Be prepared for a lot of pictures. I think the first ones were taken around the end of January. And the last pictures are more from the present day. It's funny to see how much Piha has changed within the past few months. We spent a lot of time inside during the winter because of the seemingly nonstop rain and a couple days of snow. Now, I know my picture of snow isn't that impressive, but it is still snow!
Although Sarah's birthday is in October, we celebrated it in February. Around October I was dying to carve pumpkins, but we couldn't find the typical carving pumpkins we use in America. All the pumpkins we found were for cooking because the flesh/pulp/meat/whatever-it-is-called is so thick. Sophie found one small pumpkin, but Pierre had to perform some major thinning surgery with a chef knife. And even after that I had to scrape the insides to make the pumpkin thinner. Sarah and her friends, however, carved peppers! I was a little skeptical about how they would turn out, and hold together, but they looked great! They were like little colored lanterns.
It was snowing outside so I was on the verge of freezing to death. My Arizonan blood still hasn't acclimated to the cold. But I wasn't the only one that was a bit chilly. Everyone was bundled up in thick coats, beanies, scarves, and gloves. The whole shebang. Luckily, all the delicious, hot food from the grill warmed me inside out.
This little paragraph is dedicated to Minette, the cat. I think she is pretty. She is getting a little fat, but that just means more Minette to warm me up. I don't like sleeping alone. I sleep in my own flat that is separate from the house, so it gets very quiet at night. This beautiful creature, however, sleeps with me every now and then. Other than her sticking her butt in my face, or clawing the bed, I love when she sleeps by me! I am a little allergic to cats, or something they like to roll around in, but I don't mind having to deal with an itchy throat and itchy eyes in order to have my personal feet heater. She is a little crazy, and sometimes stabs my leg in her sleep, but I love the little bugger. I'm not a cat person, but Minette makes me reconsider the idea of having a cat someday.
For Sophie's birthday, I made cupcakes! Nothing too complicated, it was just a box from Betty Crocker my family sent to me. Which reminds me, I could always use more cake mix and frosting ma famille :) The cupcakes are always a hit. And I was happy to do something for Sophie's birthday celebration. Luckily for everyone in the house, one of Sophie's gifts was a massage chair. I may have used it a few times...
I feel like I am constantly seeing signs for a circus in town. And they are always a different circus company. I have never been to a circus before so one day, I kept bugging my friends, Gabou (France), Roland (Côte d'Ivoire), Maruata and Christophe (Tahiti), about how I wanted to go. Turns out, I wasn't the only one who wanted to go! Later that same day, I found myself at the circus with my friends. It turned into a big deal. We could only pay with cash, and not all of us had cash. Then one of my friends didn't get enough cash at the ATM because he was apparently confused about the prices. But eventually, we got into the doors. Because we were late for the first showing, we spent our time at the 'zoo'. It was pretty pathetic. First of all, I felt so sad for all the animals. They travel around France, and possibly other European countries, in the most minuscule cages! And they are completely filthy. I stroked one animals fur twice and my fingers were brown from all the dirty who-knows-what/I-don't-want-to-know that was on its fur. However, on the plus side, I got to pet a zebra. No one was allowed to touch the animals, but some of them were so close, it was hard to resist. Also, circus elephants are tiny. Well, the majority of the circus animals were running on the small side, except the ginormous tiger.
Overall, I didn't much enjoy the circus. I was expecting a Cirque de Soleil or Ringling Brothers type of gig. But it was just a small, traveling circus. There were a couple acts I enjoyed, but other than that, I found it sad and a bit annoying. When I was little, I was very into animals. Watching Animal Planet on TV was part of my everyday schedule. Although I am not as crazy about animals as when I was little, I still wanted to save all the animals in the circus! They seemed so unhappy.
On a lighter note, Piha is getting so big! She still loves jewelry, even though it isn't part of her daily ritual to put all her bracelets and necklaces on anymore. That lovely crown was a gift from me. I got it from a McDonald's Happy Meal. And yes, I am 19 years old and I still get Happy Meals.
One day, during the amazing sunny weeks we had, we went to the park. During the drive, I gave Piha her snack. Of course she wanted to start with her organic dark chocolate biscuit, and this is what happened. How children managed to get food all over their faces, I will never understand. But it always makes me laugh to see it. Isn't she just adorable?
And here are some more pictures of my little sweetie pie. She is just so stylish. I like to walk to a cute little church that isn't too far away from our home. But for some reason, Piha is scared of churches. She is going through a phase of being scared of pretty much everything. She cries and says, "pas peur," literally meaning not scared, but for Piha it means I'm scared. I'm curious to see whats going to happen for her baptism this summer. I know Sophie would like to have it outside, but I have a feeling Piha will be scared and crying anyway.
During one of the glorious sunny evenings, I set up the hammock and just sat there for hours. It had been raining for so long that I just wanted to spend time with the sunshine. It was wonderful. There was a nice steady breeze. The air was warm with the rays of sunshine. And all the animals were out and about. So I'm finally introducing the rabbits. The rabbits have been a big drama. They didn't get along. There were a lot of males that were territorial and fought. The first time I saw a rabbit fight, I was shocked. I didn't know they could screech. And during the fight, they jump around and spin. It's crazy and a bit scary the first time. But shortly after I arrived, we neutered all the males. And after a while, we let them all outside and they were fine.
The mostly white, with some brown is Jean-Michel. He has one bad eye because the other rabbits used to pick on him, violently. He is my favorite. The black one is Regis. He is a rascal. The giant brown one is Maurice. Pierre refers to him as his son. And he is obviously the boss over all the other rabbits because he is so large and in charge. The small fluffier light brown rabbit is Martine. I forget about her a lot. She is cute, but isn't that exciting to me. The small white and brown rabbit is Pepita. She is tiny. Lately, she has gained some weight because she finally stopped having babies because all the boys are neutered. Because she is so small, she is always escaping the yard to eat the neighbor's flowers. Eventually Pierre will have to put fencing all around the borders of the yard. Last but not least, there is Chantal. He is fluffy and white. Sadly, I don't have a picture of him. He is a bit of an outcast. He was given to the Queros as a gift. They thought he was a girl, hence the girly name, but one day they realized one of the baby rabbits looked like a carbon copy of Chantal. Surprise! Chantal is a boy.
Introducing... Coca! The adorable Yorkshire Terrier puppy that Maruata and Christophe own. He was the cutest little puppy when he first came home. And when I used to sleep over a lot, he always woke me up in the middle of the night to play. I am his godmother, and he loves me. He used to follow me everywhere when I visited. Even when I would leave to go to the restroom, he would follow me and do his own business. He got out once, but someone in the apartment complex found him and returned him. Funny thing is, we saw him outside. We drove past a church and there were a couple little girls playing with a Yorkshire Terrier puppy. We laughed about how it was Coca's twin, but ironically, it was actually Coca.
Now that Coca is growing out of his biting everything stage, he is my cuddle buddy. I've always been nice to him, so when I come over, he likes to come cuddle on my lap, shoulder, or just sit on my chest. I'm gonna miss this puppy and his parents when I go home!
The other night, it was Celina's birthday. She is another au pair that was here in Pau. We had a Mexican dinner at her host family's house. It has been so long since I have had Mexican cuisine. I loved it! Although, it wasn't as spicy as I hoped for. We had to tone it down a bit because the French can't handle spice. They come from a land of strong cheese and vinegar. Their taste buds are built for strong flavors, not spice. After dinner, we went out for the night. It was a good time, except I decided to wear a new pair of high heels that I bought. Bad idea. My feet were killing me.
Seriously, I don't think I can express how much I love and need the sun. I mean, look how beautiful it is when the sun is out and the sky is bright blue. I'm getting so sick of gray skies and drizzly rainy days. Family back home, send me that Arizona sunshine! One thing that I don't see back home, is the change of seasons. Come spring time, there are pink trees. Pink! They are so beautiful! Sometimes while I was driving around, I would stop whenever I found pink trees. I would stop and just stare at them and admire how beautiful nature is. I find myself stopping a lot just to admire nature. I do the same thing with the mountains. I love seeing the mountains. How amazing is it to be able to have such beautiful things all around us?
I kind of like have farms close by. The animals are funny. And Piha loves to feed the goats, sheep, and chickens. My favorite animals, however, are the dogs. They are our walking partners. Shaggy and Scrappy walk with us everywhere. We will go back home with Shaggy still following us. We don't let the dogs past the gate because of the rabbits in the yard, but Shaggy just sits behind the gate begging with his eyes to come back. Sometimes we'll go home around 12:00 for lunch, and at 15:00, Shaggy is still sitting behind the gate waiting for us to come play. Shaggy is my favorite. He is completely filthy, and a bit annoying when he barks at other dogs, but he lets Piha chase him, tug his ears, and sit on him.
