Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

What a nice scenery to wake up to.  Fresh fallen snow.  Before I start, I must show you these pictures.  It's going to be a White Christmas in Charlottetown.  The first 2 pictures are taken when I was coming back from the mall and the others are my backyard.

 I went to the office today.   Everyone had brought their children.  I saw great friends and caught up on all the news.  Karen, it was nice talking to you on the phone.  Good thing I saw your husband and he called you.  He said that you should come and visit me in France.  Maybe he needs a break from you and he is sending you to me.  Oh that can't be good.  Marla, you flew by but it was nice having lunch with you, Alanna, Rick and Gladys yesterday and thank you so much for the gifts.  Here is a picture of what I got from them.  They know me so well.  That cat meows, walks, purrs and Minime hates it when I turn it on.  She runs away and hides.  It's pay back time for what she did to Passe-Partout, may she RIP the poor thing.  Check out my frog mitts.   They are going to match so well with my Gortex.  André will probably be jealous.  I might let him borrow them.  We'll see.

Well Ontario Louise, thank you so much for sending me a comment.  I am so touched that you read my blog.  I hope you are enjoying your stay in Arras and I am looking forward to meeting you and your husband.   I suppose by now André and Christi have told you all sorts of things about me. Don't believe any of it.  They're all lies.  I'm really normal. ha ha.

Tonight, I attempted to make peanut butter balls.  Apparently I made some last year.   Some people are born being good at everything, others learn and me, well I try.  Whoever invented peanut butter balls should be shot.  Nothing easy doing those.  Not for me anyway.  So yesterday I bought the stuff to make the darn balls and tonight I started.  First I started with the peanut butter, then the butter.  Nobody told me that the butter shouldn't be as hard as a rock.  There I go with both hands in there trying to crush the butter with the peanut butter.  Lost my ring in there, then found it.  Then I put the icing sugar and tried to stir that.  Scrape whatever I could off my hands to open the icing sugar.  I guess it could have been easier if I had all my stuff ready in bowls.   Oh shoot, just as I'm writing this, I just remembered that I forgot to put vanilla extract.  Oh well, too late now.  I had both hands in there, some flew on my slipper, I had some on the fridge.  Then I remembered I had to put rice crispies so I had to try to scrape that mixture off of my hands to open the box of cereal.  Finally put the rice crispies in then hands in there again.  It was sticking all over.  I added more icing sugar.  Low and behold, I had to pee.  Wash my hands again.  Then I try to make the balls.  Not an easy task.  This was starting to become and adventure.  The more I rolled those balls, the softer they got.  Added more icing sugar, then my balls were a little harder again. Too much rolling, soft balls again.   Who in their right mind would want to make Peanut Butter Balls.  I finally had 68 balls.  So I put the balls in the fridge so they would get harder.  In the meantime, Diane my sister called and she has problems with her balls also.  Must be in the family.  Half hour later, chocolate is melted and I put my first ball in.  Well this was going to take a long time.  One ball at a time.  Well big brain wave, I'll put 6 in the chocolate at a time.  Not a good idea.  Couldn't take them out without squashing them.  Then my balls were soft again and my chocolate was getting hard.  As I said, I started with 68 balls and only 42 made it to the fridge.  A few flicked when I was trying to get them out and landed on the sink, on the floor and drum roll.......under the stove fan, about 10 got flatten out because they were sticking to my spoon, I ate 4 with no chocolate because I was tired of dipping them.  Next year, I'll buy some.  Here is a picture.  I know, some are not fully covered with chocolate but those balls were not cooperating.


On another note, Allen is arriving at midnight so that will be nice.  Tomorrow last day of shopping.  Allen better be out there.  Ah my poor sister Diane, didn't get my parcel yet, so nothing under the tree at their place from me.  Oh well, I got hers so I'm good.

To Andre, Christi, Ontario Louise (I am so happy you sent me a comment, I still can't believe it) and Mr. Robitaille, have a great trip and Andre, stay away from the cliffs.  Do not try to drive like James Bond.  To Melissa, Greg and Zina, have a great Christmas and New Year.  Renée, enjoy your holidays.  I will take care of Bob when I return.  Arlene, I am so happy for you.  Miss you.  Enjoy your time with your family.  Sophie and Karine, keep Beaumont-Hamel going while I'm gone, Sylvie and Aurélie, joyeux noel et bonne année.  To all my Summer guides and Fall guides, you make me love my job better every day.  Thanks for being in my life.

To my friends in Germany, Mirjam, Claudia, Werner, Johannes, Dominik and Oma, I love you all.  I am so sorry that you have lost Zarabie.  She was such an important part of your family.  Maybe he and Passe-Partout can become friends.

Philippe and Becky, I will call soon.  Miss you.  To all my family and friends and blog followers, happy holidays.  From my heart to yours, I wish you health, peace and joy for the new year.  Bisous to all of you,

Bird

Enjoying myself

Well it will be a week today that I'm home.  At first I was flying on adrenaline but now I am exhausted. I think that I'll have to go back to France to rest.  I finally finished by Christmas shopping and the package is in the mail for The Pas, Manitoba.  Hopefully Diane, you will get your presents.  I wrote a little message on the parcel for Canada Post thanking them for delivering all the parcels during this hectic time.  I really wasn't being nice, I just wanted them to deliver mine faster and I thought the note would help.  Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.  OK, I was being nice too.  I usually always put little notes on the parcels for them to read.  My Christmas cards are gone also.  Did you get one....

My Christmas tree is up so Christmas, you can come anytime.  Kevin likes to touch to shake do anything he can to guess his presents.  This year, I had to put notes so he wouldn't touch.  He might not be as bad as me when he opens gifts but he loves it too.  Ok, for those who have noticed that my angel is touching the ceiling, well she grew.  I leave for 6 months and things change around here.  Just like when I went to get my haircut before leaving France, I showed the girls 2 pictures.  I said, in the best French that I could.  Vous voyez ces 2 photos, elle dit oui, je lui dis, bien je ne veux PAS mes cheveux comme ca.  See these 2 pictures and she said yes, well I told her I do NOT want these cuts.  I want the cut that your colleague has, the one over there that is cutting the girls hair.  What does she do, gives me the 2 cuts blended in one and she teased my hair so much at the top that I walked out of there 5 inches taller.  Not a hair on my head looked anything similar to her colleague   I did take all the little backroads home in Arras.

I didn't think that I would blog during my holidays but I feel like I have to keep my friends across Canada and France up-to-date.  I've been spending some quality time with Kevin, whether he likes it or not.  I think he likes having his mother here.  Oh and he does say,  I'm hungry and what's for supper.  I must say that the house did look good when I arrived and Minime had not lost too much weight.  I'm allergic to Minime since I've been home.  I must only be used to French cats now.  I'm taking allergy pills because the poor fur ball won't leave me out of her sight.  She follows me around and sleeps with me.  She won't be happy when Allen gets home.  She'll have to settle for the foot of the bed.

Minime is saying, oh I know that look.  That means you're going to dress me up doesn't it.  Ah how she can read my mind.... and she's right, I will.

Big news, I bought a Dyson.  I've been vacuuming since Sunday.  It's my new best friend and it's pink.  It is sooooooooooo me.  Christi asked if I was bringing it back to France with me and if it wasn't heavy and fit in my suitcase, I would.  We could share it but it's staying here.  I'm hoping that Kevin or Allen will learn how to use it when I go back.  Here's a picture.  I'm really putting the picture for André and Christi because we have discussions about vacuums at work.....

I've changed my mind now on some of the France rules of the road.  I think that we should have Priorité à droite (priority to the right).  I got stuck on the side road trying to get on Kensington Rd.  Not good.  France is starting to reel me in.

Went to my favorite coffee break place today with Natalie.  Beanz.  I always say the same phrase when I'm there:  Can I please have a diet pepsi in a can with ice in a cup, no cover.  They know me by heart.  I often have chocolote chips cookies because they're the best and today I had 2.   What a hard life I am leading.

I'm putting a few pictures, especially for the out of towners so they know what I'm talking about when I blog.  Of course the first one will be of Marla is Cool.  I've talked about her so much that I thought a picture was necessary.

To know her is to love her.  She has to paste that on her wall just in case anyone forgets how cool she is when they are at her desk.  Nice Lulu Lemon bottle on your desk.  I believe I gave that to you.  Gee I'm generous.  Are you really that busy or is that blank paper on your desk.  Only kidding, I know you work hard.

How nice to see our building again.  I've spent many years there.

This is the place where Corinne and I enjoy going on Saturdays.  It was taken in Montreal just to show that I'm back in Canada but  it brings back great memories.  We actually went last Saturday and as always, it was nice spending time with Corinne.

Well got to go visit more people, so blog with you later.

I made it here with the help of angels

Ah what a day. I was told that you should always have a plan A and a plan B. I opted for Plan B and almost didn't make it home. But as you all know, my reputation of travelling is not 100%.

Packed my bags, called the taxi the night before, went to bed. When I woke up, it was raining cats and dogs. This should have been my first clue on how my day was going to go. It was raining very hard and as you know, I do not look good in wet hair. The taxi parked across the street, 3 buildings up.   I had a scarf around my neck so I put that over my head. That was not a pretty sight. Dragged my suitcase to the cab and was at La Gare half an hour before.   I was travelling from Arras to Lille Flandres, then walking about 5 - 10 minutes to Lille Europe train station. Ah plenty of time. Was going to be at Charles de Gaulle Airport at 11:30 and my plane was at 1:30.   Oh how organized I was...WRONG. Train in Arras was 10 min late, then 15, than 30. So I left the platform to go talk to the ticket agent. Once at the ticket agent, my train comes by, I don't have time to run down the elevator, get to the platform. It's gone. I didn't panic, I figured well, the next train will give me about 20 minutes to make it before the plane leaves.  I thought, ya I'll miss it.  I guess I'll have to buy another plane ticket.   That really meant that nobody was getting any Christmas gifts.

This is where the angels come in. I emailed Melissa and Andre to tell them... well I did it again. I managed to screw up my travel.  I should get a medal for luck while travelling. Although, I completely take full responsibility for not looking into things too clearly. Melissa, bless her heart, called my BB and said, I'm driving you to Paris, I'll be there in 10 minutes. Who does that. Melissa does. She comes and we flew to Paris. Now on the train it takes 50 minutes, by car close to 2 hours. She drove.....like really drove. She said now Louise, Greg (her husband) will grab you out of the car and get ready to run. He works at Charles de Gaulle. Well he opened the car door, didn't have time to hug Melissa, I was out and he said run. I did, he followed with the suitcases and got me through. The gates were closed but he got me through. Now 2 angels in the same house WOW. So Melissa and Greg if you are reading this, angels are not just in Heaven. How to repay them, I haven't figured it out yet. Got on the plane, it went well until I dropped my diet coke on my neighbour. Well the girl filled it right to the rim. Of course, before that they had given us wine with our meals. So maybe I wasn't that steady. Anyway, I took my blanket, started to try to dry him up. He said, no Madame, that is OK.   I was making more of a mess or maybe he liked it.  Who knows.

In Montreal, met my friends, had supper and got in line for the last leg of the race for Charlottetown. This Derek guy sat with me and explained the whole game of golf.  He was coming back from Los Angeles.  Now do I look like I play golf. I know it's a serious game but really, you're putting a little ball in a little hole.  God punished me for thinking that because I was eating a pretzel and a piece flew in my eye. It's OK, it's my bad eye and I don't see anything from it anyway but it hurts like heck. So no, I will not go to Emergency, although I could here, we are not in France, but I'll just go to the clinic.  Kevin was at the airport to pick me up. He was so happy to see me that he was rolling on the floor, crying, just couldn't believe that I was home. OK real story, he gave me a big hug (well I was holding on) and we left.

Wednesday, I went to our Christmas lunch and saw everyone. It sure was nice to see familiar faces. Now Jean must be tired of me telling the same story to everyone that ask about France. Last night saw a few friends, Carmen, Berthe and Charles. Ah it's nice to be home.  Yesterday I went for lunch with Jean and Andrea and today with Lise.  I am not caught up in my sleep because I'm not sleeping.  Feeling pretty weird at times.  First thing that felt strange when I got back was how wide the roads are and how low the toilet seats are.  I thought Allen had forgotten to put the seat down.  Jean, I don't think your feet would touch in the toilets in France.  If you come and visit, I'll put a little step.

Christi and Andre I miss you, Arlene hope you are having fun. Melissa, Greg and Zina, I owe you big time. Hi also to Sophie, Karine, Aurelie and Sylvie if you are reading this. I don't think you are.  A special hello to all the guides that are reading this. Miss you.

6 months ago

How time flies.  6 months ago, I left Charlottetown airport with Kevin on one side and France and Marcel from the Montreal Regional Office on the other side waving goodbye.  I was petrified.  What had I done and who was I to accept a job in France for a year.  Everyone told me that I should do it, that I could do it and that it was going to be an opportunity of a lifetime.  They were right.  It is the highlight of my career and I feel so at home here.  I have met such incredible people.  I work with fantastic people.  One thing that I can tell you is that up to now, I have never taken one day here for granted.  I cherish every moment that I am either at work, at home or just out.  On that note, I should celebrate.  Might as well have a glass of wine.

Tomorrow, I am leaving for home.  I have things to do, people to see and places to go.  Oh my, 2 weeks is going to go by fast.  Plus I have to open all my gifts.  I do have gifts right Kevin and Allen.  If not, just wrap something I have at home.  That's what the guides did.   When I wasn't at work, they wrapped everything I had on my desk and put it under the Christmas tree.  I started to open them and thought, oh that looks familiar then I caught on.  Now can't you feel the love.  I just love unwrapping.   I haven't sent my Christmas cards yet.  My first one will be to Oma, then Claudia and her family, aunt Pierrette, aunt Lorraine.  I'll surprise the rest of you.

I turned on my Christmas tree lights after work and Charlie Brown's tree is nicer than mine.  I have this thing (and Judi you know this) I can't stand anything that is crooked.  Well my tree is very crooked.  That's not how you spell crooked.  OK I'll use another word.  My tree leans and it's driving me crazy.  Here is a picture.  Oh and do you see the gifts, they are mine.  I'm not suppose to open them before Christmas so I don't know what they are.  OK I lied, I peeked.

I went easy on the decorations this year.  I didn't want to over do it and outdo my neighbors.  Although they do have nicer decorations than me and I could kind of borrow them until I leave Tuesday then put them back.  Umm...must draw out my plan.

Here are my decorations.

OK, are we done laughing now.  At least I'm in the spirit and they are so me.  Especially the legs.

I saw a few people from Charlottetown this week at work.  It's always nice to see familiar faces.  By the way, Chuck thank you so much for the lovely gift.  Judy delivered it and I love them.  They will come in handy on my next trip to Paris at the Moulin Rouge.  You have taste my friend.  We must do lunch when I'm home.

Pier-Antoine and Tessa were here last week.  It's always nice to see you Pier-Antoine and Tessa, it was nice meeting you.  Kids today, they travel all over the place.  Monday morning they were in Barcelona, then flew to Paris for a few hours then took the train to come and see me.  They didn't even look tired.  We went out for supper in ghost-town Arras on a Monday night then came home around 10:00.  Ya Sunday and Monday in Arras, well alot of places are not opened.  We managed to find a restaurant though.  They visited Vimy on Tuesday and told the guide that they knew me.  I felt important.  Then they visited Arras.  When I got home they were still here so I was lucky that I saw them before they left.  Pier-Antoine as usual, left me a postcard with nice words. 

Last Monday I went to wash the car.   André had given me instructions on how to go through the car wash, but I didn't remember.  Maybe I didn't have my glasses on when he told me and I can't hear if I don't have my glasses on.  Anyone else have that problem.  Anyway, there I go.  Got the ticket for the car wash.  The machine that you punch in the number is quite a few feet from the car wash.  I stop the car, punch in the number, then the car wash starts.  I'm not even in the car wash yet.  I run to the car, get in it and try to put my wheels in the little thingy thing.  The brushes have already started to spin by this time. Well I sit there and this big machine goes back and forth all around the car.  I thought that I was moving.  I stopped the car (I was in park but the car was still running) and noticed that I wasn't moving.  What a weird and sick feeling.  It seemed to take forever.  Anyway when I got home, I had to take a gravol.  Who needs to take a gravol when you go wash a car.  Apparently me.   Ever so nice André explained the car wash procedures to me again.  Louise, he said.  You park the car in the car wash, make sure the tires are in the groove thing, stop the car, get out of the car and then go punch in your number because the machine starts right away.  Yup, I didn't have my glasses on.  I didn't hear that.

I have been so busy since the week-end.  Friday, Karine and John came over to visit me.  They are 2 guides that worked with me at Beaumont-Hamel.  Saturday, Christi and André had me over for snacks in the evening.  They really are great friends.  I met Christi's parents on SKYPE.  I thought her mother was her sister.  She looks very young.  Sunday I had a surprise visit from Zina and her parents.  They buzzed in and I let them in.  Zina had a present for me so I took the present from Melissa (and you all know how excited I get) and all of a sudden Greg shows me the carry-on bag with Zina in it.  Now I was no longer interested in the gift.  I know, it's hard to believe...me and gifts....but Zina was here.  Today I also got a present from Bob.  Those cats are so thoughtful.  Yesterday I also had a get-together at my place for all the guides.  We ate pizza, laughed, I read their cards.  They were great.  I am going to miss them.  They were my first all session guides.  Today was their last day of work.  Some are going home, some are still travelling.  They all have a little place in my heart.  

I made a list of things that I have to bring back with me.  Hellsman mayonaise, Mrs. Dash, more peanut butter, I have to lay off the Nutella....chocolate overdose.  Wednesday I drank a little bit of Redbull.  Well I was bouncing off the wall.  Ping Ping Ping from one wall to the other.  I had never tried it and someone convinced me to taste it.  All I had was 2 sips.  Thank you very much for the sugar rush....NOT.  Who drinks that stuff.  I felt terrible after.

Tonight I went out for supper with Melissa, Greg, André and Christi.  We went to Tomate - Cerise.  Great place to eat.  Well I still have some packing to do and it's already late so I probably will not blog for awhile because I'll be busy trying to organize my house for Christmas and doing some shopping.  I called Kevin tonight and the poor soul is cleaning the house before I arrive.  He will be picking me up at the airport.

So to all, Happy Holidays and a very nice New Year.  I will be seeing some of you shortly so get the wine ready cause Loulou's back in town.

Here are a few pictures of the guides and Zina.

Bob's gone

Well Bob is back with its owner.  I brought him back this afternoon.  He really didn't want to go.  He was hiding all over the place.  He was pretty funny.  He was under my bed so I got down on the floor and was looking under and when I would roll the bed, poor Bob would follow the bed wherever I moved it.  Pretty smart cat.  He knew something was up.  I'm booked to babysit Zina the week of Jan 7th.  Hear that Christi and André...

Last night I went out for supper with the happy couple, Christi and André.  I really think they take pity on me and drag me with them.  We went to La Hycienda.  Going in to the restaurant, the slidding door just quite didn't open all the way and I ran into.  No bruise though.  Did a bit more Christmas shopping yesterday afternoon.  Everyone in Arras was out.  I think that they got wind that I was there and they all wanted to see me.  Oh ya, they even had police on the sidewalks.....for my protection.  It's amazing now when I go out, I see familiar faces.  In a few days, it will be 6 months that I'm here.  Half my term done.  I can't believe how fast it went.  I wish I could go back in time because I love it here.

Friday I borrowed the guides vacuum to do my apartment.  Well, what I found in the vacuum.  It wasn't sucking up so I opened it.  Big clumps of hair, popcorn (not sure if it was Orville Redenbacher), a bic pen, pennies, a pop cap.  I cleaned it all and it works great.  So great that I vacuumed Friday night because I was that excited about having a vacuum and again this afternoon just because I could.  I brought it back before supper so the guides can do their house work.

What I've learned here is that you can't come to France and ask for something and when you say, well in Canada you can get this....blah blah blah.  They will tell you, well madame, vous n'êtes pas au Canada, well madame, you are not in Canada.  Yesterday I went to get a picture developped like we do at walmart and you get it in 3 minutes.  My first mistake was saying BONJOUR, then she knew that I was Canadian.  I should have just gone to the machine myself.  She pretty well explained to me the full function of the machine. I didn't dare say that I had used one before.  She seemed to be enjoying her job.  Then she said, when do you want to pick it up.  I said, like right now.  She said, madame, il faut que le processus ce fasse.  The process has to be done.  I said, well are you open tomorrow.  No, it's Sunday.  Just then I was going to say, well in Canada, we get them right away.  I didn't dare.  She kind of scared me.  I was getting all nervous.  Then she said, well wait one minute,  I'll do the process myself.  To me, it looked exactly how we do it in Canada.  It came out of a machine.   3 minutes later, I had my picture.  Then I go into a clothing store.  Again I said bonjour, and she automatically started to talk to me in English.  She brought me to the changing room, all the way talking in english.  I would reply in French and she would go on with the English.  I then said, ah votre anglais est tres bon, ah your english is very good.  Then she said, well your French is very good also......to that I replied, well that is good because it is my first language.  Oh, I forgot to tell that to Christi and André last night.

I bought Christmas cards.  No you're probably not going to get one.  Anyway, you can't buy a box of Christmas cards here.  They come in a package of 4 or 6 and they are expensive.  Apparently, it's not something they do much of here.  However, I opened the package and it's only half a card.  They don't have a front and back.  Just the front.  So the few of you that will be getting Christmas cards from me (I'd say probably aunts, sister, not sure brother as they are gone to BC, Claudia) so there goes my 6 pack.  If you didn't see your name there, I wouldn't wait.  If I would have known, I would have brought a box from my place.  I have tons.

Just one more week and the guides will be going home.  I'm going to miss the little darlings.  They are a great group and they worry about me.  They'll say, Louise are you OK to drive.  It's dark now when we leave.  Or they'll say, do you want one of us to drive with you.  How can you not want to bring them home with you.

Did I tell you how much I LOVE my dryer.  Today I washed all the bed sheets as Bob had slept in all of them and to be able to take them from the washing machine, walk across my kitchen and put them in the dryer with a bounce sheet.  Ah the joy I felt.  Then to take them out and feel the heat on them and bury my face into them.  Such a simple thing but ah, life has been good to me. 

Just got an idea while I was blogging.  Because you probably won't be getting a Christmas card, I just took a picture of one and consider it your Christmas card.  Oh just because it's Christmas, I'll send you two.  This is great.  You'll get them before Christmas.  Ah Canada Post, I won't be needing stamps.

To everyone out there.  I wish you health, joy and happiness for the new year.  May you be happy and enjoy your time with your family and friends.

Love you all,
Bird

OK, well that was easy.  Sorry I couldn't find english cards.  I'm also attaching what I received for Christmas from my co-workers.  Thank you so much for the lovely presents.  Somebody knows I like cats and wine....

This week I have to start packing my suitcase.  I'm looking forward to going home and seeing everyone.  You've been a great support and I thank you from the bottom of my glass of wine, I mean heart.  Judi I, when I opened the 2 coasters, you're the first person I thought of.  It's going to feel very weird being home.  I think I've become a little bit European.  I can't explain it, you just have to live it.

So another nice day gone by.  Time to go to bed.  I get to sleep in 30 minutes more as I'm working at Vimy tomorrow.  So goodnight everyone.  Sorry if I haven't blogged everyday but sometimes, I just have nothing to say.  I know, that's hard to believe.  Arlene, hope you enjoy your trip home.  See you when you get back.

Gifts

What a nice day.  We exchanged gifts at work today.  Oh was I ever excited.  I was beyond excited.  This morning I had brought my Santa hat and Santa apron to work.  The apron lights up and the hat plays music.  So I put that on and gave the guides their Advent calendars.  André and I had decided to give each guide an Advent calendar to get them in the Christmas spirit.  They worked hard and they deserved it.  They were some happy.  Then as the day progressed, I was getting more and more gifts on my desk.  Here, look for yourself.

Here there are four and then....

and then 2 more...

You see the square blue one, not the long one the square.  Ya that one, well the funny thing is, it was exactly the same size as what I gave to Sophie.  So I put them together and we figured we had bought the same thing.  It was a desk calendar with funny phrases.  Now there are all kinds but as soon as I saw that one in the store, it made me think of Sophie and we both bought exactly the same one.  She saw it, and it made her think of me.  She took a video of me opening my gift and apparently they have never seen anyone as excited when opening gifts.  She said she was going to put it on facebook.  Well people that know me, really know how I am when I open gifts.  I think I become a different person.  The worst is that if I didn't see myself, I wouldn't believe it.  I get into a trance or something.  Ouuuu spooky.

Now how cruel is this.  I won't mention any names but a friend sent me a picture of my present.  Now it's a tiny little picture of a part of the present.  I have zoomed it but can't figure out what it is.  My people at work are examining too.  The guides are smart.  They have fresh brains.

Bob is doing great.  We're bonding.  He's been in every bed in the house.  I've even never been in all my beds.  He pretty well has me wrapped around his tail but I did get him a little sweater and put it on him.  He didn't put up a fight.  Of course he doesn't look happy but really he is.  Some cats just look more serious than others.  See for yourself. 

I thought brown was a good colour for him.  He's tired.  He has rough days.....NOT.  Here is a perfect picture of him.  He really matches my stairs.  I think he is saying, OK, what do you want me to do now.  Like really...you got to be kidding me...

Tomorrow is Friday and then I have the week-end off.  Yahoo, Christmas market again.  Well enough said for tonight.  I feel like my blogs are getting boring.  Not much excitement.  I must start drinking wine when I write.  Must go and pack up Bob in the duvet.  He's waiting for me.

See you all soon.



Meet Bob

I know it's early but Bob is only here for a short time and he wanted to make sure that he wished you all a Merry Christmas before he left.  Does he look impressed....not but he didn't argue.  He didn't volunteer to go in the basket but he stayed.

 

 Bob is a little scared so he hides wherever he can.  I can always see the lump under the duvet.  Last night after I went to bed at 10:30, he finally came out from under my bed.  Then he started to meow.  I would get up, he would go to the stairs and go down 2 steps and come back up.  We did that quite a few times.  I was determined that I was going to win but finally at 2:00 am, yes A.M., I couldn't handle it anymore so I put him under the duvet in Mirjam's room and closed the door.  Not a peep.  He was still there this morning when I got up.  As a matter of fact, I came home at 7:45 tonight, and he was still at the same place.

 The look in those eyes.  He was trying to figure out how he was going to escape from me.  The poor thing doesn't stand a chance.  He finally gave up but you can tell that he's not too impressed.  I bought him a treat tonight.  A can of fish cat food.  He followed me around then.  He's not to fond of the sound outside my window.  He is a beautiful cat and I think that by the end of the week, he'll be alot more comfortable. 

So I finally found my cord.  I was talking to Allen and he hadn't taken it.  I found it in my basket of cords with 200 other ones that I don't know what they're for.  I had looked last night but couldn't find it.  Talking about Allen, when he was here, we went to visit the Wellington tunnels and he bought 2 bullet keychains.  I told him that he should pack that in his suitcase instead of his carry on.  Did he listen.  NO.  He lost them.  They wouldn't let him on the plane with them.  He told the guy, it's key chains and the guy said, I know, but they look like bullets.  Anyway, keychains gone.  So whoever was getting this for Christmas, you're not anymore.

This evening I went Christmas shopping.  Again, I don't think you're getting anything.  Everything I want is gone.  Too bad. Sunday shopping is starting in Arras until Christmas.  The Christmas market is very nice.  It's at La Grande Place.  There is a skating rink, rides and even a booth from Quebec with Maple Sugar.  I went to introduce myself and they said, ah, une canadienne.  Here are a few pictures.

 This is the Christmas tree in La Place des héros.

Well another day has gone by.  Time in France goes by fast.  Pretty soon it will be 6 months that I'm here and I still love it.  I must admit that Diane had a big part in that.  So fortunate to have such a great sister.  Of course I'm fortunate to have a great brother too, who just happens to be leaving for British Columbia with Becky tomorrow.  Have a great trip and be safe.

So goodnight everyone and talk to you soon.  Bob is waiting for me to go to bed.

I forgot

First of all, Claire I am so sorry that I forgot your birthday. Claire is Berthe's sister and she wrote her birthday down on the calendar of my laptop when she was here visiting.  Allen left this morning and I turned on my laptop and there it was on my calendar Claire's birthday on the 23rd.  Please forgive me....well it's not like I'm begging for your forgiveness.  Only joking, happy belated birthday.  I hope you had fun.

Well with Allen gone, it's only me and Bob.  Bob has issues.  One of them is that he thinks that if he hides his head, nobody will see him.  Sorry Bob, you are big boned and you don't always fit under things.  Your head does but your body says otherwise.  I would introduce you to Bob, and I do have pictures but it seems that my cord for my camera suddenly disappeared.  (Is that how you spell disappeared)  anyway.  Funny that Allen left, my cord is missing, my phone doesn't work, the external hard drive is gone, then my laptop had a hard time to start.  I couldn't get on and had to reboot many times.  I saw him playing with cords behind the TV last night and everything is plugged there.  Here in France, I have what is called a LiveBox and the internet, cable and telephone are all attached to it.  Plus, my chips are gone too.  See he waits until I go to bed then he eats the stuff.  Oh but I love him dearly.  He takes good care of me.

Big news, I now have a clothes dryer. Oh ya, a real one.  Allen talked me into buying one.  After he did his laundry and saw ME hanging his clothes on the rack, he figured that I should get one.  So no more walks to the laundramat for me, with heavy bags full of wet clothes.  So friends and family, when you come and visit, you can do your laundry and while you're at it, you might as well do mine.   We had rented a car so it fit in the back and then poor Allen, as if his back didn't hurt enough from the fall he took last week, he carried that dryer all by himself, along the hallway, up 2 flights of stairs.  Could have been worst though, it could have been me carrying that.  Only kidding.  Now it sits in my kitchen, all shiny and new.

OK, back to Bob, real name Zimbabwe.  He is a tabby male cat.  Very handsome and smart.  (I have to write this in case the owner is reading this)...He reminds me of Garfield.  For those who are wondering, yes I will be dressing him up in something and I will take pictures.  He doesn't like strawberry jam or bread.  Might have to open up a can of tuna. 

Today when I got up, I had 2 emails on my BB.  One from Claire and one from Karen.  I thank you very much for the lovely emails. They made my day.  Plus you were nice to me on the emails.  Many could learn from you.  ha ha...In 14 days, I'll be home.  That will be different.  I can go to Tim's with Corinne, go to Berthe's and Charles, Carmen is having something at her house.  Kevin will be hungry and I can pretty well put 100 euros, sorry 100 bucks on this, the first thing he'll say is:  I'm hungry, what are we eating.

Well being that I can't find my camera cord, I can't attach pictures, I can't use the phone or get any channels, I might as well go to bed.  So I am hoping to talk to Allen tomorrow morning and he'll have some explaining to do.  I should be nice to him though.  I now have a dryer.

Hi Jean, Nicole, Binky, Marie, Louise from Ontario, Karen, Berthe, Claire, Therese, Rachelle (yes we will skype soon), Marla is cool, Gladys (you're a great mom) and everyone else that reads me.

So keep reading and I am looking forward to seeing you all at Christmas.  Now to find Bob.

and the rest of the day...

Well thank you for the emails regarding my curtains and the cheese whiz in the fridge.  Let me continue with A day in the life of Bird....

Meet Arlene, my Manager at Beaumont-Hamel.  Although I had practiced at bit of standard driving  with André at first, Christi and one of the guides, Arlene is the one responsible for giving me no choice but to bite the bullet and drive.  She had more confidence in me than I had.  She gave me the keys at noon and said, take the car and get home.  I was so nervous that I lost the keys in the afternoon, finally found them just before I left and made my way home.  I owe her alot.  Arlene is a softy although she doesn't want to admit it.  She has a heart of gold and it shines.  Her door is always open for me.

I also receive stars for the work I do.  Well one star but it's a start.  It's from my Director and it says, to Louise, you are th best thing that every happened to France.  Thank you so much for being who you are.  If everyone could be like you, the world would be a better place.....and so on and so on.  OK it doesn't say that but it's just because there wasn't enough place on the paper to write it.  It really says, Louise, you are a star because you are funny and nice and a good worker.  It pretty well translates to what I just said.

 Here I am at my desk doing lots of work.   I take my job very seriously.  See how busy I am.  That's real work I'm doing.

I always go check on the guides to see if they need help with anything. 

Then before you know it, it's time for lunch.  Here you see from left to right, Sophie, Chantal and John (guides) and Karine.  I really enjoy lunchtime with everyone.  It's like our little family.

After a full day's work, it time to go home.  I wave to the guides and wish them a good trip back to Arras.  See the Jaguar, well it's not mine.

Minime, I'm home.  Here kitty kitty.  It can get cold here in Arras so I have to be ready for the weather.

And this is my day in a nutshell.  I enjoy every minute of my time here.  I have adapted quite well here in Arras.  It's a great little city with lots to see and do. 

Tomorrow is the start of the Christmas Market.  They have decorated the town and I am fortunate to live on a street that has Christmas decorations from one side of the street to the other and tonight, while we were having supper, they turned them on.  Now it might affect my sleeping because it's quite big and just outside my window.  It would look nice with snow but we don't have any so I can only imagine in my mind.



This morning, I had the surprise of my life.  I was in the living room and all of a sudden, a man was at my window.  I think that he had noticed me before and wanted to ask me for my hand.  Romeo and Juliet, eat your heart out.  This man hired a truck to make it to my window.  I explained that I was already married and that I was flattered.  He was sad but said he understood.  It must be the french accent that I have.  Anyway, here's a picture.  I asked if I could take a picture of him and he said yes and then said, you better take one of my friend down there.  He's jealous. 



And this is my story for today.  It's a beautiful evening out.  Allen and I went to buy junk food and now we're going to watch a movie.  Thanks for reading and for your comments.  

Oh by the way, France changes a person.  I'm not who I used to be.  See for yourself.

OK, this is not true.  I'm only kidding.  This is in Paris in front of the Moulin Rouge and we found a Starbuck so Allen and Tash had a coffee.  You all know that I never tried coffee in my life and I don't smoke but I always wondered what I would look like if I did drink coffee and smoke.  I don't think that I'll start.