We have been in our new place, oh, some two and a half months now and we are finally BACK ONLINE!!! Very exciting to be able to check out again all my favourite blogs and things and I am looking forward to actually emailing people again now!
I have been musing on what to do with my blog, whether to rename it or have a fresh start and I haven't quite decided yet. Any suggestions for a more appropriate name for this new season of life would be most appreciated! I was trying to redesign it in more autumnal colours but the choice on blogger of templates is not very exciting I'm afraid.
As I reflect on all these major issues (!) here is a quick summary of what our life consists of right now...
House - is a nice if somewhat chilly place! We have settled in now and covered the walls with our pictures and children's stuff so it looks very homely and lived in. We got our new three seater sofa last week to everyone's delight - the first time we have had a sofa the entire family fits onto!
Garden - is lovely but with the changing season we are not seeing as much of it as we were! I love hanging my washing out though and listening to the trees rustle and birds singing.
Homeschool - did I mention we are homeschooling this year? It is proving great fun - freedom and flexibility are two advantages not to mention more time together as a family. Before Bertie started work we were able to make numerous trips out together, now we are staying more local with regular trips over to north London.
The area - we are getting to know and appreciate it, though I did have a pang of regret when we visited Hampstead Heath recently. Oh I miss being next door to the Heath! We have several pleasant parks around, good transport links, a lovely forest or two...that'll do us nicely!
Church - we are attending our friends' very local church - 5 minutes walk away! There are lots of little girls there which the girls are of course thrilled about and we are enjoying making friends there and getting involved in various activities.
Work - this one has been a bit frustrating, as Bertie first had to wait ages for his CRB then was just getting a bit of supply work every now and then. However, great news! This very week he was offered a permanent post starting the next day! We are thrilled about this, though less so about the location (one hour's commute) however, just think of all that reading time!
Plenty more to say but that can wait for another day.
Showing posts with label Daily Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily Life. Show all posts
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Friday, 19 June 2009
Daily Life
It is hot hot hot now! I made it to the park at 8.15am this morning with JoJo and CassCass and the thermometre said 28 degrees - so who know what it reached by midday! There are more mosquitoes out as a result and also we have had an influx of cockroaches. Grr! Downstairs they have had mice so the poison was put out, and a few dead ones have been discarded of by the brave men of the house.
Speaking of poison, I watched a cat across the road writhing in agony yesterday and asked Bertie if they had rabies here. He replied that it must have eaten the poison. It was a sad sight and I said if I had a gun I would put it out of its misery. Later I saw it on its side and felt glad that it was at peace. Then Bertie pointed it out the next day walking along with no worries in the world!! Apparently cats really do have 9 lives! Good job I have no gun! He added that when he was younger, he always saw poisoned cats when it rained (it was torrential yesterday) and thought that it was the rain that poisoned them! Well, that may be a fair conclusion in London....
I would add that that very same cat is believed to be responsible for the recent mysteries in our house, where we have awoken to find a chicken carcass tipped on floor, but oddly enough other things too which you wouldn't associate with a cat! Thankfully my initial fear of giant cockroaches has proved unfounded.
One final cat story - the cat opposite caught an iguana today! Amazing, they are big creatures!
Back to the rain - following the incredible torrents yesterday morning, we had an infestation of flying ants, that got everywhere, even down my top! But they disappeared by the afternoon so I am not sure which predator got them but am very grateful to them!
Away from wildlife, Bertie's lessons are all but finished now, though the school term carries on till the start of July. Apparently no one bothers going to school after our town's fete which is next week, in honour of St Jean. Today in the town we saw them painting the town hall, putting up red and yellow banners and the podium. They have also resurfaced the road by LissaLou's school, a sure sign that the fete is on its way. Bertie says the town has to look its best!
Bertie does have one pupil every morning from 8-10am however, which has meant that LissaLou is late for school every day. No real loss, as the teacher is always chatting to people for the first quarter of an hour anyway... This pupil is hoping to be a footballer and has just been to France for a selection game. How exciting to think Bertie may have taught the next Thierry Henry!
Bertie's biggest excitement is his one and only water melon that reached maturity this week - a beautiful and tasty specimen it is, I can assure you. Now he is waiting for his melons and marrow. Papy brought home the latter weighing 5 kilos but apparently has had one weighing 22 kilos! Wow!
LissaLou has started to learn writing en attache (cursive) which is such a french thing. It really is impressive how nice it looks and that even small children manage it. I am not sure why we are so against it in the UK - I remember we were not allowed to write like that (or with pens) until perhaps year 5 and Bertie says that hasn't changed. We are doing her learning via a Dora book (what else!) and she is making a great effort, presumably as it is on her initiative.
After the drama of the dentist, Bertie finally took LissaLou to the doctors to see about a kind of fungal wound she has had for a while now (a recurrence of the one she had last November). You know you are in France when you go in for one wound and you come out with a prescription for....
Antibiotics for 6 days (disgusting despite its pinkness!)
Disinfectant spray
Cream
Plaster
Sellotape stuff
Doctor's visit: €26
First 3 items on prescription €20 !!!
We explained to our BIL how you would get sent away with a fly in your ear and empty hands in the UK! I told Bertie if all that doesn't do the trick then we will obviously have to amputate the foot...! (Joke, mum!)
CassCass currently enjoys playing with toothbrushes (don't ask!) and cycling Meddy's bike which now seems to live here, and taking lengthy afternoon siestas which mean she is up and about till waaaay too late at night!
As for JoJo, well he is into everything, climbing everything, risking his life and our sanity at every turn! He delights his Mamie and Papy with his little noises and by stuffing into his mouth with gusto any food they give him. He gets all excited when given food now and holds it, looks at it, turns it around, all the time whilst laughing and smiling and making oooh noises! He has a very cute crease between his eyes when he laughs, which I do believe is the same as his tonton who is here right now!
As for me, I have managed 8 letters this week so am feeling very pleased with myself! My BIL will post them in France for so much less than the €3 they extortionately charge me here (not to mention the hour long queue thrown in for good measure! I was so pleased at our last visit to the Post Office to see Mamie at the desk, so I nimbly joined her there and got seen to hey presto!)
I am also working on my packing up list, though it is best not to mention our departure to Mamie, it is the source of much sadness for her...
As it stands, we need to...
*Work out what we are sending by cargo, pack it up and send a good month in advance
*Change the Phone bill to Bertie's mum
*Get travel insurance
*Paint the house
*Bits of shopping
*Persuade Mamie to make us some ponch a coco and confiture de goyave
*Give away additional clothes etc (I will count one of these days, but would you believe these girls have amassed about 20 pairs of shoes between them!)
*Make a list of all the things to do on arrival
Definitely not as long as the list I had before coming!
Speaking of poison, I watched a cat across the road writhing in agony yesterday and asked Bertie if they had rabies here. He replied that it must have eaten the poison. It was a sad sight and I said if I had a gun I would put it out of its misery. Later I saw it on its side and felt glad that it was at peace. Then Bertie pointed it out the next day walking along with no worries in the world!! Apparently cats really do have 9 lives! Good job I have no gun! He added that when he was younger, he always saw poisoned cats when it rained (it was torrential yesterday) and thought that it was the rain that poisoned them! Well, that may be a fair conclusion in London....
I would add that that very same cat is believed to be responsible for the recent mysteries in our house, where we have awoken to find a chicken carcass tipped on floor, but oddly enough other things too which you wouldn't associate with a cat! Thankfully my initial fear of giant cockroaches has proved unfounded.
One final cat story - the cat opposite caught an iguana today! Amazing, they are big creatures!
Back to the rain - following the incredible torrents yesterday morning, we had an infestation of flying ants, that got everywhere, even down my top! But they disappeared by the afternoon so I am not sure which predator got them but am very grateful to them!
Away from wildlife, Bertie's lessons are all but finished now, though the school term carries on till the start of July. Apparently no one bothers going to school after our town's fete which is next week, in honour of St Jean. Today in the town we saw them painting the town hall, putting up red and yellow banners and the podium. They have also resurfaced the road by LissaLou's school, a sure sign that the fete is on its way. Bertie says the town has to look its best!
Bertie does have one pupil every morning from 8-10am however, which has meant that LissaLou is late for school every day. No real loss, as the teacher is always chatting to people for the first quarter of an hour anyway... This pupil is hoping to be a footballer and has just been to France for a selection game. How exciting to think Bertie may have taught the next Thierry Henry!
Bertie's biggest excitement is his one and only water melon that reached maturity this week - a beautiful and tasty specimen it is, I can assure you. Now he is waiting for his melons and marrow. Papy brought home the latter weighing 5 kilos but apparently has had one weighing 22 kilos! Wow!
LissaLou has started to learn writing en attache (cursive) which is such a french thing. It really is impressive how nice it looks and that even small children manage it. I am not sure why we are so against it in the UK - I remember we were not allowed to write like that (or with pens) until perhaps year 5 and Bertie says that hasn't changed. We are doing her learning via a Dora book (what else!) and she is making a great effort, presumably as it is on her initiative.
After the drama of the dentist, Bertie finally took LissaLou to the doctors to see about a kind of fungal wound she has had for a while now (a recurrence of the one she had last November). You know you are in France when you go in for one wound and you come out with a prescription for....
Antibiotics for 6 days (disgusting despite its pinkness!)
Disinfectant spray
Cream
Plaster
Sellotape stuff
Doctor's visit: €26
First 3 items on prescription €20 !!!
We explained to our BIL how you would get sent away with a fly in your ear and empty hands in the UK! I told Bertie if all that doesn't do the trick then we will obviously have to amputate the foot...! (Joke, mum!)
CassCass currently enjoys playing with toothbrushes (don't ask!) and cycling Meddy's bike which now seems to live here, and taking lengthy afternoon siestas which mean she is up and about till waaaay too late at night!
As for JoJo, well he is into everything, climbing everything, risking his life and our sanity at every turn! He delights his Mamie and Papy with his little noises and by stuffing into his mouth with gusto any food they give him. He gets all excited when given food now and holds it, looks at it, turns it around, all the time whilst laughing and smiling and making oooh noises! He has a very cute crease between his eyes when he laughs, which I do believe is the same as his tonton who is here right now!
As for me, I have managed 8 letters this week so am feeling very pleased with myself! My BIL will post them in France for so much less than the €3 they extortionately charge me here (not to mention the hour long queue thrown in for good measure! I was so pleased at our last visit to the Post Office to see Mamie at the desk, so I nimbly joined her there and got seen to hey presto!)
I am also working on my packing up list, though it is best not to mention our departure to Mamie, it is the source of much sadness for her...
As it stands, we need to...
*Work out what we are sending by cargo, pack it up and send a good month in advance
*Change the Phone bill to Bertie's mum
*Get travel insurance
*Paint the house
*Bits of shopping
*Persuade Mamie to make us some ponch a coco and confiture de goyave
*Give away additional clothes etc (I will count one of these days, but would you believe these girls have amassed about 20 pairs of shoes between them!)
*Make a list of all the things to do on arrival
Definitely not as long as the list I had before coming!
Monday, 1 June 2009
This And That
I have missed recording life here for you all so here are some of the recent highlights for you...
We borrowed our friends' seven seater Zafira and what fun we have been having with it! It zooms up mountain roads, LissaLou loves sitting right at the back on her own with her pile of Choubouloute books to read. Plus we get to take others along, notably Stella.
We have been weekly to the beach (got to make the most of it before we head back!) and I have suffered at the hands of the sun, grr.
For those with a map we have visited Anse Babin which despite its murky waters is renowned for its mud. Bertie covered himself in it and was so so smooth! I was too busy looking after ten children in the water to be able to indulge, one of whom was intent on drowning himself....!
We went for a marvellous walk in Port Louis amongst the mangrove. Such an interesting area that I have never visited up close before. There were so many crabs, funny little things with one huge pincer the size of its body or bigger! It was very wet and muddy even in dry season so must be quite a sight in wet season. This was followed up by a visit to a part of the beach much further up than we usually go, and it has shot to number one in my list! Deep clean blue water, coral beach, ahh! Our friend left us his snorkel kit and we had great fun visiting the fish below the surface. It is an amazing experience snorkling, so calm and peaceful and feels like you are so far away from the real world rather than two inches. Bertie can dive and then emerge blowing out the water from his pipe like a whale! I have not reached such skill yet!
We have gone down to Basse Terre more often recently - I am getting used to the hills there (always helps to have a more reliable car!). We visited a bain chaud on the side of the road near Dole, which is where they bottle water. We love these kind of pools - like a swimming pool with no chlorine! They are lovely and warm too, warmed by the volcano.
Bertie's brother is building a structure at Pika to keep up dry and safe from falling mangos. It is still needing a roof though. Speaking of maangos, they are all gone! Sniff! Back to maracudjas and some guavas and a lovely new fruit I haven't tasted before called pomme malaka.
This weekend has seen Bertie rejoicing as Bordeaux took the French title and in deep sorrow as Nadal went out of the French Open. As long-term readers may be aware, the other half of our couple was somewhat pleased about this and is behind Federer every step of the way, unless of course he faces Murray!! I think there is discrimination on the side of the french sports people here though as they never mention him. Hmph.
It has either been raining horrendously (unusual for may i am told) or very hot recently, no fun either of them!
Bertie has been able to preach a few times which he enjoys. He is particularly in demand for church on the beach (or message sur la plage as I like to call it!) as he has such a loud voice! He got told off by his dentist for talking too loudly the other day!!
Speaking of Bertie getting told off, we were enjoying a pleasant evening in the park with some friends when he got accosted by a random drunk guy and viciously insulted for quite a while about how he has nothing, is nothing, will come to nothing. Bertie was quite taken aback by the tirade until he was called Galette by the man, and it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity! Now his nieces are taking great joy in shouting Galette at him! But I did point out that in my eyes he is the Galette des Rois!
I hear the Scrabble pieces come out, I think I shall stay hidden a bit longer rather than lose atrociously to the Super Scrabble Sister In Laws!
We borrowed our friends' seven seater Zafira and what fun we have been having with it! It zooms up mountain roads, LissaLou loves sitting right at the back on her own with her pile of Choubouloute books to read. Plus we get to take others along, notably Stella.
We have been weekly to the beach (got to make the most of it before we head back!) and I have suffered at the hands of the sun, grr.
For those with a map we have visited Anse Babin which despite its murky waters is renowned for its mud. Bertie covered himself in it and was so so smooth! I was too busy looking after ten children in the water to be able to indulge, one of whom was intent on drowning himself....!
We went for a marvellous walk in Port Louis amongst the mangrove. Such an interesting area that I have never visited up close before. There were so many crabs, funny little things with one huge pincer the size of its body or bigger! It was very wet and muddy even in dry season so must be quite a sight in wet season. This was followed up by a visit to a part of the beach much further up than we usually go, and it has shot to number one in my list! Deep clean blue water, coral beach, ahh! Our friend left us his snorkel kit and we had great fun visiting the fish below the surface. It is an amazing experience snorkling, so calm and peaceful and feels like you are so far away from the real world rather than two inches. Bertie can dive and then emerge blowing out the water from his pipe like a whale! I have not reached such skill yet!
We have gone down to Basse Terre more often recently - I am getting used to the hills there (always helps to have a more reliable car!). We visited a bain chaud on the side of the road near Dole, which is where they bottle water. We love these kind of pools - like a swimming pool with no chlorine! They are lovely and warm too, warmed by the volcano.
Bertie's brother is building a structure at Pika to keep up dry and safe from falling mangos. It is still needing a roof though. Speaking of maangos, they are all gone! Sniff! Back to maracudjas and some guavas and a lovely new fruit I haven't tasted before called pomme malaka.
This weekend has seen Bertie rejoicing as Bordeaux took the French title and in deep sorrow as Nadal went out of the French Open. As long-term readers may be aware, the other half of our couple was somewhat pleased about this and is behind Federer every step of the way, unless of course he faces Murray!! I think there is discrimination on the side of the french sports people here though as they never mention him. Hmph.
It has either been raining horrendously (unusual for may i am told) or very hot recently, no fun either of them!
Bertie has been able to preach a few times which he enjoys. He is particularly in demand for church on the beach (or message sur la plage as I like to call it!) as he has such a loud voice! He got told off by his dentist for talking too loudly the other day!!
Speaking of Bertie getting told off, we were enjoying a pleasant evening in the park with some friends when he got accosted by a random drunk guy and viciously insulted for quite a while about how he has nothing, is nothing, will come to nothing. Bertie was quite taken aback by the tirade until he was called Galette by the man, and it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity! Now his nieces are taking great joy in shouting Galette at him! But I did point out that in my eyes he is the Galette des Rois!
I hear the Scrabble pieces come out, I think I shall stay hidden a bit longer rather than lose atrociously to the Super Scrabble Sister In Laws!
Thursday, 2 April 2009
What We Have Been Up To
The past week has been punctuated by the electricity and water going off frequently - and usually not at the same time, so it has been almost impossible to use the washing machine. Bertie thought that the former was to do with a lack of resources to run the electricity since the strike, whilst the latter was the more mundane reason that there are so many leaks here (and we thought London was bad!). In any case, it is so normal now that we barely notice it, and just make sure that we constantly fill up our many bottles when there is water, and keep saving any documents on the computer in case it suddenly goes off.
There has been lots of rain surprisingly, but he is very glad about that for his garden's sake. It does mean that there are all these tempting pots of water to play with downstairs for the kids, but they know now not to go near them when Papy and Mamie are around....
I finally worked out how to reduce the size of my photos so I have much more space on the computer (I had to be very ruthless about what old photos and videos to keep!). It also makes uploading photos so much speedier, hurray!
Bertie brought home some more fruits of his labour. Vegetables rather. Yum yum!
There has been lots of rain surprisingly, but he is very glad about that for his garden's sake. It does mean that there are all these tempting pots of water to play with downstairs for the kids, but they know now not to go near them when Papy and Mamie are around....Bertie made another of his cakes for his niece's birthday - delicious! I got her the third Narnia book and am hoping that she will lend it back to me when she has finished it!
Monday we went shopping and bought so much food! It is definitely a stocking up mentality resulting from the strike! In order to fit it all in the freezer, I had to get rid of all the ice - just look at how much there was. I must have lost half the capacity because of it!
Cleaning the fridge and freezer was part of my Huge Tidy Up plan before our guests arrive this weekend. Haven't got any further though, so I must get a move on!
Early one morning I saw my first cockroach in months, so I did the necessary and doused it in spray then WHACKED it, all without Bertie's help! I was relieved!
Today we went shopping for various items and came back with lots of goodies, including this, which the girls are thrilled about. Bertie just came back with a headache. Shopping and him don't agree!
Tonight he has gone fishing in St Francois with a friend and a brother. I am hoping he will come back with several kilos of fish!!
Oh, and my very kind husband gave me a lie-in this morning whilst he made the kids crepes. What a gem!
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Pa Ni Ayen
Is what you are hearing most everywhere now, as the strike is well into its third week and shows no sign of relenting. Translation: there isn't any! Milk was the latest casualty today, along with various other essentials. Pretty much every shop has been closed this week with a few notable exceptions - who are unsurprisingly sold out! I am getting a feel for what it must have been like in war time Britain living under rationing....
Still, it is always good to learn to make do with less, and today's reading was on godliness with contentment - very timely!
From my understanding of current events, the grevistes are waiting for an agreement on an extra €200 for all who are low paid before they even consider going any further with the other 999 demands they have made. OK, slight exaggeration, they number about 145!
To provide additional support Martinique has joined in the strike too, though it does seem slightly unjust that they will get the same result having striked for 3 weeks less!
On the good side, Bertie queued for petrol for a mere 25 minutes on Saturday so we have been able to go out a bit this week. On Monday we went to Pointe a Pitre and watched the demonstrators march past singing their charming "Guadeloupe is ours so go away" song and yesterday we headed off to the beach at Ste Anne, visiting the girls' cousins Severine and Sylvain who live there too. The weather wasn't very favourable but there is something very special about sitting in the sea with the rain drumming down on you, watching the coconut trees sway in the strong wind!
I have babysat twice this week for a friend whose husband is away in Haiti with JEM - her three children are a lovely trio so a pleasure to look after. And now I am making another court bouillon, following the success of the last, but would you know it, I peeled the wrong bananas!!
One week till Mum and Evie arrive...the countdown is on!
Still, it is always good to learn to make do with less, and today's reading was on godliness with contentment - very timely!
From my understanding of current events, the grevistes are waiting for an agreement on an extra €200 for all who are low paid before they even consider going any further with the other 999 demands they have made. OK, slight exaggeration, they number about 145!
To provide additional support Martinique has joined in the strike too, though it does seem slightly unjust that they will get the same result having striked for 3 weeks less!
On the good side, Bertie queued for petrol for a mere 25 minutes on Saturday so we have been able to go out a bit this week. On Monday we went to Pointe a Pitre and watched the demonstrators march past singing their charming "Guadeloupe is ours so go away" song and yesterday we headed off to the beach at Ste Anne, visiting the girls' cousins Severine and Sylvain who live there too. The weather wasn't very favourable but there is something very special about sitting in the sea with the rain drumming down on you, watching the coconut trees sway in the strong wind!
I have babysat twice this week for a friend whose husband is away in Haiti with JEM - her three children are a lovely trio so a pleasure to look after. And now I am making another court bouillon, following the success of the last, but would you know it, I peeled the wrong bananas!!
One week till Mum and Evie arrive...the countdown is on!
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Morning
I think I have now managed two weeks of early rising (the alarm is set for 5.45am but often Baby JoJo wakes me earlier!) so half way to making it a habit, hurray!
I would very much recommend it to you as it is such a peaceful time and I actually look forward to it every day now. Of course, it is much easier getting up when the sun is (nearly) up rather than on a cold, snowy morning...I do have to take a cup of tea and wrap out to keep me warm in those early hours though!
Here was my balcony this morning (I creep out through this door from the hall so as not to wake anyone!)
Doors to our living room and our bedroom 
There was a beautiful full moon this morning
View from my chair! Is it the rising sun I wonder...There was a beautiful full moon this morning
Another early riser - Papy and Mamy are up at 5am - here is Papy getting ready to go to Pika. In fact he was the one who inspired these photos, as he told me to get one of the moon!
My lovely cocotier!
Then the children arrive and it is back to normality....this morning we enjoyed a delicious fruit salad thanks to a visit to the maraichers in Pointe a Pitre yesterday. How many fruits can you spot....
Water melon, guava, banana, passion fruit, pineapple and mango. Topped with our first yoghurt in a fortnight - yum!Activities
We have now been on strike here for three weeks! Can you believe it! I am beginning to wonder if we will see work again before we leave...
As the strike shows no sign of ending, I shall keep browsing through my Busy Books for more ideas of fun activities!
There are lots of nice things about being on strike and one of those is having LissaLou and Bertie home. To keep LissaLou and CassCass occupied, I have started organising activities which start at 9am (when Baby JoJo goes to sleep) downstairs on the big table.
So far we have done lots of jigsaws - we have one where you put a sequence of three pictures together to tell a story and I got LissaLou to tell me the story in english and french which was fun to hear. We have worked a bit on numbers, particularly the teen ones and I was amazed to hear CassCass do all of the numbers from 1-10 and some from 11-20, in both languages! She has also grasped counting objects and can get it right sometimes.
Using the above mentioned jigsaw, we pkayed with Stella and Wilson the memory game where we had to find the matching pieces. It was hard! Having to remember the location of three cards rather than two during the turns of three other people was tough, but Stella managed splendidly. The rest of us depended on working out if they matched from the shape of the pieces!
One morning was a baking time - we have made several batches of scones now (no eggs!!) and they have all come out completely unscone like! Still, very tasty with some jam. We have also made lots of delicious bread since flour and yeast is something we have been able to buy. CassCass loves stirring and eating the dough, but LissaLou helps with most of the baking now. I keep trying to remember - it's all about PROCESS not PRODUCT. But I can't help intervening when the spoon goes in the mouth and then back in the bowl....!
One day I decided to hand over to Bertie and he got them painting leaves which produced some beautiful pictures and not a little boasting from him over his talent at activity organising! He used rainwater as apparently it creates a better effect. I was pleased at having the time to write one of my several overdue letters.
One day I decided to hand over to Bertie and he got them painting leaves which produced some beautiful pictures and not a little boasting from him over his talent at activity organising! He used rainwater as apparently it creates a better effect. I was pleased at having the time to write one of my several overdue letters.As the strike shows no sign of ending, I shall keep browsing through my Busy Books for more ideas of fun activities!
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Highlights Of The Week
I am pleased to announce that I got up early (ie before the kids!) three times this week! As a result I got to enjoy the peace and quiet on the balcony, watching the sun rise and the coconut and banana trees sway in the wind, sipping my cup of tea and reading my bible. Ah, it doesn't get any better than this!
Today Baby JoJo got up with me and it was great fun watching him watch the cockerel across the road. Every time he crowed Baby JoJo made a noise too and it turned into quite a conversation. Eventually his Papy came and took him over to visit the cock much to his delight!
We were at Pika again this morning, mainly taking photos for my upcoming series and learning about banana trees....
As so many shops were closed, we were delighted to find one open - a cash and carry place where if you buy in bulk it is a lot cheaper. No organic though! It is good to have some food in the house (not to mention toothpaste and toilet roll!) and the nappies are much cheaper there. In addition, we discovered two of Bertie's pupils mums work there and they got us a discount - cool!
Last night was a crepes, pizza and bokit party at Tatie Nadia's to celebrate our nephew Steeven reaching the grand old age of 15. Delicious! But the girls and Baby JoJo were so tired we went home early and two minutes into the car they were all fast asleep! Ahh.
LissaLou spent Thursday with her copine Jade to keep her company during the strike. They so enjoyed themselves that she ended up having a siesta with her (her favourite part of the day apparently!) as well as lots of playing. Jade's mum said that it was amusing listening to them talk "school" with various references to things and people that she had no idea about! We took advantage of the quiet to play with CassCass - dominoes is her favourite right now or sitting on her bed and pretending we are off on a car ride.
Otherwise there has been lots of playing for the girls, most of it in french which is very sweet to listen to. Whilst they have many disagreements and fights over things (we are working on being kind to one another and sharing, but it hasn't quite sunk in yet!) when they play peacefully it is a pleasure to behold!
The carnival continues to practice and parade around town - our poor little nephew Meddy had a bad experience with it a few weeks back and is now terrified of being here in the evening. I can understand him - the masks are scary! Whilst CassCass doesn't like them, LissaLou does, and is both delighted to see them pass the house and proud of her fearlessness!
Bertie has got quite a taste for disaster movies, and I am very sorry to see London under water right now in Flood. However I notice that Islington seems to be spared so far - Bertie has recommended going on to Parliament Hill to keep safe!
Today Baby JoJo got up with me and it was great fun watching him watch the cockerel across the road. Every time he crowed Baby JoJo made a noise too and it turned into quite a conversation. Eventually his Papy came and took him over to visit the cock much to his delight!
We were at Pika again this morning, mainly taking photos for my upcoming series and learning about banana trees....
As so many shops were closed, we were delighted to find one open - a cash and carry place where if you buy in bulk it is a lot cheaper. No organic though! It is good to have some food in the house (not to mention toothpaste and toilet roll!) and the nappies are much cheaper there. In addition, we discovered two of Bertie's pupils mums work there and they got us a discount - cool!
Last night was a crepes, pizza and bokit party at Tatie Nadia's to celebrate our nephew Steeven reaching the grand old age of 15. Delicious! But the girls and Baby JoJo were so tired we went home early and two minutes into the car they were all fast asleep! Ahh.
LissaLou spent Thursday with her copine Jade to keep her company during the strike. They so enjoyed themselves that she ended up having a siesta with her (her favourite part of the day apparently!) as well as lots of playing. Jade's mum said that it was amusing listening to them talk "school" with various references to things and people that she had no idea about! We took advantage of the quiet to play with CassCass - dominoes is her favourite right now or sitting on her bed and pretending we are off on a car ride.
Otherwise there has been lots of playing for the girls, most of it in french which is very sweet to listen to. Whilst they have many disagreements and fights over things (we are working on being kind to one another and sharing, but it hasn't quite sunk in yet!) when they play peacefully it is a pleasure to behold!
The carnival continues to practice and parade around town - our poor little nephew Meddy had a bad experience with it a few weeks back and is now terrified of being here in the evening. I can understand him - the masks are scary! Whilst CassCass doesn't like them, LissaLou does, and is both delighted to see them pass the house and proud of her fearlessness!
Bertie has got quite a taste for disaster movies, and I am very sorry to see London under water right now in Flood. However I notice that Islington seems to be spared so far - Bertie has recommended going on to Parliament Hill to keep safe!
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Photos I Would Have Shown You
Well, I am not destined to have photos on this blog! Over a hundred sit on my SIL's camera and the USB port tells me it is malfunctioned so I can't upload them onto Picassa! Sigh...!
So I will have to describe them to you instead!
Sunday was Epiphanie which is very big here. Alberto's Grandmere used to hold a big party for it every year so Mamie did so this year (given that she wasn't here for Christmas and New Year only just). All the family came over and we had a delicious meal of salad and accras, bebele, and coq (fresh from Pika!) which had been cooking on and off since Friday! Delicious aromas kept coming upstairs, Bertie had to warn me not to go down in the night and steal a bit! Their door creaks so I would have been found out anyway... We also had our Galette des Rois - several in fact, including one made by my own dear husband which was most tasty. A lot of work went into making the pate feuillete at midnight the night before whilst he watched Godzilla and I browsed potential holiday homes for a possible family holiday back in the UK...
There were also lots of photos of Baby JoJo playing and standing and on one occasion eating a whole banana he found on the counter - and when I say whole, I mean peel too!
Other highlights were...
The girls making a car out of the sofa cushions...
...LissaLou's Barbie doll with her hair coiffed by the girls...
...CassCass in her bright outfit from Ghana...
....CassCass and Dora and Baby Joy enjoying a teaparty with Mummy this morning, then washing up and washing all the baby clothes (yup, messy play just like you suggested Mum! Though she got me to do most of it!)...
...Another teaparty this afternoon this time with LissaLou and Stella as well...
....Baby JoJo trying to hijack it and pouring all the juice on the floor...
....LissaLou reading her Alice au Pays des Merveilles from Tatie Nadia, again and again and again...
....Bertie cooking the fish they caught, with some help from CassCass...
...Baby JoJo so sweetly sleeping...
....Baby JoJo sitting with his tonton Luciano and cousin AnneG, giving each other kisses...
...LissaLou and CassCass with their shop outside Tatie Pierrettes's house, serving their loyal customers (Mummy and Papa)...
...Papa's horror at a bottle of Vita Malt costing €4 (LissaLou is getting into the Gwada way of pricing!)
....Bertie admiring his first green lettuce from Pika, yummy!
Plus two quotes:
LissaLou (serving me a cup of water and biscuits): is the tea yummy mummy?
Mummy (drinking): Umm, yes it is
LissaLou: Well it shouldn't be yummy, it's got soap in it!
Mummy (watching LissaLou eat her fish and salad): You know, that piece of fish used to be swimming in the sea
LissaLou (holding up a small white thing): you mean this piece?
Mummy: Yes
LissaLou: But it's a cucumber!
May I also share that I have started my pilates exercises using the Lindsey Jackson Pilates for Mums Dvd. And my body is aching. Aching I tell you!
So I will have to describe them to you instead!
Sunday was Epiphanie which is very big here. Alberto's Grandmere used to hold a big party for it every year so Mamie did so this year (given that she wasn't here for Christmas and New Year only just). All the family came over and we had a delicious meal of salad and accras, bebele, and coq (fresh from Pika!) which had been cooking on and off since Friday! Delicious aromas kept coming upstairs, Bertie had to warn me not to go down in the night and steal a bit! Their door creaks so I would have been found out anyway... We also had our Galette des Rois - several in fact, including one made by my own dear husband which was most tasty. A lot of work went into making the pate feuillete at midnight the night before whilst he watched Godzilla and I browsed potential holiday homes for a possible family holiday back in the UK...
There were also lots of photos of Baby JoJo playing and standing and on one occasion eating a whole banana he found on the counter - and when I say whole, I mean peel too!
Other highlights were...
The girls making a car out of the sofa cushions...
...LissaLou's Barbie doll with her hair coiffed by the girls...
...CassCass in her bright outfit from Ghana...
....CassCass and Dora and Baby Joy enjoying a teaparty with Mummy this morning, then washing up and washing all the baby clothes (yup, messy play just like you suggested Mum! Though she got me to do most of it!)...
...Another teaparty this afternoon this time with LissaLou and Stella as well...
....Baby JoJo trying to hijack it and pouring all the juice on the floor...
....LissaLou reading her Alice au Pays des Merveilles from Tatie Nadia, again and again and again...
....Bertie cooking the fish they caught, with some help from CassCass...
...Baby JoJo so sweetly sleeping...
....Baby JoJo sitting with his tonton Luciano and cousin AnneG, giving each other kisses...
...LissaLou and CassCass with their shop outside Tatie Pierrettes's house, serving their loyal customers (Mummy and Papa)...
...Papa's horror at a bottle of Vita Malt costing €4 (LissaLou is getting into the Gwada way of pricing!)
....Bertie admiring his first green lettuce from Pika, yummy!
Plus two quotes:
LissaLou (serving me a cup of water and biscuits): is the tea yummy mummy?
Mummy (drinking): Umm, yes it is
LissaLou: Well it shouldn't be yummy, it's got soap in it!
Mummy (watching LissaLou eat her fish and salad): You know, that piece of fish used to be swimming in the sea
LissaLou (holding up a small white thing): you mean this piece?
Mummy: Yes
LissaLou: But it's a cucumber!
May I also share that I have started my pilates exercises using the Lindsey Jackson Pilates for Mums Dvd. And my body is aching. Aching I tell you!
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
A Pre-Christmas Resume
Before I get eaten alive by the mozzies, here is a quick glimpse into what has been going on here...
I have played our kid's carols cd, i have played Michael Buble's Christmas cd, i have purchased clementines for the stockings (shame there are no jelly babies here!), we have been reading our Christmas books and lighting our advent candle, we wandered around Carrefour looking at the Christmas lights...but in spite of it all I just can't feel Christmassy in the heat! I was thinking of watching You've Got Mail and While You Were Sleeping to help, but no DVD player now!
One thing in common with home is that the shops and roads are very busy. We did our Christmas shopping in two mornings this week. I had it all planned as to what I would get the girls and a strict budget; in fact, I didn't allow for the items I had chosen being sold out!! (Well, the best way to meet your budget!) So we got books for all the nieces and nephews and then yesterday had a lovely morning in Pointe à Pitre where we got CassCass a french bible and LissaLou a pack of high heel shoes (her choice!) We also popped into the playpark on the Place de la Victoire and the girls were thrilled with juice and fries from McDo (against all my principles, but it was the only toilet around!!)
Today we are preparing for our Reveillon celebration this evening, which will be a meal at Nadia's. I believe that Pere Noel should be putting in an appearance (in the shape of Bertie or his brother Richard!) and there will also be fireworks, cool! Bertie is making two Yule logs and some jus de cythere and jus de maracudja to take.
In the past week...
The strike last Tuesday went ahead but was mainly a demonstration and didn't affect the roads or last longer, hurray!
We babysat for LissaLou's friend Jade two nights whilst her parents did parents' evenings at their respective schools. Such fun listening to the girls play together. Then on Wednesday Bertie took the girls to L'Ile aux enfants (next to our Velodrome and Pika) with Jade and her parents and oh, did they have a good time! (I was teaching my SIL Felicianne to make bread! And watching Ratatouille, great fun!)
Bertie told me he was a bit worried, as it was a pricey €10 each entry and CassCass cried and cried for the first half hour, as they played on the bouncy castles (there were six!) He was worried it would be like our trip to Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park last year - do the Parents and Evs remember her crying and crying on the roundabout whilst we filmed her?! But then they headed over to the merry go round, and it was all worthwhile, as the girls had a good dozen rides on it and couldn't be persuaded to leave! I was also impressed at Bertie's skills of negotiation - apparently they had buches de noel but only for the staff, and he sweet talked a lady in to giving the girls one each. Then the girls liked the look of flashing dummies for €4 each but he haggled it down to that for 2! And to think that there are people like me who just pay the full price without thought!
For the final day of school on Friday, it was their final trip to la piscine so Bertie joined them. LissaLou has done well picking up skills but I don't think it is accurate to say she can swim yet! In the afternoon they had a cake and each child came home clutching bags of chocolate Pere Noels and sweets, to their delight! I am ashamed to say I spent Friday night whilst Bertie was at his bible study watching the final of Star Academy...!
On Saturday I learnt from experience that it is just no good staying at home so I set off with the girls to La Poste where there was almost a riot! There was a separate queue of 10 or more people to pick up registered mail but then the staff member announced that this queue wasn't in action on Wednesdays or Saturdays, so they all had to join the back of the (long) other queue. It was funny to hear them all yelling at each other, staff v customers (everyone got involved!) whilst using Madame and Monsieur in between insults! We finally got served after oh, 45 minutes...
Then we went to the park and played before walking home by the sea, in the opposite direction to our normal route. It is such a lovely peaceful place to be. The girls love looking at the boats in the harbour - our favourite one with two decks had its owners on board today, one with his Arsenal t-shirt! We also saw some fish - orphie, with long needles for noses - and a jelly fish. Our walk was much longer than usual, as there were two cows blocking our shortcut through the field, so we went by the road. I was very impressed with LissaLou managing it all, especially in the heat! We were so tired when we got home, that my legs could barely make it up the stairs, and I could honestly tell Papy that I was fatikagou! He often tells me he is this after a particularly hard morning at Pika!
After wandering around Carrefour to see the lights, we were planning to go to the Chante Nwel next to our house at 8pm. We waited...and waited...9pm came...10 pm came...Finally it started nearer 10.20pm by which time the girls were shattered. The quality was pretty scratchy so we didn't stay long!
Sunday was the church Christmas Programme in the evening so another late night. It was very well done, but the church was packed out so I couldn't really see anything and couldn't understand a lot of the creole! Afterwards, we went for a delicious meal organised by Nadia and her friends (so much work must have gone into feeding all 200 of us!). The girls were thrilled to be at their own table with their friends and afterwards there was space for them all to run riot!
Not so quick after all! Well, I shall get back to all my tasks for today, including a very long sleep to get us ready for tonight! Thanks so much to those of you who have sent cards - they are up in my kitchen looking very pretty! I am still working on mine, but they should be out by mid Jan!!!In the meantime, may I take this occasion to wish all my readers a very
JOYEUX NOEL ET BONNE ANNEE!!
I have played our kid's carols cd, i have played Michael Buble's Christmas cd, i have purchased clementines for the stockings (shame there are no jelly babies here!), we have been reading our Christmas books and lighting our advent candle, we wandered around Carrefour looking at the Christmas lights...but in spite of it all I just can't feel Christmassy in the heat! I was thinking of watching You've Got Mail and While You Were Sleeping to help, but no DVD player now!
One thing in common with home is that the shops and roads are very busy. We did our Christmas shopping in two mornings this week. I had it all planned as to what I would get the girls and a strict budget; in fact, I didn't allow for the items I had chosen being sold out!! (Well, the best way to meet your budget!) So we got books for all the nieces and nephews and then yesterday had a lovely morning in Pointe à Pitre where we got CassCass a french bible and LissaLou a pack of high heel shoes (her choice!) We also popped into the playpark on the Place de la Victoire and the girls were thrilled with juice and fries from McDo (against all my principles, but it was the only toilet around!!)
Today we are preparing for our Reveillon celebration this evening, which will be a meal at Nadia's. I believe that Pere Noel should be putting in an appearance (in the shape of Bertie or his brother Richard!) and there will also be fireworks, cool! Bertie is making two Yule logs and some jus de cythere and jus de maracudja to take.
In the past week...
The strike last Tuesday went ahead but was mainly a demonstration and didn't affect the roads or last longer, hurray!
We babysat for LissaLou's friend Jade two nights whilst her parents did parents' evenings at their respective schools. Such fun listening to the girls play together. Then on Wednesday Bertie took the girls to L'Ile aux enfants (next to our Velodrome and Pika) with Jade and her parents and oh, did they have a good time! (I was teaching my SIL Felicianne to make bread! And watching Ratatouille, great fun!)
Bertie told me he was a bit worried, as it was a pricey €10 each entry and CassCass cried and cried for the first half hour, as they played on the bouncy castles (there were six!) He was worried it would be like our trip to Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park last year - do the Parents and Evs remember her crying and crying on the roundabout whilst we filmed her?! But then they headed over to the merry go round, and it was all worthwhile, as the girls had a good dozen rides on it and couldn't be persuaded to leave! I was also impressed at Bertie's skills of negotiation - apparently they had buches de noel but only for the staff, and he sweet talked a lady in to giving the girls one each. Then the girls liked the look of flashing dummies for €4 each but he haggled it down to that for 2! And to think that there are people like me who just pay the full price without thought!
For the final day of school on Friday, it was their final trip to la piscine so Bertie joined them. LissaLou has done well picking up skills but I don't think it is accurate to say she can swim yet! In the afternoon they had a cake and each child came home clutching bags of chocolate Pere Noels and sweets, to their delight! I am ashamed to say I spent Friday night whilst Bertie was at his bible study watching the final of Star Academy...!
On Saturday I learnt from experience that it is just no good staying at home so I set off with the girls to La Poste where there was almost a riot! There was a separate queue of 10 or more people to pick up registered mail but then the staff member announced that this queue wasn't in action on Wednesdays or Saturdays, so they all had to join the back of the (long) other queue. It was funny to hear them all yelling at each other, staff v customers (everyone got involved!) whilst using Madame and Monsieur in between insults! We finally got served after oh, 45 minutes...
Then we went to the park and played before walking home by the sea, in the opposite direction to our normal route. It is such a lovely peaceful place to be. The girls love looking at the boats in the harbour - our favourite one with two decks had its owners on board today, one with his Arsenal t-shirt! We also saw some fish - orphie, with long needles for noses - and a jelly fish. Our walk was much longer than usual, as there were two cows blocking our shortcut through the field, so we went by the road. I was very impressed with LissaLou managing it all, especially in the heat! We were so tired when we got home, that my legs could barely make it up the stairs, and I could honestly tell Papy that I was fatikagou! He often tells me he is this after a particularly hard morning at Pika!
After wandering around Carrefour to see the lights, we were planning to go to the Chante Nwel next to our house at 8pm. We waited...and waited...9pm came...10 pm came...Finally it started nearer 10.20pm by which time the girls were shattered. The quality was pretty scratchy so we didn't stay long!
Sunday was the church Christmas Programme in the evening so another late night. It was very well done, but the church was packed out so I couldn't really see anything and couldn't understand a lot of the creole! Afterwards, we went for a delicious meal organised by Nadia and her friends (so much work must have gone into feeding all 200 of us!). The girls were thrilled to be at their own table with their friends and afterwards there was space for them all to run riot!
Not so quick after all! Well, I shall get back to all my tasks for today, including a very long sleep to get us ready for tonight! Thanks so much to those of you who have sent cards - they are up in my kitchen looking very pretty! I am still working on mine, but they should be out by mid Jan!!!In the meantime, may I take this occasion to wish all my readers a very
JOYEUX NOEL ET BONNE ANNEE!!
Monday, 15 December 2008
Recent Happenings
We were very excited on Friday as we got to put up our Christmas tree! Actually, it belongs to Mamie but as she is away, I asked Papy if he minded us putting it upstairs, and unsurprisingly he didn't! It is pretty tall, made up of three sections, and there are lots of decorations too. Stella and the girls helped me put it together, but I have to admit I redecorated it after they had gone to bed, for a bit more aesthetic pleasure! Then on Saturday we decorated some little card frames Mum sent us and put various pictures inside, now these are hanging on the tree. I would like to put a few chocolates on, but I just know that CassCass will eat them all up! I have a bag of chocolate in the fridge that I have been keeping tied up, just to make sure it is safe and untouched!
When I went for my bible study on Saturday evening, Bertie took his girls to a Marche aux puces in Gosier, and they enjoyed eating pineapple cake and walking on the beach in dark, but with lights on (if you see what I mean!). They then went to Pointe a Pitre and heard a bit of the Jazz festival happening on the main Place de la Victoire. Their favourite moment though was finding a shop that sold bokits (our tea!) called Chez JoJo!
Bertie has finished mending his bike and celebrated by going for a long ride this morning - he is still recovering poor boy, and only just hobbled his way to church! And a good job too (it is mended that is) as another set of people are threatening more blockages on Tuesday. Honestly, this country!!!!
The girls love going to play next door at the neighbours, and all the more so as they have recently acquired a Charlotte aux Fraises playhouse complete with cooker! I can watch them out of my bedroom window and it is fun to see them with the big girls.
My menus have been going well and continuing to make life and cooking much easier. I made a couple of meals for Papy this week but he wasn't very impressed with the lack of salt, so I put a bit in for him when I made a colombo. The plate was scraped clean so I presume that it met with his approval!
Congratulations to Bertie's brother Abel and his new wife Martine, who tied the knot in Versailles yesterday. She is the fifth Madame E****** I have calculated! Apparently the weather was not too good but it was otherwise a marvellous day, finishing at 4am or so. Hopefully we shall get some photos through soon.
Still no sign of the pig, despite a long trek through the fields by Bertie. Sniff! I am still chuckling at the thought of it wandering across empty roads during the blockages, in front of a somewhat bemused audience!
We learnt last night that there are some trees that, if they don't bear fruit, you can hit them hard and they will start to. (It was used as a spiritual illustration during our bible study!) I have to check this out and ascertain if it is a Gwada Myth or not...
When I went for my bible study on Saturday evening, Bertie took his girls to a Marche aux puces in Gosier, and they enjoyed eating pineapple cake and walking on the beach in dark, but with lights on (if you see what I mean!). They then went to Pointe a Pitre and heard a bit of the Jazz festival happening on the main Place de la Victoire. Their favourite moment though was finding a shop that sold bokits (our tea!) called Chez JoJo!
Bertie has finished mending his bike and celebrated by going for a long ride this morning - he is still recovering poor boy, and only just hobbled his way to church! And a good job too (it is mended that is) as another set of people are threatening more blockages on Tuesday. Honestly, this country!!!!
The girls love going to play next door at the neighbours, and all the more so as they have recently acquired a Charlotte aux Fraises playhouse complete with cooker! I can watch them out of my bedroom window and it is fun to see them with the big girls.
My menus have been going well and continuing to make life and cooking much easier. I made a couple of meals for Papy this week but he wasn't very impressed with the lack of salt, so I put a bit in for him when I made a colombo. The plate was scraped clean so I presume that it met with his approval!
Congratulations to Bertie's brother Abel and his new wife Martine, who tied the knot in Versailles yesterday. She is the fifth Madame E****** I have calculated! Apparently the weather was not too good but it was otherwise a marvellous day, finishing at 4am or so. Hopefully we shall get some photos through soon.
Still no sign of the pig, despite a long trek through the fields by Bertie. Sniff! I am still chuckling at the thought of it wandering across empty roads during the blockages, in front of a somewhat bemused audience!
We learnt last night that there are some trees that, if they don't bear fruit, you can hit them hard and they will start to. (It was used as a spiritual illustration during our bible study!) I have to check this out and ascertain if it is a Gwada Myth or not...
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
Out And About
As Bertie works from 8.30am till 2.30pm on Saturday, it is not the most relaxing of times for me! However, every now and then I organise myself and go out with the girls, and it is so much more enjoyable than just staying in.
Last Saturday we wandered along to the Post Office, where we found a queue of about 50 people, eek! Happily, a lady let us go to the express line and within a few minutes we had cashed our cheque and left. Apparently it is the Caf day, when all the benefits arrive.
We jumped out of our skins when Tatie Nadia drove past and beeped us, then bumped into her again down the road...and again in the fruit and veg shop...not in the boulangerie though, where they are currently out of wholemeal baguettes, pity.
There is a very different feel to our town centre on a Saturday, with lots of people around and lots of stalls selling things. I like Sunday best, when the town is peaceful and quiet and no cars and few people on the streets.
Last stop was the playpark. Well, everywhere else is busy and animated but here it is always empty! (Except last Sunday evening when the square was milling with people and children and someone had his rap music blaring at top volume out of his car!) The girls had a great time racing around - I have to chase then and say snap! or roooooooar! or even miaow! Today I was too hot for that so I left them to do it! Now Baby JoJo is getting bigger, he enjoyed sitting on the ground playing with the leaves and sticks he found. The girls spent a long time sitting in the little house chatting and laughing - I found out later they were saying "Totototoya!" to each other (their rendition of Toyota apparently!)
Last Saturday we wandered along to the Post Office, where we found a queue of about 50 people, eek! Happily, a lady let us go to the express line and within a few minutes we had cashed our cheque and left. Apparently it is the Caf day, when all the benefits arrive.
We jumped out of our skins when Tatie Nadia drove past and beeped us, then bumped into her again down the road...and again in the fruit and veg shop...not in the boulangerie though, where they are currently out of wholemeal baguettes, pity.
There is a very different feel to our town centre on a Saturday, with lots of people around and lots of stalls selling things. I like Sunday best, when the town is peaceful and quiet and no cars and few people on the streets.
Last stop was the playpark. Well, everywhere else is busy and animated but here it is always empty! (Except last Sunday evening when the square was milling with people and children and someone had his rap music blaring at top volume out of his car!) The girls had a great time racing around - I have to chase then and say snap! or roooooooar! or even miaow! Today I was too hot for that so I left them to do it! Now Baby JoJo is getting bigger, he enjoyed sitting on the ground playing with the leaves and sticks he found. The girls spent a long time sitting in the little house chatting and laughing - I found out later they were saying "Totototoya!" to each other (their rendition of Toyota apparently!)
Saturday, 6 December 2008
Scenes Around Our House
A lovely organised kitchen, and one happy mum...
...quickly brought back to reality by the piles of cumin, tumeric and mixed herbs CassCass leaves around the place, dying various bits and pieces yellow, and leaving a very frustrated mum! CassCass is now officially banned from the kitchen!
Baby JoJo just learning to clap his hands and sitting joyfully doing so with a very appreciative audience...
Our first Christmas card - and homemade too! - thanks Judy!...
The Queen perched regally on our fridge, being warmly introduced to all who enter (is that your mum, they ask!). Thanks mum for the postcards and keeping us in touch with our heritage!...
LissaLou bringing home her cahier de travaux pratiques from school, with the different songs and poems she has been learning. She sings them all for us with great enthusiasm and we enjoy the actions, one moment she is Lulu la tortue, the next she is paying attention as she crosses the road...
Bertie's mum is preparing for a trip to France, and the house is full of wonderful smells, as she produces shedloads of rochers (coconut rock cakes) and doucelette (like fudge, made with coconut) and sucre a coco (err, the name says it all really!). She has 40 kilos and will use every bit of it, and then some, with frozen meat, local fruit and veg, and not a jumper in sight! I think she is waiting till she gets there to be clothed appropriately...
A freezer full of so many good things, every time I open it something falls out!...
Fresh bread with a lovely soft crust - I made two loaves and a set of rolls this time and they are fast being gobbled up...
Baby JoJo pulling himself up everywhere - his favourite spots are either mummy or daddy's legs, or Papy's if he is around. Otherwise he likes to stand holding the chair at the top of the stairs and look down at all that is going on...
LissaLou identifying more and more words when reading, and writing "and" all by herself...
(I asked how much banana the four of us would have as we only had two left, and was somewhat taken aback to hear "a half" from her!)
CassCass lining up all her Happyland toys then shrieking for her sister as Baby JoJo comes crawling over, destruction and havoc in mind...
LissaLou dashing to her rescue, heaving up Baby JoJo and lugging him to a place of safety...
...only for it all to happen again. And again. And again!
LissaLou finally sitting him down on her lap and reading him a story, to his evident delight!
A dead frog under the sofa. Er, how...?
Bertie in the midst of repairing his brother's old bicycle with parts from here, there and everywhere...
Clothes dripping from the hanger as the washing machine really doesn't seem to like the spin and rinse function. Good job we have had so much sun recently...!
LissaLou's bed collapsing. Oops...
Baby JoJo standing in his cot looking at hopefully at passersby when he should be sleeping...
The kitchen tap coming off its base. Another oops...
LissaLou ferciously rubbing her tired eyes before insisting "I'm not tired! I'm just rubbing my eyebrows!"...
Two of my yoghurt maker pots smashed to smithereens by one small girl. Triple oops...!
Even in the Caribbean, life can be very enjoyably mundane!
...quickly brought back to reality by the piles of cumin, tumeric and mixed herbs CassCass leaves around the place, dying various bits and pieces yellow, and leaving a very frustrated mum! CassCass is now officially banned from the kitchen!
Baby JoJo just learning to clap his hands and sitting joyfully doing so with a very appreciative audience...
Our first Christmas card - and homemade too! - thanks Judy!...
The Queen perched regally on our fridge, being warmly introduced to all who enter (is that your mum, they ask!). Thanks mum for the postcards and keeping us in touch with our heritage!...
LissaLou bringing home her cahier de travaux pratiques from school, with the different songs and poems she has been learning. She sings them all for us with great enthusiasm and we enjoy the actions, one moment she is Lulu la tortue, the next she is paying attention as she crosses the road...
Bertie's mum is preparing for a trip to France, and the house is full of wonderful smells, as she produces shedloads of rochers (coconut rock cakes) and doucelette (like fudge, made with coconut) and sucre a coco (err, the name says it all really!). She has 40 kilos and will use every bit of it, and then some, with frozen meat, local fruit and veg, and not a jumper in sight! I think she is waiting till she gets there to be clothed appropriately...
A freezer full of so many good things, every time I open it something falls out!...
Fresh bread with a lovely soft crust - I made two loaves and a set of rolls this time and they are fast being gobbled up...
Baby JoJo pulling himself up everywhere - his favourite spots are either mummy or daddy's legs, or Papy's if he is around. Otherwise he likes to stand holding the chair at the top of the stairs and look down at all that is going on...
LissaLou identifying more and more words when reading, and writing "and" all by herself...
(I asked how much banana the four of us would have as we only had two left, and was somewhat taken aback to hear "a half" from her!)
CassCass lining up all her Happyland toys then shrieking for her sister as Baby JoJo comes crawling over, destruction and havoc in mind...
LissaLou dashing to her rescue, heaving up Baby JoJo and lugging him to a place of safety...
...only for it all to happen again. And again. And again!
LissaLou finally sitting him down on her lap and reading him a story, to his evident delight!
A dead frog under the sofa. Er, how...?
Bertie in the midst of repairing his brother's old bicycle with parts from here, there and everywhere...
Clothes dripping from the hanger as the washing machine really doesn't seem to like the spin and rinse function. Good job we have had so much sun recently...!
LissaLou's bed collapsing. Oops...
Baby JoJo standing in his cot looking at hopefully at passersby when he should be sleeping...
The kitchen tap coming off its base. Another oops...
LissaLou ferciously rubbing her tired eyes before insisting "I'm not tired! I'm just rubbing my eyebrows!"...
Two of my yoghurt maker pots smashed to smithereens by one small girl. Triple oops...!
Even in the Caribbean, life can be very enjoyably mundane!
Thursday, 27 November 2008
More On Cuisine
As I mentioned on an earlier post, I am trying to make some local dishes, and make the most of local ingredients. If I can feed them to Baby JoJo, which is more and more possible as I rarely use salt and hot spices, then it is even more of an advantage. I have a couple of recipe books but these are aimed at tourists and only have a few dishes in them, many of which I wouldn't bother trying as they are either too complicated (for a particular festival for example) or I just don't like them. However, I have selected a few manageable ones and so have produced the following..,.
Gratin de christophine
Christophines are a vegetable also known as chayote, according to Wikipedia (although ours are more yellow than the ones you see here). Mamie doesn't grow any and I have rarely seen her cook with them. For this recipe you basically take out the inside and turn it into a sauce then stuff it again. Mum very kindly took these photos, hmm, mine aren't quite like the ones in the picture!
Here is the recipe if you fancy a go! I am having to get used to the french culinary terms.
Colombo de poulet
There is a significant Indian population in Guadeloupe, who came over in the mid 1800s after the abolition of slavery, to fulfil the needs of the plantation owners on the sugar cane fields. They brought lots of traditions and ingredients with them, including colombo, which is a curry powder made of various spices and is very delicious. I just learnt that the Indians were the only ones who cooked cabri (goat) until recently, when the other parts of the population took an interest. It is very tasty in this dish in any case. Often it is made with pork, but I prefer chicken. It came out splendidly, with the chicken falling off the bone, yum!
Poulet au coco
This is a pretty simple dish, where you cook the onions, garlic, carrot and white wine (I used water as didn't have any!) then cook the chicken and let it simmer in coconut milk. I have been using coconut milk in a tin but I would like to try using it from fresh as we have so many of them! I am not sure how to get the milk though. I used to have a problem with my chicken not being fully cooked but having investigated online, I discovered it is better to cook it low rather than high I was doing, and it seems to have helped.
Court-bouillon
A fish dish where you make the sauce with lime, garlic, spring onion, tomatoes, thyme and hot pepper (unless you are me!) then cook the fish in it. These ingredients are really common here, and in season they are all in Mamie's garden except the garlic. I used salmon rather than local fish. It is common locally to use oil which has roucou in it - Mamie grows these in her garden and the grain is used for the oil - have a look at wikipedia for more info here. The dish was fine, though a bit too watery and it would have been nicer with racines (sweet potato, breadfruit etc) than rice I reckon.
Gateau de patates douces
Oh, I have not had much luck with my baking recently! My loaf of bread was like a doorstop, my first bunch of cinammon rolls the same, the second lot I went to the other extreme and undercooked! My banana cake was not cooked in the middle and the biscuits I made also burnt. Sigh, I blame it on the oven...! However, this sweet potato cake came out fine, and as it is 1 kg sweet potatoes and only 100g sugar I was happy to stuff the girls on it!
If anyone has baking tips I would gladly welcome these, and I would love recipes based on wholewheat flour and honey rather than refined sugar and white flour. I am looking for a tasty carrot cake recipe too, if you hae any suggestions. At my Saturday night bible study group they passed around various tips and I learnt not to dump in my flour all at once, or mix it with the hand mixer - has to be done by hand. All very useful!
Another common practice here is to chop and freeze vegetables as soon as you get them, which is a great idea as even in the fridge they do go off quite quickly. My only problem is my tiny freezer, but I will give it a try anyway! At the moment I have five cups of shredded coconut and some courgette in there, and I have just purchased a huge bunch of parsley (whilst awaiting Bertie's!) which I will put into ice cube trays.
On a similar subject, I am sure you are eager to know how my menu went...! Well, I mostly stuck to it except when I forgot to check it and soak the beans on time (apparently you can prepare them and freeze them too, which I might start doing if I can fit them in!) which just resulted in shifting around a couple of meals. It was very unstressful in any case! I also spent a third less at Carrefour this week, as I followed my list to the letter, which I was thrilled with, and I have thrown out less. Keep it up!
This week's menu is as follows:
Monday - Chick pea curry (soak chick peas and brown rice) - very nice, unfortunately our gas bonbonne (no gas on the island so everyone has a little or not so little canister attached to their cooker and hopes it doesn't run out at an inopportune moment!) ran out half way through. We have had it for nearly three months which was good going. Anyway, Bertie dashed to the store and exchanged it for a new one, but the rice was ruined! The girls didn't like the chick peas so I squashed them all and they ate it fine!
Tea – bread and salad
Tuesday – Tuna pasta (courtesy of Gina Ford!) – you are supposed to add fromage frais to this, but I didn’t discover till I got home that the tub I had bought was vanilla flavoured! Made lovely dessert though…
Tea – Pancakes (wholewheat with cheese and ham, followed by maple syrup ones for the girls and lime and sugar for us)
Wednesday – supposed to be blaff de poisson but I realised I needed to use up my leftover Minestrone soup, so we did
Tea – supposed to be soup, became a delicious omelette courtesy of Bertie, made with eggs from Mamie’s hens
Thursday – Spaghetti Bolognese and wholewheat pasta
Tea – Potato wedges and salad
Friday – supposed to be bean burgers using the leftover brown rice, but I have just realised I haven't soaked the beans, oops!
Tea – Salad, and if I can manage it, some homemade bread that isn’t as hard as a brick!
Saturday – leftover spag bol
Tea – Bertie handles this one
Sunday – eat at church
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Introducing Mum To Gwada Life
Mum spent hours uploading photos to photobox to bring the next blog entries to you - thanks Mum! Your effort is worthwhile!
Here is a glimpse into her fortnight stay here...
This is our house - I am at the gate talking to a neighbour who also goes to both our churches (!) We have the part upstairs - the right window is our bedroom, the middle is our living room/guest room where mum slept, and the left is just a random hall. See those stairs on the left? Everyday I lug the lunch up and down these stairs to eat...
...outside! See the lovely table cloth? Mamie got that recently for this table and it adds brightness to our day. See the plastic cups? I had to start using these after we broke a total of 6 glasses! I think we are eating court bouillon (fish in tomato sauce) and racines (root veg like banana, sweet potato, breadfruit). Oh, and the bottle of juice is homemade passion fruit juice. All courtesy of my MIL!
This is how LissaLou pretty much spent Mum's stay! Mum came armed with plenty of crafts and this Peppa Pig book amongst many things brought lots of pleasure. LissaLou just kept on and on and on...
...but Mum didn't always! This was past 8pm and the jetlag/early mornings had caught up on her. I thought LissaLou had gone to bed, but here she was cheerful as anything, colouring away!
Here is a glimpse into her fortnight stay here...
This is our house - I am at the gate talking to a neighbour who also goes to both our churches (!) We have the part upstairs - the right window is our bedroom, the middle is our living room/guest room where mum slept, and the left is just a random hall. See those stairs on the left? Everyday I lug the lunch up and down these stairs to eat...
...outside! See the lovely table cloth? Mamie got that recently for this table and it adds brightness to our day. See the plastic cups? I had to start using these after we broke a total of 6 glasses! I think we are eating court bouillon (fish in tomato sauce) and racines (root veg like banana, sweet potato, breadfruit). Oh, and the bottle of juice is homemade passion fruit juice. All courtesy of my MIL!This is how LissaLou pretty much spent Mum's stay! Mum came armed with plenty of crafts and this Peppa Pig book amongst many things brought lots of pleasure. LissaLou just kept on and on and on......but Mum didn't always! This was past 8pm and the jetlag/early mornings had caught up on her. I thought LissaLou had gone to bed, but here she was cheerful as anything, colouring away!
Friday, 14 November 2008
Goings On
Well, Mum has left us this week to return to the chill of Europe, and the island has mourned her departure with day after day of rain, rain, rain...! When she has organised her photos, I will hijack them and blog her stay (hint hint!). Now I am having to get up early with CassCass (I very much appreciate your 6am or earlier wake-ups Mum, and all those lie-ins I got!). The girls have been enjoying the books she made with pictures of car symbols on each page. When it stops raining we are going out with paper and pen to copy the ones she missed - LissaLou did a mighty fine attempt at a Peugeot yesterday! Then wrote PEJO (with J backwards!) under, and I suggested that it was creole!
Today Bertie has gone to Sainte Rose with CassCass and Mamie to buy some seedlings. Papy hired a man and a van, nope, sorry a tractor I mean, to plough his land at Pika (two new french words for me - first he had to hacher several times the land, then silloner it- all over a space of a few weeks to allow the land time to repose and take in the sun) and has given some space to Bertie. I am hoping for tomatoes, peppers, various herbs, and given the price of lettuce at the market right now (€4 a kilo!! we are eating every last leaf to get our money's worth!) hopefully some of that too.
LissaLou is at school and off to the swimming pool - it is outdoors so they will be wet from below and from above!
I am carrying on my cleaning campaign which I have shamefully neglected over the past weeks. Perhaps I will bake too, who knows?
Baby JoJo is happily crawling around investigating everything in his path, but I shall put him to bed soon. I have hung his mobile up next to his cot and for the first time in a long time, he went to bed without crying as his eyes were fixed on the spinning giraffe!
Other events of note this week...Bertie made chichis and most delicious they were too, though a very strange shape and we shall ignore the fact that his nephew Steeven said they tasted like bokits! Chichis are a bit like the Guadeloupean form of doughnuts (beignets) but long and thin and dipped in sugar or nutella. Very good for you, as you can tell!
Wednesday night there was a BIG match at the stadium next to our house, as the winners get to play against a mainland French team in the next round. In honour of the occasion, the street sellers were out in mass (we were tempted to go and sell our chichis but decided the average man in the street may not be discerning enough to appreciate the unique taste and form they had...!). The underdog team from Petit Bourg had also brought along their own personal band to support them, with drums and other instruments I was at a loss to identify. The (loud) music began before the match, and went on, and on, and on, and on... Bertie said they would play the whole match to encourage their team and that they did! It obviously worked, as they won.
I thought the music was gwoka, which is local traditional drum playing , but in fact it was carnival style. Apparently the carnival season lasts THREE months this year and every Sunday the bands will be parading past our house practising! Better get used to the noise! I really enjoyed listening to it, and was so tired that it didn't stop me going to sleep as the match went into extra time and then penalties for good measure!
Speaking of football, I hope you have all been following the stunning renaissance of the Hotspurs recently?!
Unfortunately Premier radio's Listen Live isn't working at the moment - I like to put it on at 8am and 6pm for the worship hours!
Right, I shall don my ipod (SMILE!), get out the vinegar and get scrubbing!
Today Bertie has gone to Sainte Rose with CassCass and Mamie to buy some seedlings. Papy hired a man and a van, nope, sorry a tractor I mean, to plough his land at Pika (two new french words for me - first he had to hacher several times the land, then silloner it- all over a space of a few weeks to allow the land time to repose and take in the sun) and has given some space to Bertie. I am hoping for tomatoes, peppers, various herbs, and given the price of lettuce at the market right now (€4 a kilo!! we are eating every last leaf to get our money's worth!) hopefully some of that too.
LissaLou is at school and off to the swimming pool - it is outdoors so they will be wet from below and from above!
I am carrying on my cleaning campaign which I have shamefully neglected over the past weeks. Perhaps I will bake too, who knows?
Baby JoJo is happily crawling around investigating everything in his path, but I shall put him to bed soon. I have hung his mobile up next to his cot and for the first time in a long time, he went to bed without crying as his eyes were fixed on the spinning giraffe!
Other events of note this week...Bertie made chichis and most delicious they were too, though a very strange shape and we shall ignore the fact that his nephew Steeven said they tasted like bokits! Chichis are a bit like the Guadeloupean form of doughnuts (beignets) but long and thin and dipped in sugar or nutella. Very good for you, as you can tell!
Wednesday night there was a BIG match at the stadium next to our house, as the winners get to play against a mainland French team in the next round. In honour of the occasion, the street sellers were out in mass (we were tempted to go and sell our chichis but decided the average man in the street may not be discerning enough to appreciate the unique taste and form they had...!). The underdog team from Petit Bourg had also brought along their own personal band to support them, with drums and other instruments I was at a loss to identify. The (loud) music began before the match, and went on, and on, and on, and on... Bertie said they would play the whole match to encourage their team and that they did! It obviously worked, as they won.
I thought the music was gwoka, which is local traditional drum playing , but in fact it was carnival style. Apparently the carnival season lasts THREE months this year and every Sunday the bands will be parading past our house practising! Better get used to the noise! I really enjoyed listening to it, and was so tired that it didn't stop me going to sleep as the match went into extra time and then penalties for good measure!
Speaking of football, I hope you have all been following the stunning renaissance of the Hotspurs recently?!
Unfortunately Premier radio's Listen Live isn't working at the moment - I like to put it on at 8am and 6pm for the worship hours!
Right, I shall don my ipod (SMILE!), get out the vinegar and get scrubbing!
Saturday, 1 November 2008
Having Fun With Grandma
We have been relishing the time with Grandma visiting. Whilst our lack of big car (how our 7-seater Peugeot is missed, sigh!) has meant that we have stayed more in our area, we have still been able to get out and about. In fact, I don't think that I have walked so much around our town since I came!
So our week has been like this...
Tuesday - we picked mum up
Wednesday - we went for a walk by the sea and along the pier, fortunately nobody fell in this time! We sat and swished our feet in the water but eventually had to get going as it is so wobbly we began to feel sea sick! Mum got to taste one of Mamie's typical meals of racines (banane, madere, fruit a pain, patate douce) and court bouillon (fish in a lovely sauce of tomatoes, spring onions and herbs).
Thursday - we visited my Texan friend for tea and quiche and cake and some enjoyable English conversation - although I hasten to add that Mum is doing marvellously in French, she seems to understand most things and can usually get a response back! She tolerated my tuna pasta for lunch but I could tell she would rather eat Mamie's food!
Friday - we intended to go to the local shopping centre and Carrefour, and happily got a lift down from my two SILs which spared us a long walk in the rain. There we played with some toys in the toy shop and did some shopping. My niece Stella came and was our guide for the shortest route back home. We had to wait for the rain to stop but happily it did and even more happily it didn't return, as we trudged home - LissaLou has not got any faster in walking so we went at a very very sloooow speed! We had a lovely roast chicken for lunch. Unfortunately the ants found the carcass whilst I siesta-ed - grr!
Today - we were meant to go out but Bertie took the morning to paint the grave so we just chilled at home. Not unwelcome after our late return last night! This evening we got out the paddling pool we bought and the girls were thrilled to be splashing and plunging in it on our balcony, even in the freezing water and the cool of the evening!
LissaLou is particularly enjoying her Grandma being here, and the two are often to be found snuggled up together reading or colouring or working on an activity book - ahh! CassCass is usually on my knee (and enjoying the lack of competition!) and Baby JoJo is in such demand that Mum is lucky to ever see him! He has started crawling this week, so cute! He wobbles on his legs just like Bambi before collapsing and deciding it is easier to slide on his tummy. He can cover a lot of ground if required and I am having to be very diligent in tidying up the floor and keeping all the dangerous things out of reach. Putting him on the bed is now a no-no, as he has dropped off a few times.
We do find Mum a bit strange though - she loves the heat and doesn't use a fan!!!! Nor does she get bitten by the mosquitoes, so her mosquito net is a formality more than anything else! She will be telling you soon she doesn't know what I am complaining about! She has enjoyed all the food she has been offered, including guava, passion fruit, pomme cythere, prune de pays, cerise de pays and today Bertie chopped open a coconut with his machete, then she bravely drank it straight out! Bertie's dad said she was a true Femme Antillaise!
So our week has been like this...
Tuesday - we picked mum up
Wednesday - we went for a walk by the sea and along the pier, fortunately nobody fell in this time! We sat and swished our feet in the water but eventually had to get going as it is so wobbly we began to feel sea sick! Mum got to taste one of Mamie's typical meals of racines (banane, madere, fruit a pain, patate douce) and court bouillon (fish in a lovely sauce of tomatoes, spring onions and herbs).
Thursday - we visited my Texan friend for tea and quiche and cake and some enjoyable English conversation - although I hasten to add that Mum is doing marvellously in French, she seems to understand most things and can usually get a response back! She tolerated my tuna pasta for lunch but I could tell she would rather eat Mamie's food!
Friday - we intended to go to the local shopping centre and Carrefour, and happily got a lift down from my two SILs which spared us a long walk in the rain. There we played with some toys in the toy shop and did some shopping. My niece Stella came and was our guide for the shortest route back home. We had to wait for the rain to stop but happily it did and even more happily it didn't return, as we trudged home - LissaLou has not got any faster in walking so we went at a very very sloooow speed! We had a lovely roast chicken for lunch. Unfortunately the ants found the carcass whilst I siesta-ed - grr!
Today - we were meant to go out but Bertie took the morning to paint the grave so we just chilled at home. Not unwelcome after our late return last night! This evening we got out the paddling pool we bought and the girls were thrilled to be splashing and plunging in it on our balcony, even in the freezing water and the cool of the evening!
LissaLou is particularly enjoying her Grandma being here, and the two are often to be found snuggled up together reading or colouring or working on an activity book - ahh! CassCass is usually on my knee (and enjoying the lack of competition!) and Baby JoJo is in such demand that Mum is lucky to ever see him! He has started crawling this week, so cute! He wobbles on his legs just like Bambi before collapsing and deciding it is easier to slide on his tummy. He can cover a lot of ground if required and I am having to be very diligent in tidying up the floor and keeping all the dangerous things out of reach. Putting him on the bed is now a no-no, as he has dropped off a few times.
We do find Mum a bit strange though - she loves the heat and doesn't use a fan!!!! Nor does she get bitten by the mosquitoes, so her mosquito net is a formality more than anything else! She will be telling you soon she doesn't know what I am complaining about! She has enjoyed all the food she has been offered, including guava, passion fruit, pomme cythere, prune de pays, cerise de pays and today Bertie chopped open a coconut with his machete, then she bravely drank it straight out! Bertie's dad said she was a true Femme Antillaise!
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Life Is Like That
We woke up to a tremendous storm at 5am (well, I should say we were woken up!) and it looks like it will be a day of rain. No trips to the playpark today! Unfortunately, the building Bertie works in on Saturday is prone to flooding, so it will be a tricky morning for him too. I just opened the door to the balcony for the first time today and LissaLou told me the rain had started again, so bang shut went the door! I don't think I will be opening them again anytime soon!
Clothes have a tendency to disappear here, if you don't grab them off the washing line the moment they are dry. Bertie found a missing pair of shorts...on his sister (he never wore them again for some reason!) and my favourite pair of white trousers mysteriously vanished in 2006. So I was delighted to come across them the other day, and even more so to find that they still fit! I took advantage of the cooler weather today to put them on, admired them, got on with the day...then a naked CassCass came and plonked herself on my lap and all too late I realised she had done a number two and not wiped her bottom! Sigh. The trousers have gone to the wash and will have to wait another day.
I spent hours sweating away in the heat to tidy the flat, only for CassCass and LissaLou to spill a packet of rice, break a glass or two, get the entire contents of their toy box out, chuck Baby JoJo's food on the floor...oh well!
Bad news - there was another cockroach on the floor this morning. Good news - it was dead. By what means I am not sure but very grateful!
I have renamed the final day of the week Fever Friday as somehow Baby JoJo keeps getting a very high temperature on it. Yesterday he hovered around 39 degrees which was rather worrying. We haven't had to visit any doctors or hospitals yet and I am not in a hurry to! We still don't have a social security number either to reclaim the cost. However, he is back to normal again today - a mixture of prayer and two hour feeding sessions! (Oh, and apparently the local solution is to put Eau de cologne on his head - er, right!)
Right, back to the life of a mother!
Clothes have a tendency to disappear here, if you don't grab them off the washing line the moment they are dry. Bertie found a missing pair of shorts...on his sister (he never wore them again for some reason!) and my favourite pair of white trousers mysteriously vanished in 2006. So I was delighted to come across them the other day, and even more so to find that they still fit! I took advantage of the cooler weather today to put them on, admired them, got on with the day...then a naked CassCass came and plonked herself on my lap and all too late I realised she had done a number two and not wiped her bottom! Sigh. The trousers have gone to the wash and will have to wait another day.
I spent hours sweating away in the heat to tidy the flat, only for CassCass and LissaLou to spill a packet of rice, break a glass or two, get the entire contents of their toy box out, chuck Baby JoJo's food on the floor...oh well!
Bad news - there was another cockroach on the floor this morning. Good news - it was dead. By what means I am not sure but very grateful!
I have renamed the final day of the week Fever Friday as somehow Baby JoJo keeps getting a very high temperature on it. Yesterday he hovered around 39 degrees which was rather worrying. We haven't had to visit any doctors or hospitals yet and I am not in a hurry to! We still don't have a social security number either to reclaim the cost. However, he is back to normal again today - a mixture of prayer and two hour feeding sessions! (Oh, and apparently the local solution is to put Eau de cologne on his head - er, right!)
Right, back to the life of a mother!
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Daily Life
This is what our life looks like right now...
Mondays - Bertie drops LissaLou at school at 8am and then he takes me and the other two shopping. I am aiming to alternate between Carrefour (very expensive but so much more choice and organic produce) and Leader Price (very cheap). We collect LissaLou at 11.30am, have lunch, let her chill out and then Bertie drops her back at 2pm before I collect her at 4.30pm. He has one late class in Pointe a Pitre and then we aim for tea and bed not too late, but rarely achieve it.
Tuesdays - I have made some friends! My kind Texan friend who is leaving soon has introduced me to some other mums and we meet up for tea on Tuesday mornings at one of their houses. One lives just down the road from us, so it is nice to know the neighbours. Then I get LissaLou and we have lunch, take her back...Bertie spends the morning working with his dad at Pika and has a busy afternoon and evening; he doesn't get back till 7.30pm or so. I try to get CassCass and Baby JoJo to sleep in the afternoons but not very successfully and rarely at the same time. It is quite hard work organising tea and bedtime without Bertie there and the three of them. There is usually at least one in tears at some point!
Wednesdays - ahh, my favourite day! Bertie is with us all day and as we usually nab his mum's food for tea, not much cooking! There is a bible study at the church but he hasn't made it much yet.
Thursdays - Bertie is at Pika in the morning, we have nothing on although I have been going to the Post Office recently as people keep paying Bertie in cheques. With the queues there, that can be a morning's visit! Bertie again has a busy afternoon and evening, not getting back till 8pm. Definitely my least favourite evening!
Fridays - nothing on in the morning yet, then Bertie has classes in the afternoon. The second one is at home, and it is nice to have him there, although he often gets interruptions from the girls. At least his pupils are hearing authentic english!
Saturdays - Bertie starts at 8.30am so is gone quite early. Last week I took the girls to the playpark and we spent a lovely hour there then did some shopping after, which was very agreeable. However, such activities depend very much on the weather! Bertie is pretty tired when he is back so it is good to rest, but it depends what is on. Last Saturday my Texan friend showed a few of us how to make bread and cinnammon rolls, delicious! And a lovely way to spend an evening. The girls were distraught at not being able to come but they enjoyed a trip out in the car with their dad!
Sundays - church starts at 9.30am and goes on till midday, ouf! The first part is bible study and we don't go till the main service at 10.30am. After lunch we may be lucky enough to get a siesta, and there is an excellent chance that some family members will pop in later. This week it was Bertie's brother Richard and his family. LissaLou and CassCass had a marvellous time playing with their cousin Raisa and were more than delighted when their other cousin Stella turned up too. They also love their older cousins and these kind teenagers will quite happily play with them, do their hair, chat and chill together.
Mondays - Bertie drops LissaLou at school at 8am and then he takes me and the other two shopping. I am aiming to alternate between Carrefour (very expensive but so much more choice and organic produce) and Leader Price (very cheap). We collect LissaLou at 11.30am, have lunch, let her chill out and then Bertie drops her back at 2pm before I collect her at 4.30pm. He has one late class in Pointe a Pitre and then we aim for tea and bed not too late, but rarely achieve it.
Tuesdays - I have made some friends! My kind Texan friend who is leaving soon has introduced me to some other mums and we meet up for tea on Tuesday mornings at one of their houses. One lives just down the road from us, so it is nice to know the neighbours. Then I get LissaLou and we have lunch, take her back...Bertie spends the morning working with his dad at Pika and has a busy afternoon and evening; he doesn't get back till 7.30pm or so. I try to get CassCass and Baby JoJo to sleep in the afternoons but not very successfully and rarely at the same time. It is quite hard work organising tea and bedtime without Bertie there and the three of them. There is usually at least one in tears at some point!
Wednesdays - ahh, my favourite day! Bertie is with us all day and as we usually nab his mum's food for tea, not much cooking! There is a bible study at the church but he hasn't made it much yet.
Thursdays - Bertie is at Pika in the morning, we have nothing on although I have been going to the Post Office recently as people keep paying Bertie in cheques. With the queues there, that can be a morning's visit! Bertie again has a busy afternoon and evening, not getting back till 8pm. Definitely my least favourite evening!
Fridays - nothing on in the morning yet, then Bertie has classes in the afternoon. The second one is at home, and it is nice to have him there, although he often gets interruptions from the girls. At least his pupils are hearing authentic english!
Saturdays - Bertie starts at 8.30am so is gone quite early. Last week I took the girls to the playpark and we spent a lovely hour there then did some shopping after, which was very agreeable. However, such activities depend very much on the weather! Bertie is pretty tired when he is back so it is good to rest, but it depends what is on. Last Saturday my Texan friend showed a few of us how to make bread and cinnammon rolls, delicious! And a lovely way to spend an evening. The girls were distraught at not being able to come but they enjoyed a trip out in the car with their dad!
Sundays - church starts at 9.30am and goes on till midday, ouf! The first part is bible study and we don't go till the main service at 10.30am. After lunch we may be lucky enough to get a siesta, and there is an excellent chance that some family members will pop in later. This week it was Bertie's brother Richard and his family. LissaLou and CassCass had a marvellous time playing with their cousin Raisa and were more than delighted when their other cousin Stella turned up too. They also love their older cousins and these kind teenagers will quite happily play with them, do their hair, chat and chill together.
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Good Housekeeping?
In the UK, if you are not managing to keep your humble abode clean and tidy, you may get a comment or two, or someone sweeping their finger along a dusty shelf to make a point, or even a visit from Kim and Aggie...or it may just get completely ignored by all the kind folk around you. Here, it is a very different matter.
No, I do not have obsessively clean in-laws (far from it!). The state of my flat is in fact made very clear to me by....BEASTIES. Tons of 'em. Yuck.
Did I leave food on the table top or the dishes undone? Flies, everywhere. Great fun swatting them with a flip flop, they are surprisingly easy to kill.
Did I leave crumbs or jam dripping? Or even a few dead flies on the floor? Along come the ants, with their incredible instinct that allows them to find dirt in minutes. They are much smaller than the ones we had back home, but just as impressive in their actions. I have spent many hours killing them one by one...
Did I miss those crumbs under the sofa or the bed? Watch out, our friend the cockroach may be along shortly.... These ones scuttle far faster than any I remember in the past, and are far FAR bigger. It is pretty hard to get them with your flip flop, all that works is spraying the wonderful Baygone or screaming loudly and waiting for Bertie to turn up. Thankfully, I haven't seen many and mostly downstairs. I had a horrible moment when my SIL told me she had found one on the bed of her daughters one night (don't feel alarmed mum, but it was in the guest room!!). I am even more grateful for our mosquito nets!
And finally yesterday's traumatic discovery - it is only good to be green if you are organised enough to empty your leftovers and peelings regularly. Otherwise for your crime, maggots! Thousands of them! (Or so it felt.) And they don't die! It was like something out of a horror film, with more and more pouring out the box, me squashing them for all I was worth, only for them to start to move again - eek! LissaLou took great joy in watching me in my distress then running around the flat shouting "mankots! mankots!" Thankfully Bertie arrived home to help and we found that even spraying them with the deadly Baygone didn't do the job. So we put them all in a plastic bag in the bin and who knows what they are up to now? As for me, I keep seeing them everywhere...on my plate, in my glass, on the floor, in my hair...I expected to dream about them last night but was spared that!
So now I intend to be much more thorough in my cleaning schedule! No easy task as all the world seems to conspire against me when I get to cleaning. I met up with some nice ladies from the House Church that we occasionally go to this morning and they were telling me that they had left their houses by 9am this morning with the washing on the line, lunch ready, floors clean, washing up done...what was their secret? I begged to know. Ah, no children under 10 years of age in the house. May have to wait a few years before I get rid of all those bugs then.
No, I do not have obsessively clean in-laws (far from it!). The state of my flat is in fact made very clear to me by....BEASTIES. Tons of 'em. Yuck.
Did I leave food on the table top or the dishes undone? Flies, everywhere. Great fun swatting them with a flip flop, they are surprisingly easy to kill.
Did I leave crumbs or jam dripping? Or even a few dead flies on the floor? Along come the ants, with their incredible instinct that allows them to find dirt in minutes. They are much smaller than the ones we had back home, but just as impressive in their actions. I have spent many hours killing them one by one...
Did I miss those crumbs under the sofa or the bed? Watch out, our friend the cockroach may be along shortly.... These ones scuttle far faster than any I remember in the past, and are far FAR bigger. It is pretty hard to get them with your flip flop, all that works is spraying the wonderful Baygone or screaming loudly and waiting for Bertie to turn up. Thankfully, I haven't seen many and mostly downstairs. I had a horrible moment when my SIL told me she had found one on the bed of her daughters one night (don't feel alarmed mum, but it was in the guest room!!). I am even more grateful for our mosquito nets!
And finally yesterday's traumatic discovery - it is only good to be green if you are organised enough to empty your leftovers and peelings regularly. Otherwise for your crime, maggots! Thousands of them! (Or so it felt.) And they don't die! It was like something out of a horror film, with more and more pouring out the box, me squashing them for all I was worth, only for them to start to move again - eek! LissaLou took great joy in watching me in my distress then running around the flat shouting "mankots! mankots!" Thankfully Bertie arrived home to help and we found that even spraying them with the deadly Baygone didn't do the job. So we put them all in a plastic bag in the bin and who knows what they are up to now? As for me, I keep seeing them everywhere...on my plate, in my glass, on the floor, in my hair...I expected to dream about them last night but was spared that!
So now I intend to be much more thorough in my cleaning schedule! No easy task as all the world seems to conspire against me when I get to cleaning. I met up with some nice ladies from the House Church that we occasionally go to this morning and they were telling me that they had left their houses by 9am this morning with the washing on the line, lunch ready, floors clean, washing up done...what was their secret? I begged to know. Ah, no children under 10 years of age in the house. May have to wait a few years before I get rid of all those bugs then.
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