01/07 3eme semaine bis/ 3rd week (2)

Nous avons eu une escale assez longue dans le nord de la Californie, a Santa-Rosa, dans la vallee des vins au nord de San Francisco, ce qui nous a permis de prendre une voiture et nous promener un peu le long de la cote. Ca nous change du desert de l'Arizona, comme mon copi est de Phoenix.
La cote est toujours aussi joli a voir, et meme rigolotte, puisqu'il y'a eu meme un troupeau de vache, avec une a la traine qui s'est carrement mise a courir sur la route pour rattrapper les autres, tout en longeant le precipice. Courageuse, cette vache! quelques metres sur le cote et c'est la mort certaine, par endroit il y'a 500 metres de gouffre!
Helas, vers la fin de la semaine, la fatigue mettant un coup sur mon systeme immunitaire, j'ai attrappe un rhume.
Bon. C'est mal barre pour voler la semaine prochaine. Ca donne une excuse pour le planeur, toujours en visite, car je fais refaire les freins...

Not too much to report this week. Was very busy nesting the first two days of Richard's tour but apparently I went a bit far and had to stay off my feet the following three days due to pain. However, apparently, some of the pain is permanent (until the baby is born) ie pelvic separation (where the pelvic bone actually splits in two). Not harmful to the baby at all, but a wee (huge) bit painful for mommy. In addition to a total lack of sleep and trouble breathing, the weeks are just breezing by! That's all for now!

01/07 3eme semaine/ 3rd week

Cette semaine fut cinematographique. Nous avons en effet investis la modique somme de $79 a amazon.com pour acheter un lecteur DVD zone 2, ce qui nous permettra dorenavant de lire les DVD, Francais notament, puisqu'il parait qu'on peut en fait lire toutes les zones, mais comme on y comprends rien au Japonais, ou Javanais, on se contentera de ce que sortira les studio Canal+.

Alors, qu'on se le dise, amis de Navarre: Nous accepterons avec plaisir tous DVD, copies ou non, que vous pourrez nous envoyer! Je pense par example, a Philippe et Danielle, avec "la verite si je mens". Et oui, trois ans apres me le donner, je peux le voir ce film! De meme qu'avec Peggy, avec "les choristes", film qui est cependant sortit aux US, mais que je n'ai pas vu quand meme.

Deception avec les Arsenes Lupin de TF1 de la periode 1971-1974. L'image est mediocre, le son passable. Mais pour le reste, ca marche du tonnerre, tous ce qu'on a eu a faire, c'est d'attacher les cables, et paf, ca tourne, sans se fatiguer les meningues! Le pied, meme si il a fallu a se remettre a du Francais serieux avec "l'avare" de Moliere, via Louis de Funes.

Attention aux potentiels voyageurs Francophones qui viennent nous voir: attendez vous a une liste de course de la FNAC ou Virgin megastore!...:-)

Hi, world. How is everyone? Fine, I hope. Well, this week not too much going on. I am grateful for this. It was nice to only focus on Richard and I enjoying the days pass quietly. I slept alot due to baby. And we watched movies - French movies which Richard bought while in Paris. We're able to do this because we got a European DVD player (now I can buy my English shows on DVD!). Anyway, they're fun to watch. We watched Moliere. I had a hard time understanding anything, as they were speaking very fast and in an older French dialec. But when I closed my eyes I could "hear" more, due to less distractions. Anyhoo, back to the DVD player! FYI, The Antidote was very, very good.

French movies: $500
European DVD player: $80
A great husband to share some quiet afternoons: Priceless!

Adieu!

01/07 2eme semaine/ 2nd semaine

Je suis reste sur la cote ouest des Etats-unis, avec des petits problemes. Nous nous sommes pose a 2 hrs du matin a Reno dans le Nevada, par un vent de travers costaud a 25 Kts de travers, avec neige en plus. Le lendemain, l'avion etant dans le hangar, nous nous sommes apercus qu'il y'avait une fuite d'essence, cela venait de l'aile droite, et resultat: une bonne flaque dans le hangar! Du coup, j'en ai profite pour admirer le coucher de soleil dans le resto de l'aeroport, ca c'est la photo du haut.

La photo du milieu, c'est Salt Lake City au soleil couchant, superbe visi cet hiver, avec beaucoup de neige au sol, mais conditions VFR. Superbes performances pour l'avion puisque nous sommes montes regulierement a 4000-5000 FPM, vu la temperature jusqu'a -10C sous standard!

Et enfin, la photo du bas a ete prise a San Francisco, c'est un superbe DC3 qui brillait au soleil et a qui j'ai rendu hommage, car franchement, c'est sans doute le plus beau que je n'ai jamais vu!

La semaine prochaine, c'est la visite annuelle du planeur, croisons les doigts pour que ca ne soit pas trop cher!

Ode to the Frenchman (or Why I'd Never Marry an American Man)

This blog entry is dedicated to Thierry

I love America. If you've spent even 10 seconds reading anything I write on this blog (and what an awful word "blog") you know I not only love my country but I am invested with that fervor for the ol' Red, White and Blue (translation: The United States of America) which makes a Muslim look (translation: seem to be) nearly athiest. As was once said in a movie, if you cut me my veins run Red, White and Blue. However, while I am fervently in love with this great country, I must say that the average American male leaves much to be desired (translation: is utterly undesirable).

(Oh, by the way, Dad, you may want to stop reading now.)

What is an average American male? First and foremost, he is a crude beast, akin to a wild boar (or is it bore?) roaming the wilderness, humping anything that moves without consideration for the laws of natural selection, moreover with what appears to be motivation in direct contrast to said same laws. Much like when I watch our little Chihuahua Pepito make love to his chew toy.

Second, your average American male cannot accurately state any fact not directly related to sports, wherein he is utterly incapable of naming the first five President's of the United States, who won the American Revolutionary War, who's buried in Grant's tomb, or who is Neil Armstrong (no, he's not a linebacker for the San Francisco 49er's.)

Further, a fine beverage is Bud Light. Fine food is McDonald's eaten when it's still hot. And fine art is a baseball card. And culture is either the half time show of the Superbowl or when he blasts empty beer cans against his head.

In acquiring material goods, for the average American male bigger is always better. A Hummer is the ultimate car, even when he can't afford the payments, can't fit it in his garage, and the most off-roading he does is when he backs up too far while parking at the grocery store and hits a tree. And the utlimate meal is from McDonald's and, of course, supersized even when his arteries have already exploded and he's had a pig's heart installed in his chest.

In regard to Frenchmen, I hear comments about the French all the time, usually directly after I tell Americans that my husband is French. They will go on and on about how the French are rude and stupid. And I always watch this display with an utter sense of irony. They do not actually know any French people upon which their opinions were made. They know my husband is French. However, without any personal, negative experience with a French person to base their opinions on, and while knowing that I am married to a Frenchman, they still continue to spout anti-French sentiment, being exactly what they claim the average French person to be - rude and stupid. This always makes me laugh, though underneath my inner laughter is a sadness of how hopeless people can be, clinging to sheer ignorance in an attempt to prove superiority. (No wonder the world is a mess.)

I, however, have opinions born of actual experience, not only within my very intimate relationship with my husband, but also with his many family and French friends. And my summation still is that any average Frenchman is worth 10 average American males (unless I'm needing to win a war, but I won't go there).

First, French are not rude, as constantly tolled by Americans. (Yes, they have their fair share of jerks, but what country doesn't?) What are they? Opinionated. Very, very opinionated. And, moreover, they speak their opinions. They are not shy born of political correctness or letting sleeping dogs lie. They have what I perceive to be an innate need to correct wrongs, to fix the broken, and enlightened where darkness lies. They are born debaters. They are born revolutionaries. They will not sit idly by while bad things happen, adapting the stance of "well, what can I do about it." They will take up arms in passion equal to their Revolutionary War itself until they are either dead or defeated (or have lost their voice). I love this very quality of Richard, for I never have to wonder what is on his mind, what he is thinking. He offers his opinions constantly, daring to share the essence of who he is.

The average American male, by contrary, must be begged by his wife to extol his thoughts and feelings. Further, he will sit back while some half-assed idiot drones on and on about things which make no sense, serve no purpose, and which are actually completely wrong, saying nothing to quiet the outpour. Why? Because he's a nice guy, "one of the guys," he drinks beer and watches Nascar. They will say nothing even if this person is not only an abomination to the principles upon which this country was formed, but is an abomination to the very laws of Nature herself. (Insert Clinton here).

The Frenchmen are passionate, holding dear to some facit of life which ignites their heart, drives their soul, and guides their life. Wherein your average American man will complain about what a bore life is, most French are constantly carrying a mental list of a million things he'd just love to do.

And born of this passion, Frenchmen have in their hearts an endearing love so deep of things such as family and childhood memories that it defines them birth to death, guiding them throughout life in what they do, where they are, and who they are with.

What can be said filling the heart of your average American male is a picture recently downloaded off the Internet of Britney Spears.

So, if you are a woman of substance, if your soul is deeper than a tatoo, then I might suggest you seek out a Frenchman. But do so only if you're seeking the higher life. It is not a life for those only seeking to explore the superficial, but only for those seeking to truly fall madly in love.

So, there you are, Thierry. It's not all bad, is it?

01/07 1ere semaine/ 1st week

Cette semaine se passa a preparer comme on peut l'arrivee de Florence.
Kate passa de nombreuses heures sur l'internet, de maniere a devenir l'experte en poussette, lit d'enfant, en divers accessoires, en vetements, etc.... Nombreuses visites a BabiesRus, Target, et parfois Walmart, bien que tous ceux vivant aux States connaissent la qualite souvent douteuse.

Nous avons egalement renvoyer le docteur et le staff qui lui entoure. Incompetence est le premier mot qui vient a l'esprit, mais aussi un "j'm'en-foutisme" qui a fait que nous avons trouve une autre equipe, et des les premieres minutes passees ensemble, ce fut le jour et la nuit comme difference. bref, y'a encore du boulot a faire pour la nouvelle venue, mais le principal est pratiquement fait.

Affaire a suivre pour la fin avril-debut mai.

Hello all! Richard has attached here a picture of Florence's room-to-be. We've chosen the airplane motif. In that way, Richard can impart his passion for aviation to our daughter, who will, inevitably, become a pilot and join our family flying team.

As Richard wrote in French above, I've been going nuts reviewing every single baby item on the Internet, wanting to make sure we buy good products, wanting to make sure we buy products proven in the field (via positive feedback from other parents) and also so that we buy efficiently (not going crazy and buying the store just because we can).

We're very happy to have found a new doctor's group. Prior, in Arizona, I went to a great OBGYN. However, that office is an hour one way (in good traffic!) from our current home so it was necessary to try someone local. Our first time out the gate, however, was unsuccessful so we went to an OBGYN recommended by our GP, who turned out to be just terrific, including his staff (a miracle, no?) He is a Chinese doctor. In California all my doctors were Chinese, including my vet. I have a prejudice toward them because all the Chinese doctors I have ever went to were highly competent, smart as a whip, and, frankly, gifted with a sixth sense of medicine. So, we're very happy and content now. This doctor is a bit farther away from the bad one, but as many other moms have said - well worth the longer trip!

We've settled into the concept of our pending arrival - our daughter Florence. It also helps in solidifying the pending reality in that she kicks me roughly two hundred times a day, beats me with her fists, and shoves legs into stretched out position, which make for quite a pain in my ribs. It is feeling her movement which has made her so real. And each night I always take out my stethoscope, placing it over her, so that I can listen to her wiggle and kick (the kicks are especially loud against the stethoscope). And I do this until I fall asleep. Hopefully, in a few more weeks I shall be able to hear her heartbeat too, as it usually takes about 28 weeks to be able to hear it with just a stethoscope, as opposed to an ultrasound machine, which allowed us to hear it when she was just 5 weeks old. How miraculous is science, is it not?

Well, that's all for now. We're tired! And we're off to slumber. Good night!

Oh, by the way, if you click your mouse on the pictures, they expand so you can get better detail. Adios!

12/06 4eme semaine/ 4th week

Et ben voila, l'annee se termine!

650 hrs de vol pour 2006, beaucoup moins qu'avant, il faut que je remonte a 1993 pour voler si peu! 90 hrs de planeur, et 30 hrs de monomoteur, le reste etant dans le Citation.... Va falloir se rattraper en 2007!

C'est l'annee de Florence bien sur, que nous attendons avec le fremissement et l'excitation de l'inconnu, et croisons les doigts pour que tout aille bien.

Bonne Annee a tous et merci pour tous ceux qui nous ont envoyes des photos avec leur voeux.

Howdy, howdy, howdy. Welcome, Oh ye 2007! What to say of 2006? Well, frankly, the best year of my life to date, all due to Richard, meeting him, marrying him, and making this great life with him. And what to say of 2007? Looking to be an even better year, as we continue our - frankly - great life, look forward to our first child's birth, and set out on more adventures. Can't wait for Florence's first plane ride!

It is a strange thing to have all of one's dreams come true, especially when it seemed for so long that no such thing would ever happen to me. And it is fitting that Richard is the one to lead the way to the realization of those dreams, a man who fought for so long against the odds to see him own hopes and visions realized.

Life is a beautiful thing!

Welcome, oh ye 2007! :)