Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

In England, Middlesex is a county just outside London which contains Heathrow airport, the busiest airport in the world, which just happens to be less than 15 miles from my home. When Oprah named this book for her book of the month club, I thought cool, it's a book about the airport. And then I thought better. Why would Oprah be recommending what could only be a very dull historical fact regurgitation about the rise of one of the oldest, most rundown, worst airports in the world?

I bought the book. Oprah is rarely wrong.

And she wasn't this time. Middlesex isn't about Heathrow airport. Thank God! But it is about an hermaphrodite. Oh dear!

The book starts out going back 3 generations to introduce the ancestors of the main character, Calliope Stephanides. This attempts to provide a factual scientific and understandable answer to the question of how do these things happen. There is quite a long bit in the middle about Calli's grandfather and father that I don't believe ultimately contributes to the primary of the purpose but certainly makes the book more fun to read.

I envy the development of these characters. Each one is almost but not quite a caricature, taken a step further and the book would have been unbelievable as it drifted into being a cartoon. Not not as far, the book would have been dull and superficial. The depth and the integrity of these characters made my heart ache for them. All of them. They all fought demons. An author who can show that much attention to each and every person in their book is a great author indeed.

But most fascinating was Calliope. Prior to reading this book, I had little more than a sketchy idea of what it meant to be a hermaphrodite. I didn't understand the physical or biological parts of it. I didn't understand how it happened and what the effects were. I even suspected it was not entirely a true story but more one of those urban myths that you get chain emails about.

But this book made it real without being sensational or condescending. It never handled the subject as exploitative. The book is a fascinating and sensitive introduction to the world of sexual gender. And what it means when you are a bit of both making you absolutely neither.

The narration point of view jumps around a bit. Sometimes you are Calli and sometimes you are outside looking in. All points of view of beautifully written and more than once I read and reread a passage because it just took my breath away and I wanted to be astonished again.

The ending leaves you with a lot of think about in regards to nature vs nurture, not unlike We Need To Talk About Kevin (another one of my favourite novels). but the ending is brilliant. it doesn't answer the questions but give us a way forward. Just like life.

Highly recommended! Jeffrey Eugenides last novel, The Virgin Suicides, was written about 10-15 years ago I reckon. Let's hope it doesn't take him that long to write his next one.

Blog Traffic

I knew that taking 2 weeks off blogging was going to have an impact to my site traffic. Luckily it wasn't as bad as I had feared. This month was the very first month that there was not a growth from the previous month since the blog birth. There was even a last minute surge which ensured I hit 1,000 visits this month. Spot on. Exactly 1,000. How odd is that?

I had been experiencing an average of 46 visits every day. With my blog sabbatical I saw the average visitors/day drop to 19 although that recovered fairly quickly and I ended the month back up to an average 39/day. (Who are you all?)

So all in all not as bad as I had feared but not as good as I had hoped! I would have like to have kept up my growth but 1 months in 8 ain't all that bad!

Keep visiting! Comment more! Tell me what you like and what you don't. Most of all, I hope you enjoy reading about our mundane and extraordinary adventures!

If there is anyone out there reading who would like to start their own blog but don't know where to start just let me know and I can walk you through the easy peasy steps. I'm thinking about hosting a blog masterclass at my home in September. If anyone is interested just drop me an email note.

If you aren't in the UK, ask Stephanie if you are in Colorado and Janell if you are in Nebraska. Both are proficient bloggers. If you aren't in any of those locations just go to Blogger and follow the seriously simple instructions. If I can figure it out, anybody can!

France - Episode 7

Mont St Michel has always been a source of wonder for me. I've seen numerous photos of it and it is 1 of the items listed in the book 1,000 places to see before you die. We set off fairly early for our bunch and headed south. It was a bit of a drive and you knew we were getting close as the traffic iincreased.

But the scene is breathtaking when you catch a glimpse the very first time and makes the wait worthwhile.

We parked with the million other tourists and walked towards the Mont.

We had all agreed at breakfast that La Mer Poulard would be our choice for lunch. It is restaurant that is recommended by 3 tourist guides and has won numerous awards. It has been in existence since 1888 and is considered one of the best restaurants in all of France. And it is not expensive!

I thought I had made myself perfectly clear that this is what we were doing. This was the one and only thing that was not a topic of discussion during our entire holiday. Oh, but not everyone understood this!

As we walked into the walls of the Mont the restaurant stood on our right and I pointed out to Sean that this was where we were eating. He said no, he preferred to go further into the town. I stood there gobsmacked. Not wanting to rock the boat and create tension I just went along with it. We ended up passing all the restaurants on the ascent up the hill and had to come partly down to go to the last one we passed.

Don't get me wrong. We had a brilliant meal of lobster at Les Terassess Poulard. They had goodie bags for the children (which oddly they delivered at the end of the meal). I had oysters, prawns and the cockles thingies (that I won't ever order again if I can avoid it).

It was a good thing we ate so much. We began the brutal assault climbing the steps up to the top. Even little Lottie did it although it was touch and go at the beginning. The children had a blast running around this ancient building and going through all the various rooms. The architecture is spectacular.

I was a bit put off by my vertigo which I discovered when I lived in Germany. Going up and down spiral staircases (especially really old ones) sends frightens the heck out of me. I now had responsibility for getting Abigail down a spiral staircase and I was frozen in space and time. Abigail looked up at me and asked if I needed her help. I could have died!

The climb down was easy as most of the tourist had made a run for it. You have to vacate your vehicle from the car park before high tide or the cars go under! This mass exodus made for a frustrating departure hindered by the inefficiencies of the French gendarme (police). It took quite a while to get home but we managed.

That evening I taught Sean & Helen (again) how to play Farco. This is a dice game that is played addictively in my family. At their request I've written up the instructions and point scoring and will publish the post shortly. Oddly, Helen took forever to get on the board. Everyone else was well on their way to finishing before she managed it. and then she won. How did she do that? Was she cheating at Farco as well? Can you cheat at Farco? At this point, I was wondering if we should play any more games with Helen!

By the way I took way too many photos to include here. I have now managed to load all of our pics on to Flickr. Clicking this link will take you directly to the photo set. Feel free to leave comments!

France - Episode 6

It was a late start to the morning and we had a big breakfast. Then off to Bayeux to see the world famous tapestry.

It didn't start off very well. The skies were dark and the air was damp (again). Just finding the place was difficult. The sign for the parking led us on a wild goose chase and a parking lot miles from the museum which meant we had to walk through all the tourist traps.

There were no signs to the museum and when we asked for directions we were given a route which was very circuitous when we later realised we just needed to cross the road and walk straight on.

The museum itself was not child friendly. All the exhibits were high so the children couldn't see anything. Then we were herded into a cinema to watch a documentary film. Thank goodness it was only 15 minutes long or we really would have had a little people meltdown.

But then the real trouble set in. Given the age of our traveling companions we had to stop at the toilets which meant we were the last ones to join the queue to see the actual tapestry. We waited in the queue for 90 minutes. On numerous occasions Helen and I threatened to just walk out. There was nothing for the children to do and they were bored stiff.

When we got to the front of the queue we were given little handsets with an audio tour. the children were given a separate audio targeted specifically for them. At first glance this appears to be a great idea. In reality we realised that the children's tour went at a different pace than the adult tour so whilst the adults were at partition 17, the children were on partition 14. Not so good!

The younger children lost attention halfway through although the girls, Lottie & Abby just pretended they were telephones and had a great time. Seb listened to every word.

And if you could get past all the bad things the work is really remarkable. Stitched in the 11th century it was meant to be used like a propaganda tool to communicate to a largely illiterate population and inform them about the Story of William the Conqueror and the activities of 1066, specifically the Battle of Hastings. It was an effort to win the hearts and minds of the general population. The detail is remarkable and the condition of the fabric is astounding although you can see the minor repairs here and there. Not bad for an embroidered cloth almost 1000 years old! My embroidery was never this good.....

Lunch was chaos and was an example of the French rudeness. I know lots of people complain that the French are rude but I have to say those occasions for me have been few and far between. I've had more German rude to me than French. but when the French are rude, they are spectacularly rude. We were rushing for the 2 pm cutoff (again) and found a cafe. The only seating for 8 was outdoors which wasn't ideal because it was grey and chilly but we sat down.

Then it started to rain. We tried to get under cover of the canopy. We tried to move indoors. and then the waitress took away our menus and refused to speak to us. She went out to the back of the restaurant and ignored us. She wouldn't return. Well, Helen and I had had enough. We left which is obviously what the waitress had been hoping for!

We ended up at a corner cafe. Got Croque Monsieurs for everyone, sat the children on high stools and the adults stood under the canopies eating the lunch in the pouring rain. We were wet and cold. Oddly, only the adults were complaining. The children took it in stride!

In hindsight, this makes me laugh But at the time, we were so frustrated I wanted to just fly home!

On the way home we decided to do some Calvados, Cidre (apple alcoholic) & Pommeau tasting. Well, Helen & I did - the men were driving! We headed back towards the beaches of Normandy where we had seen loads of places.

At the first stop, we tried some Calvados. it nearly killed all ofus and we decided that would be the first and last time we ever tried that!

The next place we went to was a real find. In a farm courtyard there was a local produce market. They sold all the local delicacies including tripe, snails, foie gras, oysters, fresh strawberries, vegetables, cheese and of course, pommeau & cidre. We passed on a couple things but after tasting the pommeau & cidre bought some of that as well as some cheese and strawberries. We would have bought some oysters but we didn't have an oyster knife back at the gite so we passed.

The funniest part was watching Marc try to buy cheese in French. He always gets a wee bit embarrassed but after a bit of encouragement he spoke up and managed to buy 3 delicious cheeses!

That evening we all went out for dinner in La Haye du Puits at La Rose des Verts. This was a bit of a mess in that the children were served and finished with their meals long before the adult had even received their main course. We were saved by the ice cream!

The evening passed with more wine, cheese and crudely named card games. Helen won again! Darn it!

Unfulfilled Dream

I believe this completes the final answer to the list of questions I posed in a previous post. The question was now that you are beyond 40 what is a dream you feel will never be fulfilled?

It was September 2000, Marc and I were making plans to chuck in our jobs and travel the world for a year or so. We were saving money like mad. We were planning on leaving in June 2001.

On October 9, 2000 we found out we were having a baby instead. We used the money we saved to buy a house.

Even though I've traveled a lot, I've only experienced a fraction of the world. And Marc even less. I want to see more. So much more. I'm desperate to see Africa, South America and China. The list goes on and on. Marc has seen even less of the world than I. And he loves to travel as much as I do.

We've got other priorities for our money right now. Not sure I'll ever visit China. Bummer!

Oh, and I wanted to wear a bikini after having children. Never gonna happen!

France - Episode 5

I have always wanted to see the beaches of Normandy, France and pay my respect and give my thanks to all those mothers, daughters, wives and sister who gave their sons, fathers, husbands and brothers to the cause. I learned by reading and television and films that these beaches were hard fought and I could only imagine what it must have been like.

Our first stop was at the German War Memorial. These were enemies but also sons, fathers, husbands and brothers who similarly fought and fell. Just for the wrong side. They were still loved. And still missed. Our visit was made all the more necessary when Sebastian asked where we were going and I told him. He replied "But they were Germans." Already his sharp little mind had formed a prejudice. I explained to him that during a war there are always at least 2 sides. One side will be the victor and one side will be defeated but they all are human beings who had someone who loved them at home and they deserve to be recognised as fallen. What they did was wrong. But I felt it was important to see that war is bad all round. The graves of the unknown soldiers are marked "Ein Deutscher Soldat" - One German Soldier.

We then headed for Omaha Beach. We had a slight misstep with the sat nav when it took us beyond where the street signs were instructing us to depart the motorway only to discover that the road layout had been changed dramatically since the sat nav map was updated and we had to come back on ourselves quite a bit.

This meant that we were running up against that French lunch hour thingy. You gotta eat between 12 and 2 pm or you just don't eat. So we stopped off at Arromanche which I must say wasn't in the list of top 10 things to see but food trumps sight seeing every time.

It proved to be quite an educational stop. Arromanche was 1 of 2 ports erected immediately following the D-Day landings to bring supplies to the troops. It was made of 146 cement caissons towed across the channel from England. through this port passed 2.5 million men, 4 million tons of equipment and 500,000 vehicles. It helped cement (no pun intended) just how big the invasion was.

After suitably admiring what is left of the port we stopped off for our lunch at what can only be described as the French version of Denny's. I had mussels with creme/white wine sauce & chips. The children and Marc had croque monsieurs and ham and chips. Abby stayed true to form and ate just her chips. Seb loved the ham!

We then carried on with our original plan and headed off to the American Military Museum at Omaha Beach. The drive was fascinating as one imagined these roads being marched by the troops and the villages being freed by the Allies.

The museum was brilliant. Poignant and sad but also demonstrated the bravery and courage using films and artifacts of real people some who lived to tell the tales and others who died on the battlefields. The artifacts included ration kits, shovels, helmets, field phones. This made it all very real, especially for Sebastian who had just studied WW2 at school last year.

My favourite part was the beautiful infinity pool that looked out over the beaches and met the sea. Omaha Beach is a gorgeous sandy expanse upon which you cannot simply imagine the death and destruction. That is, until you enter the cemetery.

There you are confronted with the graves of 9,386 American soldiers. 14,000 soldiers have been repatriated to the USA since the museum was built. Sebastian stopped in his tracks as he gazed out over the white crosses and stars of David. he asked me if these were the soldiers that died in the War. I explained it was only some of them and that many many more had died. He sat down and cried.

We sat and talked a bit about war and why it is bad and how it should always be avoided but that these men who had fallen were doing the right thing, their duty and that sometimes war is a necessary evil. He then explained to me that there must surely have been another way. I hope he carries that view throughout his life.

After spending a bit of time wondering around the cemetery and the various monuments we headed off to play and fly kites on Omaha Beach which would be strange if it wasn't such a glorious beach. The weather was lovely and sunny. Abigail immediately headed off to the waves as Marc and Seb got out the kites. It was a great couple of hours.

We headed back to the gite (after a fun stop at the fresh fruit & vegetable stand) where we met up with Sean & Helen who had left the museum early (but went and played on Omaha Beach as well). We had a BBQ and the children went for a swim.

The adults stayed up well into the night playing a rudely named card game taught to us by Helen. She won every game and it appeared the rules kept changing. But we did have quite a bit of wine to drink so who knows. Another night of laughs!

Lung Capacity

I've been fighting a cough for about 1 month now. I just thought it was originally related to the stress of work and needing a holiday. Whilst on holiday rather than get better, I've gotten worse and also infected my husband. Two days ago Marc got fed up with coughing his lungs up all day long for the last 2 weeks and went to the walk in centre at Upton Hospital. They became concerned when is oxygen capacity was nearly less than half what is should be and promptly prescribed steroid pills, antibiotics, and an inhaler.

He then described to them my symptoms and they said I needed to be cared for immediately. They called the other hospital (Heatherwood) and made an out of hours appt for 7:15 that evening. I went straight from work (yes, I know it sounds odd that I was working late but I did have 283 unread emails upon my return to work - blah blah blah).

We were seen immediately. No waiting - never had that happen with the NHS before (except when I broke my leg & had a miscarriage). The doctor diagnosed me exactly the same as Marc and prescribed exactly the same medication. The steroids give me the shakes and keep me awake at night. The antibiotics are giving me indigestion. I'm not convinced I'm using the inhaler properly but I think I'm getting better at it.

We are now on the mend but for some reason I feel worse today that I have for weeks. I suppose the combination of work and illness is more draining than work and holiday. I've slept the afternoon away and feel marginally better than I did at midday.

Bear with me whilst I look after my health and veg out for a while!

France - Episode 4

The Millichamp family takes quite a different approach to holidays than the Clare-Panton family. They love to go somewhere and relax. I tend to take a more go go go approach. These 2 different approaches actually compliment each other rather well. We found this out a few years ago when we all went on holiday together to the Dordogne in France. One day of relaxing, sitting by the pool and doing a whole lot of nothing was balanced by the next day of tourist activity to the nearest sight (like going to St Emillion for wine tassting) or seeing the ancient cave paintings at Grotte de Font-de-Gaume (which, by the way, if you haven't seen, you must).

This was easy to do when we had 2 weeks to fit everything in. However, we had booked just a 7 days of holiday and 2 of those were to be spent travelling so we knew we would have to take a different approach. Plus Lottie has been born since then (Helen was pregnant with her during our last holiday) and the children are older. How does that happen?

Also, last time we stayed in one huge villa whereas this time (due to our late booking) we were staying in 2 villas across from each other. Not a million miles but still not the same as in the same house. Sean found the 2 differnt kitchens really uncomfortable and irritating. Of course, Helen and I just coped. I hadn't really scoped out what we were going to do which day but I knew there were a couple of must see things.

Also, the weather wasn't brilliant. Every single minute of every single day we were in France, the skies threatened to open up and dump on us. It was nippy in the air. I had packed for HOT summer August in France weather. I had one cardigan. Abigail had one cardigan. Seb had a sweatshirt. Marc had none, nada, sip, zilch! I had one pair of trousers. Abigail had one pair of cropped trousers. We were cold the entire trip.

After a leisurely breakfast of fresh croissants and pain au chocolat picked up at the local bakery and eaten at the table outside our gite that very morning, Helen and I spent the first morning in the supermarket planning our meals for the week. There are few things I enjoy more than a leaisurely stroll through a French supermarket. Oh, I just swoon over the cheeses and the fish and the wine and the breads and the vegetables and everything else! Whilst in the Dordogne I had taught everyone had to make and eat artichokes. You can get the best artichokes in France and this trip didn't let us down either!

Once we returned home and unpacked our shopping we decided that since this was the first day and we were all tired from all the travelling we would keep the day's activities simple. We packed ourselves all up ready for the Beach and headed off to the plage (beach) at St Germain-sur-Ay which we had been assured by our host was the closest and best local beach.

Just as we arrived after a short 10 minute journey, the rains began to fall. Heavily. So we headed back home and decided to regroup.

Helen spotted a Chateau on the map that was near our gite so off we went. We pulled up in Pirou to where the sat nav had led us and looked at each other a bit bemused and perplexed. What we could see looked more like an old church rather than a Chateau.

We followed the path around the side of the church and the Chateau ruins appeared before us. Chateau de Gratot in Pirou was built in 1250 and had been modified over the following 500 years. It belonged to the D'Argonge family. In the 19th century it fell into disrepair and the French histroical society is working hard to restore it. the hcildren particulary enjoyed the Fairy Tower and all that implies. It was an enchanting experience.

We then headed off to Coutances to visit the magnificent Cathedral. I am now going to link to the Wikipedia article about the Coutances cathedral because I actaully wrote this Wikipedia article and it would be pointless to write it all again here and I want to show off just a little bit my burgeoining Wikipedia skills. (Please Note: this is my first Wikipedia contribution).

All the children race around the cathedral and departed quickly to head for some promised drinks at the cafe in the square. Except for Sebastian. Who painstakingly hauled Marc and I down every Nave into every Chapel, looking at every stained glass window. We even stopped and lit a candle in remembrance of Nanny. He solemnly stood and said his own private prayer. he noticed so many details I would have missed.

Before heading home we stopped at the local cafe in the square for a cup of cafe au lait (for the adults) and jus de pomme (apple juice) for the children.

Dinner was a BBQ in the courtyard of our gite! Perfect!

It's About the People

I have mentioned previously that I am a subscriber to O Magazine. I pay a small fortune to have that magazine sent to me here in the UK. And I read it cover to cover every month. I read an article in there last month that I just have to tell you about.

Elizabeth Edwards is the wife of US Democratic President candidate John Edwards. She is currently fighting the return of cancer that first hit her immediately following the end of the 2004 US Presidential race when her husband was the Vice President candidate on the ballot with John Kerry.

She fought hard then and she is fighting hard now. She and her husband have made the decision to carry on running in the election. She considers it her life's work.

But this isn't the first or even second tragedy to strike the Edward family. Their 16 year old son, Wade, was killed in a car accident. Elizabeth admits that her world fell apart. It would, wouldn't it? Her faith was in tatters and she was rudderless for some time.

But through it all, Elizabeth has learned so much and one of the words of advice that she left me with and that I am practicing every day since I read the article, it that it's all about the people.

She finds it reprehensible that one of the mottos of America is "He who dies with the most toys wins." She insists that it's not what we have but the connections with people and our impact on the community in which we live that will be our legacy when we are gone.

She encourages people to know people. Find out the name of the person who serves you lunch. Who delivers your post. The security guard in your office. Connect with them. Say hello. Be polite. Ask about their lives. This could change a life.

Yesterday, I found out that the man who always serves me lunch is named Robert. He's served me lunch several times a week for the last year or so. You should have seen his face when I asked his name. Shocked, disarmed, and then pleased. I asked him if he had had a nice weekend. He said he did.

And then he served another person their lunch. With a smile on his face a bit bigger than it normally was. I wonder if he had a good day yesterday. I shall find out today.

Must find out what that security guard's name is. He is always so kind. I must tell him.

It's all about the people.

Death of a Colleague

Yesterday, Anne Mordey was laid to rest. She died the morning of 14 August after being diagnosed with cancer just a short time ago.

Anne had been a colleague of mine for nearly 3 years. She was one of VERY few women in the upper echelons of IS management. In the few meetings I have when there is another woman present it tended to be Anne, particularly when I was working in the Service Delivery division of my company. The boys over there tend to be tin and wire nerds that get twitter patted by talk of storage capacity and backup scheduling. I fall asleep during these discussions. Anne would wake me up.

She inspired me to achieve. She was a sharp as a tack and cantankerous to boot. She was unassuming but didn't suffer fools gladly. And she never made you feel like a fool if you didn't know. Only if you didn't try.

She was young, a mere 54, looking at enjoying sailing with her husband in the second half of her life she had worked so hard to enjoy.

I spoke to her quickly passing between our buildings a few months ago. I was in a rush and her mobile was ringing. She said something funny. I laughed and said I'd chat to her later and ran off. The next week she went off sick.

She will be missed. But her memory will continue to inspire.

No Noise

My husband and I spent the day relaxing and tidying after 2 solid weeks of holiday mach 10 hair on fire activity! The house was sooooo quiet. Things stayed put where you put them and rooms that you had previously tidied, stayed tidied. They didn't suddenly morph into disaster zones whilst you went upstairs to change the bed linens. Amazing.

We then went out to dinner last night. (Wagamama's in Windsor - one of our favs!) We talked. To each other. For 3 whole hours without a single interruption. Except the waiter. Which doesn't count because he brings you things! I love talking with my husband.

We came home. We went to bed without putting little ones on the loo. And I forgot to set my alarm which I don't normally need because I have 2 small children who wake at the crack of dawn. Oooops - gotta get to work!

Being A Woman

What's the best part of being a woman?

This didn't even take me 2 seconds to think about. The best thing by miles about being a woman is having a body that is capable of growing another perfect little human being. I remember being pregnant and just amazed at myself for how incredibly cool it was to feel this little being growing inside of me.

They ate what I ate, drank what I drank, felt my moods and my increased heart rate. And then they came out of me perfectly formed little human beings. With their own thoughts. Their own minds. And it was the strangest feeling. Ever! I had procreated. Done my bit for mankind. Done what I was sent here to do.

The worst thing about being a woman is panty hose (tights) and bras. I hate them both and avoid wearing the former at every opportunity. I have to wear the latter when I leave the house but only when I leave the house!

The Process

Just so y'all know what is going on here with the blogging:

I've kept copious notes during our travels and am trying to get them transcribed into posts (complete with photos) that make sense as well as entertain and inform. Bear with me as I go through 14 days worth of travel notes and share our family's fun with you.

France - Episode 3

Our villas were very nice. There were 3 buildings: the main house, the Owl cottage (which had wheelchair access, and the Chestnut cottage which we stayed in. The other half of our cottage was another cottage which slept 8 and had another English family staying in it. The place is owned by Dia & Sue, a Scottish couple.

The main house was covered in ivy and was absolutely beautiful. Both of our cottages had 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom.

Upon arrival the first thing we did was take a swim. the pool was above ground quite a ways so we couldn't leave the children alone because they kept wanting to get up on the edge and it was a rather long fall off the side. The water was cold when you first got in but you warmed up pretty quickly.

We dried off, warmed up, unpacked, and went into Periers (a small town 6 kilometers away) for dinner at a place called Les Snekkja, a local restaurant. Didn't look like much from the outside but we had a fabulous meal. The children ate galettes (whole meal crepes) filled with cheese and ham, although we ordered just cheese filling. Seb ate for England but Abigail started a habit of the trip and just ate the frites (french fries).

Helen, Sean, Marc and I had a salade has a starter which was divine. I had tagliatelle with smoked salmon, mushrooms and cream which was delicious. Marc & Helen split a goat cheese tart and a pork steak with pepper sauce between them. Sean had a beef steak which he said was a bit tough. The rest of us were in culinary heaven. Dessert were crepes all round with cream, chocolate & ice cream.

This was simple French food. It was fresh and delicious.

I have to say at this point that Helen was having a serious life changing moment during this holiday. As long as I have known Helen (over 8 years now), she has not been able to smell. At all. Which is very strange to me. I'm a very smelly person. No, i don't smell badly. I just smell everything. I love lotions & potions that smell great. I love perfumes and the smell of food cooking. I've often asked her if this didn't also affect her sense of taste. She has always denied that it hasn't.

A few days before we went away Helen at last saw a ear, nose & throat specialist after living with this plugged up sinuses condition fro 35 years. He prescribed some steroids and nose drops and her life has changed. The first few days of our holiday she walked around telling us everything she smelled. And then it dawned on her she did have a diminished sense of taste. And what a wonderful place to be when you get it all back.

Helen was overwhelmed at the smells of the French supermarket. I mean, the smell of the cheeses can really knock a person over even when you are accustomed to it. But to smell it for the very first time. I thought she was going to have a seizure.

We stayed up late both Saturday and Sunday nights sitting out in the nippy weather to catch the Perseid meteor shower. When we saw our first shooting star Sean exclaimed that this was probably the very first time that he had ever seen a shooting star. And was a great shower it was. Some of the meteors were very bright and left long trails streaking across the dark night sky. There were no clouds and no moon so it was excellent viewing conditions.

We finished off 5 bottles of wine, had cricks in our necks from looking upwards and were frozen to the bone but both nights were fabulous times spent with fabulous friends filled with laughter!

Other People's Memories

Dropped Sebastian & Abigail off at their Granny's house (Marc's mum) down on the Isle of Wight yesterday. The house is like a ghost town with no interruptions or noise. Which is good and bad in equal measure.

Have been going through the stacks of laundry, post and email trying to sort out everything that builds up whilst you are away for several weeks.

Found an email sent to me by Pam who is a cousin of mine on my father's side of the family. She has been working very hard to get our family tree on www.geni.com to be the best and the biggest. It has been great to reconnect with her over the last couple months.

Pam's email was a memory of me when I was young that she had. Specifically it was a memory of my bedroom furniture:

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you about a flashback memory I had about you the other day...I remember visiting you at your house in Colo. and going up to your bedroom. I think my jaw dropped and my eyes popped out of my head when I laid eyes on your beautiful canopy bed ! I had never known anyone with one before and I was so sure that you must be a princess ! I was soooooooooooooo envious ! (Does that make me sound like a hick from Nebraska or what ?! ) And if I remember correctly, your bedroom and/or bedspread was purple/lavender. Is that right?

I found this so fascinating on a number of levels. I hadn't really thought that my bed would ever cause that reaction in anyone else. I loved that bed. My grandmother, Tressie (my mom's mom) had bought it for me along with matching bureaus and desks. The bedspread wasn't lavender but white and the carpeting was a pale blue. The wallpaper had blue and green daisy flowers in vertical stripes. I had the corner room with 2 windows one overlooking the back garden and the other the neighbours house. I could look directly into the neighbour boy's room.

But for Pam to remember this. And to remember her reaction? After all these years? It made me laugh. And it made me remember to be thankful for the childhood I had. I'd never thought of myself as a princess! But I must have been.

PS Pam is a redneck from Nebraska! But so am I!

Sex Offender Locator

For those readers in the USA, check out this site which allows you to type in your address and it tells you where all the registered sex offenders are in your area. It's easy and free.

Home Sweet Home

We have arrived home safe and sound from our camping adventures. We were thrilled to experience beautiful British seaside weather aside from the first evening which was VERY windy. The remainder of our time was bathed in glorious sunshine. The beaches were great. The children had a brilliant time and loved camping! Stay tuned for details of our adventures.

Camping

And we are off on the second leg of our holiday. We are headed off to Cornwall (the western sticky outy bit at the bottom of the island, bottom left if you're looking at a map - for the non-British readers) for the wee. CAMPING! Marc is still out in the garage cursing trying to fit everything into the car and has now decided that we need a fleet of trucks to carry our camping gear!

We got Bailey back yesterday and we are very happy to have him home.

It is still raining. Please send some sunshine our way. Camping in the rain with 2 children and 1 dog doesn't exactly sound so appealing now.

Not sure if I will be able to blog but again seriously doubt it. Enjoy your time off from me!

France - Episode 2

Found our way out of Calais without any problems (thanks again to the sat nav). And off we set at a lightening pace to drove west across the breadth of France.

Ah, but not so fast! We are traveling with 4 children. Abigail got her hair caught in the Velcro on Sebastian baseball cap and we couldn't undo whilst moving. Marc pulled the car over and just yanked. Ouch!

The French do build bridges. Much like the Swiss build tunnels. We went over several on our journey, the most notable one being the Pont du Normandie. It is huge and rises quite a bit. I had a mild anxiety attack as we started our ascent thinking about the bridge that just collapsed in Minneapolis. Oh, please, tell me they invested appropriate funds to build this bridge!

Our first stop for fuel was a bit odd. It was nothing more than a pump on its own. The children needed a toilet and we needed diesel so we got back on the motorway. The next stop for fuel demonstrated why I was not so keen on a France holiday in August.

Every French person goes on holiday in August. The queue at the petrol station had 10 queues of 8 cars each. There was a French woman at the front conducting the traffic in and out of the station.

Once gassed up, we went on for a bit and at our midway point we stopped for a quick picnic. The children played and ran off some energy. Then came toilet time. The French have never been known for their ability to conquer something as fundamental as toilet sanitation and this trip just proved that they still have a long way to go.

I took Abigail off to the little building marked toilet. I opened the door and there was a hole in the ground with two places to put your feet on either side. And no toilet paper (loo roll) at all! Not even on offer. Seems it plugs up the plumbing!

Abigail freaked out. She started shaking her head and wagging her finger saying "No, no, no, no!" At which point I decided I needed to set a good example here or this was going to be a long trip. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in France, pee over holes and don't wipe. Once I showed her what to do, she was up for it. I removed her little panties, she held her dress up and I dangled her over the hole. I am soooo grateful I dressed her in a dress. Poor little Lottie refused completely and decided holding it for all eternity was a better option.

Back on the road, there were queues at every toll booth (payage) which was VERY frustrating. just as we would get a rhythm going, we'd be stopped dead in our tracks. You would think the French would figure out a better way to do this! It seems they used the toilet engineer rather than the bridge engineer to design the motorway system.

We had trouble finding the last little bit of our way to the villa as the sat nav couldn't figure it out. Eventually, we found it! We reached our final destination around 5:30 pm local time (1 hour more than Greenwich Mean Time-London) which amounted to just under 10 hours door to door.

France - Episode 1

August 11 was our very own D-Day, Departure Day. The day before we had seen Bailey off to the dog sitter. We have arranged a service that takes the dog to other people's home. The home typically has another dog and the one we picked also has children. We hope he had lots of fun whilst we were gone. We get him delivered back to us today. The thought didn't stop me from shedding a few tears when he went on his very own holiday without us.

We set off at 7:07 am which was about 37 minutes later than the plan. I was very worried we weren't going to make the ferry on time. According to the sat nav we had a 2 hours journey ahead of us and the ferry was due to leave at 9:20. We were scheduled to meet the Millichamp family (our travelling companion family) on 8:45 and they had our tickets.

The expert driving of my husband and the early Saturday morning hour allowed us to make up some significant time on the motorway. We exchanged text messages on the very last best with Helen identifying where they were in relation to where we were to find they were just behind us. I love technology!

We arrived at the ferry port at 8:32 am in plenty of time. I have never taken a ferry from Dover so it was the first time I had ever seen the white cliffs of Dover! Stunning.

The ferry was fully booked. Finding a table for 8 on a crowded ferry is no small feat. The men were sent to rustle up breakfast and Helen & I secured a table with 4 VERY excited children bouncing off the walls.

Upon their return, we are not entirely sure who the men thought they were buying breakfast for. There appeared to be a shortage of food and my guess is the men forgot to buy breakfast for their wives. Didn't matter.....I had my coffee and the children were suitably nourished.

After breakfast we sat up on deck as we approached the shores of France. It was a good beginning!