Sunday, March 29, 2009

Ready to Go

Here I am, all ready to go, with my hat on and my rucksack packed.

What?? I don't get to go?? I have to stay home and keep these jokers in line??

No fair. But Alright. See you next weekend!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Anticipation


Spring is here!

Yea!

Soon it will be the season that rabbits like best: with the garden full of string beans and carrots and tomatos and radishes and, and, and...

Nancy promises to get out there this weekend and start planting.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Tarare

I got to go exploring this weekend. In the small town of Tarare, along the main avenue there are some nicely trimmed bushes. The french have a lot of fun trimming their bushes into fun sculptures.
Of course we took a long walk in the countryside. It's still early spring, so as soon as you were in a shadow it was really cold. The puddles were all frozen over.
Hey look, a personal skating rink! What do you mean this is the cows' water dish. I don't see any cows here.
In town they're making a new fountain with a pedestal just for rabbits.
At the train station there were these strange cages, like for bad dogs. The sign says they're for bicycles. So your bike doesn't misbehave when you leave on a train.
I'm ready to go home and have some carrots. Where's the train?

Thursday, March 19, 2009

A glass of milk

Hey, I saw on Have Genes Will Travel that it's important and fun to drink milk. So I thought I would try it.
.
Here I am all ready to have a nice glass of milk, and what happens but Laars and Astrid butt in! They want to know if it's cheese yet.
.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Art from Ellie and Grace

Hey look what I got in the mail a while ago! Artwork from Nancy's nieces Ellie and Grace. I like the butterflies, with all their colors. And the grey owl in the night; very subtle. Now I need to get some fridge magnets to put them up in the kitchen.
Laars especially likes these abstract ones. They make him dizzy. He's kind of dizzy all the time, actually.
Thanks Ellie, thanks Grace, for all the nifty artwork!
.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Sunday with Hannah

On Sunday morning there's the weekly flea market in Clermont. French people don't have garage sales: they get together at the market instead. I love to go there and look for treasure! That's how Nancy found me, after all. We didn't get to see everything this time because it started to rain and all the vendors packed up their stuff and went home.
Later there was a short sun-break, and we went to the park to play on the toys and swings and slides there. It was fun. Maybe next weekend we'll be able to do more.


Saturday, March 7, 2009

Saturday with Hannah

Here I am with Flat Hannah at one of the local Wallace fountains. Mr Wallace decided that clean drinking water should be available for all, and had these installed all over France (though mostly in Paris). They're still around, but this one is just a dribble of water, and it's rather icky close up.
The Cathedral in Clermont is really big and black. Built on a hill in the middle of town, it's like a huge black rabbit with its twin spires.
Another fountain. The little cup symbol means you can drink this water (at least, if you held a cup under the spout). Hannah accidentally caught a gust of wind and fell in, but we dried her off and she's good as new.
These little round things on the ground are all over town. Every town has them. The designs are for local heros. In Clermont there are three: Pope Urban the 2nd (he started the Cruisades, right here from Clermont, some hero!), Vercingetorix, local boy who held off Ceasar for a while, and the mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal.
That's all for today. Tomorrow we'll visit the market in Aubière.