Tuesday's thoughts

Today was a big day in the life of two small girls in France. They didn't just get to go about their already fairly idyllic existence, which includes attending a lovely Burgundy preschool four mornings a week (kind of the anti-pressure-cooker atmosphere for the small set). No, this morning also brought a field trip on a bus... to ride PONIES.

Yes. I could leave it at that and anyone who has hung out with a nearly five-year-old girl would know just how fabulous this morning must have been. For those who don't often converse with nearly five-year-old girls on a regular basis... ponies (whether in their small plastic toy form or in their in-the-flesh, full-size, grazing in a pasture form) are about as cool as cool gets.

John or I had planned to be a parent volunteer so we could accompany them on this outing, but the Loire trip with mom kept us from the safety meeting. So, with a tiny bit of hesitation, we sent them off alone (well, with their teachers, classmates, and the parents who were able to make the meeting), on the giant, zooming bus that flies along the village roads as if it knows exactly where all of the other cars will be at all times (how else does it avoid daily accidents?).

They had smiles all around when they came off the bus:

And this is what we saw when we walked home:

 

Yes, clearly it was a good day in Villers-la-Faye.

Jack has two days of testing under his belt and was pretty confident about the math (as expected) and less sure about the French language arts. It will be interesting to see how his own reflections on these tests bear out if we actually get the results. He also made several  good Pokemon card trades today... he is getting a very cool collection of French Pokemon cards...we are a bit curious to see their "value" when he returns to Canada.

I had to do a bit of grocery shopping this morning. We are at that awkward stage of trying to eat what's left in our pantry but still needing a few items to survive -- yogurt, bananas, cheese (of course cheese). A bit more packing followed this afternoon, and we continue to feel like we're in pretty good shape (which of course means some huge unexpected crisis is about to happen, right? Because you can't be this calm in the days before leaving a place you've called home for so long. It's just not right.)

Things will get a bit more hectic tomorrow. Marine (my host family's youngest daughter) and her girls are coming for the gouter tomorrow. John has to head to Paris for some interviews and a conference early, early on Thursday. He will take the earliest train home Friday morning so he can attend the last day of school party in the morning for Kate and Liv (for which I will be preparing the best of our worlds... Rice Krispie treats, and tarte au chocolat) and another party for Jack in the afternoon. We're having a little soiree here Friday night where I plan to use up the FOUR boxes of pasta I found in my pantry (up high, where I clearly didn't see them or else why would I have kept on buying more?)... and then Saturday to finish packing, and Sunday... to leave. (I promised myself I would save the sniffs until the last day! So no tears here. No sir. Not me. Dry eyes all around).

And just a few more pictures from our walk to and from the girls' school this morning. The vineyards are ones found on the one kilometer walk between Villers-la-Faye and Magny-les-Villers, while the buildings are from the village of Magny-les-Villers itself, home of the girls' school.

And finally, I'll leave you with a photo of Lizzie, one of many so named lizards who hangs out in and on the stone and timber walls in the yard and neighborhood (and occasionally, the exterior walls of our house). From our web searching, she appears to be a common European wall lizard. The kids love Lizzie (in all her many manifestations), and we finally got a good photo (thanks to John).