Maintenant, je suis un étudiant

A milestone this morning as Jack, our 4 1/2 year old son, went to school this morning for the first time.

A slow week with food for the soul

Chargrilled steak with caponata via taste.com.au

Bonjour à tous!

This week has begun on a quiet note. I haven't been feeling 100% the past few days so I've been taking it quietly (hard to explain that to a two- and four-year-old). I've also channelled my pain into comfort food.

What March held for us.

Another month has flown past, bringing us to 8 months in New Caledonia. It was an eventful month, closing chapters and beginning new ones.

Friends and family :: a report and an update in pictures

Sesame St download time

Bonjour!

My latest My French Life article is now published. Click here to read it and have a squiz at the rest of the intriguing articles while you're there!

Plus, a few family snaps to give you a taste of life here recently...

This was February

Somewhere between getting back from 5 weeks in Australia and now, February happened.

 

It seems to have gone very fast and yet we managed to pack a bit in, not that the photo evidence supports this claim.

 

We made some inroads - and have met a large roadblock - into getting Jack into the local school.

 

Our Baby Nellie turned 2 and celebrated in a harried-mummy style of a '2' candle on a chocolate eclair (they really do sell the best frozen desserts here). Before you get all huffy on me for being slack, I DID manage to make a fabulous princess crown for her, which, I tell you, will last a lot longer than any cake would have.

 

If my stitching holds, that is.

 

 

The big logistical event was the collaboration of friends and family to get Jack's first wheelchair over here. As soon as he gets into school we can give it some work. In the meantime we are pushing the walker (no pun intended) and most days harrass the locals in the supermarket. Several apologies for Jack's hoon noises, crashes with displays of tinned haricots and attempts at GBH (ankle-targeted) are hastily mumbled in bad French each time.

 

Rob made inroads into child labour dressed up as 'let's help Daddy wash the car'.

 

We had a daytrip up to Poingam, the northern-most tip of mainland NC. Population up there is very few, being about 5-6 hours from Noumea or 2 1/2 - 3 hours from Pouembout. The last parts of road are unsealed and herds of horses roam around, mostly in the middle of the road. The foal pictured was resistant to the idea of self-preservation.

 

It was also the month when Jack was given a 4-inch bruise on the arm by his devoted but brutal baby sister by a door. We witnessed all colours of the rainbow as it healed.

 

I hope your February was eventful and happy, too.

 

 

Five little things to love in the French tropics - makes five articles published on My French Life!

I'm feeling quite chuffed that my fifth article has just been published on the French magazine website My French Life.

Have you read them all?

If not, here are the links to them all. Make sure you catch some other articles on this website - there's Frenchiness everywhere!

Five little things to love in the French tropics

Roadside shopping in the French tropics

Finding inspration for a French tropical garden

Sun, mudcrabs and hula: market day in a French island town

Fast food in the French tropics: le poulet roti

Latest My French Life article :: Roadside shopping in the French tropics

I have taken quite a siesta from my blog these holidays! 

But now, on the eve of our return to our Pacific paradise, I thought I should let you know that my mind during the past weeks has often turned to New Cal; to wit, my latest monthly My French Life offering:

Click here!

.....in which I shall regale you with tales of tropical shopping roadside-stylie.

I do hope you enjoy.