Just a short update

Hi all,

No, I haven't forgotten to update. It's just, well...this is sad news, so bear with me.

A terrible thing has happened for this blogger: my camera died.

*sniff*

This was the last photo my Nikon L18 ever took before it gave up the ghost and refused to bring the zoom lens back in. I didn't even press a button to take the shot. It just sort of did it on its own.

Sad shot:

Even the picture makes you want to cry: out of focus, dreary, and closed off. Poor camera.

 So, since Thanksgiving, I've been using my husband's LG phone camera for pics. Very grainy and difficult to render, but workable.

That said, I treated myself with a new camera for Christmas: a Nikon L820. I get it in February. If I can just be a little more patient, it'll be here soon enough.

Then, LOOK OUT WORLD!
I'll have to try it out in the forests and on the walking paths here.

*smiles*

But, it would not do to leave you without a bit of fun to cheer your day (ours is pretty dreary here- rainy gloom and all)

How about a porcelain painting update?

These are just two of my latest porcelain works from this year. I'll take a pic of the others when I can steal Mr. K's phone again. But, for now, two will just have to do!

This one's currently being shown with other ladies' works at our community center. I'm quite happy that my work got to go with theirs, but mine is nothing next to the beauties they've done.

My winter scene.

 This one I was playing with small details (like her face and belt). I like it. I'll have to see where I can hang my little Eastern European girl.

So yeah, that's it for now.

Until next time (or until Mr. K gets home),
Bisous!

What does one do in Paris in winter?

Glad you asked! You walk around and enjoy the sights.

Seriously. There are no crowds anywhere...well, maybe around a few things. But, I'll get to that later.

We took the day after New Year to wander the deserted city and go check out a park.

Parc Monceau, that is.

Pretty, isn't it? Just imagine what it would look like on a summer's day!

This park was developped in 1778 and finished in 1779. Louis Carrogis Carmontelle, a painter, designed the park for the Duke of Chartres in what the Duke called "Anglo-Chinese" style.  However, I think Carmontelle said it best when he said:
   "It was not at all an English garden that was intended at Monceau, but precisely what the critics said; to put together into one garden all times and all places. It is simply a fantasy, to have an extraordinary garden, a pure amusement, and not at all the desire to mimic a nation which, when it makes a 'natural' garden, uses a roller on all the greens and spoils nature."

And it is just that, a garden of all times and all places.

 Just consider that above- Roman columns.

Happy New Year photo

 Next we have the rocky crag that resembles a Scottish wild countryside.

 No garden is complete without a dangerous tree...wait, what? Just reminded me of the Whomping Willow in the Harry Potter movies.  Beware the trees!!!

Artsy photo

 But seriously, it's a fantasy Egyptian tomb entrance.

See?! There's the mummy statue

 But wait, there's more!

Voila! 

Have to have an Egyptian Pyramid. It's not a garden of all places if not.

Next up:

Chinese statue in the front, pyramid in the back, manicured lawn all around...and strangely it works.

 And all around in the bushes we saw these:

No idea what plant they are, but they are little white berries on spindly sticks. 

Took this photo for you, Miss K.

We also saw a Jules Verne themed Carrousel, but I didn't take any pictures of it.  The parents don't like strangers taking pictures of their little ones...and I can't blame them.  I wouldn't appreciate it either.
But, just imagine, instead of a horse or unicorn, you could ride a submarine or a hot air balloon!  Pretty fantastic if you ask me!

We continued our stroll, down the deserted streets once we got out of the park and in the midst of Paris glamour, we saw this building.

Kinda sticks out, doesn't it?

It's a Chinese cultural building and conference place. They also have a tea room in there. Obviously, they were closed on January 1st. So, we continued down to Boulevard Haussman.

There, we hoped to see the windows.  And that was where we found the rest of Paris. They were all trying to see the windows too!

Luckily, with patience, and with the help of a small child who decided she didn't actually want to see the windows, I managed to take a picture or two of the beauties.

This is from Les Printemps, done by Prada.

It's not a holiday window if you don't have Can-Can dancing bears wielding candy canes on top of a gingerbread roof...

Odd? Yes, a bit.

Beautiful? You bet your booties it was! The bears even kicked!

The other windows were too crowded to get to, but let me assure you, there were bears and dolls and diamonds galore.

At Galleries Lafayette, they had a few done up as well.  Doctor A and Mrs. P, in Fairfield, this one's for you!

When monkeys swing in time...you'd better get in line...because you'll start to rhyme! Hey!

But then again, maybe my friend Doctor A should look away...she might get hungry looking at all those monkeys...just kidding!

And thus concluded our New Year's Day walk.  Just a snippet of what you can see and do in winter in Paris.

Until next time,
Bisous!

Happy New Year!

Hello folks! Hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating the New Year. 2014 already! I can't believe it.

I thought today I would share with you the top 12 things that happened in 2013 (new) and then a resolution for 2014 (traditional).

12. Got to go to Disneyland Paris-not once, not twice, but three times! Yay! Such a Disney girl...

11. Blessed with family visitors and got to go see the sights in Paris with them all touristy like.

10. Saw Giverny-home of Claude Monet with my in-laws

9. Saw Edinburgh, Scotland (a place I had always dreamed of seeing) with the hubby and SIL and discovered that I actually like haggis, neeps and tatties.

8. Had a visit from my Swedish cousin whom I hadn't seen for a few years

7. Revisited a World Wonder: Le Mont St Michel with Mr K and my sister and had a fantastic time

6. Saw just how great my mother truly is: she managed to smile and enjoy herself even after the Great Espresso Incident in July. (Love you Momma!)

5. Discovered that the French love Marshmallow Fluff Fudge (made with French chocolate of course) and their rules of moderation go out the door if you bring over a plate of it.

4. Exeter, UK was America 2.0 over Thanksgiving, thanks to our friends, Mr and Mrs M.

3. Croissants and Pain au Chocolat as a Sunday morning tradition

2. Teaching Holiday English lessons and asking for the kids to tell me what a picture of an elf is in English and get, "It's a Christmas goblin" and the child who told me that then proceeded to try to have the rest of the class say it to me as well, hoping that with four against one, my mind might be persuaded. 

And, finally,

1. I got to spend the entire year making memories with my hubby.

As for a resolution? 

Well, my resolution is to fill 2014 with as much fun, joy, and laughter as possible as well as to take time to enjoy the smaller things in life.  One never knows what blessings will come our way and I refuse to miss them because I was worrying over something else!

So here's an <<adieu>> to 2013, and a <<bienvenue>> to 2014!

Until next time,

Bisous

Joyeux Noël!!!

Christmas Eve again in France. Tonight we're doing the traditional appetizer meal (tradition from the CT family) and an opening of one present (tradition from the FL family) followed by a reading from Matthew by Mr. K as we settle and snuggle under the covers before going to bed.

As for tomorrow, well, we'll be staying home and will have a lovely yummy breakfast complete with French pastries (our tradition), plus eggs and bacon (tradition from the CA family) after we open our gifts to each other.

So fun.  I love making our own traditions and combining the ones we had growing up.

But, today we're skyping with the CT family. It'll be so great to talk with them again.  It's been a while and with the training my dad has had to do, well, let's just say that pilots don't get a whole lot of free time.

Tomorrow will bring two more Skype calls: My sis, Miss K, and the CA family. Can't wait to see them either!

We're so blessed to have family all over the place. *smiles*

Anyway, now for the unveiling of our tree:

 Ta-Da!


We both wanted to be Vanna White.

Hehe.

I think Mr. K does a better job of showing it off though.

Meal preparations you ask?

Well, I've made the chocolate cake for the Bûche de Noël and it's currently in the freezer. (I didn't roll it, just made a loaf cake and will shave it and ice it later). I have a slight fear of rolling cakes...I've never attempted one yet, but my fear is it'll end up like my chocolate strudel I made one year- a HUGE messy delicious pile of crumbs.

Loaf cake it is then!

Tip: Freezing your cake before carving and icing it makes the whole process easier and less of a mess as the crumbs stay put.

And this is the first year I've decided to make my own honey glazed ham. Wish me luck! I'm going to be combining two recipes. 2kg for the two of us makes for lots and lots of yummy leftovers and new kinds of meals. I'm excited.

Voilà! our crèche (or manger scene) made of the little French Santons:

We were so happy to finally get the wise men this year!

Anyway, just a few of our holiday traditions we thought we'd share with you.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Until next time,
Bisous

A Visiting We Went

Hi all!  Been a month since my last post! Holy cow...I'm sorry.

What have we been up to, Mr. K and I, you ask?

Lots!

But, I'll try to get you caught up.

We went to Exeter, UK over Thanksgiving weekend to visit friends. It was so much fun. We took the Eurostar to London, where we changed at St. Pancras and took a taxi to Waterloo to take the South West Train Line all the way to Exeter Central.  A nice 6 hour journey and very very relaxing. Much more so to us than an airplane. Plus, who can resist trains!

London was all ready for Christmas

 However, while in London, we went to Costa for some delicious hot chocolate.

 I got the Honeycomb Hot Chocolate and Mr. K got the Black Forest Hot Chocolate. We thought the cups were too cute.

By the time we got to Exeter that Thursday evening, it had grown dark outside. Our friend, the lovely and fabulous Mrs. M took us to her house, but not before I snapped a shot of this lovely mall all decked out.

Love it! It was a real treat to see this.

 We shared a wonderful dinner with their family and had a very very nice sleep on actual pillows (not the square flat things they say are pillows in France). Again, we felt spoiled, but in a glorious way.

The next day, Mrs. M took us all over Exeter, showing us its beauty. Here are some of the best shots of this cute town.

This is a shot from a street near where they live. So British with the row houses, but it also reminds me a little of Boston

A bit of a castle wall

This is a modern art piece that has poetry written backwards
on it yet in the reflection you can read it.

The main street in town, complete with a brass band playing Christmas carols. It was great!

The courthouse dating from 80 AD. I'd say that's pretty old. 

Courthouse interior

Ah, there she is, the elusive Mrs. M! I got a shot of her and Mr K inside the courthouse.

This is one of my favorite buildings. It looks like it came right out of an Austen novel. A bit crooked but that's because I was trying to take the shot before a HUGE truck stopped in front.

An art museum. Love the brickwork!

After a morning of walking around, we stopped into a place called Ruby for some burgers and jalapeno poppers. Delish!

Look at the snowflakes!!!

I like snowflakes.  This one's for Mrs. M though. Happy snowflake, my friend!

 We were then led over to the Exe river where there is a nice path to walk along. Under the bridges, there were tons of colorful pieces of work. Apparently the schools give them free reign under the bridges and the artwork is amazing!  Real talent.

Nod to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Sometimes I feel like this too...

Look at that beautiful profile! That's done with spray paint, my friends. Gorgeous!

 We continued our walk and came to this site:

I think this shot sums up the river walk: Swans, water, buildings and bridge.

 I've never heard the loud flapping of swans on water before that day. What an cool sound!  They don't just land like ducks. They actually run across the top of the water for both landing and taking off.

Another little bridge. This time it has duckies underneath.

We continued walking along this path and passed some neat antique and boutique shops which were in old bomb shelters.

Then, the weather began to get misty, so we popped into a pub to warm up a bit before heading out again.  Good thing we did, too! It poured about two minutes later (and mind you, we did not have umbrellas with us) so we just lingered over a pint and watched the rain on the river. Good ale, good view and most importantly, good company.

Thank you Mrs. M for the photo!!!

 The rain stopped and we continued on, up the hill (Mr. K liked this one) and up to the castle wall.

A view down to the river.

 Part of the walk you get to walk on the wall, which is neat.

The wall, but we didn't walk on this part.

We walked to the main square of Exeter, but not before we saw the alleys that inspired J.K. Rowling's Diagon Alley.  I thought they were quite nice.

This looks like it could come straight from the movie (I've not read the books so I don't know)

 This is the alley that inspired the author.

Frontview:

Backview:

 This was a side alley I saw and was so taken by the flags, I had to take a picture.

After the slight detour, we made our way to the Cathedral Market.

Christmas Market in front of the Cathedral. Very nice.

 Back side.

Of course, no market is complete without an old grungy Santa.

Or two....This one, at least, looks happier.

And thus ended our tour with our fantastic friend.

(I think I may have fallen in love with Exeter.)

It's late here, so I'll have to postpone the Movember Meeting, Thanksgiving, and the Day the Camera Died to the next post. Besides, you're probably pictured out by now.

Until next time,
Bisous!