A rare occurrence...

A rare moment of family unity: my four very mobile daughters all in the same place at the same time... worth a picture !

Expo à l'école de Lily

Here is Lily proudly showing the exhibition she and her classmates created in hommage of four of the best known Québécois painters: Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Paul-Émile Borduas, Jean-Paul Riopelle... (and a fourth one that I don't remember.)
Some (larger) pieces were collaborations of all the children...
... whereas others were replicated by each pupil in his or her own fashion.
The exhibition was held in the large hall for parents to visit and for their children to walk them through.

Rachel's favourite moment

With or without company, gardening is one of my earthy Rachel's favourite activities...

A glorious idea

We decided that the sandbox wasn't getting used a whole lot and so Rachel got into planting a nice patch of herbs - to the immense future delight of the cook (me) ! :-)
Imagine: weeks and weeks worth of flat-leaf parsley, green and red basil, coriander, thyme, and rosemary. All in the friendly company of some asparagus, arugula and joyful flowers !

Peut-on enfin dire que ça y est, c'est l'été?

Une magnifique journée nous as été offerte par les dieux pour notre petite fête dans le jardin avec nos amis Pascale, Michel, Raphaël, Maya, Martin, Roza et Galilée. Les femmes étaient resplendissantes dans leurs conversations animées, les fillettes coquines dans leurs petits jeux tourbillonnants, Raphaël intarissable dans ses explorations de chaque recoin et les hommes admirables dans leur étroite supervision de tout ce beau monde!

Délicieuse escapade

Un soleil digne de l'été, un endroit paradisiaque, une cabane isolée dans les bois sans électricité ni téléphone ni eau courante, avec un étang pour se baigner à dix minutes de marche et même un sauna pour chasser le froid de la baignade... c'est le délicieux cadeau que ma belle Rachel m'a offert pour mes cinquante ans! Avec la précieuse et indispensable collaboration de Marie-Claude et Alejandro qui se sont chargés avec plaisir de garder nos chères fillettes qui ne pouvaient rêver mieux que de passer une fin de semaine chez leurs parrain et marraine...!

Un rituel sacré à renouveler à chaque saison? ;-)

Enfin, Maman en vacances!

My show in Vanves went very well. We had a sold-out house and a very enthusiastic response from the audience. The girls and Eric came and we all made it back to our minuscule hotel room on the metro afterwards. Everyone is still a little shell-shocked from the travel and the big city the tight quarters where we are staying but our holiday is beginning!!!

Bremen town musicians

Yes Ma, I have now seen the Bremen town musicians... and here they are!

'Furies' in rehearsal

Julien, our sound man, took these pictures in rehearsal before our last show in Frankfurt.

Main river Frankfurt

MD in Frankfurt

Here is part of the company in the "historical" centre of Frankfurt. These buildings are replicas of the old buildings that were bombed in the war.

With me in the picture are Annik, Maryse, Benoît, Fred and Casey (Dominic is taking the picture)

Home in Frankfurt

This is home in Frankfurt. The Mousonturm building houses our apartments as well as the theatre, the rehearsal studios and a bar/restaurant. We hardly have to go outside! Casey and I have the orange apartment. As you can see, everything that can be orange is, from the bath mats to the cutlery and from the key to the nail brush in the bathroom. These Germans have a very thurough sense of organization!

Our first show here went very well last night. We had a sold out house and we had a very enthusiastic response. 

Good bye Spain

This is our last look at palm trees and the last possibility of summer clothes for some months to come!

Jerez

Another magnificent and ancient and multi-layered Adalucian town.

Home in Seville

I just counted, once the almost seven weeks of this tour are over I will have slept in 12 different rooms! So far the bed that wins the least comfortable prize was in Birmingham and the most comfortable would be here in Frankfurt. Pictures to follow soon.

Cordoba

Cordoba was lovely and calm after the business of Seville. This is the orange garden outside the famous Mesquite of Cordoba.

Traveling companion

Casey has been a marvelous traveling companion throught this trip. What do travelers do most together? Eat of course! Here is Casey on four different "terasses" in Seville and Cordoba.

Seville

Here are is a selection of pictures for my day in Seville.

At the Plaza de Espagna, already feeling nostalgic about my time in Cadiz!

The real Alcazar. This is the palace where the real Spanish royalty live... at least when they are in Seville.

The cathedral of Seville is a cacaphonic affaire as we discovered are many of the churches in the south of Spain. Most of them are built out of the remains of mosques that were there when the christians took over in the 12th century and then added to through the next centuries. It is as if they have never really figured out what they want to be.

What is Spain without the terasse in every plaza?

This is a procession that we happened onto in our first night in Seville. There was a very large marching band, dozens of candle holders, an immense cross, and this bedangeled bed with the crucified Jesus on top. We tried to find out what the special occasion was but all that we could gather was that it was some church's procession. They seem to do them quite often. It is different to be in a country where religion still plays a big part of people's lives.