Spring's a commin!

This winter has been rather long and rainy and I am really, really ready to venture back into the world! There have been a few distracting activities to help me get through this difficult time of the year.
For example, we once again went to the mountains last week. This time, I was not plagued with constant pain and 'inexplicable' falling because I opted NOT to lock my feet into a deathboard (snowboard)! I've decided I've been brave enough for one winter and that I'll pick it back up next year. Fortunately for me, we have a friend who has a chalet in one of the ski resorts, so that served as my home base as the others hit the slopes. The temperature was hovering somewhere in the high 60s. I don't know how the snow was still still around but it was beautiful. So, I wandered around and took some pictures and made a snowman and sat down in a pile of snow and read in the sun until about noon. Then, I ate with Laurent and the friend we were visiting before heading out again. This time I went with them and they dropped me off at the high altitude café. This may sound ordinary, but when I say 'dropped me off,' I mean that they hopped on their snowboards and our friend Jeffrey carried me down the mountain piggy-back style as the other skiers thought they were halucinating. It was awesome! It was like being the passenger on a motorcycle but probably less stable. Jeffrey had absolutely no problem with the extra 140 pounds on his back, and on the contrary, I only made him go MUCH faster. Once at the café, I sat in the sun with out my coat and my sleeves rolled up and ended up getting a sunburn.

A few weeks ago, 'The Tempest' blew through and knocked down whole forests, cut electricity for millions of people (we were lucky and got it back after 36 hours while others went with out for more than a week), and even worse, disonnected the internet for several days. Things are back to normal now for us whose livelihoods do not depend on the exploitation of pine forests.

The following weekend, we went to Toulouse where Laurent's sister and I visited museums while Laurent and his brother-in-law went to some motorcycle-climbing-over-obstacle show. I feel like I got the better deal out of it, but I suppose that's just a matter of opinion. We also helped cut down a tree that had crashed into another tree during the wind storm the previous weekend. This ended in an enormous bonfire! This episode was followed up the next week at Laurent's mom's house as we cut and burned the two damaged trees in her yard.

Last night, we had this same friend Jeffrey over with the intention of having dinner and then going bowling just down the street. We prepared a chocolate mouse to be eaten after bowling, and then devoured a delicious meal of macaroni and cheese and duck. It was a wonderful combinatin of cultures. After we had finished, we headed out to the bowling alley where they informed us that the bowling section of the establishment had been closed since September. Oops... So, we had to find something else to do. We decided to walk downtown to play some pool. Once at the smoke free establishment, aka the bar, the only pool table was being monopolized by a group of Englishmen. Between me, Jeffrey (whose father is Canadian and speaks fluent English), and Laurent, we logically sent Laurent over to politely ask the English gentlemen if we could have our turn. They were amicable and seemed as if they were going to comply. However, at the end of their game they racked up the balls and started once again. So this time, I went over to see what was going on. Turns out they were playing a tie breaker game and then the table would be ours. Fair enough. We played one long and horrifically bad game of pool, and then we decided to leave, the bar was getting too crowded anyway! The mousse au chocolat was very yummy and properly chilled by the time we completed the long walk home! Yum!

Yesterday I babysat all day. Today, Laurent and I will be visiting his grandparents in Biarritz and we will be eating dinner with his mother. It is sunny and about 55 degrees. Whew! That's about as up to the minute as I can get!