Luc is two!

Travel with me for a moment while I reminisce on Luc's second year of life.

Luc's 1st birthday (Dec 28)

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

This monkey has grown so much! It's amazing to think of all that's happened in growing, playing, and learning with him this year. Love you so crazy much little monk!

processing

Out of all the wonderful things that occured in 2010, there is one thing this year that I wish never happened.

It's still hard to fit words into the feelings surrounding Matt's death. I may not say it, but I think about him everyday. Tears still come easily. I can't bear the thought of erasing his Skype name from my contacts list. Occasionally I let myself think of how we could have a conversation via Skype or facebook. Or that really, he's still there in Maryland, and I'll see him the next time I go back to the states. On the eve of this new year, I wish happiness to all, but I'm sad to move further away from his death, in a way, each passing day feels like he gets farther away. Because as time passes, we make new memories without him in them.
The stark reality of his absense really hit me when I arrived in his parents house last May for the funeral. I wasn't even sure I would be able to find the right tickets to fly back in time. 12 hours to Paris, then a change in airports, a few hours wait, then 8 hours to DC. I was in daze. People on the airplanes asked if I was sick. I could only mumble short phrases. Three short days in the states, then a backwards repeat of the thousands of miles again. I was so thankful to be able to go and spend a few days with my family, but it was equally as great to get back to Alex and Luc at home. Those crazy days in the beginning are over, and I can once again function without tearing up in odd times and places. But I can't stop thinking.....why can't he just pop up again on our radar? I think the permanent state of something is only truely understood in death. He is permanently gone. It's awful. No one will ever get a chance to speak with him again. But if he was here, what would you say?

Christmas 2010

Our Christmas was filled with goodies for all this year!

Buddies*

I love this dog!*

BEST SORBET EVER!! It tasted EXACTLY like the fruit.
I felt like I was eating mango/goyavier and litchi/passionfruit frozen fruit.
I can't get over it.

We spent the 24th at a friend's place here in St Denis, whose family was part Malagasy, which meant we enjoyed some traditional Malagasy cuisine (the best romazava I've ever had!) among lots of other foods. And dessert. And wine. And champagne. (Eeepp!)
The next morning our heads were a little achy, but we nursed ourselves back with coffee and presents. We were invited back to the same house to help finish off the leftovers for lunch. Mmmmm. As an added bonus, I didn't have to cook while hungover! All three of us were ready for siestas after that. *(the sweet dog pictured above belongs to these friends).

On the night of the 25th, we had another couple join us in a tapas-type meal complete with very basic sangria and two vuvuzelas. oh yes. You read that correctly, my husband bought himself (and one for our friend) one of those incredibly loud horns like the ones from World Cup SA. The kids in our apartment go crazy for it. Their parents however.....probably not so much. When we move 2 weeks from now, I'm sure they'll be happy not to hear it anymore.
More on moving and such later.
Hope you all had a very merry christmas too!

holiday prep with monkey

Quality control for the cookie dough.

Sorting through beads and buttons for some last minute sewing.

isn't the internet great?

I was so happy to be able to have a holiday dinner with Simone in Amsterdam last week!
Check it out here.

my favorite picture from this weekend....

"I will destroy you, lollipop!"

mangoes on the brain

I've been brainstorming a lot, about mangoes, and about the house. That and painting. Or, really, doing the prep in order to paint. Alex and I make a good team for this sort of thing because I'm very detail oriented, and he just wants to get the details over with and paint the huge wall already.
Today we punched a big hole in our house. On purpose, don't worry. You see, the last pictures I posted here don't show it, but our house is a little bizarre in that two bedrooms are situated without access to natural light and fresh air. It's the result of two major additions in the past 30 years. But, with help from a friend in construction, we found a way to solve that problem for at least one of the rooms, and now, we have lots of ciment covering the ground in front of our garage. No wood or anything like that, this house was built to withstand cyclones, and it's walls are pretty solid! (Which in decorating terms, makes it annoying to try to hang stuff because you have to break out the drill everytime you want to make a hole. It's a minor thing yes, but still!)
So anyways....back to the original purpose of today's post. MANGOES! Get excited because I'm about to list all the different ways I hope to use up every last one of those mangoes on the tree in the picture above. I can hear you now, "yes! a list....about mangoes!"
You're welcome.

mango rum
mango jam
mango chutney
mango salsa
mango pie
mango muffins
mango bread
mango upside-down cake
mango crisp
mango cobbler
green mango salad
mango, eggplant, bell pepper masala
chicken with mango
curry rice with mango
and as an hommage to Madagascar....sakay

yum!

with keys in hand

Welcome to our new home!

We have 3 mango trees, one litchi tree, one orange tree, and one banana tree; lots of fruit to look forward to! The outside space is what I love the most and where I'm sure Luc and I will spend most of our time. I'm already dreaming of ways to improve the yard, make it more child-friendly, and zen-like. So I'm making a list of ideas, here goes....
*vegetable and herb garden in the back
*move rosemary shrub to back
*build a fort, treehouse or outdoor tee-pee under one of the mango trees
*install sturdier fence on right side
*make a stepping stone path on left side
*hang a set of wind chimes from a tree or the balcony
*add a climbing rope with knots to one mango tree (Luc's still too young for this, so this won't be for a while)
*make a bird house or bird feeder or maybe install a birdbath? (no, scratch that last one, we don't want standing water in a place where mosquitoes carry chikunguyna!)

When I look at the yard, the adult side of me sees that things could be more organized, and we could make it look more symmetrical. But that would be boring for a kid! When I think about what Luc sees, (and my inner child) I think, "wow, there's so many places for running, hiding, jumping off of things, and other great opportunities for discovery." Of course, we want a safe place for him to play, so if that means taking out the giant cactus at the bottom of the hill (could you imagine accidently falling into that?), then so be it.
I'm imagining a great place for playing and having all sorts of outdoor accessories to go along with it; hula hoops, a basketball hoop, jump ropes, a wagon, gardening tools, a sprinkler to run through, buckets for collecting things, an old tire swing, a magnifying glass, a bench under the mango trees, and maybe a nice family sized swinging bench for the balcony.

Sigh. I love this place!