Les Scènes du Week-end {2}... plus a complaint letter to Blogger

Dear Blogger,

I'm not impressed with you.

Not one bit.

You refused to publish all my lovely weekend photos on Monday.

I thought maybe you were just having a bad day.

But when you continued to be uncooperative on Tuesday,

my patience wore thin.

And when I still couldn't post my photos on Wednesday,

I was beyond annoyed.

Now it's Thursday &

I'm three days behind on my posting.

Ok, ok... sometimes I don't post because I get busy doing other things.

But this time there is no one to blame but you, Blogger.

You'd better have a good excuse.

Also, flowers & chocolate never hurt.

Sincerely,

Emily 

*****

So, without further ado...

Saturday my sister-in-law, brother-in-law & the kids 

came to spend the day with us in Annecy.

Ready for lots of photos of my adorable niece & nephew 

in this edition of "Les Scenes du Week-end"?  

I thought so!

Everybody arrived on Saturday just in time for lunch.

Of course "le crêpe party" was in order...

Martin wasn't so keen on the crepes, 

but he was all about playing with the box of apples in the kitchen.

Juliette brought me these herbs for my balcony garden.  Love!

She did some gardening of her own on the lawn outside our apartment.

After lunch, we wandered over to the "bird park" 

& admired the peacock.

FQ & Juliette fed a few of Annecy's famous water fowl.

Une très jolie photo {if I do say so myself} de la petite famille.

Heading towards the old town, we caught the end of a concert for kids.

Spring colours on our Sunday-morning walk.

Sunday post-brunch coffee in the lovely espresso cups

hand-painted by my friend Laure.

Why I Haven't Been Blogging, Part 6: Blue sky

Those of you who are familiar with the west wet coast of Canada

will have a hard time believing me when I tell you 

this photo was taken last month 

{yes, I mean February!}

during an afternoon walk at the dykes in Pitt Meadows.

I mean, just look at that sky!

{OK, the mountains aren't too shabby either...}

We met up with my mom's friend Bev for a walk

in the amazing afternoon sunshine.

I couldn't get over how great the weather was.

Umbrellas, non!

Sunglasses, oui!

Why I Haven't Been Blogging, Part 5: Ben

OK, so here I am back on-track

& continuing with my West Coast Wrap-Up

{or what I got up to on my trip to Canada last month.}

During my visit,
I wanted to spend as much time as possible with
my nephew Ben.

He's nearly a year-and-a-half old now & so much fun.

Not to mention darn cute.

Take a look for yourself & then answer me this:
How on earth did you expect me to blog 

when I could be hanging out with Ben instead?

I love how he's got his little hand part-way up FQ's sweater sleeve! 

Anna, Ben, moi & Liz.

{Wondering about the secret of our healthy glow?
I believe this photo was taken shortly after our
Sisters' Dance Party!}

My sister Anna & her handsome boys.
I miss you!!

Les Scènes du Week-end {1}

Another week and-a-bit without blogging?

Tsk tsk.

In an attempt to give mon blog a little kick-start,
I've decided to take a page from the book
of a fun new blogger I've recently discovered,
Kayla at Exquisite Banana.
{With a name like that, you know her blog has got to rock, n'est-ce pas?}

Early each week, Kayla features "Scenes from the Weekend",
where she posts photos from her Saturday/Sunday wanderings.

Since we usually get up to fun things around here on le week-end
{& because I almost always have my camera handy},
I thought I'd do the same.

This past weekend seems like a good place to start.
My parents-in-law were in town visiting,
the weather was fairly cooperative
& there was a lot going on in Annecy.

On y va ?

A quick trip to the market on Saturday morning =
 lettuce, radishes, cheese for raclette that night, organic bananes...
& tulips!

Saturday afternoon, we drove to Geneva.
{It's only 30 minutes from Annecy by car!}
That yellow thingy shows the border between France & Switzerland.

It was a bit gusty & rainy in Geneva,
so we wandered around & looked in all the fancy shops.
I like this photo because it looks like a still from a movie
{don't you think?}

Men playing chess in the park in Geneva.

Me & a teeny tiny Fiat {love!} in Geneva.

Sunday morning meant a wander down by the lake in Annecy.
Can you see the people out rowing?

In the shopping bag?
Oranges to make fresh-squeezed OJ to have with brunch.

Delicious Sunday brunch at home.

Our after-brunch stroll took us past a protest against nuclear power.
The sign says "no action today, radioactive tomorrow".

These lovely ladies were part of the Venetian carnival 

taking placce in Annecy this weekend.

{Don't worry... more photos of that soon!}

Et voilà !  

I've decided to limit myself to ten photos per weekend, 

which is probably a good thing, given my snap-happy tendencies.

Speaking of, I still have loads of photos of my Back in B.C. visit 

last month that I'd like to post.

I'll be back tomorrow with another 

"Why I Haven't Been Blogging" update.

Why I Haven't Been Blogging, Part 4: Brunch!

Let's get something straight:

I love brunch.

The French aren't so keen on brunch.

Although there are lots of lovely sweet breakfast foods here

{mmm, pain au chocolat},

sometimes you just want a big plate of eggs & hashbrowns, 

n'est-ce pas?

So having brunch was definitely on my "to-do" list 

during my time in Vancouver last month.

On one of my last days in town, we went to brunch

with our friends Dawn & Joel

& Erin at Sophie's Cosmic Café.

Sophie's is a very popular brunch location

& it was prime brunching time on a Saturday morning.

We had to make a decision:

wait inside for a table

{which meant risk fainting from hunger 

& having Erin miss her ferry back to Victoria}

or

brave the patio, 

which {the waitress assured us} was "actually quite cosy".

Well, as you can tell from all the mittens & scarves,

it was pretty chilly on the patio.

It was actually snowing on the other side of those

flimsy plastic "walls"!

But you know what?

Who cares about frozen feet 

when you've got smoked-salmon Eggs Benny {the special!},

a pot of warm tea

& a group of lovely friends to brunch with?

Why I haven't been blogging, Part 3: Sister Dance Parties

Because, really,

blogging is fun, 

but not nearly as much of a good time
as cranking up the Black Eyed Peas 

& rocking out with my sisters.

{That French dude is a pretty funny dancer too.}

Why I haven't been blogging, Part 2: Birthdays

First off, I can't believe I forgot to list

peanut butter & Craisins in my post yesterday. 

I blame jetlag.

Really, though!

Those were the two heaviest items in my suitcase. 

How could I forget them?

{Shout-out to the nice lady at the KLM check-in at Vancouver 

for not hassling me about my a-few-kilos-over-the-limit luggage!}

***

Secondly, here I am continuing my series of posts on 

why I haven't been blogging,

which, now that I'm back in France,

could also be referred to as "West Coast Wrap-Up"

if you prefer.

Ready for reason number 2?

I was lucky enough to be back in Vancouver for
two special birthdays.

The first weekend I was back, my youngest sister Liz
celebrated her birthday.

We had family dinner at my parents' house, 

complete with my mom's famous home-made ice cream cake.

Liz seemed to like the crazy legwarmers

(buttons & sequins, really?)

that I brought her from France.

Also, can you believe how well her hair matches her new frying pan?

It's really quite incredible.

***

A week or so later, we got to have birthday sushi with Stacey.

Hey there, dynamite roll!

FQ loves Black Forest cake just as much as somebody else I know...

See what I mean?

The Suitcase Game

So...

it's March.

I'm back in zee Alpes 
after three weeks on the West Coast of Canada.

Since arriving in France on Wednesday night,

I've been battling jetlag {ugh},

trying to get back into a routine {double ugh},

tidying up {triple ugh}

& - oh joy! - unpacking.

***

Did you ever play the "suitcase game" when you were a kid?

My siblings & I used to play it in the car during long drives.

Even now, I break it out in my ESL classes once in a while
{when I feel like being "the fun teacher".}

Basically, it's a memory game that involves 

making an alphabetical list 

of things in a suitcase:

Person 1: I'm packing my suitcase and I'm taking an ALARM CLOCK.

Person 2: I'm packing my suitcase and I'm taking 

an ALARM CLOCK & a BEACH TOWEL.

Person 3: I'm packing my suitcase and I'm taking 

an ALARM CLOCK, a BEACH TOWEL & a CD.

{You get the idea, n'est-ce pas?}

***
While unpacking, I thought it would be fun to play "the suitcase game"
& show you what I brought back from Canada.

Red Rose tea 

While France has lots of tea, there's nothing here 

nearly strong enough for my morning cuppa.

Echinaecea 

France is the land of pharmacies-on-every-corner, 

yet they don't know about popping a few of these to ward off colds.

Acetaminophen

This exists in France {it's called "Paracetamol" here}

but good luck finding such a huge package.  

{Merci, Costco!}

Molasses

I've been looking for this in French supermarkets 

& health food stores for a while now, to no avail.  

I see some gingersnap cookies in my near future!

Earl Grey tea

Will go well with those gingersnaps, non?

Canned pumpkin

Because you just never know 

when you might have a sudden craving for pumpkin pie.

Nice big container of baking powder

It's available in France, of course, 

but sold in teeny individual-dose envelopes.  

Call me picky, but that's just annoying.

Syrups 

Blueberry & maple.  

I'm all set for Pancake Day next week!

Chocolate chips & cinnamon 

I can buy both those things in France, 

but chocolate chips are super expensive here (why??!) 

& spices come in puny NON-Costco-sized containers.  

{That big thing of cinnamon = a heck of a lot of gingersnaps!}

***

So it looks like me & my Canadian goodies

have a lot of baking & drinking tea to do.

{Hopefully no headaches or sniffles, though...}

***

Now quick!

Close this window & 

tell me what I packed in my suitcase.

Extra points if you can list everything in alphabetical order!

Ready?  Set?  Go!