I’ve been sharing plenty of nature photos lately… pictures from leisurely walks in the woods, from lazy afternoons spent wandering the gardens of Normandy or Brittany, or even those taken from the side of the road whenever I stumble upon something noteworthy traveling from point A to point B. It seems that I’ve grown much more in tune with the earth over the past several years; I’m always happy to be outside on a beautiful day learning about nature and the plants and creatures that share our planet.

One of the best purchases we’ve made over the past couple of years has been annual passes to the Parc Botanique de Haut Bretagne (Botanical Garden of Upper Brittany)… it’s quite close to our house (near the town of Fougères in Brittany), so we frequently go there to wander around for a few miles. There are some nice areas of the park to explore, and every time we go something has changed… something has grown, or matured, or been replaced. It’s peaceful, and the kids really like it. Callum especially is into plants and gardening, and can spend hours checking out the various specimins in the carnivorous plants section of the park.

We took an afternoon trip to the park yesterday, and of course I took a few pictures… and of course I’m going to share them here.

Along the garden path

The river, with flowering bushes along its banks

The gardens and green fields of Brittany

An Asian-themed garden within the Parc Florale

The bamboo grove, and the fields beyond

The sarracenia (a type of carnivorous pitcher plant) were blooming in the carnivorous plants garden

This is a strange plant that I don’t even know what it is

A new friend I found swimming in the pond… don’t worry, I put him back!

A couple of random kids and a statue by the garden trail

And, in the spirit of sharing photos, here are a couple of yours truly in action…

While I’m not usually much of an entertainer, I have occasionally been known to house the crowd

Out and about with some friends in Avranches

Today is Memorial Day, a day to remember those men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. While it is of course most commonly recognized in the United States, what many people may not realize is that there are also Memorial Day celebrations to remember the courage and sacrifice of American soldiers here in France.

Yesterday there was a huge ceremony at the Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial in Saint-James, Lower Normandy. I only heard about it while driving through Saint-James on our way home from Rennes late last week; while driving through town I was surprised to see a collection of American jeeps and troop transports from the 1940s, surrounded by groups of people dressed in 1940s civilian and military garb. I stopped to ask them about what was going on, and they mentioned the ceremony to take place on Sunday the 26th.

On Sunday we drove to the cemetery and discovered huge numbers of cars parked along the sides of the roads leading to and from the site. I ended up parking at the farm of someone who was letting people park their cars there for the occasion. As we walked up to the site, an American twin-engine light bomber was soaring overhead. Inside were throngs of people, mostly French, with some British and a few Americans thrown in.

The ceremony was nicely done – the Consul of the United States for Western France was there, as was Brigadier General Kevin McNeely and a few other American military officers. After the French and American national anthems were played, speeches were made in both French and English, and there were prayers given by both a Catholic priest and a Jewish rabbi. Afterward they played taps and a variety of different people laid wreaths at the cemetery, including a variety of French VIPs, some American representatives, and mayors from both a British town and a German town.

I’m not American myself, of course, but my wife is, and my children are half American, so I was very happy that they were there to experience the ceremony. I feel it is important for the kids to understand what happened during World War II and the role that the United States Armed Forces (as well as the Canadian Armed Forces) played during that era. The courage of those young men and women who, in many cases, sacrificed all they had to win freedom for their allies should be remembered and celebrated. And here in France, as you can see, they have not forgotten.

Speeches being given during the ceremony, with the cemetery in the background

Flags being held during the ceremony

Amelia wanted a picture of herself beside the flag of the state where she was born

The Florida flag, for grandma and grandpa

There were a number of different American vehicles from the 1940s at the site; I wish I had taken pictures of more of them!

Amelia and I took a walk around our local town of Saint Hilaire du Harcouët, in Basse-Normandie, France. We shot a quick video of our tour. In this video, Amelia points out some of the landmarks in Saint Hilaire, and we walk through the Wednesday morning market. It was a nice day for it!

It’s hard to believe that ten years ago today, this little guy came into the world.

Today is April 10th, and Callum is turning 10. That’s a special occasion that I had to wait until I was 27 to experience! Instead of a birthday cake, we bought Callum a bunch of different French pastries on a tray, with cream puffs, little chocolate éclairs, mille-feuilles, and other treats.

I’m pretty amazed at the kid Callum has become. It’s interesting both how similar and how different to Yvonne and I he is. He definitely has more of an interest in science and technology than I do; not that I’m not interested in science and technology, but he’s just that much more into it than I am. He’d much rather watch a non-fiction science show like Making Stuff, MythBusters or Prototype This than The Transformers or G.I. Joe, which is what I seem to recall being into when I was 9 or 10, and he’s learned how to solve the Rubik’s Cube and is working on learning the Rubik’s Revenge (the 4×4 cube), which he purchased himself because he wanted to figure it out. While I did have a Rubik’s Cube when I was a kid, I don’t remember bothering to master its solution (that said, now that Callum has been into it, I have also learned how to do it – who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks). He’s also crazy into Minecraft – like a lot of kids these days, it seems.

Callum also seems to have a knack for music. He’s been taking violin lessons since he was little, and has been progressing. Lately I’ve been introducing him to Logic Studio, a popular music creation software made by Apple for the Macintosh computer. He’s into Deadmau5, Daft Punk, and Delerium, so he has acquired an ear for electronic music (that would be my fault). So far I’ve taught him how to work with loops and how to create drum tracks and music sequences using samples – we haven’t started in on mastering, effects, or sound synthesis, but we’ll get there. He’s put together a few songs already – one of them he put together from the ground up, creating his own drum tracks (instead of using loops) and experimenting with different instruments, sounds, and samples. While it needs some work, it’s not bad for a song made by a 9 (now 10) year old. Here’s the song, in case you’re interested in checking it out.

So happy birthday to you, Callum! It’s been incredible learning about all of the amazing aspects of your character that have emerged over the past ten years. I’m looking forward to spending the next decade with you!

This evening, Amelia lost her third top front tooth. She’s been missing one of her two front teeth for several years now; she had to have it pulled while we were living in Charleston. A few days ago, her second tooth fell out (though the tooth fairy apparently didn’t hear about it until a few days after she’d stuck it under her pillow, as she was late showing up with the change). Then, this evening, a third tooth fell out while she was playing. I told her to tell her friends at school that she’d gotten into a Kung Fu fight.

While Amelia learned to speak normally with a single tooth missing, and while losing the second tooth seem didn’t make much difference, she doesn’t seem to be able to make a solid S sound with three teeth gone. I have to admit, I hope it takes a while for her teeth to grow in, because it sounds awfully cute. Though don’t tell her I said that.

So for memory’s sake, here are some pictures of the progression.

Here’s a picture of Amelia from a couple of weeks ago, with a single tooth missing:

One tooth missing

Here’s Amelia yesterday, with two teeth missing. She’s holding a nest that she made for the Easter bunny to take a nap in while he was out delivering eggs.

Two teeth missing

And here’s Amelia just now, three teeth gone… that’s a decent-sized gap.

Three teeth missing

I’d post a video of Amelia speaking, but I’d probably get in trouble for it. So instead, I’ll just wish everyone a “Happy Eathter!”

yesterday we went on a walk through the public park in the center of Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët. While we were there, Mia asked me to take a few pictures of her using some of the exercise stations situated at a grassy spot beside the lake. The pictures turned out well in that they seem to embody the “spirit of Mia”.

these pictures might also be some of the final examples of one-tooth-missing Mia; her second front tooth is quite loose and on the verge of falling out, and her two adult front teeth are starting to make their move. It’s been several years since Mia has had a single tooth missing after having to have it removed after an unfortunate encounter with the kitchen counter (here is a picture from nearly three years ago from when we were living in Charleston… it’s amazing to see how much she has grown up since then, but the tooth’s still gone). I’m looking forward to seeing what she looks like with two front teeth, because I find it hard to imagine!

Swinging

Stepping

Spinning

it’s that time of year again… the time when the persistent nip leaves the air, the sun starts lingering in the sky in the afternoons, and Callum catches the gardening bug.

this year we bought several different bulbs and some fresh soil from the gardening store in Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët; by planting the bulbs now, we should be able to see them flower in a few weeks or months. Some of them have already started to show signs of flowering, but it will be a while before they bloom.

we also have a variety of seeds left over from last year – mostly vegetables and herbs – that we have kept in sealed bags for his year. I’m hoping that they’ll still grow this spring if we plant them – who knows! It’s worth a try.

Callum and his newly planted flower bulbs

Some more of Callum’s plants

It’s the middle of February, and the rainy, gloomy days typical of winter here in northwest France are winding down. Yesterday was a beautiful day – clear skies, not too cold, and not raining – so we went for a walk in the woods in a park called the Vallée Humide de Bois-Ainaux. It is a forested wetland in the northeast of Brittany (Ille-et-Vilaine) with a variety of different natural sites to see and educational areas for the children to play with and explore. It’s a great place to visit on a clear, cool day, and we were the only people in the park throughout the entire afternoon. Of course I had my iPhone with me, so naturally I took a bunch of pictures.

I’m going to start with a picture of me, as I notice I don’t post many pictures of myself on my own blog!

Me walking through the woods in Brittany on a not-quite-spring day

And here is a picture of Amelia and me… after I got Yvonne to take a picture of me, Amelia wanted one of the two of us in the same place.

Amelia and I hanging out in the woods

Here is Callum by a pond in the middle of the forest. Inside the pond were thousands of frog eggs (frogspawn), ready to turn into tadpoles.

A pond full of frog eggs in the middle of the forest

The kids found some big boulders in one part of the woods, so they did a little climbing.

Climbing some boulders in the woods

And finally, here is a picture of our Shetland Sheepdog, Lilou. We kept her off her leash for most of the walk, and she was very well-behaved… at one point we thought she was going to jump into the frog pond, but fortunately she came to her senses and decided against it. Nice work! Otherwise she ran around, sniffed stuff, and let out a lot of energy.

Lilou, our tri-color Shetland Sheepdog

another year has passed, and we’re still living in Normandy. The kids are well on their way to being bilingual in French and English, which I’m very happy about, and we’ve had some tremendous adventures living in France and learning about the French culture.

while we’ve been living in Europe we’ve taken a few trips, much of it near where we’re living in northwest France. We went to Ireland in the spring, touring Dublin, the Shannon/Limerick area, and circling the Ring of Kerry. We’ve toured England, including London, Bath, the Midlands, and Chester. And we’ve traveled around much of Wales, visiting Snowdonia in the north and Cardiff in the south. One of the coolest parts of that trip was visiting the Welsh slate mines.

since earlier this year Yvonne and I have been working on a new site together – Mixminder – where we’ve been providing curriculum, worksheets and activities for elementary school classrooms. Yvonne, who taught in the US and Hungary before she became a QA analyst in Charleston, has been working very hard at creating products, also creating her own art for the things that she makes. It’s been a lot of fun to do this; we’ve been meeting and collaborating with plenty of interesting people from the teaching community.

Though of course it’s been a busy year, there’s not much further to report! I’ll end this post with a few pictures from our travels.

The Cliffs of Moher, in Ireland

More of the Cliffs of Moher

At Bunratty Castle, near Shannon

Snowdonia, in Wales

Inside Harlech Castle, on the coast of Wales

The keep at Cardiff Castle

today I’ve started using the WordPress Image Uploader to upload and manipulate images.  Up until now I’ve resisted doing so due to some innate need to control everything by hand (re: resizing the images into thumbnails by hand, using SFTP to get them uploaded onto my server and then linking to them using HTML).  Well, no longer!  So far the Image Uploader seems to make things much easier, and there’s also a handy WordPress Image Gallery that you can use to display sets of images.

enough about WordPress features… here are some pictures from our recent travels around France and England.

the other week we went to the Zoo de Champrepus, a zoo near our house here in La Manche (Basse-Normandie).  For a small zoo it was actually quite good; there was hardly anybody there, so we had a nice private tour of the grounds and managed to get up close and personal with some of the residents.

The arch at the Zoo de Champrepus

the highlight of the trip to the zoo was a visit into the lemur grounds within the Madagascar exhibit. You could walk right up to the lemurs and hang out with them, and they wouldn’t run away or otherwise react to your presence. The lemurs were funny; they would wander around the grounds when it was cloudy, but as soon as the sun would come up they’d prop themselves up to bask their bellies in it.

A sunbathing lemur at the Zoo de Champrepus

meanwhile, here is a fellow making fresh crèpes for us at a weekend carnival that took place in the town of Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët near where we live. The most interesting thing about the carnival (to me at least) was how carnies from all over France came to set up their booths, rides and attractions inside the town. The side streets of Saint-Hilaire were overflowing with trailers and camper vans full of the workers running the festivities and their families. I know that my stalwart crew tends to move around quite a bit, but in comparison to these people we’re downright sedentary.

Making crèpes at the carnival in Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët

a few weeks ago we took a trip to England to stay with some friends of ours (the family of a high school friend from Toronto) who are living in the town of Reading. While we were there the families toured London and went to LEGOLAND in Windsor. It was a great trip; I’m sure it was refreshing for the kids to get to hear people other than their parents speaking in English to them!

one fun aspect of the trip was taking our car on the ferry from the port at Ouistreham (near the city of Caen) to Portsmouth in England. Even more fun was the trip back, where we got a cabin for our family of four on the ferry. The kids loved it… plus I got to take a nap.

Leaving the port of Ouistreham

while in England we traveled to the city of Bath to see the ancient Roman baths. It was fascinating to me to see structures so ancient, and to imagine what life must have been like back in the old (like, REALLY old) days. Callum, for one, really digs that sort of stuff.

The Roman bath in Bath, England

on our way back from Reading to Portsmouth to catch the ferry back to France we paid a visit to Stonehenge (yes, I did just link to that). After visiting the Roman baths (old) it was interesting to visit Stonehenge (even older). Architecture has really come a long way in the past few thousand years.

while visiting the ‘henge I conveniently forgot my phone in my car and was unable to take a picture of it. So when we got back to the car I snagged my phone, ran back through the tunnel under the road that leads to the site, and snapped a quick photo of the path leading up to it. It’s not much, but hey, it’s better than nothing. Maybe.

The path leading to Stonehenge

and as a parting shot here’s a picture of the best pub in Paris, where my friend and co-worker Ian and I visited during a business trip to Paris… the Great Canadian Pub!

The Great Canadian Pub in Paris