Here you can read all about the previous month.
On the left, if you are brave and have a good supply of coffee, you can start from the very beginning.
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Misadventures in Mayenne
If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at hillywillyworld@gmail.com
So I guess if you are at this point, you are expecting to read all about the last month, well, there wasn't one. Of course actually there was one, I'm not so magical that I can erase time. That would be quite handy at times I'm sure. To be able to get rid of those 'moments' we all have that we'd rather we hadn't, to get rid of days when we were ill and feeling grotty. Hmmm. But I digress. There is no 'last month' (or the one before that either come to that). The last proper entry you will find is for our big road trip in July (and it's a jolly good one, even if I do say so myself). After that, Hillywilly (that would be me), re-designed the site and then kind of lost track for a while. I've been struggling ever since to get back up to date and have decided to give up on that and I've gone with a monthly summary instead.
So here goes;
AUGUST
August began with my birthday and I was spoiled to bits, discovered 'real' Mexican food and had a party, jointly celebrating with my mum. We then went out to a farm and shot up some old TV's, some evidence of which can be found on the gallery page. Yee-haw indeed. Another brief few days in the states culminating in a day trip to the magnificent city of Chicago. On reflection it may not have been wise to have packed a full day's sight-seeing in directly before a torturously long trip back to France, including an hour long stop in our former place of residence for a 'catch up coffee' with some wonderful friends, but you live and learn. A big thank-you here to Mr. W for picking us up at a rather ungodly hour at the train station and putting up with my incoherent jet-lagged babble all the way home. So 5 days to recover then it's off to Disneyland, via Charles De Gaulle airport to collect AJ, on the busiest (and hottest) weekend in the French summer calendar, to meet up with various members of Hubs family who were over for a week with their assorted offspring. It was busy, hot, expensive and quite breathtakingly magical. Even the hardened Disney cynic that I am, (having worked for them in my former theatrical career and since becoming a parent, wept at the price of their DVD's and merchandise), was utterly enchanted. Watching Moo's face as she met Belle, her favourite princess, hugged Balloo and watched daddy getting a 'monster hug' from Sully was worth every last cent. Holding her hand as she braved the mightily scary 'Tower of Terror' ride was something I will never forget, although I'm not sure if it was her or me gripping hardest. After Disneyland we all had a day together in Paris and enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing cruise on the Seine courtesy of Mother-In-Law and her 'club card' points. Then it was goodbyes all round as we headed off back home for a couple of weeks with AJ. Chilling on the beach was high on the agenda. All too soon our time was up and AJ had to go home. Hubs took her to the airport, I took Moo to a sleepover, and we met up in Paris to go to the 'Rock-en-Seine' Music festival. A grown up night with too much alcohol and frantic dancing. A perfect end to a perfect summer.
SEPTEMBER
September started with Moo returning to school, and whilst she wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of not being on holiday any more, it wasn't nearly as bad as we feared. The first couple of weeks were spent trying to get back into the routine of early starts and an organised bed-time (as it's now late October and I still haven't managed it, I'll leave you to be the judge of how that went). We enjoyed a marvellous evening in Le Mans with the W family watching the spectacle of the 'Nuit de Chimres', when the architecture of the old town is transformed by the power of projection, and comes to life in astonishing and beautiful ways. If you ever happen to be in the Le Mans area during the summer it is an absolute must see. And then the time we had all been dreading arrived. Time for hubs to go back to work. As fortunate as we are to have had such a long summer off together I still felt crushed when he left again, knowing it would be 5 long weeks till we saw him again. I know it's not really that long and it's not as if he is off doing anything life threatening or heroic, but that doesn't mean I don't feel like I'm missing an arm when he's not here. Fortunately for Moo and I the pill was made easier to swallow by the arrival of JJ for an open ended visit and the surprise visit of my best friend and Moo's God-mother, LD, for a week-end break. Fortunately for Hubs he was off to Macau for a week-long site visit before returning to soggy grey Belgium. Not all bad then. It was so wonderful to catch up with LD. It’s been over a year since I saw her, so a couple of VERY late night chatting sessions were most definitely in order (apologies to JJ who was kept awake by childish giggling from the next room, I told LD to keep it down a bit...). And she even managed to figure out what's wrong with my foot, a mystery pain in my heel that I thought came out of no-where but is actually connected to the time I dislocated my big toe last year, and although it's not entirely better it feels better knowing there is a reason for it. I can thoroughly recommend having a trainee osteopath as a best friend, although I would also recommend living a bit closer to gain the full benefit. So LD left and went back to school, and all of a sudden it was October.
OCTOBER
Time for JJ and I to make jam. Lots of jam. With the abundance of apples in the front garden and the plentiful supply of blackberries in the hedgerows the shelves in the shed were already starting to creak under the strain of jam and jelly. When my neighbour Mr. G delivered a basket containing 10 kilos of peaches, they almost gave up entirely. Much experimenting with flavours was done, but still my favourites are apple and chilli jam and peach and lavender jelly. Just as well really as, even after JJ claimed her spoils when she left this week, there is an awful lot left. Jamming aside, October has proved to be a good month for Moo. She is getting on so well at school and in a meeting with her teacher, and my good friend Mrs. W there to help with translation, I was told that Molly no longer speaks any English at all in school, and is speaking French almost natively. Her writing is coming on a well, although she prefers to act and sing, she has a great sense of theatrics and an intuitive artistic ability. Looks like another one heading for the arts, and whilst I'm thrilled that she is doing so well I wonder if anyone in our family will ever have a flair for mathematics and accountancy. Moo has also started attending the canteen once a week for school lunches, this is a big step for both of us and she seems to be enjoying it, but all of a sudden I am told that my lunches are merely 'okay, but not nearly as good as Dominique’s'. I May have to re-think these school lunches after all. October has also seen a big potential change for me as well. As I write I am awaiting my SIRET number from the French authorities to enable me to start-up my own web design company, HillyWillyDesign. Taking a hobby to a business is a big step, but one I hope will be fun and profitable. MUCH more news of that to come.
Well at last I’m done and up to date. So from now on I will try to be a better blogger and keep the updates more regular. Now where have you heard that before?
A Bientot
So here goes;
AUGUST
August began with my birthday and I was spoiled to bits, discovered 'real' Mexican food and had a party, jointly celebrating with my mum. We then went out to a farm and shot up some old TV's, some evidence of which can be found on the gallery page. Yee-haw indeed. Another brief few days in the states culminating in a day trip to the magnificent city of Chicago. On reflection it may not have been wise to have packed a full day's sight-seeing in directly before a torturously long trip back to France, including an hour long stop in our former place of residence for a 'catch up coffee' with some wonderful friends, but you live and learn. A big thank-you here to Mr. W for picking us up at a rather ungodly hour at the train station and putting up with my incoherent jet-lagged babble all the way home. So 5 days to recover then it's off to Disneyland, via Charles De Gaulle airport to collect AJ, on the busiest (and hottest) weekend in the French summer calendar, to meet up with various members of Hubs family who were over for a week with their assorted offspring. It was busy, hot, expensive and quite breathtakingly magical. Even the hardened Disney cynic that I am, (having worked for them in my former theatrical career and since becoming a parent, wept at the price of their DVD's and merchandise), was utterly enchanted. Watching Moo's face as she met Belle, her favourite princess, hugged Balloo and watched daddy getting a 'monster hug' from Sully was worth every last cent. Holding her hand as she braved the mightily scary 'Tower of Terror' ride was something I will never forget, although I'm not sure if it was her or me gripping hardest. After Disneyland we all had a day together in Paris and enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing cruise on the Seine courtesy of Mother-In-Law and her 'club card' points. Then it was goodbyes all round as we headed off back home for a couple of weeks with AJ. Chilling on the beach was high on the agenda. All too soon our time was up and AJ had to go home. Hubs took her to the airport, I took Moo to a sleepover, and we met up in Paris to go to the 'Rock-en-Seine' Music festival. A grown up night with too much alcohol and frantic dancing. A perfect end to a perfect summer.
SEPTEMBER
September started with Moo returning to school, and whilst she wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of not being on holiday any more, it wasn't nearly as bad as we feared. The first couple of weeks were spent trying to get back into the routine of early starts and an organised bed-time (as it's now late October and I still haven't managed it, I'll leave you to be the judge of how that went). We enjoyed a marvellous evening in Le Mans with the W family watching the spectacle of the 'Nuit de Chimres', when the architecture of the old town is transformed by the power of projection, and comes to life in astonishing and beautiful ways. If you ever happen to be in the Le Mans area during the summer it is an absolute must see. And then the time we had all been dreading arrived. Time for hubs to go back to work. As fortunate as we are to have had such a long summer off together I still felt crushed when he left again, knowing it would be 5 long weeks till we saw him again. I know it's not really that long and it's not as if he is off doing anything life threatening or heroic, but that doesn't mean I don't feel like I'm missing an arm when he's not here. Fortunately for Moo and I the pill was made easier to swallow by the arrival of JJ for an open ended visit and the surprise visit of my best friend and Moo's God-mother, LD, for a week-end break. Fortunately for Hubs he was off to Macau for a week-long site visit before returning to soggy grey Belgium. Not all bad then. It was so wonderful to catch up with LD. It’s been over a year since I saw her, so a couple of VERY late night chatting sessions were most definitely in order (apologies to JJ who was kept awake by childish giggling from the next room, I told LD to keep it down a bit...). And she even managed to figure out what's wrong with my foot, a mystery pain in my heel that I thought came out of no-where but is actually connected to the time I dislocated my big toe last year, and although it's not entirely better it feels better knowing there is a reason for it. I can thoroughly recommend having a trainee osteopath as a best friend, although I would also recommend living a bit closer to gain the full benefit. So LD left and went back to school, and all of a sudden it was October.
OCTOBER
Time for JJ and I to make jam. Lots of jam. With the abundance of apples in the front garden and the plentiful supply of blackberries in the hedgerows the shelves in the shed were already starting to creak under the strain of jam and jelly. When my neighbour Mr. G delivered a basket containing 10 kilos of peaches, they almost gave up entirely. Much experimenting with flavours was done, but still my favourites are apple and chilli jam and peach and lavender jelly. Just as well really as, even after JJ claimed her spoils when she left this week, there is an awful lot left. Jamming aside, October has proved to be a good month for Moo. She is getting on so well at school and in a meeting with her teacher, and my good friend Mrs. W there to help with translation, I was told that Molly no longer speaks any English at all in school, and is speaking French almost natively. Her writing is coming on a well, although she prefers to act and sing, she has a great sense of theatrics and an intuitive artistic ability. Looks like another one heading for the arts, and whilst I'm thrilled that she is doing so well I wonder if anyone in our family will ever have a flair for mathematics and accountancy. Moo has also started attending the canteen once a week for school lunches, this is a big step for both of us and she seems to be enjoying it, but all of a sudden I am told that my lunches are merely 'okay, but not nearly as good as Dominique’s'. I May have to re-think these school lunches after all. October has also seen a big potential change for me as well. As I write I am awaiting my SIRET number from the French authorities to enable me to start-up my own web design company, HillyWillyDesign. Taking a hobby to a business is a big step, but one I hope will be fun and profitable. MUCH more news of that to come.
Well at last I’m done and up to date. So from now on I will try to be a better blogger and keep the updates more regular. Now where have you heard that before?
A Bientot