a family in Aix

Word:

Medgternal

Definition: to be determined

Root words: Edgy and Maternal

Use: Rare.

Why I posted this… someone just called me that and I thought it was the nicest compliment I have had in along time (although Chikadee calling me her ‘best dirl’ might be a bit above it).

Coming back from a work trip, here are pictures from a scenic route we took.

What a surprise we found as we followed our printed google instructions and came down to the line that says “Get on Train for 33 minutes” and then the directions continued. “What” I said? I thought there was some mistake. I thought “What are we going to do with our car?” About that time we saw signs showing a train car with cars sitting on top. And within 5 minutes we were pulling up to a window with a hurried Italian taking our 25 euros and ushering us onto a train car. All the vehicles slowly pulled forward to make room in the back. And as fast as we discovered the train car situation, the train begin moving forward taking us through a completely dark tunnel, as we traveled under a mountain. We switched on the interior car lights and ate our packed lunch from the cooler!

We have been hunting for fruit… here in Italy (we are on a little vacation with the kids after 2 weeks of packed meetings and work work work) we have found figs. I can smell the tree from a 1/2 block away and walk a bit further and there it is. oh yum. Figs are hands down my favorite fruit. It takes me back to memories of being a small child in Southern California. I remember having a fig tree in our front yard and mostly, I remember eating the right off the tree.  So, yesterday I picked some when we cam across a tree on public grounds. I hear there is a movement of people who are doing this, I didn’t know it, but we are part of a ‘movement’. ha.

Back in Aix we have picked plums of all sorts and blackberries. I have also noticed that in the city there is a pumpkin vine growing and I wonder if it will produce, and if it does, who gets the pumpkin???

We made jam from our blackberries and it was delicious. It is also an opportunity to take the kids on a walk and later, enjoy the beauty of God’s provision slathered on a piece of toast.

BACK TO SCHOOL

Here are pics from the kids entertainment event and end of year ‘fete’ (party). They will start again Sept 2nd. I hope to only have them go 2 mornings a week, this will continue their French language education, but still allow me to continue our home based preschool program for the other 3 days.

Careful watching this, it is not for small children and a sensitive subject in general.

We are in Swissyland for meetings. Here are the highlights.

My friend Jen sent me this…

1. even if you buy ‘new’ tires they could have been on the shelf for years

2. tired dry out and become brittle, even when they are not used

3. old tires, even if they have never been driven on are a hazzard which can cause deadly accidents

If we were in the US, I would definitely be checking our tires!!!

watch it here by John Stossel.

Okay, so some of you guys did not understand what the Hadron Collider does. I’m still a bit foggy about this myself. But we are driving on a trip this week near there for work so I thought I would look it up again. It has to do with black-holes, anti-matter, and particles colliding and the Higgs effect.
This little rap may help you out…

Wikipedia Article

We got paid yesterday so Daddy made dinner!

This is our ‘Pizza Camion’. It is a wonderful invention. It parks directly across from our front door - ALL THE TIME. Sometimes it is a very bad thing. Like last week when we didn’t have any money. It is actually some of the BEST pizza we have EVER had.

We pretty much consistently get the same pizza. It is called ‘Le Monstre’ or the Monster. It has some black olives, emmental cheese, mozarella cheese, Chorizo sausage, green peppers, red peppers, and onions. VERY good. Hmmm.

This is their first interview, I think, after the tragedy a few months ago when their 17-year old son accidentally hit their 5-year old daughter in the driveway.