Pruning the giants

We have giants who live in our yard. Soaring cypress tress in a succession; their proportions make us swoon while hanging laundry or lying in the grass. They need a hair cut every few years. We were all thoroughly amused watching the process. Patrice, jardinier extraordinaire (whose very local accent gets the better of both Xavier and me), started at their base and groomed the bottom-half of each coniferous cone with a hand-held trimmer. That part of the job was a day's work, so when he left that evening they looked so funny; perfectly coiffed on bottom and wild tufts sprouting everywhere on their top halves. The next day he came with a crane to attack the rest. The trees tend to grow thick and bulbous if they aren't trimmed...and we so admire their sleek form.

Skeleton Wedding

One of my favorite things about Marguerite is her constant creativity. She is always in production mode, building and crafting, researching and devising, giving birth to all sorts of new creations. For Halloween she thought it appropriate to orchestrate a wedding between the two skeletons that were hanging around outside our house. Baskets full of costumes, hats, wigs - options for the big day materialized. Each girl carried more than her arms could handle, tumbling down the stairs in a rush to get the bride and groom ready. Wax rings, a veil and a marriage certificate, music from the Fisher Price record player, flowers and wedding attendees. All symphonized by Mademoiselle Marguerite, the great. She's convinced she wants to be an event planner one day...the possibilities are endless for this one.










Love was in the air


Making it official

Easter Egg Hunt

Lined up, beaming, ready for the race. Marguerite, Romy, Colette, our little ladies of Provence. Hoping for chocolate in every pot, branch groove, lavender plant...

Egg Dyeing

Spring Harvest

A simple moment out in the yard - a spring harvest, with small baskets. The lawn is littered with little white daisies and lavender blooms. Colette and Romy take full advantage and give the flowers the devotion their wonder deserves. This is why we moved here. I follow them around outside and smile, comparing their current pastoral existence to the sidewalk chalking they used to do in front of our Harlem townhouse (breathing in the fumes of the cars and fire tanks whizzing by).

La Chandeleur

Families all over France are eating crêpes tonight, on the day of the crêpe: La Chandeleur. I had no idea was such a day until Colette came home from school insisting that everyone is having crêpes for dinner. Festivities never cease in this grand land. Luckily we have Mr. Joly here, a local specialist to flip and serve.

Le Sapin

Xavier always picks the fattest ones. Ambitious, even in his tree selection. Nutcracker effect - the tree dwarfs the rest of the room. Romy, Colette and Marguerite were wide-eyed and leaping around (breaking ornaments, naturally). The lights were tangled and each girl wanted to be the star placer, but the general effect was a dash of Christmas magic. Our Danish au pair was trimmed and made shiny (the girls love her, we all do). And now we gather around the tree to read stories and sit in the twinkling lights.

I love this moment when lived through three little girls. Colette has had a lot of Christmas questions this year. Esteban’s (her amoureux) mother informed him that there is no Père Noël and he sadly unloaded this knowledge onto Colette. Kind of confusing because throughout the month of December at school, the girls learn 20 Christmas carols for the Christmas performance and all bad behavior is reprimanded with the threat of Père Noël withholding gifts. Colette is perplexed. Romy just wants chocolate and presents. Marguerite wants to jump high and do flips on a trampoline. Fingers crossed for them all.