Merry Christmas....

I seem to be posting a lot about music lately, which is odd. It's actually our house that occupies most of my brain space and time these days. The constant cleaning, repairs and renovations keep me scurrying around like a hyperactive, peculiarly tidy squirrel.
Today, as I scubbed the copper tea kettle with salt and lemon, I realised that I hadn't yet even posted a single photo of our new driveway or our new carport.

So, for your edification and entertainment, here's a pic of the guys putting the tarmac on. It was taken on Nov.17. As you can see, we really lucked out with the weather that day; They were able to finish it all in just a couple of hours:

In early December, the team arrived to put up our new carport. Maybe "team" is a big word- it was just two guys. But they were impressively fast. They started the job on a Thursday afternoon, rather late, and worked until nearly 7pm, using floodlights. Then they came back and worked all the next day and it was done by evening.

This picture was taken just before Christmas. It's the view from my kitchen window (I LOVE the view from my window, btw) and you can see the twins a friend just to the right of the carport, playing in the snow. Below is a photo I just took today. As you can see, we've had more snow and I've had quite a bit of shovelling to keep up with.

It may not look like much, but the carport makes a huge difference in our daily lives. I never have to dig the car out of drifts or scrape ice off the windows. That makes leaving in the morning so much more quick and comfortable...

Also, in the lower right corner, you can see the cement foundation for the new room/entryway/veranda we are having built! Work is supposed to begin on Monday and I have have high hopes that it actually will. The builder just now called to ask a question about the door (Why yes, I would like insulated glass in it. We live 2624 feet above sea level and I'd prefer not to freeze all year long. Thank you for asking.), and he said "See you soon" at the end of the exchange. So, it's a good bet that he's planning to show up as scheduled.

Right?

I've been trying to load several pictures for the last half hour. There seems to be a problem with Blogspot right now. All I managed to put up was this picture of Severin proudly showing off his Rock Band 2 guitar on Christmas Day.

I'll try again tomorrow to load a few more...

The heating fuel was delivered today at noon!! I am SO pleased, you can't imagine. It's still snowing here, so a day and a half is a loooong time to go without central heat and hot water.

It took me a while to get the heater going agin. I spent quite a long time down in the freezing cellar working on it. It was a bit ....frustrating, would be the polite word, I guess.
It went like this:
1. Turn on power
2. Push button to start burner
3. Purge the fuel line
4. Burner shuts down almost immediately
5. Curse and rail at your unjust and dismal fate
6. Wait two minutes and repeat steps 1 through 5 about 20 times.

If I had a space for titles on my posts, I'd call this one "I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried".

Back when we moved to France in July, there was no hot water in the house. The heater wasn't working, even though the fuel gauge said that we had nearly 1000 litres in the tank. But I suspected that the gauge was broken, as it and the tank are both very, very old - ancient artifacts that belong in a museum and not my cellar. So, I went ahead and ordered a fuel delivery.

But it turned out that the gage wasn't broken. Mr. Fuel Delivery Guy told me that he could barely stuff in 3000 litres, rather than the 4000 I had ordered.

Hence, gauge not broken.

In fact, the problem was simply that the burner needed to be cleaned.

Fast forward to last night: I had been crazy busy all day, tackling another one of my epic projects. I was just finishing up when JP came up to me and said that he thought the heat was off. I hadn't noticed it getting cooler in the house, as I had been so active. But he was right.

And then Alexa called down from the bathroom that her shower was COLD!

No good could come from any of this.

JP said "I think we're out of fuel."

I said "Nonsense. the guage says we have over 1000 litres left. I just checked."

"I think it's broken" he countered.

"What are you? The Psychic Friends Network? It's NOT broken. The Fuel Guy just told me in July that the thing is FINE." and I charged off to the cellar in a huff.

I checked the gauge. Yes, it read well over 1000.

Then I checked the furnace. The distress light on the burner was on. I tried to restart it. No go.

I went back upstairs, where JP said "Out of fuel, huh?"

But I wasn't having any of it.

"No we're NOT. Call the repairman."

The repairman arrived about an hour later. He fussed around a bit in the cellar and then came up to inform us that...we were out of fuel.

Yep. JP was right. My husband apparently has a psychic link with our fuel tank. Who knew?

The next step was to call for a delivery. But nobody would come out in the night, so we'd have to wait until morning. We put a space heater in the twins' room and filled hot water bottles for everyone. Sleeping under down quilts, we'd all be fine.

Just as we fell asleep, the last thing I heard JP say was "At least it's not cold.."

Of course, we woke up to a HUGE snowstorm and the house was freezing. JP got the fireplace going early in the morning. A bit later I got the woodstove fired up, as well.

Just as I got it going, the fuel delivery guys called. They couldn't come quickly because of the storm - maybe TOMORROW morning...

I kind of feel like I'm living in an episode of Frontier House. I've had to keep the fires going all day and boil gallons of water for washing. All I need are a few cows to milk...

At their school back in Africa, the main sports activity for the kids was swimming.
But here in the French Alps, they SKI!

So, the twins' class headed off to their first "classe de neige" today. (That's "snow class" in English. So cute!). The teachers and kids will spend every day this week out on the slopes. Luckily, the slopes are very near by. Just a ten minute drive from the school (and our house!) and you are at a nice little ski resort well-suited to all levels.
The twins, of course, were relegated to the lowest level, as they'd never, ever been on the slopes before.

Oh the shame of it.

Through sheer willpower and the force of extreme vexation, Alexa learned to ski well enough in one day to get her into the next level up.

I got to see all this firsthand, as I was (of course) one of the "helper moms".
As I am strictly a cross-country skier, I couldn't help much with the ski lessons. But I went up to help serve lunch and then stayed out on the bunny slope helping the twins' very pregnant teacher manage the beginner's group. The village school board had said they couldn't afford to pay an actual instructor for the smallest group. Good thinking there.

At least it was a GORGEOUS day and we ended up having lots of fun. Except for the poor teacher, who looked absolutely exhausted by the end...

Was the light fixture from Hell worth all the trouble?

Well, JP and I ended up liking it very much. But then maybe that's just due to some Stockholm Syndrome-type reaction. You know- bonding with and showing loyalty to the source of your terror and misery......
But here it is.

My MIL says it's gorgeous. "Like something in the Chateau de Versailles" and that's a direct quote. She doesn't know the top bits are plastic, though. Not much plastic in Louis XIV trappings and accoutrements, I'm thinking. Just a guess.

The Lamp not actually in it's permanent spot. We needed a light in this hallway, so JP popped it in, despite the fact that it's a bit over-dramatic for a small upstairs corridor full of books. Eventually, it will hang in the central stairwell, which is over two stories high. Should look good there.

Oh. It's snowing. Again!

This is a picture I took of JP, Severin and Mallory in our back yard last weekend.
More snow has fallen since.
Lots more.

I nearly constantly can be heard singing "Winter Wonderland" and "Let It snow" in an effort to convince myself that snow is really nice.
It's sort of working, but the kids are perhaps a bit tired of hearing the same two songs over and over again....

And yes it is a big change from Africa.
Thank you for asking.

We've had a houseguest this weekend. He's a Burkinabé aquaintance of JP and he's in France for the first time. He might never come back, either. He seems very creeped out by the snow and cold. (Well, I guess we are too, but we'll have to learn to put up with it...)

Besides getting lights on the house, putting the Christmas tree up and doing the hostess thing, I also found time this weekend to go to a concert.
That's right.
I actually did something that kept me up past 10pm. What a concept!
It was the Christmas concert of the local "School of Rock". We knew lots of kids in the bands, so I took Valentine and Severin and we made an evening of it. Dinner was served as the various groups performed Beatles' songs, mostly. It was the theme of the evening.
But some bands did opt for other material. One group of teens did some ACDC. The singer had a good voice, but lacked presence and conviction. "Highway to Hell" sounded more like "Highway to a Tea Party in a Quiet Suburb".

But it was a very entertaining evening and a fun way to spend time with my older kids.

We have SNOW tonight!!!
Lots of it!
It looks like the Haute Savoie has decided to give us a first year back in France to remember.
It started out as a heavy rain all day long, but as night fell, the temperature dropped and huge, fluffy flakes began to fall. The kids immediately put on their winter gear and trooped outside to play. They threw their first-ever snowballs and made their inaugural snowman, complete with traditional carrot nose.

Mal, in particular, is thrilled to bits, to put it mildly. As she put her wet mittens on the radiator to dry, she turned to me, her big blue eyes shining and said: "This is the best day of my life!! Except for the day I was born. That was really great, too."

I was a bit surprised. She remembers that?

Full of surprises, that child.