Quenching the Thirst

Finally, finally, after more than a month of canicule, we have rain. As if the weather gods suddenly stopped messing around and heard the parched earth gagging for water. And sent it. Much water. Good. It was starting to feel like the Sahara around here – and what’s the point of that kind of heat, if you don’t have mint tea and a bunch of gangsta mamas to share it with?

Good thing I have my very own mommy here with me 🙂

Raincoats and wellies! And death stares.

Defeating the purpose of the double pushchair.

Greeeeeeen. And new calves.

Much sun + much rain = plump blackberries

Nothing to do with rain , but… We have hens!

And where is the rest of the crew, you wonder? Glasgow, NYC, Cape Cod, London. Sending love from here to there. We miss you. TMAB.

 

Manchester, England, England*

I heart visitors! We’ve just had a series of them, the last in date being Joe Gunn. You might know him; he was a finalist at the Commonwealth Games this summer. Well, he has since retired from competitive swimming and moved to London where he is living the high life. In one move he has gone from one of the ten cheapest postcodes of the UK (you know how the Brits love measuring people’s worth by their postcode), to one of the top ten expensive ones. How’s that for social ascension? He’s living with our favorite one and only Hélène and working with his mate Charlie in their company Agon Sports Management. His latest news: he’ll be in Rio next week, on business. La classe à Dallas, moi j’dis.

He’s not the only one of our Crew to cross the Atlantic Sea, as Hanoushka is already on the South American continent (if I could remember which country, I’d tell you – but baby brain has interfered)**. Mom and Calum are also outside of their country of residence as they’re in Edinburgh at the moment for Calum’s International Baccalaureate November session. Go Calum!

Dad, I presume, is happily Ralphing away (of the Lauren variety, not the vom variety) somewhere in Italy. His schedule and mine unfortunately mean we have to rely on other members of the tribe to pass on news. But, Dad, if you’re reading this, my phone is up and running again and I’d love to hear from you 😉

Life continues (more or less) smoothly and as I’ve already managed to write 260 words uninterrupted with only a zillion or so interruptions***, I’ll be thankful for that, not ask for more, and leave you with a photographic summary of the past few weeks.

Grandma on the stoop

Oh, hi there!

Siblings

Autumn

Hanging out on the football pitch

Dans le vent avec Grand’maman

Who’s this dude?

“Wanna ride?”

“I’ll give you a ride! Hop on my dragon.”

Beautiful Marloushka

Friends since generations

Heading home, now.

And back out again, this time with Uncle Joey.

Dude.

Holding his own.

Yup.

Babbling at breakfast

“A TANGERINE? WOW!!!”

Who’s the champion of the cardboard box?

* Reference included within.
** Information retrieved: Columbia.
*** OK, it took me 5 hours total to write this. Efficiency = me, impersonated.

On the track, Jack!

Zaz and Sousou’s Grandma came over from Italy to visit. Actually, H emailed her and pleaded with her to come help me – the pleading happened back in the Dark Time, the time when the little guy wouldn’t sleep or smile, but preferred to cry (and frown, and scream, and writhe and wriggle uncomfortably, and silently curse us for bringing him onto this planet). Since then he still doesn’t sleep has started smiling, and my life has changed for the better. No longer desperate, but still pretty happy to have my mom around.

Flat road!

We have been discovering loops to walk around the village, and on this particular one there is a flat bit of track which Zaz can easily walk along without me freaking out about cars. And in time she’ll be able to practice riding a bike along here (H seems to think this will be around Christmas time. Is 1.5 years too young to be cycling?).

Everybody had to come along

Home stretch

After weeks of stormy weather and interrupted internet connections, I don’t want to speak too soon but… it seems like we’re back online for now. No WIFI and an incredibly slow ethernet cable connection are making me feel like I’m in the early noughties. Our dongle connection in Dar Bouazza was more reliable and faster than this. Morocco > France.

Only a few more weeks to go til the big ole due date. Health cover doesn’t kick in until the 18th of August, so this baby had better stay put for another 11 days at least! Steering clear of spicy food and castor oil until then. In the meantime we are enjoying some newborn-free holiday time with this little cutie:

Cutie Patootie

Bob, Inco and Zaz

If you’re wondering why it’s so lush and green, that would be because it’s pretty much been raining 6 days a week since the beginning of “summer”. Seriously, Morocco > France.

Stay tuned for some imminent updates on Where We’re Going To Live.

Confessions of a Runner

Ok, it’s true.  I kind of run because I still dream of the bad-ass body, and I kind of run because it gets the dogs walked faster.  I also kind of run because otherwise I don’t think my thighs would do what I want them to do on the winter slopes.

I mostly run because I can do it in such beautiful places and afterwards it makes me feel great (read powerful and dominant – this is me writing, after all).

This is where I ran this morning  and this is who came with me today.  It’s a place where I’ve run and hiked and camped with  who also walked and camped there with  and I’ve explored and mountain biked it with .  When are the rest of you going to join me?

xxx   ma   de my day  (Parent 1)

Birthday Walk, Edinburgh