Bravo Philippe!

Ca y est: il a tourne de son ventre a son dos! Un vrai champion, il a fait ca comme si c'etait tout ce qu'y a de plus facile. Et 5 fois en ligne!

That's it: he rolled over from his tummy to his back! I'm so proud of him, he did it 5 times in a row. Then this morning, he did it again for Marc.

He is now asleep and loooks like an angel. Can you tell I'm in love???

Christmas does not exist - Noel n'existe plus

For 3 years in a row, it hasn't felt like Christmas at all. It all seems a bit weird seeing a big Santa with a white beard and Christmas trees when it's 30 degrees, we go to thebeach, have BBQ and eat cherries and watermelon!

I felt depressed because I was at the other end of the world, away from the family I love. Never thought I missed them so much. I said to Marc I didn't want to celebrate. Marc seemed to feel the same.

Then for some reason, I got excited: I brought Philippe to take a photo with Santa, bought some decorations. Marc ordered a turkey and brought the tree inside so we could decorate it. Yolande bought a present for Philippe.

So it is Christmas after all.
Peace on earth to all beings of good will

P.S. Si vous voulez une traduction, demandez-la!

Franglish - Merci Marie! ou Les commentaires utiles...

Tadam!!! Un post en français!

Avons-nous des lecteurs francophones oubliés? Trahis par la langue de l'Internet? Bafoués, choqués, blessés? Si vous me lisez et l'anglais vous emmerde, faut le dire. C'est à ça que ça sert, les commentaires! Ne soyez pas gêné, j'adore ça (même ou surtout si c'est pour me dire que vous voulez du français.) Faut pas faire la tête! Je croyais qu'on n'avait pas de lecteurs francophones (uniquement, je veux dire).

En passant, gros effort ce matin: je me bats avec le clavier pour trouver les cédilles et les accents circonflexes... remarquez c'est probablement un bon exercice. Il ya 2 semaines, j'écrivais sur le babillard les semence à faire au jardin. Quelle fût la surprise de Marc lorsqu'il a vu que j'avais listé ''lettue''. Ça m'a pris un p'tit moment pour réaliser l'énormité de l'erreur, et je ne m'en suis toujours pas remise...

Je crois que Renaud-Bray et Archambault vont avoir notre visite en avril prochain lorsque nous serons au Québec. En attendant, je cherche des livres pour faire la lecture à Philippe, pas facile! Envoyez-moi vos suggestions de livres pour enfants. Je ferai un tour sur Amazon...

Je vous fait un pacte: pour chaque commentaire en français, je publie un post en français avant notre voyage au Canada. Ça vous va? Au fait, comment vous aimez ma photo? Je l'ai trouvé sur un site qui a finalement clarifié la différence entre Estrie et Cantons de l'Est. Si ça vous tente, c'est ici. Intéressant, puisque c'est là que ma famille vit.

Bon ben, la balle est dans votre camp.

Bisous de l'Australie ou (je ne trouve pas le u accent grave) après une nuit avec les copains sur un bateau, Marc est rentré ce matin à 8h30 et fait maintenant la sieste avec Philippe.

How much would you pay for a banana?

Up to $19.99 a kilo!!!! That means I payed $4.65 for a banana when I realllllly wanted one. It was a few months ago, after Tropical Cyclone Larry hit Australia. The cyclone hit Queensland, where all the Australian bananas grow. It destroyed, amongst other places, Mission Beach, where we went on holiday with Marie-Eve and Steve last year, and all the banana crops. They started importing some from overseas but they wouldn't taste the same and they were bloody expensive. I no longer cook my banana bread to bring at the office - not that I go anyway. The price is now down to $5 a kilo, which still makes it over $2 a pound. But when you think about it, it's a question of choice: how much would you pay for a cocktail? A banana is much better for you.

P.S. New photos on my PP365. Success of the day: Philippe went to bed without a tear! I'm off to bed.

What kind of reader are you?

I took a little online quiz to see what kind of reader I am.
Here are the results:

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Literate Good Citizen You read to inform or entertain yourself, but you're not nerdy about it. You've read most major classics (in school) and you have a favorite genre or two.
Dedicated Reader
Book Snob
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

So, what kind of reader are you?

Didn't get the job...

Et non, je ne l'ai pas eu, mais l'autre gars non plus!!! Ils ont decide que personne ne satisfaisait aux exigences du poste.

But look, despite what the picture says, I'm far from desperate! I'm a little disappointed I couldn't show them I can do it. On the other hand, I would have felt a lot of pressure to go back to work early and it would have been difficult to ask for a part-time job while Philippe grows up a little bit.

The interview process was long - 2 one-hour sessions plus one feedback session - but interesting. That certainly was good practice for the next time I'll be looking for a new job, plus, my CV is up to date, which never happens between jobs... I still have a job waiting for me when I'm ready. So I really feel good about the whole thing!

Project Philippe 365

Francois gave me the idea: one photo per day for a year. I'm doing it with Philippe, to see how he changes day after day. I've started about a month ago and missed a couple of days but in general you can see how it is... It's on Flickr again, under the set PP365. Other photos of the family will be posted in other sets.

New baby skill: Philippe started drooling a few days ago. I read it lasts until they learn to swallow their saliva - around the age of 19 months. A long way to go! You're likely to see bibs on the photos from now on.

Job interview

I'm going for a job interview tomorrow. Is that silly or what? I plan to be on leave for at least another 6 months, but of course, opportunities never come when you have nothing to do. Just like the day we bought our loft in Montreal, Marc was also signing his contract to move to Australia to work. Major events in my life seem to always happen simultaneously. Or is it the case for everyone else???

When I filled out the application for this Manager Information Systems position, I was 38 weeks pregnant, sitting on the fit ball, trying to focus on the professional achievements of the last 2 years. I should really update that CV more often! Three days later, my son was born and I forgot all about it... Now it's time to get back into it. I cross my fingers all will go smoothly. I've never been on interviews where I knew everyone on the panel, plus where 2 of the interviewers are actually the referrees on my CV. Should be interesting. Girl's concern: the good thing is I still fit in my best outfit!!!

I'll tell you more when it's over.

Word verification

Sorry folks, I've had to turn on the annoying but useful word verification feature in the Comments section due to the arrival of several undesirable spam comments on how to make money fast while selling viagra to Zimbabweans who have $32 million stuck in a South African bank and require a partner to get the money out of the country in exchange for superflight golf balls or breast enlargements and hot stock tips.

I am a shark killer

I haven't posted in a donkey's age and I have so much to tell. Rather than try to catch up all in one shot, I'll spend the next several days going piecemeal through the latest events and happenings of my daily grind. This post is about the shark that I caught with my speargun.

I was out on the lookout for flathead and there was nothing around. The water was cold and I was paddling around looking and about to give up and was thinking of heading home to warm up. Nothing, I must have been on the wrong tide. All of a sudden I see a shadow scoot by so I begin to follow. I'm on the surface at about 2-3 metres depth with my speargun loaded on the first notch only since flatty is soft fleshed and anything more is wasted effort. I see this shape on the bottom and I'm thinking "that has to be the King of the flatheads" so I begin the hot pursuit. From the suface, I aim down to the supposed flathead and pull the trigger with the point of the spear probably about a metre from the fishes head. Instead of going right through and nailing it, the spearhead barely goes in and the "fish" turns on its side to shake out the barb. Wowwww, I think to myself, I'd better head down for a better look. Duck dive, straight down I go and what do I see? Shark gills. I'd actually pegged a Port Jackson shark. In my defence, from a few metres straight up, the outline of a Port Jackson is alot like a the outline of Flathead (other than the obvious difference in size - lets just write that off to suspended matter and distortion due to 3 metres of water). Well, the shark didn't seem too bothered by fact that I'd just sunk a barb about 2 cm into head and it just kept swimming along at the same speed. Well, I surfaced and kept kicking in an attempt to track while attempting to re-arm the speargun, this time at the second notch. Taking no chances and not liking the idea of a wounded beastie going out to die in the open sea with no one to eat it other than the other beasties (cuz I'm not a beastie, I'm a ... human), I drop back below the surface and level the spear head just above the shark's head. I did the whole "stop breathing part way, and gently squeeze the trigger" thing which I was taught back in my army days and released my projectile less than 10 cm from the targets head. Do I sound like some sort of crazed killer here? I hope not, cuz it's really about how I want to provide for my family and not abuse from nature and all that.

Anyways, I took the shark out and it measured just over 1 metre (it looks shorter in the picture because it's all curled up). So what do am I supposed to do with shark? Thanks to the wonderful knowledge imparted by the power of Google, I spend two days soaking the shark flesh which I'd preapared (also thanks to a link provided by Google) in ice water and lemon slices. After the two days, I dipped the flesh in olive oil then powdered it with a fish curry powder which I like then grilled it on the barbie. Does Yummy describe the sensation?

One more friend on the web!

My friend Francois asked my for photos of my life in Tassie for 2 years before I managed to send him something. It helped me realise I could do better to stay in touch with people I like around the planet.

Since then, I've caught up with technology (would you believe it - me, an IT analyst). In the last year, I bought a digital camera, started using email (outside work) and my Yahoo account and made this blog with Marc - Marc created the blog but I'm now the main contributor. My next challenge is to make movies from the images I recorded since Philippe's birth on the video camera.

Now, am I right to complain about my friends and family not using the internet??? Maybe, maybe not. Since I've been on maternity leave, I've been looking forward to get any news from Francois, my only friend with a blog. But not anymore. I couple days ago, I found out that Pascal, another of my friend in Canada has got a blog too. That's great! I now have 2 friends I can look forward to hear from. And I'm sure there is more of you out there.

DO YOU KNOW ME and HAVE YOU GOT A BLOG or a PHOTO ALBUM? If the answer is yes, hurry up! Send me the links so I can stay tuned.

Enjoy spring or fall, depending where you are!
Edith

Philippe a 1 mois - One month old

Philippe turned 1 month old this week. I've put some new photos on Flickr to show you how he changes, and how our days are like.

After one month, we're still alive and quite well. Yes, he will have the odd bad night (like last night when he stayed awake for 2 hours) but he usually settle nicely. He feeds well, sleeps well and grows very quickly. He no longer fits in his smallest pyjamas. So, I'd say so far, it's not as bas (read as hard) as I expected. Thanks to Marc for keeping me balanced and to Yolande for allowing me the afternoon naps. It makes a huge difference when you can think clearly.

Here's an idea of what the first month was like (for me):

- I lost 9 kilos in the first week (pretty amazing!) and 3 more since then.
- I don't drink wine as it passes through the milk and I don't want Philippe to get it.
- I love my morning coffee, but it's now a "coffee flavored steamed milk".
- I'm always hungry after the mid-night feed: I struggle between the 2 most important things : should I get up and eat something or get some sleep while I can?
- I started a new book a week ago, I'm at page 58.
- I still haven't found the news headlines for September 11, 2006 that I want to add to the Baby Book.
- I got back in touch with most friends from my hotmail and yahoo adress books and got news from a lot of people I met at l'INSA (when I studied in Lyon for a year in 1996-97).
- I miss my family in Quebec and Ontario more than ever before.
- We went out for brunch on the second weekend. I still had the baby blues and felt terrible, but those eggs benedict were really good!
- Philippe and I have started the yoga class together. I thought my son was a noisy baby. He's nothing compared to some others in the room!
- I saw the first smile and my heart nearly came out of my chest. I had never felt so much love at once.
- 3 days later Philippe did a smiling session to share with Dad and Grand-maman.
- Whenever the weather in not too windy, we go for walks on the beach. I love to carry Philippe around and he sleeps with the sound of the waves.
- I managed to get my toe nails polished and had my hair done once since we came back from the hospital!
- I feel myself again. Normal, and improved. Philippe is making me a better person.

State of the Nation - L'État de la nation

Last Saturday, a couple hours before our visitors arrived. Thank god there are 3 of us to look after the house and Philippe or how would it look like??? Let's face it: we're not exactly on top of things! What are we doing all day? Well, I'm mainly feeding Philippe or trying to catch up on sleep, Yolande looks after the kitchen 3 times a day (cooking and cleaning), while Marc runs around, organising the veggie patch and giving Terrapine a hard time because she keeps brining back some dead bunnies on the door step! So the new baby is keeping us all busy!

The paediatrician said not too think logically or try to establish some paterns. Absolutely right, go figure why Philippe will eat every 2 hours and then sleep for 5 hours... Anyway, we got lucky on Saturday, he was sleeping so we manage to get the place cleaned before the visitors arrived! Felt really good!

****************************
Samedi dernier, quelques heures avant l'arrivée de Micheal, le cousin de Marc. Heureusement, nous sommes 3 à s'occuper de Philippe et de la maison, je me demande de quoi ça aurait l'air! On n'est pas encore tout à fait en contrôle. En général, je nourris Philippe ou je sieste pour ratrapper le sommeil perdu la nuit, Yolande s'occupe de la cuisine 3 fois par jours et Marc cours partout, dans le jardin ou à chicaner Terrapine qui passe son temps à nous livrer des lapinots morts sur le pas de la porte! On ne flâne pas vraiment...

Le pédiâtre avait raison: il ne faut pas utiliser la logique pour comprendre l'horaire d'un bébé naissant, chaque journée est différente. Samedi on a eu de la chance, Philippe a fait un long dodo et on a réussi a tout nettoyer avant l'arrivée de la visite. Ah, ça fait vraiment du bien!

Philippe takes a bath

I've put some new pictures up on Flickr. Same as previously, if I haven't given you access and you think you should have it, send me an email energium AT yahoo DOT ca and I will add you to my friends list.

The Shadow of the Wind

I am reading a fantastic book right now called The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (original in Spanish, I've got the translation). I picked it up before heading to hospital for the birth. The story takes place in Barcelona following the Spanish Civil War during the early years of the Francist dictatorship and tells the tale of a young boy, Daniel Sempere, whose father is the respected owner of a used book store. One day, when Daniel is still quite young, his father takes him the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a near mystical, hidden palace where abandoned or forbidden books go to end their days. The tradition has it that when a person visits the Cemetery for the first time, he must pick one book to keep and cherish forever. Fate and destiny seem to drive Daniel to pick up The Shadow of the Wind a book by an unknown author by the name of Julian Carax. Daniel is enthralled by the book and determined to find out more about the mysterious author. This leads to an incredibly complex and wonderful story of love, betrayal, murder, and mystery.

Daniel meets and befriends a mysterious homeless man who goes by the name of Fermin Romero de Torres. Daniel introduces the man to his Father and they end up adopting him and taking him on as hired help in the book store. Fermin is overwhelmed by their generosity and becomes their most loyal supporter and friend. Meanwhile, Fermin has fallen well and truly in love with Bernarda, the maid of another book store owner and begins considering the possibility of becoming a father himself. One day in the book store, Fermin asks Daniel (and this is the point of this post):

‘May I ask you a personal question, Daniel?’

‘Of course.’

‘I beg you to answer in all frankness,’ he said, and he cleared his throat. ‘Do you think I could ever be a father?’

He must have seen my puzzled expression, and he quickly added, ‘I don’t mean biologically – I may look a bit rickety, but by good luck Providence has endowed me with the potency and the fury of a fighting bull. I’m referring to the other sort of father. A good father, if you see what I mean.’

‘A good father?’

‘Yes. Like yours. A man with a head, a heart, and a soul. A man capable of listening, of leading and respecting a child, and not of drowning his own defects in him. Someone whom a child will not only love because he’s his father but will also admire for the person he is. Someone he would want to grow up to resemble.’

‘Why are you asking me this, Fermin? I thought you didn’t believe in marriage and families. The yoke and all that, remember?’

Fermin nodded. ‘Look, all that’s for amateurs. Marriage and family are only what we make of them. Without that they’re just a nest of hypocrisy. Garbage and empty words. But if there is real love, the sort you don’t go around telling everyone about, the sort that is felt and lived…’

‘You’re a changed man, Fermin.’

As I read this passage while resting on my cot in the hospital, I began to reflect that this is exactly what I wanted to be for Philippe. Someone to look up to and learn from. To share ideas and feelings with. Someone who guides and instructs and who is there to listen and maintain links of love and friendship. I want Philippe to be a better person than me, without my faults and vices. I want to be the one who guides him along the paths of life, to point out pitfalls and helps him get back on the path when he stumbles and falls. The path will be of his own choosing but I will walk it with him.

Our walk in the paddock

Yesterday arvo (that means afternoon in Aussie), Edith and I went for a nice little walk in the back paddock to do a bit of bird watching and to try out my new 1.75x telephoto lens for my camera. As we walked along, the Masked Lapwings were going crazy which was a sure indication that there were Lapwing chicks about. Sure enough, Edith's sharp eyes picked up a little movement which couldn't be anything else. As we slowly made our way towards this little bird, the cries of the adults became much more strident and the baby responded to the alarm by sinking down to the ground. I continued onwards but I must have blinked because suddenly I had no idea where the little bird was. I tried to walk away again and wait behind a natural blind thinking the bird would eventually rise but it ended up being much more patient than I. So I tried to find it again and after some time of walking up and down to cover a grid I suddenly saw it!


This little chick was perfectly still and nearly invisible until you were right up on it. In fact, if I had not been scrutinising the ground in an attempt to find it, I never would have seen it and could very well have stepped on it. Terrapine walked right by about 2 metres away and never had a clue it was there. That's effecient camouflage.

I took a few pictures, admired the marvels of nature and then left the poor trembling chick alone.

Photos of Philippe

Well, we are now home. Our first night was good as Philippe slept soundly all night 3 to 4 hours at a time. Yay! Everything is going smoothly: baby is feeding well, Mother is resting and starting to get up and about. I have been going a little bonkers trying desperately to get everything ready. I will be working half days from home for the next two weeks starting Monday so I have today to get things ready for Edith to be "on her own".

Edith and I have decided that we don't want to put any pictures of Philippe on the blog just yet. We feel funny about possible public consumption of the pictures and want to attempt to control who sees what. So, I've created a Flickr account which I will be using for now to post pictures. I've already invited some people but if you haven't received an invitation yet, don't worry it's just that I was lazy and only sent it out to those whose emails I knew by heart or had ready access (ie two clicks or less). If you want to access the pictures, please send me an email at
energium AT yahoo DOT ca (replace " AT " by "@" and " DOT " by ".")
and I will give send you an invitation to the email address of your choosing.

That's it for now, Edith and are going for a little walk just now with Philippe to get some fresh air and enjoy the lovely weather.

I will post more interesting stuff soon. I will try and get Edith to post a bit about her experiences at the hospital if she feels up to it.

Bienvenue au monde Philippe!

Notre adorable bébé Philippe est venu au monde lundi le 11 septembre 2006 très précisément à 12h33. Il pesait 3710 grammes (8 livres et 3 onces pour les anciens) et mesurait 50 cm. J'ai ressenti le plus grand bonheur de ma vie en mettant moi même mon fils au monde. Edith qui a travaillé comme une championne va bien mais elle est très fatiguée comme vous pouvez vous l'imaginer. Nous pensons renter à la maison samedi et nous vous écrirons un post plus détaillé avec photos.

Our adorable first baby Philippe was born on Monday, September 11^th 2006. He weighed in at a very respectable 3710 grams (8 lbs, 3 oz for you Philistines) and measured 50 cm. Short and stocky like me. Welcoming my son into the world was the most powerful experience of my life. Edith is very well but understandably tired after her long effort. We expect to be home on Saturday and we will write a more detailed post with pictures at that time.

First Day at Home

I left work last night, thinking it will be at least 6 months before I go back. It felt stange! I'm not on holiday; I'm just at home, preparing for the arrival of our baby and the new adventure we're about to begin. Two weeks ago I was so tired, I wished I could quit work and spend the days sleeping. But in the last few days I realised the lifeI've been knowing for the past 8 years (since I graduated from Polytechnique) was almost over: I almost said "nooooo!" I'm not ready! What a weird idea to have a baby, what was I thinking!!! I'm really confused: one minute I'm very excited by everything that's going on and the next, absolutely scared about the birth and brining a new baby home. At the moment, I'm just really happy and at peace. I can't wait to see our little one's face and hear the first scream.

Funny how when something is changing, you realise you'll miss it (work). Well, that's my mood for now, it may be different in a few weeks / months. Marc seems to be preparing for the eventuality where I never want to go back. For the time being, I's impossible to imagine!

As the day progresses, it seems more and more normal to be here (at home) and enjoy the present moment. Not too sure what I'll do just now, maybe have a look at the veggie patch. I'll say goodbye with this picture, l'Atoll de Rangiroa - Polynesie Francaise, taken a few minutes before landing:

Sept 1st, Australian Spring is here

Australians have a funny way with seasons: unlike other places around the world, seasons here begin on the first of the month, not as per the Earth's position around the Sun (equinox and solstice). So today, 1st of September, is the first day of spring while it's still summer for another 3 weeks or so in the northern hemisphere. But regardless of dates, nice weather has been with us since we moved here. There's hardly any rain - it rained 3 times in the last 2 months (how can it fill the water tank?) - even though winter is supposed to be the wet, cold, miserable season. None of that in South Arm! We've been enjoying Sunday lunches on the terasse (the deck as they call it) all through winter!

The last couple of weeks have just been amazing for the eyes, with new colors appearing everywhere. These few photos show you what we see when we leave for work in the morning (snif!). Fortunately, the drive is not too ugly, with water and beaches and sand dunes and mountains, so it's also a nice part of the day. Follow the link for more photos (Yahoo - Spring in South Arm) if you feel like having a look at what I saw on my last Wednesday lunch walk.

I've been working from home on Wednesdays for the last few weeks. It has made the long 5-day week feel much easier for my growing belly. This week is my last week at work (hip, hip, hurray!) so I hope to spend even more time enjoying home, the garden and the beach until the baby arrives. Life is hard...

Okay you cwuddy wabbit, I know you're in there, come on out

We have rabbits at our place. Lots of rabbits. When I walk around our paddock around dusk I see litterally hundreds of the cute little bunnies. Rabbits are a big problem in Australia. English settlers, trying to turn Australia into England, introduced rabbits to the landscape. Only problem was, contrary to England, there was no natural predator so the rabbits did what they do best: they bred like, um, rabbits.

Thing is, rabbit meat is really yummy. So, in my new incarnation as a "gentleman farmer" I've decided to do something about our rabbit infestation while providing good tucker for the family. My solution was to build a trap. Not a leg trap or anything cruel like that but rather what is refered to as a live trap. Besides, I don't want to end up harming any native wildlife (although it would be cool to catch a bandicoot so I can see one close up before releasing it). I based my design on something I found here and this is the end result:


I put the trap out last night but I haven't caught anything yet. Maybe tonight I'll get lucky.

Of course, catching a rabbit is just the first part. Then, you have to, gulp, kill the cute little fella and then skin and clean him. I've only ever killed bugs, fish and when I was about 13 or 14 I had to kill one mouse that my Mother had captured under a pot in the kitchen sink and accidentaly ripped off it's leg - I chose to drown him by holding him down with a straw in a margarine tub filled with water. So, I'm not sure how I'll fare and I don't think a rabbit will fit in a tub of margarine. I guess I'll try to wring it's neck... As to skinning and cleaning, well I googled and came up with this lovely pictorial essay. We'll see how I go!

In the meantime... I'll keep you posted. If anybody has any useful tips or suggestions, please leave them in the Comments section.

Update:
This evening, we noticed that Terrapine was scratching around her ears and face. Upon inspection, we realised that she had a sudden flea infestation. Later on I found a headless bunny in the basement. My guess is that Terrapine caught her first (?) bunny and while chewing off it's head caught an entire flea circus.

Result: Terrapine 1 . . . . . . . . . Marc 0

Oh, and don't worry about the fleas. Terrapine gets a regular dose of flea meds so they will die disappear.

Bedaine de laine et bedon rond!

Yes, I know, it's about time I publish something for my family and friends back in Canada!

Where can I start? I'll be 37 weeks through my pregnancy tomorrow. This means, theoretically, only 22 days before the baby arrives. I feel enormous and I'm getting quite restricted in certain movements, but apart from that, I feel great! Marc has at least one good laugh a day: when I get out (or try to get out) of bed in the morning. Don't laugh, it's not funny turning a 10 kg belly around! - actually, it is! What else? Oh yes: colleagues usually find it funny if I drop something on the floor. But there's always someone kind enough to pick it up for me. Well, good incentive never to become obese!

Here is a photo of me, taken a week ago. You must admit I don't look that pregnant:


Now, have a look at this one, taken 30 seconds later:


Impressive, isn't it? Marc and I both have a feling it's a baby boy, probably because we call it le bébé. Or maybe it's all those kicks in the ribs, and huge tidal waves through my belly during meetings when I wear stretchy tops. No one has ever noticed or admitted to noticing, but I'm still getting paranoid! So, what do you think: boy or girl? Use the comments section to tell us.

Choosing a name is quite a challenge given the dual-citizenship, bilingual background the baby will have. Must spell the same in English and French, sound OK in both, and what about family name: between the 2 of us, we have 3 last names! I think we'll take the baby name book with us to the hospital. One thing for sure: you won't know the name before the baby's born. Tell me how you chose your chilren's names. Any interesting stories?

French Polynesia

In June, Edith and I decided to get away for a couple of weeks so we went to French Polynesia since we have friends who live in Papeete on the island of Tahiti.

We spent a few days in Papeete and while there we popped over to Moorea which is just a 1/2 hour ferry ride to stay with new friends at their beach house. Then we flew to Fakarava, a tiny atoll in the Tuamotu archipeligo. On that island we stayed in a tiny little hut right on the water (see pictures). The lagoon was gorgeous and so full of fish. I did four dives in the Pass (where the lagoon connects to the sea) and saw the most amazing variety of corals, plants, fish and... sharks! Next we flew to Rangiora which is the principal atoll in Tuamotu. After Fakarava, Rangiora was a bit of a disappointment but beautiful none the less. We took a boat across the lagoon and went to the "Blue Lagoon" which is basically a lagoon within the lagoon (I love that word, lagoon).

You can see some of our pics if you really feel like it.

Everything went well except that Edith's ankles got swollen on the way over and she struggled a bit with the heat. But it was still a wonderful trip.

By the way, I didn't buy Edith the necklace she is wearing in one of the pictures. I couldn't quite get the $200,000 together. Maybe next time. She had to settle for an ordinary old pair of perfect tear drop pearl earrings. Poor girl.

The Natural Edge Project

Yesterday evening, I took part in a tongue in cheek debate sponsored by Engineers Australia. The subject was "Engineers created Global Warming". I was second speaker for the affirmative and we won! I'm sure it was my dazzling rhetoric which made the difference. Or was it my use of the phrase "Society's Master Integrators" when referering to Engineering. I even got a nice bottle of Semillon out of the deal.

The really interesting part though was the opportunity to meet and discuss with Cheryl Paten. This incredible woman is a member of The Natural Edge Project, a think tank that deals with sustainability issues in Australia and abroad. She is the Education coordinator of this group which I gather means she travels around and talks to organisations about sustainability (rough job, eh?). What is really interesting about this group is that they are all young(ish) professionals who come up with alternatives to the way things are running now. They have a volunteer 6-month internship program which performs all sorts of research. I've put my hand up and I may just be doing a bit of work for them next year.

For such a new and young group, they have an amazing reach and audience. They are remarkably well respected and received everywhere from government, technical bodies to industry and political movements. I think the secret to their success is that they tell the truth while backing it with cold, hard facts. Also, they propose solutions which are practical, realistic and more importantly allow people to make money. Being largely comprised of engineers they are very much interested in innovation and re-design of processes rather than band aid solutions which don't really work. One of the things she said last night which really struck me was that as engineers, it is our role to innovate humanity out of the pending crisis (or is it here already) related to GW.

If you're interested in this type of stuff, you can also visit Treehugger, a webzine which deals with new products which are aesthetically pleasing, innovative and environnementally conscious.

Welcome to Edith and Marc's new blog all about our life here in South Arm, Tasmania. What can you expect to read here? We'll tell you about what we've been doing, life in general here in Tassie, birds, our cats, and of course Edith's pregnancy (35 weeks so far) and the soon to arrive new member of our little family unit. I may also subject you to my musings with regards to the state of the world, the state of my mind and whatever else I feel like since this is my (I mean OUR) blog.

Where is Tasmania? Well, it's not in Africa (you're probably thinking of Tanzania). Tassie is the island state to the south-east of Australia.Where is South Arm? Just across the Derwent River from Hobart about a half hour drive from the cbd. Here is a Google Earth pic of South Arm:



If you've got Google Earth installed you can actually see our property (well not really our property since we rent...). It is 7.5 acres right on the beach. Right now as I sit at my desk I can look over the monitor and see the water and Tinderbox on the opposite shore. Life is good.

We moved to Tassie nearly three years ago from Montreal, Canada and moved here in South Arm back in May. We moved out of the City and chose to live in a more rural area just because we could. I mean, where else in the world would we be able to afford to live on such a huge beachfront property in such a massive house and only 30 minutes from the city? If you know of such a place, let me know! Here is a picture of our house seen from the paddock (Australian for a huge field):

In the foreground, the little shed is in our soon to be veggie patch. Actually, this afternoon I'll be going out to plant our spinach, endive, celery, broccoli, dill, chamomile and sage. If I have time I may even plant a patch of shallots and spring onions. So far this season, I've only gotten the garlic in but our hope is to have a really large garden which I'd like to run year round. I'll keep you updated with pictures and if I get around to it I may even draw up the garden plan in Visio and post it. Here is me examining the garlic patch about a month ago:

One of the issues we've been struggling with about the blog we've been meaning to start for ages is what language to publish in. You see, we are both from Québec and prior to our life in Tassie our day to day language was French. At home, at work, and out and about in town. But if we write in French then none of our English friends in Canada, the US, Australia or wherever will be able to read us. And what about our European friends: German, Spanish etc? We had thought of having an English and French blog with translated posts but this seemed like a way of killing the project before it even got off the ground. And besides "Notre vie dans le Bras" doesn't quite have the same ring to it. We think pretty well everyone is able to understand English and like it or not English is the lingua franca so English it is. However, feel free to post in the comments section in whatever language you want. As we go forward, we will see how things evolve and we may choose to publish in French sometimes and English the rest.

That's about it for now! We will try and post a few times a week. In closing, here is a picture of Edith which I took on Fakarava in French Polynesia when we were there in June: