The days are getting longer

Isn't that a great photo? Louis took it. I'm not going to put up more of his photos, because they are his to share, not mine. If you're family, then you know how to get in touch with him to ask for the link to his album. Anyway, this picture was taken on Christmas Eve, or, I should say, Paul's birthday. I was wearing a necklace and big Christmassy earrings, sure to catch Aurelia's attention, AND Rocky had just climbed up on my lap (more like my chest!). Aurelia LOVES Rocky. Rocky, going on 18, is very patient with her. I've never seen a cat so patient.
Yesterday evening, as I was walking home, I noticed how pretty the clouds were. This was remarkable for two reasons: until late afternoon, it had been rainy and overcast and it was 5 p.m. (17h. in local lingo). 5 and still light out! I ducked into a shop to pick up some things for dinner and it was night when I came out, so the days are not long, yet, but they are getting noticeably longer and that is a great sign.
Tuesday, Emma came home for a little break in her activity. She and G. are going from place to place around France picking up ideas and techniques and looking for a place where they might settle for a while. They find the places to stay via an association: Wwoofing (http://www.wwoof.fr/). This might interest some of you in the States who keep saying you are looking for interesting ways of visiting France. In fact, the association is international, so it might be an interesting inexpensive way to visit lots of places in exchange for participating in the projects.
This afternoon, we're going over to Louis and Gwen's to see the latest work on their apartment, the bathroom. This should be about it, now. They can stop and breathe a little while before they get the urge to sell and move on.

Happy New Year 2011 - Bonne Année, Bonne Santé

Facebook status updates - a fairly good reflection of the year.
Les mises à jours sur Facebook, un bon résumé de l'année.

Paul and I are fine. The kids are fine. We lost several (too many) friends in 2010 and hope not to have such a series next year. Paul's mother passed away a month shy of her 101st birthday. But, all in all, we had a good year and can only wish for the same for us and for you in 2011.

Paul et moi, nous allons bien. Les enfants aussi. Nous avons perdu plusieurs (trop) amis en 2010 et espérons ne pas renouveler la série l'an prochain. Le mère de Paul est décédée à un mois de son 101è anniversaire. Le tout pour le tout, nous avons eu quand même une bonne année et ne pouvons que souhaiter un semblable pour nous comme pour vous en 2011.
Our month:

The Husaunndees came down from England -- all four, so we got to see Geoff and Charlotte, too. We celebrated Paul's birthday, the 24th, all together: Louis, Gwen, and Anne came in from Paris. Emma is still in the south of France and was not able to come up to Nogent. Because of all the snow we had before Christmas, last minute train travel was not recommended. We had a nice birthday dinner, special to Paul's order: fois gras, lamb, sweet potato tsimis and carrot cake. The next morning, Aurelia got up at about 7:00 as usual and we had to wait patiently for everyone else to come down and discover all the presents. There wasn't enough room under the tree; the sofa was also occupied. Louis and Gwen left for lunch at Gwen's parents and the rest of us settled for a lunch of roast beef. The Pachters came over later in the afternoon. The idea was to recreate our Christmas get-togethers of the past, but Caroline and her family were stuck in the snow in Brussels and Steve and his family were stuck at home with sick children. We did manage to have a good time and hope that next year all the next generation will be able to come.
The Husaunndees left on Tuesday. Paul and I went to a funeral, Jean-Luc Moretti, another loss to cancer. He was a former neighbor from a couple of streets above ours and companion to Dominique, whom we've known since Emma and Maud met at Ecole Maternelle (nursery school!). He was a municipal councilman and two days after he died another councilman also died, again prostate cancer.
Paul and I spent a very quiet New Year's Eve together on Friday. We dined on fois gras and oysters with an endive (chicory) salad, cheese and fruit for dessert.

Winter

It's winter and I feel like hibernating. I suppose that once we can actually see the days getting longer, I'll wake up, but right now, I'm feeling very lazy. Not at all ready for the ten days....
We're going down to Toulon in a couple of days to spend Christmas with Marguerite. That should be fun; it ususally is. We're driving down with Anne and Louis is joining us by train. We'll spend Christmas and the 26th as a "small" family and then Claire, Geoff, and Charlotte will arrive. We'll have a day all together before we head back to Paris with Louis and Anne. In Toulon, I imagine, we'll go up to the zoo on Mont Faron and also take in the view and we'll take Marguerite out for meals as much as she can bear. The others will follow on Monday and we'll all have a few days in Paris together before the English contingent returns to England. Louis and Gwen will be with us on the 29th, but then they leave for New York on the 30th.
We've got a day at Disneyland on the schedule and New Year's Eve we've got tickets for "The Lion King"! I've gotten as far as thinking about what we're going to eat and got stalled at that point -- next Monday I'm going to have to get some food in the house.
Yesterday, I stripped all the old sealing joints in the shower and replaced with new silicon. The shower looks much nicer, at last. Ready for guests. Paul was great, doing the clean up.
I also managed to take the time to get the photos from Australia on to the card in the photo frame.
After this, I'll do our New Year's greetings.
I've managed to put the files I've already made of Louette's papers (about 100 scanned letters and such) on to my wiki and hope that Tony and Jon will help out by adding their comments, and perhaps, correcting the order they're in. Next year, I promise to do more on this project. The suitcase the rest of the letters are in happens to be blocked by some of the stuff that either Louis or Claire has stored with us. Louis' stuff should be out soon, when the work on their apartment is done. Paul and I are going to try to get rid of a little bit each month -- easier said than done.
I haven't been on a hike in a long while. I want to go and then something comes up on a Wednesday and I can't, or it's not a walk for me. The weather doesn't help.
A bit over two weeks ago was the AAWE bazaar. I always love that. It's tiring, but I get to see some friends that I only ever see at the bazaar. I didn't think we had as nice used clothing or toys for sale as we usually have. I'm already setting aside next year's offerings -- just have to find somewhere to put the stuff. I ended up buying two books that I realized too late I had already read -- probably my own donations. Happens every year!
Emma called, at last. She and Laurent were stopping in Singapore on their way to Thailand. On Facebook, today, Laurent says they'll be in Phuket by this evening. It's strange following them via Facebook. It's not enough. They had a run-in with corrupt police in Bali. Seems they did not get international drivers' licenses and they got fined for it, but the fine, paid in cash most likely went straight into the cop's pocket.

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Pas de grandes nouvelles ces dernières semaines.
Nous attendons les prochains jours avec impatience. Nous allons à Toulon pour voir Marguerite pour les fêtes de Noël. Anne vient avec nous et Louis nous rejoindra en train. Après Noël, Claire, Geoff, et Charlotte arriveront. Nous aurons une journée tous ensemble avant de remonter à Paris. Les Husaunndee suiveront le jour suivant. Ce qui me donne un jour pour faire les courses.
Nous avons des places pour voir "Le Roi Lion" pour le reveillon du Nouvel An et des billets pour passer une journée à Disneyland. Louis et Gwen partent à New York le 30 pour une semaine.
Emma nous a donné des nouvelles la semaine dernière depuis Singapore en route vers le Thaïlande. Aujourd'hui, sur Facebook, Laurant dit qu'ils arrivaient à Phuket ce soir.