Grandparent Heaven - more

I have put more photos up in the March Picasa album. That'll be it for March! Claire also has an album; some of you have received an invitation to view it. She also included some of my photos, in case you think you're seeing double.

We came back from England with Claire and Aurelia as bonus passengers. We had gotten news on Saturday that Paul's mother had taken a downturn that week and we all went down to Toulon during the past week to visit with her and spend a nice time at Pierre and Gillette's. Louis, Gwen and Anne all came over on Sunday evening for a potluck dinner and to discuss who was going to Toulon and when. Cassandre, the student costume designer and seamtress who has spent the last month with us, had prepared dinner for the three of us, so when Anne showed up a little before we arrived, and announced there'd be more coming, they managed to add more spaghetti and feed us all. Cassandre made a really good bolognaise sauce and a pear and chocolate pie for dessert.
We spent Monday clearing appointments and such. Paul, Claire and Aurelia drove down to Toulon on Tuesday. Paul and I had tried contacting Emma and she finally picked up her messages and called Paul. It just so happened that she was on a short break in Nice, so instead of going to Italy with her friend, she came to Toulon, too, and visited her grandmaman before Paul and Claire arrived and they spent the night at Pierre and Gillette's. Louis, Anne and I took an early TGV on Wednesday morning. We met up with Emma at the station in Toulon before she headed back to Nice and Paul drove us to Pierre and Gillette's for lunch before we went to visit Marguerite. It looks like she has probably had a series of strokes, each one taking her a bit further down. It's such a shame. But she lit up a bit on seeing Aurelia and the rest of us. Louis and Anne took an evening train back to Paris. Paul, Claire, Aurelia and I stayed another night and left on Thursday after another visit in the morning.
We drove Claire and Aurelia to the Nice airport and continued on small, picturesque roads up to Sisteron, where we stopped for the night. The weather was not very nice, gray, and spring is not far-enough advanced for the scenery to be beautiful. We didn't stop on the way. We noticed that the artificial lake at St. André des Alpes seems to be very low, making us wonder if it had been drained! We couldn't find any information about that on the Internet, though. Friday, we continued on the mountain roads towards Valence and just as we came out of the last shoelace turn we were hit by a hailstorm. It's a good thing we were finished with the tight turns because the hail was thick on the road and made driving hellish. We almost went off a couple of times. For once we were really glad to reach the autoroute at Valence.
Cassandre is leaving us today. Her next internship is in Montpellier. Then she goes back to school for two more months.
I'm getting ready for the trip to DC. I've got a bit of homework to do before I make some calls to senators' offices tomorrow to try to set up appointments.
Andy, one of my AARO friends and the guy who made me want to participate in this doorknocking activity, found this article in today's NYT, with a mention and a picture of fellow AARO member, Grace. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/fashion/28hiddenparis.html I've been meaning to go to her place for quite some time, but there's always something else going on. Maybe with Spring here and daylight savings time, I'll be more adventuresome.
I've tried to do my US tax declaration but I'm pretty sure I've screwed up because I need a refresher course on how to fill in one of the forms concerning foreign taxes paid. Of course, since we don't do French taxes until May, and we haven't received all the paperwork, it always makes it confusing. You'd think that since most of the paperwork is produced by software and is, or can be, delivered via the internet, it would be made available sooner, but no. So, I'll probably have to file a rectification and get a little refund!

Aurelia squeals and chirps

2010-03

Just arrived at Claire and Geoff's on Sunday in plenty of time to accompany them to the swimming pool. We got a few pictures in before the lifeguard asked us not to take pictures because of the Child Protection Act. It is true that while we were concentrating on Aurelia, other kids snuck into the frame from time to time. I guess you're not allowed to take pictures of your kids when in the presence of other kids. That will make for strange beach pictures. I guess private affairs, like the wedding, or a birthday party are ok.

We then celebrated Mother's Day -- early, in England -- by going out to eat at very good Chinese restaurant. Aurelia is six months old now and is starting to eat solid food, so she was allowed to taste a chip! She also got all excited when she saw herself in the mirror. She's familiar with mirrors, of course, but this is the first time she got all excited and started squealing like a canary. 

Yesterday, we stayed at the house except for a short walk to the library for "rhyme time", which looked and sounded like a lot of fun. I haven't uploaded the pictures from yesterday, yet, but will do so later today.

Claire has posted the pictures in her Picasa album, which I cannot link here. My album is here. I haven't added the photos from Paul's album as I don't have the cord to download them. Claire has them because her computer is more recent and can read his memory card. 

It's almost warm here in England -- and sunny! We hope this nice weather lasts for a few days, at least. Claire and Aurelia are coming over to the hotel later for lunch and perhaps a dip in the pool. 

When is Spring coming?

What a winter, for once. It's freezing. But for the past few days, we've had beautiful blue skies. We did not get hit with the brunt of that tempest names Xynthia that swept though a week ago. We had strong winds and some rain, but that was it.
I haven't been on any recent walks. I keep having to accept medical appointments on Wednesdays and that screws up my whole day. Back in Dec, when I had such a back ache, the doctor wanted to make sure it was not really my kidneys so I had a sonargram. Nothing is wrong with the kidneys, but the doctor at the xray place saw an enlarged spleen, so I needed to have that checked out. None of that was related to the back ache, which is now back to normal -- achy but definitely bearable and nothing to complain about. So, the GP ordered a blood test and I got an appointment with a hemotologist at the Salpétrière, my hospital of choice, and the doctor there ordered a more thorough blood exam to check for the marker for hairy cell leukemia (that my dad had) and old hepatitis, which could also explain an enlarged spleen. (All clear on those two points!) The spleen is not enlarged enough for her to feel it and I have no obvious symptoms of anything. She also ordered a full CT scan and last Wednesday, I had the upper part of my body done and this coming Wednesday, I get the lower half done because that will require an injection. In the end, I guess we'll have a good baseline of my body, so that we'll have something to compare to. The thing about CT scans is that you can pretty much see a lot, whether you were looking for it or not. I now know that my sore arm, which hurts, but which I never consulted about because I just figured it was age or too much computer stuff, is sore because of tendonitis and calcification in my shoulder socket (and I was never a pitcher, so I don't deserve this)! That sounds like it's just a progression of my osteoarthritis, which is old news to me. I also have odd glands in an odd place ("ce n'est pas banal, madame.") and need to see if they show up in a mammogram, so that exam needed to get pulled forward and is now scheduled in April. I go back to see the doctor at the Salpétrière in May.

In the mean time, we are off to England next week. We have a house/cat sitter, a costume design student staying with us for the whole month while she's doing an internship. She's quite pleasant company and she's inspiring me to sew again. We went to the Marché St. Pierre on Saturday.....

Towards the end of April, right after the STC France and trans-Alpine Chapters Conference, I'm going to the States to participate in the Overseas Americans Week in Washington. I've accepted to join the AARO board. I'll be able to see Tony and Barbara and even stay with them a little. Too bad it doesn't coincide with Terry and Roger's trip. I hope Jon and Tobi and family might be able to come down, but haven't heard from them, yet.
Claire has continued putting up some pictures in the 2010-02 album (see previous post) and we'll probably add a new Spring album once we get up there next week.

Best to all,