 1998 if i remember correctly. Elvis Costello was the it boy two winters ago, while the previous summer all i could do was humm La Mala Rodríguez. Music can make me so happy.