Happy Holidays!

Just a quickie to say that all is well here!

We dipped down to -18*C this week but, like a seagull soaring down towards the ocean and then tilting back up again at the last moment, the temperature has already risen back up to around the zero mark.

Not that we really care, as we're heading down to the south coast for Christmas!

I've packed loads of T-shirts in case it gets too warm ... and maybe one or two presents as well. You know, just in case Santa Claus gets confused about where we are....

Hoping that Santa finds you safe and sound,

Merry Christmas!

Robynxxxx

East toward Dawn

So many months have passed since I last picked up anything more exciting than the latest issue of 'Woman and Home' or a cookbook, that I was beginning to feel a bit word desperate.

Looking through my bookcase, I just couldn't bear the idea of picking up books that I'd left behind to read later: The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, for example. Such books just seemed too heavy and too congested with ideas for my life at the moment.

Then I saw, sitting quietly and calmly beside the others, Nan Watkins' 'East Toward Dawn'. Nan used to work at Western Carolina University's Hunter Library and was a friend to many an international traveler. Whilst I was working at WCU, she published this gorgeous travelogue which not only explains her solo journey around the world at the age of 60 but also explains her relationship with life (and hence our relationship with life).

I'm now making my way through its gentle pages, and so am traveling with her through Ireland, Germany, Nepal and now India as she visits the various International students who stayed with her when they were in the US. As she travels she muses on her life as a child, as a women, as a wife-mother, and then as an older single woman. Such an approach allows the reader to tap into these differennt layers and to draw the messages needed at the time of reading. It's a delicious process, especially as she doesn't so much question her life as she does examine it as one does a stone found on a beach or, indeed, a flower found on an Irish hillside.

Read:

"Turning my head, I saw a yellow wildflower bobbing in the wind. It made me think of Joseph Campbell, who once held up a daisy and, with a broad smile, asked, 'Meaning? People want life to have meaning? Does this flower ask, 'What is the meaning of my life?' No! It just blooms. It just is!' And that's the way I see my life. Just being; no questions asked."

So, however you're seeing your life at the moment, I hope you're just not asking too many questions but more just 'bobbing in the wind.'

;-)

hugs,

Robyn

ps/want to buy a copy? Try http://www.amazon.com/East-Toward-Dawn-Journey-Adventura/dp/1580050646/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260860750&sr=8-1 or http://www.amazon.co.uk/East-Toward-Dawn-Journey-Adventura/dp/1580050646/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260862372&sr=8-2 (with the UK site you have to wait a bit longer but I would say that this is a book that is not only worth the wait but is about the wait!).

pps/If anyone is in contact with Nan today, can you please say a heart warming hey from me...

St Martin and his friends...

December is a crowded month in Alsace. There are lots of folks to meet and greet. I'll keep it short here... but you'd better take notes as it gets kinda confusing.

So, the first guy is Saint Nicolas. That starts well: Jack's afraid of him. So afraid that he refused to go up and collect the biscuit St Nicolas wanted to give him during our local Christmas market. Yesterday, randomnly at the table, he said 'I'm Saint Nicolas and you, Maman,you afraid.' Hmm, recognising I had work to do, I told him, No,Saint Nicolas is the good man. Père Fouettard was the bad man.

Who? The incarnation of the bad Father Christmas. His history is troubled as he's reputed to be an incarnation of the devil...but all you really need to know is that you don't ever want to be 'the bad kid' when he's around. Translate Père Fouettard and you get 'the whipping father'. Need I say more? Jack definitely din't think so. He got it!





Thankfully, bringing light to such dark tales, Saint Lucy (sainte lucie) also floats about these parts. As Wikipedia nicely tells us: As her brief day brings the longest night of the year by the old reckoning, John Donne's poem, "A Nocturnal upon St. Lucie's Day, being the shortest day", begins with: "'Tis the year's midnight, and it is the day's," and expresses, in a mourning piece, the withdrawal of the world-spirit into sterility and darkness, where "The world's whole sap is sunk." This timing, and her name meaning light, is a factor in the particular devotion to St. Lucy in Scandinavian countries, where young girls dress as the saint in honor of the feast."

Jack doesn't care about all that for he's scared of her, too!

Then, of course, there's Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. We know they exist because they had a little stand at the back of the Christmas maket and were accompanied by a petting market to attract the kids. I tried to explain who they were but, as I haven't yet got onto God and as they were accompanied by lamas, it all got a bit complicated.

Joseph

Complicated, yes because, if you're following the plot, we also celebrate Saint Martin and so have only just tucked away our lanterns!

And Santa Claus... and the reindeer.. and all that?

Well, hopefully we'll get onto them before them before they start flying across the midnight sky, before Santa comes down our chimney, and long before the presents appear magically under the Christmas tree.

For, heck now, we wouldn't want Jack to be afraid of him too now... would we?

love n hugs n Christmas stories,

Robynxxxx

Lumberyard

Go on, treat yourself.

It's almost Christmas afterall.

What am I talking about?

Well, an old university friend of mine, Jen, and her brother have founded a literary magazine, 'The Lumberyard,' and I think you'd like a copy!

It's published in the US but with Paypal you'll feel like it's been published just down the road.

Why not give it a try today? http://www.lumberyardmagazine.com/

(Get this issue and you'll find a poem by Jamie, of Cornerboys fame, inside its delicate covers).

happy reading!

Robynxxxx

ps/with Wood for a last name, its probably not surprising this brother and sister pair founded a lumberyard!

Are we mad?

Yep, it's possible that I and my friends are a little crazy as we're opting to do what our Mums hated best: washing nappies!

Okay, so I'm only using one a day and so I'm hardly saving the planet but, hey, at least it's a start and many of my friends are doing much, much better than me.

Interested? Check out: http://www.bumgenius.com/index.php

love n hugs n nappy rash cream,

Robyn xxxx

Chickens

And.. just so you know, poor ole Ems has gone spotty, chicken poxy.

Thankfully, she doesn't have a fever...

and, I guess, she'll soon have company because surely it won't be long before her brother's keeping her company.

je speak en German

Okay, so things are beginning to get a little confusing!

Jack was just perfecting his art of speaking Franglais (or Frenglish, if you prefer). You know 'je veux cake' and 'où est ma car' (I want cake and where is my car).

He was just beginning to count in the two languages 'un deux trois cinq' and, equally with the 4 missing in English 'one, two, three, five.'

He was enjoying Dora - who speaks French but has (in imaginary cartoon world) an English Dad and so who tries to teach her audience English. Like any French kid, he was enjoying shouting 'We did it' (Dora's catchphrase) and calling for 'sac à dos' ('backpack,' Dora's trusty companion).

Then we did two things.

First, I showed him a Dora DVD in English.. where Dora's Dad is Spanish. Ola! You try explaining, to a 3 year old, that 'maman' in English is 'Mum' in British English but 'Mommy' in American English and that with Dora's American accent, yes, it seems like she's calling her Mommy, Mamy.. which is French for grandmother. And so, non, Dora's Maman isn't really that old... it all got kinda messy.

So, from now on we're going to watch Dora in only French.

That is, unless I meet his demands to watch it in German.

Now, don't panic, he wouldn't understand it if it was in German but as we are living in Alsace, which is part of France, we are only 20km from the German border. What does that mean? It means half of his schooling is done in German. He has a French teacher on Mondays and Thursdays and a German teacher on Tuesdays and Fridays. It's all quite fun and he seems to be really enjoying it. As our TV receives French, German, and British stations, he often plays the 'the man speak German?' game.. and what is pretty cool is that he often 'gets the concept' when there's an English man speaking with a French voice over. He's also dead proud...

which is funny especially as I heard him counting 'eins, zwei, drei, funf' yesterday.

Apparently, 4 doesn't exist for him in any language which might just make his next birthday a little bit complicated!

Hoping your numbers are adding up, wherever you are in the world!
love n hugs,
Robyn
ps/If anyone reading this knew me at school, let me reassure you, I have NOT transformed from the awkward dunce in languages into some multi-language beast! Each day in French is still a challenge.. and Jack probably knows more German than me now. Heck, he knows how to say 'nose' in German and that's the bee's knees to me ;-)

A week in Provence

Back in August, Ben suggested that we spend a week in October in Les Omergues, Provence. His folks have their second house there - they bought the house as a near ruin 25 years ago and have spent every summer ever since renovating it. When Ben made his suggestion, I thought he was daft. 'Provence? In October? Emma will only be 3 months old. It's 7hours drive away. It'll be cold and wet (and miserable). No way.' Then he talked me into it....

and, my goodness, I'm glad he did.

We went with 2 dear friends and their 3 year old daughter and had such a lovely outdoorsy time. The weather was wonderful: 19*C/66.2F and sunny, sunny, sunny. We went for walks and talks. We roasted chestnuts by the fire. We had long lazy siestas on the porch. We watched the kids running, playing, laughing in the open air. It was just grand.

And now there are only a few weeks left until the Christmas holidays.

I like life - and I hope you do too, wherever in the world you are just now!

hugs,

Robyn

au-pair

Hello,

Do you know of anyone who would like to work as an au-pair in France for a few months, starting in April?

I have a French friend, who speaks fluent English, who is looking for an au-pair because her husband will be serving in Afganistan from April.

She has 2 adorable boys aged 5 (twins) and a baby girl... and lives in a house just down the road from me!

Just let me know if you know of anyone who might be interested...
hugs,
Robynx
ps/students, in particular, might find this a good way to spend the summer.

3 months old

Our Princess!

Cornerboys.

You should not go walking where Cornerboys lurk

Late at night in the heart of the city

The goblins wear leather as they wait in the murk

And they know neither kindness nor pity

My excellent friend Jamie Ridenhour recently produced a short film, Cornerboys, based on a long poem he wrote a few years ago.

It's ruddy excellent!!

Check it out now...

Cars, cars, cars

Okay, so I knew having a boy would involve talking about cars and guns and things. Just as I hope that having a girl will involve talking about fashion, and fun, and, well, boys.

But I didn't think it would get this crazy!

The boy has over 50 cars and knows all the important brands. He also memorises constantly which cars he's playing with, which cars are 'broken', which ones are in the garage and so on.

If I take a couple away as a punishment for a minor offense, then he'll come back to me later on and say, 'I would like my Mercedes Benz van and my blue Opel car please!'

And going for a walk around town has become a car watching session. Yesterday, I made the mistake of crossing through a large parking lot. The walk turned into him running from car to car and tapping their car badges: Voltzwagon, Fiat, Ford....

I don't even like cars.

I mean I was that girl who never knew the names of cars.

AND, yes, there's an AND.

I'm also that girl who never knows what kind of car her friends drive.

Well, Jack is that boy who does. 'Look, Maman, it's Melanie/Jean-Pierre/Tata Lily.'

The end result? I'm now that Maman that can name cars and knows exactly what kind of cars her friends drive.

So, to finish up, I knew that boys would involve 'snails and puppy dog tails' but not an increase in Match Box car sales.

Want to join in the fun? Name the cars below:

It's a Volvo

It's a Rover

It's a Fiat Tipo

It's a Renault 5

It's a BMW



And Emma? Ach, she's fine.. sleeping through the night, eating well, dressing in pretty pink clothes but not yet talking about boys!

Ouf.. because if I need to learn as many boys names as I do car names then I'm in trouble ;-)

Hoping you're all well... whatever you're talking about,

Robynxxxx

Hello there,

The good news at this side is that Jack is settling into both being a big brother and going to school.

I have to say I understand why he's more motivated now to go to school - when he arrives in the morning a little girl runs forward shouting 'Jack' and reaching out her arms for a hug! A second, more dubious reason is that he's making friends. Why am I dubious? (Smile) because he came home last Friday and proudly announced that he'd played with 'le boys' and that they'd done lots of 'bêtises' (stupid things). Now, to be honest, I'm not so worried about the 'bêtises' as I am by the associated pride that he'd done such things!

Meanwhile, Emma continues to grow into a smiley and happy wee chunky monkey! She seems perfectly happy with her little life and grins away to herself, whether someone's watching or not . As she's beginning to sleep longer at night, I'm also to be found grinning to myself.. that, though, may just be the long term results of sleep deprivation!

Whether you're smiling or dreaming of sleep as you read this,
stay well.

much love,

Robynx

Eight Weeks Old!

The smiles have started....and they're infectious!

Have a happy smiley day wherever you are!

Robynx

ps/Infectious, yes, but much better for our health than 'Gripe A/H1N1 flu.' Catch them today!

French Films

When I was growing up, whenever someone mentioned French cinema I thought of dark, quite seedy, films that were full of overly heavy symbols and neurotic storylines. Arriving in France, I kept that impression and stayed away from watching such stuff. Then, over the last 7 years, I've kept up the habit of zapping away from French TV films as they seem to be full of ludicrous situations and unsympathetic characters that rush around busy-bodying in each other's lives.


When I started my maternity leave, though, a dear friend brought over a whole stack of DVDs of recent French films and tried to convince me that they were worth watching by extoling the virtues of their stories and of the worth of their actors. Not really convinced I would like them, I put them on the shelf and got on with other things.

Well, you know what, a good number of the films are simply excellent:


Two Days to Kill: A man with the quintessential happy family is watched as he accepts a birthday present from a strange woman and then returns home to his wife and children to insult and eventually leave them... so he can travel to see his estranged father, who is living in Ireland. It's a grand film I first saw over Ben's shoulder in a plane. I started the film in the middle but waited for it to loop back round again so I could see the beginning and so was ever so chuffed when my friend brought me her copy.


Dialogue with my Gardener: A painter from Paris returns to his childhood home in the country to recharge his batteries and falls into conversation with his gardener. The film is the continuation of that conversation, as they discover that there lives are interlinked and important. 'Dialogue' is by the same director as 'Two days,' Jean Becker, and so it's no surprise that having liked one I liked the other!

Want to see them? In English? Click here!

Un Secret: A jewish boy lives with his imaginary brother...and so discovers that his imaginary brother is not just a figment of his imagination but really part of his flesh and jewish blood.

Fauteuils D'orchestre: Cecile de France is the lead actress in Un Secret.. and also stars in 'Fauteuils' as a young waitress serving in a café opposite 2 theatres and 1 auction. During the films she encounters the actors and actresses, rich men and poor men who are involved in making such businesses work. Her challenge is to make her own life work... and as she weaves her own life stronger, we really get drawn into all of their lives.

But, I'd best stop now... as Jack's awakening from his siesta and Emma smells suspicious....
Hoping whatever films you're watching, you're enjoying them!

love n hugs,
Robyn
ps/If I have time, I'll come back and tell you about Avril, Detrompez Vous, and La Môme!

Seven Weeks

After a little more than seven weeks as a 'real family,' things are still going well... but when people ask 'are you doing okay with a baby that cries and stays awake at night?' my first reaction is 'Emma's fine.. it's Jack that's doing all the crying!'

Yep, in reality, Emma is still very gentle and easy while Jack is worn out by all the changes.

Things at school are going better (now that he's completed the grand total of 4 mornings) but it's tiring for him. He has both a French and a German teacher, with classes in French one morning and then in German the next morning. I asked him yesterday what language Petra, his Greman teacher, spoke. He looked confused for a moment and then smiled: ja. His way, I guess, of expressing the idea that she says things differently. There are, of course, Arabic kids in the class and so he'll hear their langauge as well... and then this morning I realised that one of the cartoons he was watching was trying to teach him how to say 'Dinasaur' in Chinese. Given that he still thinks most dinasaurs are crocodiles, I think we've still a long road of us.....

Hoping that whatever language you do or don't speak, you're doing well!

hugs,

Robynxxx

Six Weeks Old Today!

Here's our little monkey growing into a big monkey.

She was born weighing 2.8kgs (6.17lbs) but now wieghs 4.2kgs (9.2lbs) and she has grown from 47cms to become 52cms long.

Such dramatic changes are very reassuring for me, as there is just more of her to handle and less of her to break. I have to say, though, that she's being a very 'easy baby' so far as she continues to eat and sleep and generally be happy about her little life. Ask her how she feels and she'll say 'heureux,' *which means happy in French.* And me how I feel, and I'll say much the same as she hasn't yet given us one real moment of concern and we haven't yet walked the floor boards at night to help her to sleep.

As, no doubt, that will change... I plan to celebrate the moment and not to worry about the future (tears and worries and nightly floorboard walking).

And so, whereever you are, I hope you are celebrating the moment and not worrying about the future!

much love,

Robynxxx

* Okay, so she more likely say 'urrrr' but one can imagine that she's saying 'heureux'

**Though, of course, we really need to teach her to say 'heureuse' which is the feminine form of the word! That'll come later... much later!

Je n'aime pas l'école!

Jack started 'maternelle' yesterday, the French equivalent of preschool. Here he is with his school bag and labelled clothes. Here he is before he sat down on the classroom floor crying, 'I want to go home. Don't leave Mum. I want to go home.' That while all the other children were playing happily. Here he is before he tugged at my heartstrings, making me want to pick him up and make everything alright. Here he is, happy, before Ben and I and Emma left him and went home.

And Emma? Yes, okay that was THE mistake, I thought it would be cute for us all to go to the school together. It wasn't cute: it was torture for Jack who, I think, felt he was being abandoned so that rest of us could go home and be together without him.

Today was Jack's second day at school. Ben took him along while I stayed at home with Emma. They arrived earlier than yesterday so there were fewer kids in the classroom and so Jack was less intimidated. And Ben reassured him that I would come and pick him up, without Emma, at the end of the session. Which I did...so that he and I could go eat chocolate icecream together. Walking home with me he told me peacefully about how he'd played and sung and danced. Ouf.

Seems like he might like school, afterall.

Hello there!

Just another daft photo to make you smile :-)

A little more than a month old..

Thankfully, Jack seems to be coming out of his 'NO, no, no' phase and into a moment when being beside Emma seems to interest him more. Now, he'll press her belly button, touch her hair, bring her toys...and that's a relief as it was sad for us to see him so sad. What does Emma say about it all: urrrr. Yep, she's started squeaking (she's hiccuping and urrring as I type) and she remains a very calm and gentle baby. The only time she really cries is meal times. Her meal times? No, our meal times, as she seems to have a special sensor that tells her the instant that we sit down to eat! That means we either eat with the 'symphony of Emma in Major' in the background or in rotation (Ben goes first and then me). For the rest of the time, though, she is really quiet and'funny' (Jack just said to me 'Emma is funny'). She's definitely good to have around...

..especially in Jack moments.

Jack moments? Yes, like earlier today when he called through to me proudly 'I painted the wall.'

And, yep, indeed, he had 'painted' the wall.. with a small blue pencil.. leaving a scribble of blue lines where once there was only white.

A good dose of severe words and a few minutes later, both he and I were painting.. at the kitchen table with paper and real paints. In his 'franglais/ Frenglish' he told me that it wasn't good to paint on the walls.

I agreed.. while thinking 'but it is good to hang out with Ben, Jack and now Emma'

I hope you're having fun hanging out.. where ever you are in the world :-)

love n hugs,

Robynxxx