Snowshoeing

Here are a few pictures that I took on our snowshoe expedition. 

This was the front door to our Chambre d'Hote.

Lunchtime picnic!

Skiing in the Alps

When we arrived in the mountains, we went directly to the store that rents equipment for skiing. The workers were very efficient and they fitted us with boots and skis very quickly. The guy dressed in orange in the picture helped us with our skis and then we saw him teaching on the slopes the next morning!  

The next morning, we started off with breakfast together in our Chambre d'Hôte. There were some friendly looking German folk next to us and a guy who appeared to be semi-local. 

Pierre and Maria lent me snow pants and a warmer coat. I wasn't cold at all during the time we were there!

This was my first time on skis, so Pierre had to show me how to stop. I think he's grabbing my arm in the picture below because I didn't know how. "No Lily! Don't crash into those nice people over there!" 

Snow plow! Such a classic. It saved me many a time from hurtling through a group of unsuspecting, innocents.

We found the best slope to go down. (It was on the easiest level to keep me from breaking my neck.) It was the best slope because there were very few people in line for it. On the other side there was a line about ten times as long!

There she goes! Rocking the bunny hill.

And there she is on the tire-fesses. I completely missed it the first time I tried to get on...I got better at it, I promise. Throughout the day, I become much more comfortable with skiing in general and I only fell twice going down the hill.

At lunch we stopped and ate sausages and fries. I had become so hot from the exercise that I took off my coat and hat and mittens to cool down.  Afterwards, I felt like a crippled person trying to walk into the bathroom with my skiing boots!

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!