Day 69

A gentleman and a scholar. I thought I would try something a bit different for Thursday's posting.  My hope is that this will provide a sneek peek into our daily lives here in France.  The body of this post will be translated into French.  I encourage you to try to make sense of it without the aid of a translator.  Believe it or not, after only a few French lessons, I am actually beginning to become quite proficient at READING the language.  I still struggle greatly with conversation, but I know that this will come...

Day 68

The morning of Day 68 would see mom back on the road and off to Milan, Italy for a day or two.  I would stay my post and add a member to my watch.  As a favor to the Australian physicist's wife,Ii agreed to watch their son for the day while she was on a trip to Paris.  After dropping off my eldest, I picked up the young australian boy and brought him back to the house for a day of play with my youngest.  It proved to be a VERY long afternoon of Scooby Doo and varying other kid type activities that my weary soul found exhausting. ...

Day 67

What day is it? The past few days have been a blur of child care and French education.  I realized that it is now Thursday and I haven't written a damned thing over the past two days.  I have become quite addicted to the medicinal qualities that writing this blog provides.  Tuesday was the first day back for the boys after a long Easter break and would be the first day that all three of us would have to pack a backpack for school.  The logistics of dropping these guys off and school and then getting downtown for my French classes...

Day 66

Rockin those slim fits. Monday was a holiday, so we had mom home for one more day.  We decided that we could separate the boys for a bit.  My wife took the youngest and I took the eldest.  The youngest seems to be awefully attached to his Daddy these days and won't let Mommy near him.  I think there are a few reasons for this.  First, I think it is his way of controlling his world and getting what he wants.  Pure preschool phych 101.  The second is that I think it is his way of letting his mom know that he is...

Day 65

The Easter Bunny came and all he left me was this bag of goop! Easter Sunday.  A big day in a predominantly Catholic society.  Our day started off with a bang.  The Easter Bunny got up early and made certain that there was a basket full of goodies awaiting our boys when they woke from a semi-restful night's sleep.  The bunny, however, made a slight mis-calculation.  You see, our Kitchen gets a great deal of sun in the morning hours through a very grand garden window that has no covering.  When the boys went to open...

Day 64

A wolf in sheeps clothing. It was retail therapy redux for Saturday.  Up at a reasonable hour, we hit the mall for some new rags cause pappa needs a new wardrobe.  Just about everything in my closet is now too large for my diminishing frame.  Even though, I would consider myself fairly thin by American standards, I was a bit nervous when stepping into the dressing room since their clothes are much more form fitting than our own.  I was pleasantly surprised that the items I had selected fit quite well and a few...

Day 63

Mon nouveau vélo. Friday brought with it Mom's triumphant return . . . and early in the day too.  This early appearance made it possible to gather our flock and get out of the house for a spell.  We decided it was time to outfit our eldest with a new bicycle.  We brought his from home, but it is still just a bit too large for him despite the hacksaw modification his old man did on the seat post.  Over the course of the past two days, I have managed to finish some of the much needed home renovation projects...

Day 62

Teachers Pet. Well, I've really done it this time.  We used to call them gunners in Law School.  You know the type . . . that jackass that always sits in the front of the classroom and thinks they have the answer to any question the teacher asks.  I always hated that guy.  With a class of but two students, it is a bit hard not to stick out.  My time with Rosetta Stone has made me a star pupil.  My vocabulary is very abundant for a beginner and I think the instructer thinks I am either cheating or sandbagging. ...

Day 61

Shock and Awe Baby, Shock and Awe. Does it bother anyone else that while playing video games this evening with his elder brother, my youngest could be overheard uttering the phrase "Shock and Awe Baby, Shock and Awe!".  Maybe it is time to get to those parenting classes I have been meaning to attend.  The day was thankfully lowkey and I was able to attend to some domestic matters that our busy social schedule once again had not allowed time for.  I gave the lawn another shaving and caught up on some much needed laundry.  Ole...

Day 60

Double Dutch without a rope and the return of Smokey the Maintenance Man. This was a busy day.  Started early with my wife pulling out of Dodge on another marathon business trip to Budapest.  No worries though, I had to be up early anyway, cause Smokey was gonna return to fix my broken toilet and apparently paint an exterior wall by the pool.  Still not sure the purspose in this, but apparently the landlady had commissioned him for this work, so he would be completing this after he fixed the loo.  Our babysitter was due to...

Day 59

"Smokey" the Maintenance Man. We are still in recovery mode from a long weekend away and Monday would be spent trying to get back into the rhythm of things.  Despite my best efforts, I could not remedy the toilet situation, so the agency managing the property for Madam Chabou sent out a handy man to tend to the problem.  He arrived at the appointed hour and was as friendly as the day is long.  Absolutely no English, but we managed.  He is a waif of a man in is 50s I would guess.   Hair slicked back with...

Day 58

Keeping a "breast" of life on the southwestern coast of France. The final day of our weekend adventure began with some housekeeping.  We had to clean our room before we vacated.  Was sort of hoping for a discount since we were forced into servitude as part of the resorts housekeeping staff.  No such luck.  Back on the road again, we ran down the coast to check out the beach scene at the famous Biarritz.  It is a very nice beach community with a beautiful coast line.  We hit the beach early and spent some time in the...

Day 57

A bright new day in Pantalones du Pyrenees. We woke early this morning because we needed to head to the market for some soap to wash our now stinking bodies.  The wife ran to the store and I busied myself with getting the young one’s up and around for the day.  It was going to be a big day.  One of the benefits of our location on the western coast of France is the access to the Ocean and to an Amazing mountain chain not two hours from our home.  Day two of our vacation would be held around the alpine village of Lourdes. ...

Day 56

Up at a reasonable hour, we were soon on the road for a fun filled three day weekend.  We arrived at the little coastal town of Ondres around the noon hour.  Knowing that we could not check into our accomodations until 4 pm, we decided to spend the afternoon at the beach.  The weather is still a bit on the Spring side to play in the water much, but we did manage to wet our feet a bit.  Actually, in the mad retreat from the incoming tide, the youngest of our crew managed to take a header in the surf and wet a whole lot more than...