Hiking in Colorado

Yup, you read that correctly. Today, I went hiking in Colorado. Colorado, Provencal, France. It was very invigorating and refreshing. The colors are very intense. Here some pictures.

Proof.


Look! French Cactus!

A large black bug.

Pop-bottle water-wheel.

Watermelon?

Little village on the way to where we hiked.


Doesn't that look like the sunset soaked into the rock and got stuck?

Me.

Tah-dah!

Mushrooms big enough for a Hobbit.

More Hush-Moons.

Snail shell. These were everywhere in the clearing where we ate our pick-nick lunches. EVERYWHERE. It was really cool.

Here's one on a Queen Anne's Lace stem.

Pretty Yellow Flower.

I SPY wiht my little eye...something Jumpy.

Siesta after Lunch.

Pretty Queen Anne's Lace

Grapes for wine.

Orange sand partout.

Passage Interdit (i.e. Forbidden path, don't go this way.) Whoops.... ;P

Prettyful.

Just "chillin'" in the sunset rocks.

I'm on Top of the World!!!!

Demonstration and keyboard and postcards

There is currently a demonstration/protest going on outside my building (actually across the street in the Prefecteur. I here gun shots (not reall guns, smoke guns with tear gas, etc), air horns, cheering or shouts of anger, whistles, honking, etc.) There were police all dressed in black with the clear full-length shields. Kind of worrisome. But I'm sure all will be well. Mme Velay doesn't seem worried. The street is packed with cars and they have police officers directing traffic. I'm not going to go out and take pictures because (one, that doesn't seem smart and two becasue:) it's COLD outside. But I'm really curious! If the ramparts weren't there, I'd be able to see everything. Front row seat from my bedroom. I can certainly hear everything clearly enough!!!

Here are the postcards I picked out when I was in Arles. I've actually written some of them. Guess which one's yours. ;P

Here's a French keyboard (if you click on the picture it gets bigger). Most of the letters are in the same place. You have to press shift to get the numbers. All the punctuation is in different places.

Here are the protesters--they crossed to my side of the wall. Anybody know what kind of flag that is???

Prefecture. It's right across the street from my house. If the ramparts weren't there, I could see it. This is where I saw the police with the shields. This is where the paysans were protesting. (The farmers protesting money stuff)

One of the apples that was thrown during the Manifestation.

Later that day. Photo Shoot.

So, I bought six French books a couple weeks ago. And at the beginning of the semester I bought folders, etc. When I arrived, my suitcase was already full to the brim (I had to leave shampoo and conditioner at home because they made my suitcase too heavy). This begs the question: How the heck am I going to get this stuff home. And also, what am I going to pack in for Italy.

So I bought a mini suitcase.

I also bought a scarf, but that won't help me pack. It's just pretty and protects me from the Mistral!

So what did I do when I returned to La Maison after buying these items? Took pictures of them, of course. And there you have it.

Here is a picture of my new Valise next to my back pack so you get a perspective of how "big" it is.

The scarf haning on the back of the chair (so that you can see what it looks like)

Over the shoulder.

Babushka style for WIND PROTECTION

Around the neck

Around the neck 2.

Me in the morning with my hair kinda wackaly...but you can't see it that well in this one.


I like how my hair looked this morning, so I took a picture.
And then I'd noticed that I'd cut off the top of my head. So I took this one. But Both are u because my smile looks slightly more cheery in the one above this one.

And that is the end of my photo shoot. Hope you Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, and Other all enjoyed it.

Life is Like Quiche: French children Don't speak French

Many people have asked me why Life is Like Quiche. I can't remember what the reasons were, though I know that there were one or three logical (ish) reasons for why Life really is like Quiche. It also occurs to me that Life is Like Quiche would be a great name for band. Or a song. Or a book. I should write that one one day!

And on we go to the real purpose of this blog: French children.

French children don't speak French.
I don't know what it is that they speak, but it definitely is NOT French. I can't understand them. It's the same Phonemes and accent as French, but I swear the lexicon is completely different. I just get this high-pitched cheerful (or high-pitched incredibly unhappy) french sounding Noise. My brain goes "I'm hearing French." My ears tell me so. But my brain can't put words to the sounds. I don't get it. Whenever I'm around French kids (meehh-eh-eh-eh), I feel like someone who doesn't speak French, but knows what it sounds like, has been plunked down in the middle of France.

So, why is life like quiche? For the same reason French children don't speak French.

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Pont du Gard

Yesterday we (my L'Architecutre et L'archeologie class + four tag-alongs) went to the Pont du Gard. Beautiful place. I loved it.
























Cait and Kate en garde!