merry and bright

Please accept our happiest Christmas wishes! May your holiday be merry and bright.

Sending much love from our little family to you and yours!

To begin again

The start of a new year feels full of promise. Light, bright and exciting. Let's hope 2013 holds much adventure, prosperity and goodness.

Is there anything you are looking forward to most in this new year?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since it's the Thanksgiving holiday in the states, we're doing our part as 'Mericans to celebrate over here, too. Our poulet rôti (rotisserie chicken) from my favorite stall at the market smells delicious and is ready as a stand-in for the traditional turkey. Side dishes are prepped.  Glasses are filled and the fire is crackling.

We'll be going around the table saying reasons why we are thankful.  They are numerous. We have amazing friends and family.  We have our health. We are surrounded by love.  We have much and I am thankful that we have the ability to appreciate all that we have instead of focusing the opposite.  It's a skill that we hone here at the hibou+heron household and I am so glad that we do.  It makes our existence so much richer. I am thankful for a wonderful husband.  I am grateful for our beautiful, little boy and the wonder and joy he's brought into our lives.

I'm thankful that you read what I write and that it's enough to keep you coming back again.   Your support and readership mean so much. Thank you for that.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving or, if you don't observe the holiday, just a really great Thursday!

a parade not to be missed

At the tail end of July is the annual Fête du Village.  It's a one day celebration of the history and culture of our village. It's probably my favorite celebration. It brings the whole town together.  All the people participating dress up from the old days and there is a parade through town ending in the center square. There are folk dancers, farmers, loggers, school teachers, poker players, hay balers, carpenters and craftsmen. This year there was even an old-fashioned marriage processional. As the folkloric dancers would stop to sport a dance, our friend, D, dressed up as a ski-instructor gave demonstrations of how to put on wooden skis much to the enjoyment of the spectators.

The nanny that looks after Clover a couple days a week is greatly involved in the community and she sent me a text message a couple days before the fête. "Does Clover want to participate in the parade?" Without hesitation, I calmly responded that "Clover would like to partake in the festivities."  Not wanting to go overboard or over characters in my text message, I refrained from telling her just how excited his mother was that he would be in the parade. The word giddy is the first one that comes to mind.  Ridiculously excited.

So Clover was kitted out in an old timey outfit, little leather boots, cordoroy pants, suspenders and handknitted bonnet. The son of the nanny, looking dapper in his great grandfather's old mountain guide uniform, was absolutely adorable with Clover and took such good care of him during the parade.  They had white confetti for fake snow to throw to onlookers.   Clover was delighted. Throwing bits of paper into the air? For once it was encouraged!

Clover and his cousin rode side by side through the parade route. The little sledders happily sat for photos from parade bystanders, and lots from me, too.

I may have gone a little overboard on the photos but it was so hard not to. Clover's first parade. We loved every minute of it. Okay, I loved every minute of it. He loved about seventy-five percent which really for a toddler, that's practically one hundred and ten. Right?

There were vendors selling old-timey wares and at the center of town they had exhibits of what it was like to brew coffee back in the day, bale hale, chop wood, do your laundry with boiling pots of water and hand cranked tin drums, an old-fashioned meat smoker, of course, their was also a distillery. That one had the most people milling around it all times, they offered lots of tastings.

There was an abundance of accordion music. Numerous folk dancing groups from around the area came to show off their traditional dances on the stages set up in the square. The woman that heads up the folkloric dancing in our village recruited me to dance next year.  I've been trying to convince Félix to do it with me. I even tried to play the jealousy card. Did not even phase him.  I asked if he really wanted me to be dancing with some other man, and his response to that was that if it was folk dancing nothing would make him happier than to see me dancing with someone else.

So we got our fill of accordian music for the summer and had a great time with family and friends. Félix is already dreading that I'll ask him to be in the parade with me next year and of course, I am already a few steps ahead of him on that route.  I'm happily dreaming up what our costumes will be.

where snow meets sky

I visited Félix at work yesterday. We skied all over during the usual tour he does to make sure that things are running smoothly. I tend not to fawn over Félix too much on this blog. Just to be clear, it's not because he isn't awesome, he totally is.

 Félix, you make me the happiest girl around.  I have so much fun being by your side.  You inspire me every day.  Your hard work and your dedication to our little family makes my heart burst with pride. You are a wonderful husband, father and friend and I am so very lucky to have found you. Also, you look good in a ski helmet.

It felt so good to be out in the sunshine, skiing with my main squeeze.

It was gorgeous day on the mountain. And the views are... well, what do you think of them? I am constantly amazed by the beauty of the French Alps.

So, I guess the only question that remains is, when are you going to come over and ski with us?  Soon, I hope!

p.s. J & M, we are counting down the days!

that creepy old man

How do you feel about string puppets?  I find them entertaining but I now know that's not a universally held opinion. A couple years ago, I was on a business trip to Prague. I was looking for a cool, authentic souvenir to bring back to Félix. After casually mentioning the history of marionettes in Prague during one of our nightly phone conversations, I learned that since a young age Félix had found them to be bizarre and rather unsettling. My gaze drifted to the the hand-made, recently purchased and more expensive-than-I-care-to-admit string puppet that was sitting propped up on the hotel room chair.  I quickly changed the subject.

Just before leaving the city, I picked up a small, less-shudder-inducing souvenir and proceeded to carry the delicate and super awkwardly wrapped puppet through the airport and on the bumpy flights home as carry-on luggage.  Needless to say, the white-bearded wizard received a luke-warm welcome into our home.  But Félix graciously helped me find a spot for the small sorcerer in our front room.

And it's pretty much every guest we've ever had over the past few years that seems to share Félix's dislike for that wizard. I've gotten questions that make me laugh just thinking about them, some gems like: Do his eyes follow you around the room or is that just me? Doesn't that wizard make Clover cry? Are you going to keep that puppet there?  And my personal favorite, whoa, who's the creepy old man?

As it turns out, from a very young age Clover has found that creepy old man to be hilarious. He loves to shake the puppet's tiny porcelain hand and pretty much can't stop laughing when we make the little wizard walk around. And the great thing is that even an amateur puppeteer can make it move like it's a real human being, which is, as Félix has correctly insisted from the beginning, bizarre and unsettling, but also, as I continue to lobby, always good for a laugh.

a time of thanks

After yet  another rough night, my big plans for time in the kitchen were replaced with lots of cuddling and book-reading with the tiniest member of our family. In years past, I have made traditional Thanksgiving dinners with lots of  friends, let the day pass completely by without the slightest fanfare and everything in between. Yesterday was nice, no expectations and the feeling that whatever effort I put into this holiday would be just enough.  I'm thankful for the seasons in life, accepting the time to slow down, rolling with the punches, and even, reveling in their beauty. I'm thankful for family, near and far, for a loving, intelligent husband,  our adorable son, for health and happiness, both, ours and that of those around us.  Sending out lots of  love for the holiday! I hope you found this Thanksgiving (or if you didn't celebrate, just this regular old Thursday) to be perfectly joyful.

moving along

With the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA tomorrow, it seems like it is time to slowly say goodbye to autumn and start to embrace the arrival of winter. Here's to hoping the snow will cooperate!  I am so thankful to have had such a beautiful fall, that we could do so many fun day trips as a family and spend so much time outdoors.

playtime

In a moment of weakness while grocery shopping last week, I picked up a new toy for Clover.  I needed a ball that he could hold in his hand, wouldn't fit in his mouth and couldn't too easily destroy. Oddly enough, enter the ping pong ball. Clover spends ages putting them in his red bucket, dumping them out and starting all over again.  My husband had the great fortune of picking them up one night while I was putting Clover to bed.  Still super happy with my ingenious purchase, I asked him afterwards don't you think the ping pong balls are fun? He said, they are great but did you really need to get 18 of them? Ha, ha.  No, no I didn't, but everytime Clover pours them tumbling out of his bucket I am reminded of the sound of hundreds of ping pong balls falling onto the stage on the Captain Kangaroo show from when I was little. Do you remember that show? 

fever pitch

It seems like we are at the peak moment where the colors are so vibrant.  Little dots of fire are speckled across the hillsides. We took a stroll to Chamonix and had an amazing lunch on the Brasserie de l'M terrace. Even the vulgar service couldn't detract from the deliciousness of our meal, the Salade de l'M essentially a salade de gésiers, served with the biggest slab of foie gras and a sprinkling of rose salt. The presentation was beautiful.  And for dessert, since Clover was a little to antsy to stay on the terrace, we walked around Cham and stopped in for macarons.  A caramel au beurre salé marcaron was a perfect ending to a divine meal.  I love days like this - blissful family time, amazing food and ideal fall weather.

fall fervor

This fall, we've been going on lots of family walks to make the most of the warm sunshine, the cold, crisp air and the sweet smell of fallen leaves.  Some friends came over for an impromptu dinner party the other night. Our table was looking a little empty and it was too late to buy flowers. I opted for some leaves and collected a bunch of these autumn beauties in the dark, minutes before our guests arrived.  Recently, the winds have started to pick up and bring the colorful leaves flurrying and swirling about the street. I’m reveling in this most recent transition from toasty, sun-filled afternoons to blustery, wintry weather.  How can one not love this time of year?

appreciated

Today is Mother's day in France. A picnic in the sunshine. A little boy generous with the laughter. Pure sweetness.

among fields and meadows

A beautiful ballade in the sunshine this morning has me happy from the inside out.  Félix and I talked projects and our future.  We introduced Clover to some friendly sheep.  He greeted them with lots of smiles and baby babble.  A good start to the weekend.