Mid - summer's backyard

Believe it or not, the last week has been a Florida like summer. Highs in the low to mid-90s. One little thing that makes it all different though, no air conditioning in the house or at work. Next time you read about how much less energy the average European uses compared to Americans, remember that. They don't have central air conditioning....well almost all of them.

One nice difference though, Europe is in the middle of a rather significant shortfall of rain, so we don't have the little blood-suckers flying around.

Our little garden in the back has held up ok though. The flowers are getting leggy, and the three great bunches of tomatoes are getting ripe in our two makeshift tomato gardens...but certain creatures swinging about in the yard, make it all still a good place to be.

This International Life

Today when I was back in the car after picking up a few things in at an Extra store I realized I was driving:
a Swedish car,
built to US specs,
with Dutch tags,
listening to Belgian radio,
in Germany!

Does Disney know about this?

Last year for Spring Break we went to Washington, D.C. where we saw the Mickey parade.

While I was in Paris in May with the ladies from French class I wanted to see the glass dome of the Grand Palais. The Grand Palais has changing exhibits. The exhibit in May was "La Force De L'Art" which had some pretty wacky modern art. So I was surprised to see a Mickey. I thought, oh they have one the Mickey's from the parade.


Then I looked more closely and saw this (click through only if you are an adult, please). Yikes!!

A good day at the market

Who squished the peach? This cute flat white peach was really juicy and sweet but not as peachy flavored as a yellow peach. The local markets are just bursting with beautiful fresh produce this time of year.
Here you can see French apricot preserves. And a rustic summer fruit tart - raspberries, blackberries, wild blueberries, cherries, and rhubard - and yes, it was as delicious as it looks.

Creative Summer Fun

This is what GM and SJ have been doing in the evenings lately. SJ bought them for GM at a Father's Day present at the Industrion Museum in Kerkrade. The museum had a Leonardo Da Vinci invention exhibit. These are called Leonardo Sticks. Click on the photo to see a larger version.

Small Minds...

Can be quite creative. (I meant small as in petite, what did you think?) We discovered this scene on the refrigerator the other day. Apparently, Madeline needed some buddies. I confess, she was further down on the frig and I moved her up for photography purposes.