Bonne Fête Marc!

Mon cher Papa Marc,

Joyeux Anniversaire! Je suis content que tu passes beaucoup de temps avec moi quand tu rentres du travail. Tu es aussi super avec Maman même si elle n'est pas toujours commode ;-)

Je t'aime beaucoup,
ton fils Philippe xxx

Back to Switzerland - Vous avez dit Chocolat!!!

A great thing about Swiss is they make the best chocolate in the world. Not the Cadbury crap we find here (no offense but Australians haven't found the real thing yet...) but delicious, delicate blend of cocoa and the most amazing flavors.

This photo was taken at your average supermarket. There was a complete aisle of different flavors to choose from. We got about 5 kilos (11 pounds for you Canadians) of dessert such as dark chocolate with caramel and fig filling, milk chocolate with passion fruit mousse, almond and hazelnut chips, and Marc's most wanted and probably the one we'll try last: dark chocolate with cherry and chili!

We've been indulging in a new flavor every night since we've been back, watching our downloaded TV series Lost, Heroes and Marc's new series Time Break. The stocks are getting low already, it won't be long before we'll have to go back to get some more.

My favorite chocolate is dark chocolate with whole hazelnut. Thank goodness we got a few packs of that classic combination. Crunchy and not too sweet, you can eat a whole pack in one night!

What's your favorite chocolate???

My StarMania CD: where the bloody hell are ya?

I gave it away before I left Montreal in 2004. Was I stupid or what? Have you got it??? I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner when it suddenly hit me: I started singing Ziggy for no reason. My 2 men are in bed with a cold (boooooh!) and I'm back in high school with Ziggy, la Serveuse Automate and Johnny Rockfort... Mais ou est donc ce foutu CD???

We're back! We've been home for exactly a month. Not that I know where home is at the moment, all very confusing. Where did May 2007 go? I don't know. I've got soooooooo many topics I want to write about, especially the trip, but can't seem to find the time. I've been busy making puree for my son as he now eats like a little pig and always wants more and more of the good stuff I prepare. I actually just dropped an ice cube container full of prune puree to be frozen in the freezer. What a lovely mess. I only stopped singing for a few seconds to replace the words with a big "tabarnak" then I kept singing while mopping between the bloody freezer cracks for about 20 minutes! The engineers who designed freezer apparently never thought that you could spill liquid on the way in. Pas fort! What makes me sad is all the puree that ended-up in the sink...

Anyway, we had a great trip around the world, except for Air Canada. They really sucked. I'll tell you more about the trip soon. It was just a quick word to say hello as some people are starting to wonder where / why we're hiding. Photo: the Brunet-Watson Domingue family in Vancouver before heading back to Australia.

Round The World 2007 - Mega Post

I haven't posted since Singapore. Where to start?

We had a lovely 5 days in Geneva where the whole family got gastroenteritis (Sensational.) Marc got sick first on our way from Singapore, then I was really sad to see my little Philippe being sick and not eating. Thank goodness it only lasted 2 days. It was finally my turn. It started the day we were touring the Swiss Alps (even more sensational). Luckily, it was all over when we catched our flight for Montreal at 5 am on Saturday morning.

Apart from that, Switzerland was great. We spent a lot of time with our friends Les Dunand. They all seem very happy to meet our son Philippe. We went for walks in the vineyards with Raphael, the third son of the family, who is learning the arts of wine making. We drove to Evolene, a typical Swiss village of the Valais with Jean-Marie and Alexandre. We visited Carouge, an old suburb of Geneva where Jean-Marie now lives. We spent some time chatting with Martine and we ate WAY TOO MUCH raclette, cheese and chocolate!

We then flew to Montreal via Frankfurt. That sucked. If you can avoid the Frankfurt airport, do so!!! It's badly ventilated, people smoke everywhere, there is no decent food, you can't find water or the toilets as the information system consists of a bugged touch screen boot that returns the list of all the airport facilities regarless of your query. And of course, no one to talk to to give you some live information! Air Canada sucked as well but what can you do when you live in a shoe??? They're the only ones servicing the Canadian cities and we need more Aeroplan miles.

We finally landed in Montreal. Thanks to the baby in the stroller we got the bypass and got into the country quickly. I nearly took a photo of Philippe next to the Canadian flag but decided not to. Both my mom and dad were waiting for us. I was so happy to see them, I ran with the stroller to meet them. No one got injured but we all shed a tear anyway! We then drove 4 hours to Pembroke, Ontario where we stayed with my sister Andree for the weekend. When I finally went to bed that night, I had been up for 22 hours and had fed the baby 8 times. I was completed exhausted and could not even answer questions! Andree helped me to bed and I fell asleep with Philippe in the minute. We killed the jetlag in one day!

It was great to see Andree and Sebastien again. It had been over 3 years since the last time. They now have a beatiful daughter Laura, 7 months older than Philippe. As it rained for 3 days, we spent all our time there talking about the old days and admiring our babies. They live in a house of over 100 years old, fully refurbished of course, and very comfy. Andree and Sebastien being good Quebecers, it was freezing outside but very warm inside. We spent the weekend in shorts and t-shirts, just like a Tassie summer! So much for all the winter clothes I bought for Philippe before leaving home...

Then back to Montreal. But that will have to wait. It`s almost 11 pm, I'm figthing one of the worst cold ever, Philippe is wacking every hour of the night so I'm off to bed. I have so much more to say so stay tuned for the next episode! (Photo will be added tomorrow, promise!)

Love, Edith

Philippe's Singapore Fanclub

They all loved him (I can't find the exclamation mark on this Swiss keyboard...) Of course he was smiling at everyone from his stroller and making all sorts of cute little noises that would make everyone go "Ohhh".

Our 3 days in Saingapore were fantastic. We visited Chinatown where Chinese man and woman would smile at Philippe and touch his feet. We bought silk scarves, had tailored shirts made for us and I also found some pretty cool western pants. We visited an indian temple (yes, in Chinatown) and many Chinese temples too. Impressive and beautiful. We ate like it was our last meal, 4 times a day, in fact as often as we found something new. My favorite is Ice Katchang, a desert made from shaved ice topped with fruit and coconut syrups, green jelly, red beans and corn. Strange but yummy.

On the second day we visited Little India where we found a nice Punjabi suit for me. Apart for shopping, little india was quite exhausting: crowded, noisy, smelly at times, but still very interesting. I guess it gave me an idea of what India would be like. Again, we ate curries and all sorts of good stuff with he locals. The indian food turned out to be Marc's favorite in Singapore.

We went out to a Peranakan (mix of Chinese and Malay culture from the first migrants to Singapore) restaurant. Everything was delicious, a million flavour hit our taste buds: lemongrass, coconut, chili, lime, coriander, etc. The beef rendang was to die for and I couldn't get enough of the fish cakes. We didn't quite manage to enjoy the infamous local fruit "durion" tough. I cannot really describe it, all I can say is that it tastes like brown...

On our last day, we had lunch in Kampong Glam, the Arab district where we visited the Sultan Mosque. It was the first time I set foot into a mosque. That neibourghood is getting more and more hip, with local designers sharing the streets with the more traditional fabric shops. More cashemire scarves, and more food.

A quick dash to Orchard Road, one of the coolest shopping destination in the world. Name your brand, they've got it, except mine: the Benetton and Sisley stores in Paragon shopping mall apparently just closed down. And to say I came all the way from Australia. We ended up finding nice clothes at Calvin Klein Jeans. I forgot how i like the way CK jeans look like - always good (where-s the bloody exclamation mark???)

More news from Geneva after our day trip to the Valais today.

Depart - It's a Go!

It's 7:45 am. We're leaving home in 45 minutes with Stu who's driving us to the airport. We've had 3 hours of sleep but hey, we're ready!!! I wish I could have showed you the size of our suitcases (Philippe has the biggest!) but the camera is also packed and ready to go. In brief, the latest news:

• Philippe and I are now Australian permanent resident;
• The whole family is enrolled in the Australian bureaucracy: Medicare, Family Assistance and the lot;
• Philippe had a third cold in less than 2 months and he seems to be just over it... wish us luck for the plane trips ahead!
• He is almost crawling (rocking back and forth on all fours) and now eating three meals a day, mainly puree;
• I'm very excited to leave - I've been talking about this round the world trip for over 2 years now.

More news and photos from Singapore, our first stop!

Love, Edith

Insomnia

Only 18 days before our round the world trip. My head is too busy, I'm tired and I can't sleep. It is currently 4:32 am and I've been awake since the last time Philippe woke up, 1:38 am. Very productive time: I've cleaned up the office, checked my bank accounts, completed my subscription to the Ordre des Ingenieurs and I'm about to update my PP365 with new photos. THANKS TO THE INTERNET!

Mind you, I'd rather be in bed, dreaming. Do you suffer from insomnia under stress? Tell me what makes you sleep...

Nice painting, don't you think? I found it here and discovered the artist, John Hrehov, at the same time.

Abundance

As we've mentionned in various posts, this year we planted quite a garden. Guess what... things are growing in such abundance that we can't keep up.

We planted 20 corn seeds which are yielding 4-6 ears per stalk. This must be the sweetest corn we've ever eaten. We eat as soon as it's picked. My favourite way is by leaving the last layer of leaves then cooking them on the barbie. I've even eaten them raw! Yesterday, Edith took the kernels off 11 cobs and pureed 3 for Philippe which then got put into ice cube trays for later eating and the rest ended up frozen in ziplocks for use this winter. A total of 2 kg of kernels...

Three zuchini plants which are simply out of control. We have made zuchini cake, zuchini and bacon quiche, zuchini soup, grilled zuchini. Plus we eat it raw in salads and put it on home made pizza. We've given heaps away to friends and colleagues, whoever will take them! Any other ideas of what to do with them?





Three cucumber plants which have yielded at least 15 kg so far. We've mostly eaten them raw on their own or in salads although I made a cucumber and red capsicum (Australian for Bell Pepper) relish using, get this, 3.5 kg of cucumber from a single picking! I used a recipe I found here with lots of extra spice. However, after having made it I'm afraid the vinegar content may be too high but we'll wait and see once its had a few months to rest up.


Making relish:
This gave about 3 litres of relish.










Three different patches of green beans which we just can't eat so we blanch and freeze in ziplocks. Edith also made some puree for Philippe which went into ice cube trays for freezing and use later. If we skip a day of picking they just get too big and the taste and texture is nowhere near as nice so those ones end up back in compost.




Eight tomato plants plus two which just spouted from compost added to the garden (unfortunately, we lost a large plant during a wind and rain storm). The wooden structure you see is a huge truss which I built with scrap wood. We've put runner strings up them and get the vines to grow up the strings. The first type of tomato to ripen were the cherry tomatoes - you have never tasted such fruit. We are starting to get the standard beefsteak tomatoes to ripen and next will be the roma tomatoes which we will mostly use for tomato sauce for the winter.

We planted something like 20 basil plants. Next weekend we will be making huge quantities of pesto which will then be frozen for later use. When we do this, we add only oil and garlic. When it comes time to use it, if we are after genovese pesto we add parmsan and roasted pine nuts. We also freeze them in ice cube trays so that we can have small portions if we want them.




Four aubergine plants in a hothouse which are probably going to yield around10 fruit in total. We'll be eating our first ones tonight. We've had so so success and for some reason the leaves seem to be suffering. Also, grasshoppers have been in the hothouse and chewd some leaves.

We started the spring season with 4 or 5 batches of radish, peas, and we've been eating various types of lettuce, including radichio and arugala (rocket) for months. I can't seem to find any pictures a the moment so you will just have to take our word for it.



We even had a rock melon (cantaloupe) which grew of its own accord from the compost. Its single fruit has been picked but not yet eaten.








There are also grape vines with tons of fruit, a peach tree with maybe 50 fruit, a fig tree and an apple tree.

As you can see, we have been fruitful! Please, if you are in the neighbourhood, stop by and help us eat our veggies!

New look

We've decided to change the "look and feel" of the blog by experimenting with different templates so don't be surprised if it looks different whenever you visit us. Please let us know what you think.

Nous sommes dans une période d'essaie pour le 'look' du blog. Ne soyez donc pas surpris de voir que le site est différent lorsque vous venez nous rendre visite. SVP, laissez nous des commentaires avec votre avis.

Oda the Mermaid Girlfriend

We've been going to the beach with Philippe almost every day in the last week. The weather (and the water) have been warmer than usual and we all enjoy being in the water at the end of the day.

Philippe seems to enjoy it more every day. He looks at the coming waves with eyes wide open and likes to feel them breaking on his legs. If the water is warm enough he goes as deep as his chest... otherwise we sit in the sand for a few moments. Quite calming after an exciting day of playing on the floor, rolling, screaming and talking in the heat of summer.

Hier, quand je lui ai mis son maillot, on dirait qu'il savait ce qu'on allait faire. Il s'est mis a jaser tout seul pendant que je mettait mon maillot a mon tour. "Oda, Oda, Oda, Da, da, da!" Peut-etre qu'Oda est une sirene de Halfmoon Bay et que Philippe en est amoureux...

After the beach, into the hot shower with Dad to rinse off the salt and sand, lotion on his skin to keep it soft, a nice pyjama and a feed. Makes a good start for an early night! Philippe a des journees bien remplies ces jours-ci!

Sur la photo (29 Decembre dernier) c'etait sa premiere fois a la plage. L'eau etait froide et Philippe n'a pas trop apprecie...

I am an Australian!

Yes, you read correctly. After just over 3 years in Australia, yesterday I became an Australian citizen. It took several months of waiting for the paper work to get through but I have now received the official phone call from Canberra saying I am "in the system" and that I should get my official certificate in a 2-3 weeks.

I have actually reclaimed the citizenship I lost as a child when my Father (an Aussie) took Canadian citizenship thereby giving up his Australian citizenship without knowing it. This means that I don't get a citizenship ceremony and I don't get to swear an oath which is actually quite disappointing.

The next step is to sponsor Edith and Philippe for their permanent residency. Philippe is not a citizen although he was born here because Australian law states that for a person to be a citizen by birth, at least one of their parents must be either a citizen or a permanent resident at the time of their birth. Because Edith and I were here on a temporary work visa (4 years is still temporary), he did not qualify. So, he is a citizen of Canada. After two years of permanent residency they will both be entitled to apply for citizenship.

I now get to vote, pay the Medicare levy (1.5% of my salary) and go on the dole. I am looking forward to the first, dreading the second and laughing about the third.



Here are some very interesting facts about Australia:

• The name Australia comes from the Latin Terra Australis Incognito which means the Unknown Southern Land.
• A little over 200 years ago Australia was sparsely inhabited by the aboriginal people. In 1788 the first European settlers arrived in the First Fleet.
• It is estimated that right now, there are 20,758,120 people in Australia. 73.9% were Australian born and of those born elsewhere, 36.2% came from the United Kingdom, New Zealand or Ireland, with the majority of the remainder coming from Italy, Vietnam, Greece, China and Germany
• Around 80% of the Australian population lives within the eastern seaboard or the coastal fringes of the continent. Australia is one of the world’s most urbanised countries, with about 70 per cent of the population living in the 10 largest cities.
• The smallest state is Tasmania
• It is the driest continent on earth with around 1/3rd considered desert
• Australia is the lowest continent in the world with an average of only 330 meters. The lowest point is Lake Eyre in South Australia at 15 m. below sea level.
• The hottest temperature recorded in Australia was 53 degrees celsius at Cloncurry in Queensland in 1889
• In 1832, 300 female Convicts at the Cascade Female Factory mooned the Governor of Tasmania during a chapel service. It was said that in a "rare moment of collusion with the Convict women, the ladies in the Governor's party could not control their laughter."
• In 1838 it was declared illegal to swim at public beaches during the day! This law was enforced until 1902.
• Australia was the second country to give women the vote. The first was New Zealand.
• Australia's first police force was a band of 12 of the most well behaved Convicts.
• In 1954, Bob Hawke was immortalised by the Guinness Book of Records for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds. Bob later became the Prime Minister of Australia.
• January 26, Australia day, is the anniversary of ships arriving in Sydney carrying a load of Convicts.
• Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason. Australia is the only country whose people eat both animals on it’s coat of arms.
• A monotreme is an animal that lays eggs and suckles its young. The world's only monotremes are the platypus and the echidna and are found only in Australia. Monotreme means “one hole” because they use the same hole to poop, pee, shag and give birth. When a specimen of the platypus was first sent to England, it was believed the Australians had played a joke by sewing the bill of a duck onto a rat.
• The box jellyfish is considered the world's most venomous marine creature. The box jellyfish has killed more people in Australia than stonefish, sharks and crocodiles combined.
• The Sydney Funnelweb spider is considered the world's most deadly spider. It is the only spider that has killed people in less than 2 hours. Its fangs are powerful enough to bite through gloves and fingernails. The only animals without immunity to the Funnelweb's venom are humans and monkeys.
• In 1977, Alan Jones scored a surprise victory in the Austrian Grand Prix. Initially officials were going to play the Austrian anthem but then realised that Australia and Austria were not the same country. Unfortunately, they didn't have the Australian anthem so instead a local drunk played "Happy Birthday to You" on a trumpet.
• Australians may refer to Americans as 'Seppos'. This is an abbreviation for 'Septic Tank' which is rhyming slang for 'Yank'.
• The name for the Australian marsupial Kangaroo came about when some of the first white settlers saw this strange animal hopping along and they asked the Aborigines what it was called. They replied with 'Kanguru', which in the native language meant 'I don't know' or ‘what are you talking about’
• Australia was founded by Convicts. Its homicide rate is 1.8 per 100,000 population. The United States was founded by religious zealots. Its homicide rate is 6.3 per 100,000. Almost 400% greater than Australia.
• For each person in Australia there are two sheep and over 16 rabbits, the latter introduced in 1859 by one enterprising man who brought 24 wild rabbits from England in an effort to remind him of home.

Brave petit Philippe

Il a eu son premier rhume dimanche passé. J'étais toute émue de voir mon petit malade... On a eu une nuit plutôt longue, alors que Philippe se réveillait toutes les demies-heures à cause de son nez bouché. Pauvre petit: les bébés ne savent pas qu'on peut respirer par la bouche!!! (Après 3 nuits, il a compris.) Il est venu dormir dans notre lit, ou on l'a installé sur un oreiller coinçé entre les nôtres pour le garder la tête surélevée. Le matin il se réveillait en toussant et en grognant mais après quelques minutes il était de nouveau lui-même, tout souriant et joueur. Le plus dur est passé, maintenant c'est Papa qui est malade (ah les hommes!).

What a great birthday!

I should have posted that a week ago and it's getting a bit old, but I want to share it so here it is!

January 25th was my birthday. Marc invited some friends for drinks after work. I was so excited: First time I was going out since Philippe was born, first time I intended to have more than 1 glass to drink in 13 months!!!! And so many grown-ups I hadn't seen in ages...

A lot of people turned up: Andrew & Selina, our first friends in Hobart and fellow bush-walkers; Mel, good friend and colleague and now neighbourg; Chu, former colleague and now good friend, Greg, Gerrard and Manny, 3 colleagues I enjoy(ed) working with; and Ruth, who made it from Canberra for the week-end.

I had a great time! The kir royal (plural!) certainly helped, but it was more the fact that I realised I made really good friends in Australia and I miss them when they're not around. It will be a birthday to remember. Marc, thank you for organising and driving. Je t'aime.

I miss my Montreal friends a lot too. I hope to see many of them in April... I should email them as it seems not many people read that blog!

We're coming home! - On s'en vient!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. You may have noticed my PP365 is late too. Haven't put any pics since Christmas. But here I am, finally telling you we'll be flying home in April! I can't wait to go. I think about that trip ALL the time. I'll be a great time for the family, I mean Philippe, Marc and I. We're flying aroud the world YIPEEEEE! as the airfare are just about the same price as going to Canada from Sydney. We'll spend 3 days in Singapore, 5 days in Switzerland to visit our good friends and former neighboor Les Dunand and then 3 weeks in Canada. In Quebec (Montreal and Sherbrooke) for 14 April - 3 May and then, a week in BC. Tell us when you're around, we want to see you!

I can't wait to go, I'm already thinking of the clothes I'll pack in Philippe's suitcase! Here is a list of things (mostly food), we will definitely enjoy when we're around:

1. St-Viateur Bagels I haven't had bagels since I left Montreal in March 2004. I can't wait to get a smoked salmon and cream cheese one.

2. Smoked Meat. I never actually ate at Schwartz so I guess next April would be a good time to do so. If it's too crowded as usual, perhaps a big smoked meat and a fat piece of cheese cake from Ste-Catherine St. will do just fine!

3. Poutine: I guess you have to be genuinely Quebecois to enjoy it, and I do! Is Rapido on Plateau Mont-Royal still the best???

4. Renaud-Bray. I can't wait to get in there to see all the latest BD (bandes dessinees) and get some story books for Philippe. So far we only have one baby book for him in 3 languages (Francais, Espanol and English) thanks to Philippe's friend Lise who sent it from Montreal.

5. Real baguette and croissants. Maybe Carole et Yannick would argue over that (being French!) but Au Pain Dore or Premiere Moisson are good enough for me, and I'll make sure I get plenty!

6. Sirop d'erable: you can buy some in Australia for about 3 times the price and it's made in Ontario. What's the point. My mother makes the most delicious maple syrup pie and maple mousse (to die for!!!). Plus she'll have the whole range of maple products on the table. I'll make sure to order ahead. I wonder if it's the right time for sugar shack???

7. Tintin and Spirou et Fantasio: That's it, it's decided: I'm shipping my BD collections across the planet I miss reading them too much. And Pierre, I think I'll get my XIII back too, hope you enjoyed!

Looking forward to see you soon!

Happy New Year from Tasmania

It was the best 1st January in a long time. It started on New Year's Eve with some friends at home. We prepared food during 2 days. Salads, dips, Marc's favorite smoked chicken on the BBQ and oysters - freshed and cooked, all prepared by Marc. The food was fantastic, the friends were great company. Even Philippe had a girlfriend, beautiful Anais.

You can tell it's been a quiet evening when at midnight we only needed one bottle of Champagne for 7 people! That must be because of the pregnant girl and the 2 breastfeeding mothers... The next morning we had breakfast with Andrew and Selina who stayed over for the night. We then did nothing for the rest of the day, had naps with Philippe, ate the left overs and had more oysters. The weather was fine (in Oz that means sunny) with a nice sea breeze across the bedroom. It just felt really really good to be alive and breathing the fresh air.

Happy New Year from Tasmania. May 2007 be full of surprises, happy, healthy and wise. I hope to see you on our round the world trip to Switzerland and Canada.

P.S. That photo is a year ago at our friend Steph in Melbourne.

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?