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19 May 2010

How to Circumvent Whining in Children

Ingredients:

1 c. deviousness
1 c. sugar

mix two and hope for the best

Scouring the Countryside Looking for a French Baby to Take Home...

We had one of our best days today. We got out and cycled down the Ceou valley along an incredibly narrow road to the village of Daglan. We had four bikes, with Moss on a tag-along (he was able to "ride" and eat his jambon and fromage baguette at the same time)

and Bubbs on the back of mine. It was the first very warm day here-we are all in various stages of burn, but the route was a gentle, meandering road that ran us past unbelievable little stone houses and many walnut fields. The people of this region are very meticulous when it comes to their properties. The many many fields of walnut trees are impeccable pruned, they grow in straight rows which are mowed to the ground (so as to not let any interfering vegetation impose itself, I presume. Then the grassy areas between these rows are mowed just as flat. When pruning, the branches are piled neatly in rows to be picked up later. There is no strewing things about here. The same goes for the vegetable gardens. There are extremely precise rows of leeks, onions, beans and chards lined up, spaced exactly evenly from each other and weeded without a single plant present that shouldn't be there. There is a total absence of mulch, of moat buildups around tree bases. Everything is very simple and clean and precise.


We continued to Daglan, where everything was closed (because we keep forgetting that all of France shuts down between 12 and 2pm). But it is a beautiful little village with narrow winding stone streets, which we cycled down and around.

We found a little tea house/cafe called Le The Vert, run by an English woman. That is where we got our sandwiches. Very simple, again, but very good. Now we are all about baguettes sliced lengthwise and filled with sea salt butter, ham and cheese. Eat.


Now, getting back, J. and I already had a plan to get the kids back out of the house. Imagine four children who are being dragged (too god.damned bad..sorry K.O.) around to various castles and fortified towns and prehistoric sites in a foreign country where there are eclairs (occasionally, we will say, "Oh my God, we are so bored..not another castle!!"), who just want to lay around the gite and look at their i-thingys or break things...so sometimes it's hard to get them back out again without some kind of lure... "ok, we're going to go back to the gite and everyone should finish those postcards so we can go mail them in Beynac (you can see a picture from the bottom of Beynac on the blog before this one). We'll go to the patisserie and you can pick out anything you want". Interest. Piqued.



So, off we went. To the post office. Closed. Open from 915-12.15 only. Must remember this. Patisserie across the street. Very nice Madame; asks Mossy to not touch the display case. He touches it about 5 more times. Then Cormac touches it. She cranks out some ice cream cones for four kids. Pastries also, but tucked away in a bag. C'mon kids, let's see what's up this street. Let's go up this street... how 'bout up this street? Look, there's a castle up there!! (Mama, mykneeshurtIhaveaheadacheMoss,getbackromthere,Bubbygetoutofthestreet,whysowehave
tosothesestupidthings,whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!Letmetakeapictureofyou.
No,Imnotcarryingyou.Ifyoureallylovedmeyouwouldntmakemedothis.I'msotiredI'msotiredI'm
sotired.AmIadopted?)

Victory Laugh and Pastry Delivery

Then it was home for heated up Beouf a la bourguignonne with too much wine in it. Poor kids. I can hardly stand it.

*stay tuned. another blog is on its way*

3 comments:

  1. Very fun to read. Loved the pic of you and Jason smiling as you ride your bikes along the country road on your way to the village...la,la,la...

    Your pictures and words really captured the essence of your day. I am so inspired/motivated to make our family, European trip a reality.

    BJFN (Bon Jour For Now)

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  2. Henry grew somemore I thought I told him he couldn't do that in France.

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  3. SO precious - all of you!

    Absolutely wonderful... miraculous and did I say wonderful?

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