Joyeux Noël

After finally falling into bed this morning
around 3 a.m. I was not about to arise
early;  Alec had a different plan--- turning
on the lights in the bedroom, opening the
room darkening drapes, yelling Merry
Christmas.  Okay, it was 10:30 a.m. but still
way too early.

In keeping with the Prashaw tradition, Alec
had to do a few chores before setting his
eyes on our Christmas "bush,"  Alec's name
for the smallest Christmas tree he has ever
seen.

It's Christmas, do I have to make
my bed?

Grinding my mom's coffee;
why can't she be normal and drink
already ground coffee?

                         

After a few more chores the festivities began.

the director of the gift opening
or as Alec would say,
my oh so
not normal mother

 Everyone knows that mothers rule, eh?

Santa's note is almost bigger than
our Christmas "bush"

Aunt Cathy has good taste in teams!

Alec's grandma sends new clothes   

Alec refused to pose in his new socks

 (dark, the French don't wear white socks)

and boxers.

Santa again left a note detailing where Alec was to find his gift; 

 the search begins.

        

 door opening into the courtyard

 
Piper aids in the search.

  

back inside with a red, remote control car
Piper loves this car!

Alec and Jeff will be busy with the
Prussian Army (good thinking Jude)
the soldiers in front are Alec's gift to Jeff

And thank you Alec for my lovely, grey escharpe....très belle.

Jeff is already back in bed for his first nap.  

Alec is reading various books he received;

Canadian Forces in WWII from Susan and

Le petit livre des gros mots from Rachel

 (thank you Rachel!)   Piper is exhausted  

from gnawing on her huge, Christmas bone

and I am about to start reading my

 Christmas book from Rachel;

A Year in The Merde!

Joyeux Noël, Happy Holidays to all.  We are most

grateful for our family and friends on this day;  you

are truly are greatest gifts.

Christmas Eve

Our celebration of Noël started last evening
at Rachel, Gille, Ludo and Yaëlle's home.
After some wonderful appetizers and champagne,
chaos ensued;  Laure and Leo handed out the gifts.

Marie wearing the apron Cathy made

Leo with his new ball

Michel sporting his new cap

I don't need anymore gifts
than Jeff and Alec 

Laure with her new doll

Food, of course, began the evening around 7:30.

Meat Pie

 

Marie's escargot served in
 "shells"  made from clay
which Marie found 30 years ago
in a flea market

Snails (Escargot sounds much more elegant, n'est ce pas?

For 4 people, 4 dozen INGREDIENTS: 48 medium or large snails, canned, 200 g of fresh butter, 15 g of finely chopped parsley, 10 g of garlic chopped very fine 15 g shallots chopped very fine 8 g of salt, 2 g of freshly ground pepper Fond of cooking snails. PREPARATION: While kneading the butter, salt, pepper, parsley, garlic and shallots; Put a spoonful in each shell dessert cooking background, a knob of butter handled; Put the butter into the shell and introduce a snail Drained: I'escargot pushes the butter in the bottom of its shell, the shell Boucher completely by the addition of butter. COOKING Put the snails on a snail, opening up the shell so that the butter does not come out during cooking,  the heat long enough in the oven and serve when the butter is foamy. If eating escargot makes your stomach a wee bit queazy  I did read one recipe which adds a splash of cognac;  now this sounds appetizing.l

We took a break to attend midnight mass at the Cathedral in Metz.
 This cathedral is a tourist attraction and before the mass
I saw a woman walking around in high heels with
a small, white dog on a leash!

Upon returning home we finished off the evening/morning
 with Cathy's delicious cake.

Cathy's Cake disappeared quickly

Finally, around 2 a.m. we left for home and bed.  Bonne nuit.

Father and Son, Together Again

I need female reinforcements.  Having these two guys together

again, same humour....deadly!

Christmas Markets in Metz            

         

What you don't see in these photos are the thousands

of people walking through the streets of Metz carrying

shopping bags, purchasing last minute gifts for Christmas.

We went shopping for a christmas tree today but refused

to spend 25 euros for, shall I say, an ugly Christmas tree.

  

We'll just borrow Rachel's  tree for photos!.  

We are together again!

Jeff finally arrived late Monday
evening in Metz.  After making
four trips (not that I'm counting)
to the train station I finally saw
the bearded fella.  He had a
horrendous trip;  delays, re-routes,
lost baggage.  He left Roanoke
at 4 p.m and didn't arrive here until
11 p.m the next day.  But that is
history, he is here safe and sound
and sleeping!  A lot!  We all went
out the the Canadian restaurant in Metz
last night....seems to be a tradition now,
take the visitor to the Canadian place.
Now that Jeff is here we can get our
tree today.

Alec is a wee bit worried as Jeff's
suitcase hasn't arrived;  the suitcase
with Alec's Christmas gift.  Telling
Alec that his dad is his Christmas gift
doesn't seem to fly with him!

Sickness and Gratitude

Numerous folks seem to be getting

and keeping a bad virus;  sore throat,

sinus infection, bronchial troubles.

Alec succumbed to a constant cough

last Friday and Rachel suggested

a visit to the doctor;  quite the

experience.

We walked into a house, up a spiral

staircase and entered a very small waiting room;

simple hard-backed chairs edging the 

perimeter of the room.  There was no

secretary to greet us, no bank of phones ringing,

no separate rooms for the sick and the healthy.

Medical advertisements were tacked haphazardly to the wall;

 préservatif  caught my eye.  If I hadn't seen the picture of

a ruptured condom I would have thought  jam

was the subject of the poster.

Periodically the doctor would enter the waiting

room, shake hands with the patient next in line

and off they would go. Soon, it was our turn and 

Rachel, Alec and I entered the Dr.'s room.

Again, another surprise greeted us as we entered his

all -in-one office/examining room.  A floor scale
from the 50's, an examining table, a wall full of kids drawings,
a  desk piled high with papers and peeking out behind
 a small glass-door cabinet, soldiers;
 miniature painted soldiers.   Meet Alec's new favourite
Dr. who apparently is an expert on Napoleon.

After quickly examining Alec and writing out
several prescriptions for his cough I asked,
"what do I owe?"  Here, without a secretary,
 the doctor collects the money.
The Dr. slid the prescription
across the desk, smiled and said,
" rien---un petit merci pour le débarquement."
Nothing---a small thank you for  D-Day.

Here we are in 2011, sixty some years after the end of
WWII, a war whose memory, even now, seems fresh.
What is also fresh is the gratitude the French people have
for their liberators.  Though this was not the first time I have heard
"merci,"  I was still stunned and humbled by this doctor's response.

While I was not happy that Alec was sick,
I am grateful for the opportunity to experience the
humility of this doctor who shared his
gratitude with us.

Feeling Helpless

Definition of feeling helpless;

-you are an ocean away from  a good friend

-you hear she fell and had a nasty break, her leg, her ankle?

-you worry about her dogs

-your damn magic jack works only intermittently

-you finally break down and call on your god-knows-
how-much-a-minute cellphone from France
-you hear her voice
"I'm feeling great," she says--must be the drugs!
if you think you are in control of your life---
think twice

There's No Such Thing As Bad Weather

 While driving the kids to school this morning-in the dark
and in the rain- Ludo, who was squeezed into the back seat 
with Alec and Lisa, said "We go to school in the dark and
 return in the dark, very depressing." 


 It has been grey and rainy for days.

"Welcome to France" a friend recently said, 
commenting on the weather.    

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing."


This quote is often attributed to Sir Ranulph Fiennes,
however, Alfred Wainwright perhaps coined the phrase.  
Both men walked---a lot.

Before you swiftly scorn  Ranulph Fiennes for his proclamation
regarding  bad weather please note that the 
Guinness World Book of Records
has  called him the world's greatest living explorer.

Ranulph Fiennes

Seeing that Ranulph Fiennes is 
the only person alive to have traveled
 around the Earth's circumpolar surface
(http://www.ranulphfiennes.co.uk/),
I think it is safe to say he knows
something about weather.

The rain continues its' steady decent
through a grayish-yellow cloud covered
sky.  It is time to don my rain gear,
grab the leash and head to the woods
with Piper.


Enjoy your day and as Kin Hubbard,
the American humourist, once said,
"Don't knock the weather,
nine-tenths of the people couldn't
start a conversation if
it didn't change once in a while."

Happy Shoes

St. Nicolas came and left
gifts in our shoes.

Jeff's St. Nicolas Gift

  Certainly hope that this gift survives until Jeff arrives December 18th

(we are counting the days)!!

Alec and Jude's St. Nicolas Gifts

One of these is already consumed;  live in the present, eh?

The Feast of St. Nicolas Fast Approaches

As December 6th, the Feast of St Nicolas approaches
I am thinking of my favourite Greek, Ernie.

my favourite Greek, Ernie.  

While many legends of St. Nic prevail,
we must not forget that he was first and
foremost, a Greek!;  and a bishop as well.
Like Ernie, he was kind with a generous
spirit.

St. Nicolas, 1994 Russian Icon

I am also thinking of my favourite husband, Jeff,
former member of the Coast Guard.

 St. Nicolas is the patron of the Greek navy
so perhaps Greeks and Coasties are allies.


We are living in the the region of Lorraine,
in the Northeast of France, where in
the 15th century, Duke René II consecrated
Saint Nicolas as Lorraine's Patron.
(http://frenchmoments.com/Saint_Nicolas.html)

From every boulangerie and patisserie one
can see icing-decorated spiced cookies of
 St. Nicolas and of course the hand-painted
chocolate version.



Numerous legends abound but the one
most recounted and sung by French school
children is the most gruesome;
Complainte des Enfants au Saloir
To make a long story short, three boys,
after gleaning in a field all day
entered a home of a butcher who,
there is no delicate way to say this,
chopped them up into pieces and put
them in brine.  Seven years later,
St. Nicolas happened upon the butcher's
home, discovered the children, brought
them back to life and restored them
to their families.  (I didn't realize
gleaning could be so dangerous.)
Alas, St. Nicolas has become the patron
saint of children.

On the eve of this day, shoes will be
placed by fireplaces or doorways
in the hope that St. Nicolas will pass
by bearing gifts.


While December 6th  may be a day for children,
I will be putting out my shoes in anticipation of
a visit from St. Nicolas, the chocolate version;
you receive charcoal or a twig tied in ribbon if,
during the previous year, you have been bad.

I wonder why shoes were the
first receptacles for the gifts from St. Nicolas?
I wonder how these small, utilitarian vessels evolved,
at least in North America, into immense spaces
underneath giant Christmas trees?

I wonder, where have the shoes gone?










\

Celebrating Thanksgiving with new friends

 

Yikes that ice is hard mom!

Christopher and David,  two Georgian boys laced up for the first time

in Metz.  I was quite impressed with how quickly they 

learned.

Yaelle leads the ice train

A happy Canadian!

this isn't Canada but it's ice, eh?

After two hours of skating, sore bums and ankles,

we walked over to the Stoneman's apartment for

a fabulous Thanksgiving meal prepared by Tonya and

her boys.

the drumstick boys      

new friends

Gratitude and Thanksgiving

water lily on Cache Bay, Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada

Years ago, my spiritual director of the time,
Fr. Chet, once invited me
to practice what he considered
to be the highest form of prayer;
gratitude.

While other practices in my life
---Tai Qwon Do, Tai Chi,
Anthony de Mello meditation,
line dancing---have come and gone,
gratitude remains a daily companion.

One of the synonyms
for gratitude is  thanksgiving.


On this day of Thanksgiving,
  when many families and friends
gather to celebrate
in the United States,
  when the not so fortunate
eat their turkey and dressing
in food shelters
 and when the destitute
 perhaps do not eat,
 I practice gratitude for ~

an amazingly kind, creative, diverse,
 loyal and hysterically funny family

friends, new and old,
who bring richness
to my life each day

Piper and the temple of her familiar---
  our woods

clay and charcoal and a creative imagination

Qi Gong and the lovely french women who
  welcome me weekly into their circle

yoga with Piper pressed by my side

 a husband, who drove 12 hours
  to spend this day visiting a
  former student in prison

a son, who daily loves me back

and water

A therapist once told me,
Jude, the river flows by itself---
 a difficult concept to embrace for a
 do-by-self sort of person.

And so I stand in this river of gratitude,
grateful for each moment,
for each of you.

above Lessy on a Wednesday afternoon

"You sanctify whatever you are grateful for."
                            Anthony de Mello, SJ

The Birds and the Bees

It all begins here.

The Talk

                 1+ 1 =              

Before you know it.....

After approximately six months on Jean Paul's                          
meticulously kept farm, where the  animals are kept in
large pens and able to roam on his large, fenced-
farm, in very humane conditions....interesting
word choice when talking about animals...


the veal, (le veau) is taken to a facility,
stunned in the head and strung up by the feet,
after which  their throat is slit;  then it's back to the farm.


Two days later  Monsieur Munier,
the butcher, is ready to receive
Rachel, Gilles, Marianne, a neighbour and myself
to package the various parts of the veal.

packaging the veal

    

no this is not wine but hot coffee

All parts of expertly butchered including the feet and the tongue.

the tongue

the feet

What exactly do you do with the feet?

Ingredients for Pressée of duck Foie Gras Mi-Cuit and Veal feet with Herbs 

Steak Haché anyone?  Hamburger with veal.

Veal is not white!

After several hours of  packaging
Veal number 4972, who was born on
April 26, 2011 and weighed  143,6 kg,
we left.

Buying local takes on a whole new meaning.

two days old

t

Momma