04/07 4eme semaine / 4th week

L'horloge tourne. On attends toujours. Encore qu'hier, on y a cru quand meme:
16:30- Tout en regardant un film, Kate annonce qu'elle a des contractions. On sort le chrono, y'en a toute les cinq minutes.
17:30- Les contractions sont toujours la, et maintenant, toutes les trois minutes.
Du coup, branle bas de combat. Nous etions prets, check-list a la main, depuis quelques temps deja, ce qui rend la tache plus facile. Douche, s'assurer que le chien a assez d'eau et de mangeaille pour les prochains jours, mettre les sacs dans la voiture, poussette, siege bebe etc... etc...
20:00- Direction l'hopital, qui se trouve a trente minutes. Ca n'etait pas celui qui etait prevu au depart, mais c'est seulement cette semaine que notre docteur nous annonce qu'il ne travaille plus qu'avec cet hopital juste a cote de son bureau. Du coup, il faut changer nos procedures, et comprendre comment fonctionne celui la, qui a l'air beaucoup moins neuf que l'autre.
20:30- C'est pas tous ca, mais si madame ne peut boire ou manger au cas ou operation chirurgical, moi ca n'est pas le cas. Arret au Mc Donald sur la route. ca tombe bien, vu qu'ils viennent d'ouvrir, aujourd'hui ils offrent le burger, un Coke, et une portion de frites pour la bagatelle de $1.99
20:45- Prise en charge par une infirmiere Vietnamienne. les capteurs sur le ventre et c'est parti pendant une heure: on calcule les battements de coeur de Florence et les nombres de contractions.
22:00- Le verdict tombe: Ca n'est pas pour ce soir.

Fausse alerte. Retour a la case depart.
Du coup, c'est au tour de Kate d'aller manger. On en profite pour aller aussi au supermarche du coin pour acheter ce qu'on peut pour avoir quelques chose a la maison quand on rentrera finalement de l'hopital, avec un bebe en plus!
Affaire a suivre, mais il est evident que ca sera pour les prochains jours, avec suspens en plus.
Alors? Sarkosy ou Royal?

We wait for the awakening of The Sleeping Giant. We're taking odds! I'm betting May 1st 10:00am. Richard bets April 30th at 10:00pm. Whoever wants to participate, email or leave comment. By the way, whoever wins the bet, I still get the money because I end up doing all the work. :) The End.

04/07 3eme week/ 3rd week

Cette semaine, nous sommes devenus membres du musee d'art de Phoenix, qui cette semaine justement, avait une belle exposition de superbes voitures tels que des Delage, Bugatti, Tucker, Hispano-Suiza, et tant d'autres encore.
La photo du milieu est une Delahaye de 1939, celle du bas une Peugeot 402 de 1936.

A part ca, on attends toujours la venue de Florence. J'hesite a aller faire du planeur, car c'est loin de l'hopital au cas ou, mais ca commence a demanger quand meme. Qu'est-ce qu'elle fous? he, c'est l'heure!

By next week, I'll be ten months pregnant (oh, and don't argue with me on this one or I'll come to your house and slap a 40 pound ball onto your belly and squish your intestines and bladder and lungs to the point where they no longer function). TOO PREGNANT! TIME TO GET OUT NOW! NOW! NOW! Anyway....

Richard and I excurshed (word I just made up) to the Art Museum. We went for Rembrandt and cars. However, frankly, we both preferred the cars. The Rembrandt was supposed to be part of an exhibit of Dutch realism. However, there was no Vermeer - both of our favorite - so it was a let down. In fact, on many of the paintings I thought the frames were more impressive than the works themselves. But still...nice to see. And, as an American, it is still cool to see works of art in person you only see in books. Europeans get to see this kind of thing so often that it seems that it is no big deal to them. A "been there, done that" but for me there is still an awe factor to stand in front of something that has been around for hundreds of years. Can't get that in this country, unless you're talking about a natural phenomenom.

But the cars were gorgeous. Total salivating, wow, knock off your socks, drop your drawers kind of gorgeous. That was worth the trip, and the 30 some trips to El Bano it took me to get through the exhibit.

Other than that, we've been enjoying hanging out at the house and waiting, and waiting and waiting, and waiting (insert the narrator from Casablanca here). I've been trying to convince Richard to go gliding, but he's too nervous to do so at this point. He's a good dad already. Already worried about her and she's not even born.

Anyhoo, that's all for now. Today is an especially rough day as Florence seems bent on cutting off my lung function, and I've grown rather fond of breathing these last 40 years.

Oh, and just another note to all those other moms out there telling me how easy it was to be pregnant. If I was doing this in my 20s, it would probably be easier too. But there are a great many things (like going running, trenching a backyard, pulling an "al'nighter," or even simply getting out of one's chair) that seem to go with much more suffering when done in one's 20s as opposed to one's middle agessssss.

Ah! I am the Middle Ages! Salut!

04/07 2eme semaine/ 2nd week

Ah ca, one peut accuser Kate d'etre faineante. Malgre le fait que la naissance de Florence approche, a peu pres 2 semaines au moment ou nous tapons ces lignes, on la trouve encore au terrain de vol a voile, a reparer le patin de queue, puis balayer les toiles d'araignees avant le vol, car malgre les temperatures bassent pour la saison (entre 22 et 25C cette semaine), ce ne fut pas trop mal au niveau ascendances, puisque comme d'habitude, 10 hrs de vol en seulement 2 decollage.
Comprenant que les semaines a venir seront a jamais les seuls a nous deux seulement, elle m'incite a aller voler, puisque ce sera plus difficile apres la naissance.
Je ne peux donc que consentir...

Richard came home this week - Thank God! - and is now on break until Florence arrives. And, lucky us, his vacation is immediately following the break, so he will get lots of togetherness time with his new girl and us, as a family. We couldn't have planned it any better. :)

And so this week was not only great since my world's greatest husband was home - always the best thing in my life - but I even persuaded him to let me accompany him back to our local sailport and so off we went, this Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.

It was very, very terrific being back, because this weekly adventure was a standard ritual of ours which I have missed terribly over these last nine months. Although Richard has continued to go, it was sans moi, usually due to too much physical pregnancy hassles.

My part is usually prepping all the supplies. Then I help him prep the glider for flight. Then I get him situated for flight. Then I help with the post flight work, prepping the glider for night. In between, during his hours of flight, I hang out in our car, right by the side of the runway, whiling away the hours admiring the desert landscape while the quiet is interrupted from time to time by the really, really cool sound of a Pawnee taking off. How cool is that!??? And though I bring stuff to do to pass the time, usually the desert is, in an of itself, enough to keep me occupied, looking at the beautiful mountains, watching the desert creatures and checking in with Richard from time to time on where he is, and how I am doing - so he knows he can stay up longer. And so far Florence has been exceptionally cooperative and has allowed her Dad to glide until the sun falls below the horizon - and it's time for Richard to come back to Earth - and to home.

So, it was a lovely week. OH! And I also went up with Richard this Sunday, something which is not my "thing" (I don't do continual tight circles needed for soaring well - I get very sick very fast) but I like to go up once or twice a year just so I can be with Richard in his favorite place doing his favorite thing. Like hanging with a bird as it soars all day, caressing the mountainside. Richard, of course, thought I was nuts. And maybe so, but I'd rather be nuts for love than just plain nuts. And it seemed to provide humor to everyone to watch this big fat pregnant woman squeeze in and out of a glider. Plus, interestingly enough, my willingness to go up in my condition gave vigor to some watchers to finally agree to do their rides.

So, again, all in all a lovely week. Can't wait until Florence is old enough and we'll all go back to visiting the sailport - hopefully by this Fall. In the meantime, I'll just work to keep my bird of a husband up and flying. He'll be grounded enough once she's born....

And for those of you who think the desert is just a desert, well, in a way I'm no so sad for that keeps it for the rest of us.

All for now. OUT!

04/07 1ere semaine/ 1st week

Rush Hour 3
La Scene se passe a Paris- Le Bourget.
Jackie Chan donne l'accolade a Chris Tucker apres avoir descendu d'un Gulfstream.
C'est la derniere minute du film, quand Jackie (inspecteur chef Lee) annonce a son coequippier (detective James Carter) " Tu seras toujours mon...noir prefere"

Correction: En verite, si les scenes de "rush hour3" ont etes tournees a Paris en novembre 2006, nous sommes a l'aerodrome de Santa-Monica ce 3 avril pour finir les dernieres retouches du film, c'est beaucoup moins cher que de retourner en France!
Il n'est pas rare que les studios Hollywoodiens utilisent les aeroports locaux pour divers films. Ainsi, "Casablanca" fut tourne a Van Nuys, Santa-Monica aura vu des scenes de "bugsy" et de nombreuses scenes de televisions, Hawthorne, juste a cote de LAX ou a ete filme "swat", Victorville aura vu le film "Face off" (volte face en Francais).
Bien sur, la liste est longue, et j'en oublie pas mal.

Le plus rigolo est que la voiture noire derriere nous, une Porsche Cayenne, est immatricule dans l'aisne pour les besoins du film! Je me serai cru de retour a St-Quentin!

L'equippe du film etait sympa, j'ai meme garde le contact avec le manager du set qui va m'envoyer d'autres photos du tournage, et meme le directeur Brett Ratner, qui pourtant a l'air d'un chiant lorsqu'on regarde les fonctions d'un DVD, m'a laisser deambuler sur son set.

Je suis maintenant de repos jusqu'a la fin mai. On attends la naissance de Florence!

For those of you who do not read French, Hubby got to meet Jackie Chan this week, which was totally cool and awesome. However, he forgot to ask him over for dinner. Oh well, there's always next time.

I had a horrible week this week. One of the things I have found to help me out during said times, especially when I cannot reach Hubby because he is very busy on the road and is either working or sleeping, is to reach others via the Internet having bad times. And, unfortunately, there's no end to unhappy people on this planet. I found one in particular on Yahoo Answers, to which I sometimes contribute. It was a woman very depressed over a love which will never be realized, feeling that her world and meaning is at an end. I wrote my answer to her at about 4am my time (baby would not let me get to sleep) and I was amazed to find out later that she noticed my answer, since about 200 people around the US answered her question , my answer being stuck way at the end. But not only did she notice but she voted mine her best answer, which made me happy because I was able to help someone.

An amazing thing that you can do same in this day and age, in the wee hours of the night dial into the Information Superhighway and have an impact in the life of someone thousands of miles away, whom you do not know, will never know. But, in a way, it is also a very good thing. Humanity shouldn't be isolated to those we know personally. In fact, some people can't even find their humanity within their dealins with those they know.

Baby continues to do what she's does best - develop and grow. At this point she's done cooking. She is now completely viable and doesn't need me anymore for survival. At this point, it's just a matter of her being ready to face the world (so I can't blame her for choosing not to be born quite yet, as, who of us hasn't wanted to check out once and awhile and lay low from the world at large.....?).

To help me survive the misery of these final hours I've kept up my activity, including doing lawn work again (though this must be the absolute last time I attempt to bend down and weed since I simply cannot breathe when attempting to do this), cleaning up the garage so it's easy, breezy to get in and out, cleaning the house, and doing a final big shopping of house supplies so we're set for being house bound for a month or two, in case it's needed due to complications. I also ironed all my clothes, all of Richard's next two tours of clothes, etc. etc. so all we need to concentrate on it waiting for her. That way, post birth, we still only need to concentrate on her. Kinda like preparing supplies for a coming battle or storm. The more I prepare now, the easier it will be after she's here. And, also, in this way it keeps the stress off Richard for as long as possible because he still has to recover from work and step back into work for a tour in between his time off, and I can't have him dragged out like a dead dog. Unacceptable.

So, we wait and wait. And to help pass the hours in humor I bought some DVDs, Everybody Loves Raymond, which I don't care how much the world hates it, I think they're funny and too, too true to life.

And I'm also trying to figure out how to get Richard down to Estrella for some more gliding, just to ease his stress and strain, though he's too nervous leaving me this late in the game. So, hopefully, they'll be no surgery so he can go post birth.

And so the absolute only thing left I have been doing is trying to imagine who she is, but in reverse. What I mean is that I am trying not to imagine anything at all - what she'll like, dislike, want to do, not want to do, etc. Because, as I see it, the next 20 years or so will be an unveiling or sorts, of her showing us who she is, who she choses to be, what she wants, doesn't want, etc. And within the confines of the law and safety, it will be our job to honor that. For she only gets one shot at life, one shot to be this unique person, and I don't want to waste it looking for me or Richard in her. So, if instead of being a pilot she tells me she wants to be the next Pussycat doll, I will support that. And if she wants to be the first gay woman president, I will support that to. For instead of her birth being an honor to her, it is, instead, a privilege to us, to give life, and support it, and watch as this thing develops that the world has never, ever seen, and to watch her unique talents go forth and affect the world, hopefully in some positive way.

And that will be the adventure.
It is a story we will have begun, to which she alone can write the ending.

A bientot!

03/07 4eme semaine/ 4th week

Nous habitons 4.5 NM au nord de la base aerienne de Luke, nomme apres un pilote de Phoenix avec 18 victoires en France pendant la premiere guerre mondiale. Helas descendu au combat a seulement 21 ans deux mois avant l'armistice!
"Luke Air Force base" est celebre pour les pilotes de l'armee de l'air Americaine, puisque tous les pilotes passent par la, et ce depuis 1941!
Y sejournent quelques 7500 militaires, 27 esquadrilles, dont 8 sont sur F-16.
Ceux la passent regulierement au dessus de nos tetes, car nous sommes situes juste dans la vent arriere, et c'est sympa de les voir en patrouille.
Or le week-end dernier, il y'avait sur la base les "Thunderbirds", la patrouille de l'armee de l'air, qui fait concurrence avec la patrouille navale, les "blue Angels". Luke a ete leur base en 1953 mais depuis quelques annees, ils sont maintenant a Nellis a Las Vegas.
Il y'avait un meeting aerien sur la base, que nous avons rate, pour X raison, mais nous sommes quand meme alle voir de plus pres, car ca aurait ete dommage de rater ca.

Je n'ai fait du planeur qu'une fois cette semaine, car a l'atterro, j'ai perdu mon patin de queue en voulant tourner sur la piste en dure, qui est un peu plus haute que celle en terre battue.
Bon. Me voila cloue au sol en attendant de recevoir la piece de chez Schleicher. Dommage!

Oh, let's see. What did we do this week? Wellllllllllllll.... We cleaned up the gardens some. We had another "coming to Jesus" house cleaning wherein we got rid of even more stuff we don't really need. We sold the "Jesus" items at a garage sale, donating the unsellable to Goodwill. We went to Luke Air Force Base and watched the world famous Air Force Thunderbirds. We watched from down the road a bit, saving us dealing with a crowd of nearly 250,000, just parking a few minutes from our house. It was cool because post one manuever they flew right over us at about 300 feet, per Richard. I think their planes are prettier than the Blue Angels, which are just a single color boring blue. The Thunderbirds have a predominantly white overhead and a red/white/blue underbelly. We also cleaned the garage. We played the new Monopoly where the new tax fine is $2,000,000! We treated ourselves to some new movies including the great Galaxy Quest, which I had been wanting forever but which was no longer sold save for a single copy left at our area Walmart for $5. We saw baby doctor man, who said all is well, culminating in a total of a 5 minute appointment. And just had a lot of fun. Though we didn't go flying this week. We'll have to do that when he's off next. I miss it!

As for Florence, she's huge so I'm huge (if 5 pounds can be called huge). Time is edging near, wherein she can come any time now up to the next four weeks. It seems she is edging closer, because I keep having more and more pre-labor symptoms like contractions, cramps, etc. etc. When this happens we both just look at each other in an "Oh @(*#!" kind of joking way. But we are heartily looking forward to it. I must admit to some intellectual curiousity about the pain of childbirth (yeah, don't ask). And I've already started her pilot's uniform so when we take dad to work she'll be ready to serve as FO (and probably do a much better job than some!).

So, all in all, outside of adapting to the coming heat of the desert, things are dandy! Oh, and I"m reading some very interesting books about Julia Child. Picked them up in the library because it was more about her life in France - not a cookbook. So...they're great reads, though I think she was not above self-promotion.

Anyhoo, that's all. Back to cooking baby.

Adios!