Rain, rain, SO happy to see you!

The rain has come and with it the snow has gone! Woooo!!! Managed to leave the house for the first time since Tuesday. It's pouring buckets but I've never been so happy to see it rain :)

Morning sunrise

I had a dream last night that it rained and all the snow melted away - alas it snowed more! My car is buried in 45cm of snow and MG was able to catch a ride to work. It is amazingly beautiful so I'll go outside this afternoon for more pictures but I am so ready for it to melt! At least these last few days have given me all the time in the world to surf and get my Christmas presents ready :)

snow day

I called in yesterday, the main road into Caen wasn't even clear or advisable according to the radio. I sure am glad I stayed home! It snowed alllll day, with a bit of sun mid-afternoon and then MORE snow! MG could barely get home, he left his car at the end of the driveway. Then last night even MORE snow again and we are totally stuck. MG is getting a shovel to try and dig his car out and put our 1 pair of chains on it to get to work. I'm going to call in again, it's just not worth it to fight my way to work (118km each way) only to turn around and fight it home again.
I had asked my manager and she said that if we are snowed in and out of days off for this year we can take them from next year which is good, I would hate to think I'm not only stuck here but loosing money from my paycheck!
Snowdays are fun but not being able to go out and enjoy a day off cause the car is stuck in the driveway isn't as fun. Oh well, lots to do around the house that I had been putting off... !

winter wonderland

Winter has come early to Normandy! (and the rest of France according to Facebook) On Thursday there was heavy hail and then it snowed all afternoon, about 3inches. You can imagine the panic and people all jumped in their cars to try and get home. It took me 45 minutes to drive 1.8km because there was bumper to bumper traffic and then the snow and the ice had people slipping all over the place. Made it home because the snow was totally aimed at Caen and as soon as I got out of the city it was dry and perfect road conditions t he rest of the way home.
Friday the sun came out and melted some of the snow so I was able to drive into Caen after work to partake in our annual Thanksgiving dinner!

The lovely Sarah came in from Paris and then came home with me afterwards for a relaxing weekend in Normandy. Little did she know snow was on the menu!

Yesterday it snowed all morning but fortunatly melted away in the afternoon so we were able to escape and drive up to get some groceries - 25km away by Cherbourg they had over 6 inches of snow!!!

And this morning we woke up to a lovely hard frost that you see in the picture, the cows munching away and their breath steaming. Hopefully we won't have any more snow! It is beautiful but when you live out in the middle of nowhere like we do it makes life really difficult!

Snow!!! 5-7cm!

England picture

Stonehenge February 2009

England Day 3

Our last day in England was a long one! We woke up to a few snowflakes falling which motivated us to get out and see the slights and get onto the main road just in case it started falling heavier - we didn't want to get snowed in somewhere and miss our ferry! So we drove to the next down over, Tintagel the legend- wait for it -dary birthplace of King Arthur and walked around. It was raining just a little bit as we walked down to the castle ruins but we got some good views of the rugged coast and marveled at how the would have built a castle perched on those rocks... We continued our little hike up to the old stone church and then back down into the village. It was quite touristy but being a Sunday in February most of the little kitchy shops were closed up. We decided to visit the King Arthur's Great Halls but we had to wait 40 minutes for them to open so we went down to a pub to get a tea and warm up. The visit was very well done, really impressive and apparently the modern building is used in different films and tv shows to represent King Arthur's court.

We didn't get to spend long in Cornwall, but it would be a lovely place to visit in the summer, you can really feel the Celtic roots in the town names and landscape, it really is sauvage out there. But we wanted to escape any risk of snow so we made our way back to Exeter to search out the mysterious Apple store. We finally found it and Mystery Guest went in to drool while I made a beeline for the Gap store and its big sale sign ;-)

I've been looking for new jeans since the beginning of the sales and have yet to find a pair in France that fits me! So frustrating! I did find a pair at the Gap that I liked and the price really wasn't bad with the weak pound so I grabbed a pair! Yea! Mission accomplished. I picked up Mystery Guest (Appless, sadly) and we stopped in a grocery store to pick up some cheddar before heading out. Big hunks of delicious mature (sharp) Cheddar, 2 for about 8 pounds. Considering we pay about 15e a kilo in the supermarket I'm fairly sure we got a good deal. Anyway yummy!

We drove out of Exeter along to the coast via Exmouth but the weather was terrible, very windy and rainy so we saw the beautiful seaside towns from the car. Neither of us had the courage to venture outside!

It was only 4:00pm by the time we got to Poole and the ferry wouldn't board before 10pm... I would have liked to see what Poole's port looked like but it was just too nasty out. In the guidebook they talked about a shopping/bowling/cinema complex outside of town so we went there. We killed some time with a movie (He's just not that into you) which was actually very well written. It was the only showing that would work with our schedule but both of us really liked it. Then we looked around for dinner. When we stepped out of the theater I felt like I was back in America, hearing American English (without subtitles) for 2 hours and then seeing TGI Friday's, KFC and other American chains I had to remind myself that no, this was not Kansas toto! Mystery Guest and I decided for a Mexican restaurant where I got my fix of a delish quesadilla with guac, sour cream and spicy salsa. I also got a side of refried beans... I was in heaven! (side note, anyone know how to make refried beans? I'd love to try to recreate those at home... can't be that hard, Mystery Guest said it tasted like Cassoulet..)

We ducked in a little casino and bet away about 40p in small change.. I think we won back about 12 or 14p... haha.

Then we caught the ferry, paid extra for a cabin because of the exhaustion of the day and arrived early this morning at 6am in Cherbourg!

It was such a great weekend getaway, so glad we were "forced" to go because of our non refundable tickets :-)

England Day 2

Day 2 we woke up early after a fantastic night's sleep! I haven't slept that hard in a long time, it was wonderful! We went down for breakfast at 9 and our Littlewell b&b hosts were just so sweet and friendly. They filled us up with a traditional English breakfast which was the best I had on the trip, it was fried but not overly greasy and the sausage was local and so yummy! I would highly recommend this b&b, it was absolutely enchanting and a great deal!

Then we drove into Glastonbury and got some information about local sites from the tourist office. We parked just outside of downtown and then visited the Chalice well before walking up the snowy and icy hill to the Tor. We were so lucky with the weather, it had warmed up just a little, the roads were clear and it was bright and sunny all day! Couldn't have asked for better weather for taking pictures and enjoying the fresh air.

In the afternoon we went to the Abbey ruins which is supposed to be the site of the first Christian church in England and where King Arthur was buried. Afterwards we drove off to the Cheddar Gorge and back down and through to Exeter.

In Exeter we wanted to try to find the Apple store for Mystery Guest's brother who wanted a good deal on an ipod touch but stores in the UK close so freakin' early that we missed it and so decided to continue on to Cornwall. We found a pretty good b&b (but not as good as the first one! it was just too hard to beat!) and had a great pub dinner - yummy fish & chips!

By the way, one thing that we couldn't figure out on the trip were the "Free Houses" that we kept seeing, is it really Free?

English holidays!

I'm writing this holiday blog with a Cadburys drinking chocolate in hand from an adorable b&b outside of Wells. We've had quite an adventure since we arrived at 6:30am!! We drove through Poole in the rain (on the wrong side, giving Mystery Guest a mini-heart attack with each round about...) out to Stonehenge where some flurries turned into 2feet of snow! It was beautiful all draped in white but numbing cold!
We drove along to Avebury but there was so much snow it was impossible to park so as much as we wanted walk around we had to drive through...
Along to Bath which was just amazing! Visited the flamboyant gothic abbey and the Roman baths.

Thats my little update for now, I've taken a million picture and can't wait to see them on my compter!

More adventures to come.... After a good night's sleep & an English breakfast...!

Sent from my iPod

the good, and the bad...

Yea! The good news is that we woke up to a beautiful blanket of white this morning! Stunning! The other good news is a few days ago we bought tickets for our mini-break to England!

The bad news? The heaviest snow in the UK in 18 years... oh, the other bad news? If the ferry tickets are canceled within 9 days of departure the fine is 75% of the ticket...

So the good news is we're going to England Thursday night!!! Yea!! The bad news? The possibility of driving in the snow (and ice??!) - on the wrong side! Eeeeks!!!

snow and crepes

This morning I woke up to a blanket of beautiful snow!!! It snowed pretty much all day but by the end of the day it wasn't sticking anymore and it had melted off the roofs. On the news they said to be careful of ice tomorrow if the melted snow freezes over tonight. It was a beautiful winter wonderland though!

Today was the Chandeleur and we forgot this morning when we made pancakes to flip them with a coin in one hand, so we made up for it tonight with galettes for dinner. Miammy!
Both Mystery Guest and I got our flips right from the first galette!! (and how proud am I? last year not only did I have trouble but I was working with a real crepe, this one was a galette and much more fragile...) I did much better this year so I guess this means we will both have a prosperous year (yea!!!)

Here is the recipe I used for my batter for 2 people (2.5 galettes each)
* 125g farine de sarrasin
* 1 egg
* salt
* about 50cl water

I started with a little less water and then kept adding some until the batter was the right consistency (should run a thin ribbon when poured with a spoon or ladle and swirl around easily inthe hot pan.)
Then we flipped them once and then filled them with ham, cheese and a cracked egg on top, YUM!

playing catch-up

Wow it has been busy busy around here! So much to say! First of all I FINISHED MY MEMOIRE... sorry did I not say that loud enough and with enough pizzzaz and enthusiasm?!?!

I FINISHED MY MEMOIRE!

So there you go people, it is printed and turned in as of yesterday. Ahhhh doesn't that feel good?? So hopefully in 2 weeks (Nov 12 if you're interested) I'll be definding it in front of a small jury and then I will officially have a Masters (Bac +5 baby!) I'm SOOOOOO freaking excited! Here's a picture of my baby for your viewing pleasure:

Just thought I'd commemorate this moment like I did last year for my M1. If you notice, the days are just slightly apart, October 26th last year and October 29th this year, nothing like turning things in at the last minute... :-)

After I turned it in I enjoyed an afternoon in Caen, seeing lots of friends and drinking copious amounts of tea and lemon meriange tarte. My train ride home was quiet and very dark since we fell back 1 hour but I relaxed as I watched the MSNBC Nightly News video podcast on my new ipod touch and listened to the fab K&K duo. Ah... life is good.

The only bummer was when I arrived at the train station. I went to go get my bike and when I got there I saw the seat was wet, I usually brush off the rainwater with my hand but in the dark it looked like bird poo or something so I grabbed a kleenex out of my pocket. Shining my bikelight on the seat I realized that what was coming off was black and the seat was loose. Yup, some looser country kids on vacation decided to get bored and take it out on my poor bike :-( The loosened the seat (probably tried to steal it but couldn't since I lock the seat to the frame!), put their cigarettes out on it and finally spat on it.. lovely. I checked the tires and noticed the front one was a little low. Since I had realized by then that this was vandalism and not an accident I decided not to risk riding home on it so I hoofed it back.

This morning there were two surprises, the first being it SNOWED this morning! Uh, hello Mr. Weatherman? It's October 30th! I've never seen snow this early in Normandy before! Here's a picture from the appt. granted you can't see much but you get the idea...


Second, I think the front bike tire was just low. I'll pump it up and give it another go but I think they didn't do too much damage. Gah, come on kids, I know you're bored, I also grew up in a town of 8,000 but hey go cow tippin' instead of messing with my bike!

springtime in normandy

I spent the weekend out in La Manche chilling with Mystery Guest and enjoying some off and on spring sunshine. The weather had finally started to get nice and spring like warm on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday it was windy but we managed to squeeze a walk to the beach in in the late afternoon. It was beautiful as always out there. Today the weather was also very spring like and tempermental, going from sunny to rainy and sometimes hailing. But as we headed back to Caen tonight as we got closer we saw this huge menacing black cloud over the city. And as soon as we reached the city limits it started snowing like crazy!

That's a picture I took from my bedroom window, the snow was sticking on the ground and even on the road! It stopped and started the rest of the evening... crazy! I hope the trams are running ok tomorrow morning, I have a class to teach and I'm sure as hell not walking 45 minutes up there in the snow!! :-)

And then the same view Monday morning..

snow days

Ever since yesterday morning it has been snowing mostly non-stop! Big thick fluffy flakes coming down all over town, it got up to about 4 or 5 inches today! In the past few years that I've lived here I've never seen this much snow!

So of course I've been holed up at home drinking tea and hot chocolate and procrastinating my work because hey, I'm on vacation! But this afternoon the sun came out a bit and so I walked around town taking pictures of the town under a blanket of white.

Otherwise nothing exciting going on, with none of the roads salted there are very few cars and the public transport is barely running so its good to just hang out.

Hope you all are doing well. I leave you with 2 pictures from town, the chateau and the view from my window :) Enjoy!

gobble gobble!

I stepped outside of my house to go to our Thanksgiving dinner (put on by the Franco-American Society of Caen) and noticed that they finally turned on the Christmas lights! It is so beautiful looking around town and down everystreet are bright white lights, magical.
On the left is the view if you look up from my doorstep and then here is the photo looking down the street.

Beautiful eh?








We arrived at the dinner to find a French Gospel choir singing, it was nice and very appriciated (I know I wouldn't have gotten up and sung in French!) but I had spent the whole day telling French kids how Thanksgiving is not Christmas and is not a traditionally religious holiday, but more of a historical one. That was all blown out of the water when I saw the table setting - complete with ...

Christmas napkins!!!!

For those of you who can't read the French, here is Natalie presenting the appetizer:
a flan of livarot (a local camembert-type cheese), cured ham and a apple-liquor sauce. Yum.

I forgot to take a picture of the main dish, a huge hunk of turkey with a "cranberryish" sauce, tatertots and overcooked veggies. It was very good, especially the turkey. Here is Kristin showing off the cheese dish, a Basque cheese and a black cherry jam. Yum yum!

We forgot to take pictures of the dessert, but it was very good, a French toast made with gingerbread and apricots and ice cream. Big YUM. Polish it all off with a little cafe and we were stuffed! It is so nice of these French people to put this dinner on for us. You can't expect real Thanksgiving food, but as long as you know that it is a wonderful way to spend the Thursday night of Thanksgiving (as we don't get any days off over here and don't have lots of time to cook!)

Natalie and I went out with some French students who had come. They were a crack up but I didn't stay out till 5 as I had woken up at 6:30 to go work Thursday morning and was pretty exhausted by the time dinner finished at 12:00!

So in order to keep American traditions (and food!) alive, we had planned a dinner Friday (tonight). I got up early this morning to go to the market to get the goods for stuffing. (Making Mom's Apple-Celery-Raisin stuffing yum yum.) Made that and passed it on to the person who's cooking the turkey. Going to make some biscuits this afternoon. I've got to go to work soon so I can't write much more except to say this is what I saw when I woke up this morning!




SNOW!

This is the view out my windown onto the courtyard and it was dusted with a light layer of snow! Since 8ish its been snowing on again off again for the last few hours. I've never had snow for Thanksgiving but it is a special surprise. Coming down in big fat flakes now! Yipppeeeee!!!!

I'll try to put up some pictures from our dinner tonight sometime this weekend (after I catch up on my sleep!).

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! This is def a year to be thankful for.