Lacoste

Another side-trip that I took with Isabelle and Yann was to Lacoste, a tiny village on the side of a mountain near Aix-en-Provence. (Like Bonnieux) 

When we climbed to the top, we saw this fantastic statue right next to the castle on the top of the mountain. 

On our way up, we stopped to ask an old man where to go and he gave us a tour of the town. He explained that there is an American art school there that sends lots of students every year to study in France. I felt it might be rude to take a picture of him, so I took a picture of his cute, little canine friend instead. 

He showed us all around!

Down there in the valley, there is a small farm where the American art students can live. Local farmers usually rent out the fields though.

There were windows like this all over with friendly flowers peeping out.

I'm not sure what the flags were for, but they certainly looked nice against the blue sky.

At the top by the castle...

Isabelle waving by her favorite statue

...and me with my Pinocchio arms.

Christmas: Southern France Style

I passed this Christmas in Toulon with Maria, my cousin once removed, her partner, Pierre, and her mother, Josette!

Pierre and Josette are a cute pair the way they tease each-other! 

I didn't know before, but Pierre is also an artist...he's also learning how to play the piano. I've given him a few little lessons and he is advancing quickly!

The regional specialty for Christmas is candied chestnuts...ours were candied in cognac!

I also made cookies for the party, but they didn't turn out like normal chocolate chip cookies that I'm used to back in the US.  It might be because I used something called "levure chimique" that comes in a small packet.  The French don't seem to use baking soda much.  There must have been too much in the packet because the cookies turned into little sweet breads with chocolate and nuts.  I also used buckwheat flour instead of regular flour which changed the taste as well.  They were different from cookies, but still quite tasty!

Maria and I were all ready for the celebration!

The last time we were at Josette's house, she remarked that she would like to see me with more make-up on.  Since I wear very little, I had barely anything on at the time, so for Christmas she gave me a set of eyeshadow, blush, lipstick and eyeliner. When I put all of it on, she was very happy and told me that "if I wear makeup like that with my hair down wearing a dress, I'll find a man if I go dancing!"

Josette, Maria and me!

...and Pierre.

Between the courses, I played violin for Josette. She cried when I played piano and sang and then I played a recording of my father singing and she cried for that!

Not only did we eat real snails, but we had chocolate snails...they were excellent! 

The next day, for Christmas, we ate oysters! (We ate oysters on Christmas Eve as well actually, but I forgot to take a picture.) Pierre is a big fan!

We ate them raw with lemon and an onion sauce.

You have to scrap the gooey insides of the oyster off the shell, add the lemon and the onions and then scoop it into your mouth with the shell.

Here's the onion, vinegar sauce.

...and Pierre loves to make montages of photos, so he made me one of me eating oysters! (The background is a picture of oysters in the shape of France...and huitre = oyster)

We had an excellent turkey that Maria made. 

...and it was filled with tasty chestnuts. She was afraid that it would be boring for me because she thought we eat turkeys that way in the US!

For dessert, we had champagne and beignets made with chestnut flour!

Bonnieux

Here is a post that is slightly late about my last vacation in Aix-en-Provence with Isabelle and Yann. One day, they took me to see three little towns that are built on the side of a mountain where the roads are too steep for cars. The first one was called Bonnieux.

The view was incredible from anywhere you stood in the village. 

It felt like you were in a castle on a hill looking out over your valley.

Most of the little passageways and roads looked a bit like this one.

Those trees above (I forgot what their name is) had cones that grew straight up! They had a slightly Dr. Seuss-ish appearance.

What a beautiful pair of colors.

I loved this old advertisement for moves at the cinema. Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy!

And there it is up on the hill by itself while we drove away.

English Club!

Today in English club I helped some of the students to write Christmas letters to sick children in the United States! Here are a few of them.

All packaged up! I put them in the fun envelopes that the lovely and obliging Carrie Levinn gave me. :) 

Snowflakes and Christmas Music

Last week, some of the assistants got together to be Christmas-y together. Australian Jenny and her roommates had put up paper snowflakes on their windows, so when we arrived we all decided to make more to decorate the apartment. Andrea made that big, awesome 3-D snowflake and we also made little regular snowflakes.  

Tyler and his cute little snowflake!

Australian Jenny!

Emily pointed out that my snowflake looked more like a masquerade mask than a snowflake when it is half unfolded, so I just left it that way.

I take no responsibility for the following photos. Jenny was the photo shoot director. ;)

Emily in her Christmas tree/Eiffel tower pose.

Jenny even made a trumpet for her Christmas tree! (She plays the trumpet.)

Picture time with Mariel!

Jenny: "Blow kisses!"

Jenny: "Hug the tree!"

Then, Tyler got his guitar out and we sang some Christmas songs. These girls are so fun to sing with because they make lovely harmonies!...and Tyler picks up any song and plays it on his guitar. Jenny and I even played a little violin/trumpet duos.

Some of the snowflakes (and the creepy Santa) went on the window. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to make a six-point snowflake. I'll need to ask help from Canadian Sarah since she made those ones!