Family in Singen, Germany

Aunt Hedi and Uncle Walter
Walter and Mike
Aunt Hedi, Celia, Jazzy and Nathan
Celia, Nathan and Uncle Walter

Pottery Fair and lunch in Quissac

Winter was especially long and dreary here in the South of France. So it was such a treat to be able to sit in the sun for lunch after shopping the pottery fair in Quissac.
The tart was so sweet and beautiful!

Yummy mushroom bisque
The stand where we found the sunny yellow and red mugs and platter to add to our collection.

International Pillow Fight Day in Montpellier

How funny was this?! Celia and I happened to be in Place Comedie when the International Pillow Fight Day event broke out. Feathers and synthetic fluff everywhere!

April Fools Day

Did you know that in France they refer to an April Fools prank as a "poisson d'avril" or an April fish? The kids make paper fish and attempt to stick them on the back of as many adults as they can.

At Easter the Cloche volant or flying bell delivers the chocolate eggs that the kids search for...as long as it involves chocolate, I am ok with such a leap of faith as to believe in a flying bell! The Easter bunny is one thing, but a bell that flies??? The Flying Bells are another significant part of the French Easter tradition which is carried out on Good Friday as it's believed that all the church bells in France miraculously fly to the Vatican City in Rome. They carry with them the misery and sorrow of those who mourn Jesus' crucifixion on that very day. These flying French bells then return on Easter morning commemorating the celebration of Jesus' resurrection.

Snow in March!

Celia and Nathan were so happy to have a Monday snow day! At least six inches of snow fell overnight.

Random beauty

Jazzy's glamorous make over on Saturday! He is so handsome now! Amazing what a good haircut will do for you!!

Girls night out with Chanel's Coco Red! A daring lipstick gives you energy!

Montpellier all dressed up for the holidays

Nathan after visiting his favorite hair stylist who manages his curly locks perfectly.

Celia loving her new style and the curls that Isabelle gave her. Celia is totally envious of Nathan's head full of curls! The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence!

What's old is new again!

One day I was driving Nathan and Celia to the tram and at a stop light in the darkness of the winter morning, suddenly we spotted this horse and cart plodding across the intersection of Vendargues. We could not figure out why there would be a horse and cart out so early in the morning in a fairly large town that is no longer very near the countryside. Later that day we heard on the radio that Vendargues had decided to decrease its carbon footprint by using this horse and cart to pick up the town's trash in the city's center village. Additionally, some of the streets in the town center are somewhat small and it was easier to use than a traditional garbage truck. The horse named Quignon visits 600 to 700 households a day five days a week. The mayor hopes to expand the use of horses to a horse drawn cart to water the city's plants and another to take the small children to the gym from the school.