Hedonism

The Fun.

The Games.

The pure joy of having an albeit temporary, live-in granny.

School starts again in the morning, but Sons#2 & 3 are awake now at 3 a.m. from the end-of-summer thunder storms that violently split the skies.

Son#3 lies prostrate like a mouse huddled under the blankets, while Son#2 gives running commentary.

Son#1 sleeps on, unawares, as only near-teenagers can.

Lucky bugger.

We'll be knackered, all of us.

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Waiting

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Goodgood

Here they are then: brothers who play and share stuff.

Miraculous.

As I write, my mother is on a plane, en route to Johannesburg.

Then on to Abbu Dhabi, final destination Amsterdam where we'll pick her up at 3 tomorrow.

We're very excited!

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Say Hello

Son#1's friend came for a sleep-over.
They stayed awake until 1 a.m. and, inadvertently, so did I.
Now Son#1, #2 and said friend have disappeared into the village and #3 is forcing me to watch Toy Story with him.

Tonight, the babysitter is coming and we're going to Antwerp.
The need for time without kids is great.
Great.
I'm going to study for a bit, sip my endless coffee supply and hope I'll wake up before our date.

The university where I teach is up and running again, and I feel this pull to start working, but I suspect it's just my normal schedule kicking in and it's not what I need now.
The fever/elevated temperature continues.
I have pain, which one gets used to to a certain extent.

The sun is shining, it's a lovely day, and we have a helluvalot of things going for us, you know?

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Agog

It's quiet.
The boys play in their respective rooms - not under duress, but because they like it.
Except for Son#3, colouring a box while I try to read.
He's busy drawing a Boxtroll, bless.

The husband is shell-shocked after the holiday.
I have appointments to make, administration to see to.
I have to start studying again.
Same old, same old.

In a week's time we'll be on our way to pick up my mom from the airport.
Something to look forward to!


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Business as Usual

It rains a lot, which doesn't boost morale if one is in need of a boost.
The poor husband has returned to work - already stressed again.
These feelings of freedom and rested bliss last but a short while.

I saw a friend whom I haven't seen for 6 years yesterday.
She felt like home.

Then this morning, a colleague dropped by, spewing information about work and changes that I couldn't quite follow.
My mind is far, far away from work.
It feels good, but it also always looms in the background.
Damn Lottery just won't come through.

Then the internal medicine specialist phoned.
She's referring me to an auto-immune specialist, but tells me they won't find anything.
She was also miffed that I saw an alternative medicine doctor, disregarding the streptococcus infection he found in a perfectly standard blood test.
If he ordered the test, then he must explain it!
Mmmm.

All the while, I'm humming Randy Crawford's One day I'll fly away in my head.
Right now, my place in this world is at home, and nowhere else.



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Back from Outer Space

It's my 41st birthday (gulp).
I got to sleep late, got drawings from the boys and flowers from the garden.

This afternoon the five of us drove to a piano shop in Breda - just to see what's on offer, but it's quite expensive, even if you can buy one on interest-free credit.
It would be lovely, though.

Then we bought sardines for the husband, wine and melanzane-ingredients for me.
The husband is enjoying a nap, the boys and I watch TV.
It's a lazy, rainy day here in the southern Nether Lands (would that then be the Nether Nether Lands??).
I'm 41, and quite tired.

Breathe.
Smile.
Repeat.


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Noblesse Oblige

We stayed up late to see the lights on Chartres' cathedral last night, and all of us feel the indulgence of that act this morning.

A short walk after breakfast this morning, a breakfast brought to our suite by no fewer than three people.
Aaaah, the good life.

But we saw the cathedral, inside and out, and it was breathtaking.
Things #1 and #2 fought on the street, bringing our snobbishness back on par with reality.
We're checking out and slowly trailing back to the Nether Lands.
The party's over.


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Once again so my mum can see

The hotel in Chartres.

Our suite's foyer (ahem).

The boys, calm and collected.

Satan, who finally fell asleep before he ruined everyone's fun (as he is wont to do).

A better bed than the one in Le Rheu.

Siiiiiiigh.

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Capital F

F for Fancy.
We are sleeping in a Fancy hotel.

It's a suite.
Our suite has a foyer.
There are bathrobes and L'Occitane bath products.
We tried not to look too impressed and come across as utter amateurs.
Son#1 carries snobbishness off like a boss, complaining beforehand that he doesn't enjoy eggs for breakfast, and he would appreciate tea as well, thankyouverymuch.

First, a nap with Son#3 who has been naughty since Rennes, saying naughty words and biting his brothers.

Later, a small dinner and looking at Chartres' cathedral.
The boys (and us) will have to stay awake until at least 10.

Tomorrow the holiday will really be over.



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A bientot, Le Rheu

Mmmmm.
We are leaving around lunch.
We came, we saw and were conquered: by landscapes, seascapes, cities and our boys.
When everyday stressors fall away, we see each other again, and that was grand.

Saint-Malo was uber-busy yesterday, but very, very impressive.

We walked the city walls, followed steps down into the city again and picked the first restaurant we saw for a last lunch.
We had fish, the boys steak.
White wine, great company.

It's been a fantastic holiday.
I think my best one yet.

Tonight, Chartres.
We're staying in a nice hotel, because it will be my 41st birthday on Saturday.
Merde.


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This it it, then

It's our last full day here.
I've been quite depressed about it, not wanting to go home.
The kids are bouncing off the walls this morning after a tough night.

We want to have fun today, so we're going to Saint-Malo.
The poor cat got locked up in the annexe last night.
Son#1 has been on the computer far too long and explodes regularly, but the boys behaved remarkably well when our friends came to visit yesterday.

I wish we could stay here forever.

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Back 'home'

Le Croisic...
What a place.
On the Cote Sauvage, and savage weather it must endure in winter, but it was oh so damn wonderful during our 2 days there.
We swam in the hotel's pool, ordered pizza which we ate in the car, looking at the sunset.
The boys only went to bed at 23h00.

Today, we walked through the old town, I bought new art, a small painting.

We ate croissants and orange juice and cheeses on the quay together with fishermen and people on boats.

Then a drive to La Baule - very jetset (read Ferraris, Bentleys everywhere), but nevertheless a lovely beach with wonderful weather.
I walked along the beach while the husband took the kids into the water.

Last stop, Guerande, where I didn't take a picture, but it was a nice surprise. 
This holiday has been a wonderful surprise from beginning to end.
Back in Le Rheu, it feels like we are truly home again.
Tomorrow, friends in the area are joining us for lunch.
Wednesday, Saint-Malo & Dinan.
Thursday, Chartres.
Then home again.
Bah humbug.



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Hard work

Despite a fever and a particularly cranky mood, I've been cleaning the holiday house like hell.

I sucked up all the cobwebs between all the beams, sucked up all the Smarties the boys dropped on, under and around the couch and the rest of the entire large house, did the laundry, bought wine and put the kids to bed.

I think our home exchange host family will think I'm a Class A Freak with my perfectionist cleaning antics.

First our house, now theirs.

But I have an anxiety in me that seems to subside in the one-step-in-front-of-the-other order that cleaning and tidying bring.

I'm turning into Martha-bleeding-Stewart.

Tomorrow, sometime during the morning, we will drive south, to Le Croisic for a night.

Mentally, I'm already preparing for our return to the Nether Lands, and all the stress that awaits us there.

I have large work, health and study issues to attack and solve, and I'm not looking forward.

But.

First, to the coast.

The rest will come as it comes, as they say in Dutch.

The seaside brings fresh air, open views and peace.

Calm and Zen.

Caaaaaaaalm and Zen. 

Mom, I miss you.


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I think I'm in Love

We had a good day, despite being tired.

First, exploring Rennes.

Then to the Thabor Parc, with pavilions, exotic plants, hothouses and play area.

Home again.

What a wonderful place this is.
I wish we could exchange lives.

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Time left & then some

There is nothing like the planetarium to put life in perspective.
We'd like to go again in the Netherlands, so we can understand everything next time.
Our French borders on non-existent-rusty.

Yesterday we made a quick trip to Becherel - a small town filled with book merchants.
It was serene, except for Son#2 who melted down within 5 minutes.

I'm not sure what today will bring.
#2 and #3 sleep ATROCIOUSLY: last night again, Son#3 woke around 3h15-ish, then #2 heard tapping against his window and no-one slept after that.
It makes it difficult and possibly unwise, to plan trips a bit further away.
The bane of all parents, the fighting in cars, prove too much for tired adults.
Tirade finished.
We wanted to go to Nantes and ride large mechanical elephants through the city, but it's too far.

My fever peaks at 38,9.
I went to bed at 18h00 yesterday, unable to stay on my feet any longer.
I have a good husband: anyone who can lovingly handle 3 boys together, is a star in my book.


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Quietude & Slow Starts

We started off with building puzzles this morning.
The husband got up and cycled with Son#1 to the town close by to buy croissants and a baguette for breakfast.

A farmer is busy collecting straw bales in the fields.
It is quiet and I don't miss my life at all.

On Sunday we'll drive to Le Croisic, a smallish town on a peninsula, and spend the night there in a hotel.
A holiday within a holiday.

But first, Rennes' planetarium this afternoon.
Coffee somewhere.
Tonight some sardines on the barbecue for the husband and the gourmand, a.k.a. Son#2.
A glass of wine.
Something to read.
I could get used to this.


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Southbound

We drove to see the oldest tree in Europe which was bulgingly big, but Son#3 misbehaved among the many bearded hippies that were paying homage to it, so Son#3 and I had to go wait in the car.

Then to La Gacilly, a pretty village made famous by the Yves Rocher legacy and a photo exhibit, which was lovely.

Further south to Rochefort en Terre, but we couldn't motivate the boys to walk through yet another town, so we opted for a dinosaur park, close to Malansac.
It was truly lovely - we learned something for a change - but it ended on a bad note when Son#1 made crap comments.
Sigh.

I bought myself a cheapo amethyst in the gift shop, for no reason other than I bloodywell wanted it.

Tomorrow we will finally go to Rennes, only 10 minutes away but oh so postponed.

In 3 weeks we'll pick my mum up at the airport in Amsterdam, and I cannot wait.



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Aaaaahhhh...

The umbilical chord that connects us to Mother Internet has been restored.

We had a quiet day: Ikea for the free WiFi, the groceries and home again for wine, Breton mussels and hamburgers for the non-mussel-loving populace.

Combine harvesters scaled the landscape all around the house, and today we saw a baler.
A machine scoops up whatever straw is left, et voila, out bounces a perfectly round straw bale.

The cat brought THREE mice today: 2 dead as doornails, 1 live and particularly cute specimen that the husband saved.
The cat seemed miffed, after having put in all that effort to 'gift' us with a rodent.
I'm sure that after the wheat harvest the mouse population is having a field day (pardon the pun) with leftover grain.

I cleaned bathrooms, somehow it lessens this restlessness I constantly have, and of course, the results are immediate which is pretty darn cool.

Tonight just brings sleep my way.
We're not sure about tomorrow.


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No connection-connection

We are at the local Ikea with its free WiFi - we seem to have screwed up the internet connection at the house.
I just paid my bills (*swallow*), but life in France is good so far.

We spent the day on the beach yesterday, at St. Luniere.
Bliss.

The boys keep fighting like feral cats, the real cat, Isis, brings a dead mouse into the house every day.
We have wine and cheese and grapes.
It feels nice and simple, this life with no internet connection.


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