After the crazy chills of January, February has been really mild in comparison, almost spring-like. The buds are emerging, the birds are singing, the sun is out, and it's easy to think that winter is over... except that I doubt it is. I'm sure that at some point in April there will be a slash of snow. Just we wait ( Read more... )

Didn't leave the flat at all today because of the grey weather and the rain, but somehow was kept busy enough and the time flew by. J left for Hanoi early in the morning, early enough to see the kids wake and have a quick cuddle before running off to the airport. He'll be gone for a full week, back in time for The Bun's birthday party next Sunday ( Read more... )

After much anticipation all around (this has taught me not to tell Bao about exciting events until like, the day before, or endure 'is it now? it's sooooo long!' 475762 times an hour), S and E finally arrived in Geneva last Friday morning. S is one of my oldest friends and we have seen each other at our worsts and hopefully, our bests. E is her ten ( Read more... )

Another year older, but not necessarily another year wiser. I just keep chugging along ( Read more... )

We had a little houseguest this weekend. An inanimate one, thankfully. It was Barnaby the Bear, a well-traveled teddy bear that belongs to The Bun's class. Barnaby goes home with a different child twice a week and they get to dress him up and take him on 'adventures'. He lives in a huge wicker picnic basket and has a rather comprehensive set of ( Read more... )

It was last-minute, but J managed to get me a Coke-themed advent calendar so that I would have something to open along with everyone else. Inside it are mini cans of Coke (what else), magnets, cookie cutters, and other random bits. After dinner every night all of us open a new window in our calendars, the children eagerly swooping in to eat their ( Read more... )

Last Sunday we went to the circus! We actually didn't realise that they were in town until we were looking for something to do on a weekend morning and came across an online tip recommending the circus zoo. It wasn't a zoo as such, just a lot of horses, some zebras, a couple of elephants, some monkeys, and camels, which was enough for the kids who ( Read more... )

So much for thinking that I would update more often while J was away. He got back this evening, and I haven't written since last weekend. What did I do all week? Beyond the usual child-wrangling and chore-mongering, not all that much. I enjoyed plenty of quiet time on my own in the evenings and caught up on reading and watching some movies that I ( Read more... )

I think I have found THE ice-cream flavour for this summer, if not for this year. It's the foresta nera (black forest) flavour at Manu Gelato, an artisanal gelateria that won the top prize in a Swiss ice-cream contest. (Yes, the Swiss take their ice-cream quite seriously.) Think dark chocolate gelato studded with tangy whole cherries that have been ( Read more... )

I really need to update, even though I'm deeply mired, as usual, in a ton of fanfiction. Reading is escapism for me, and fanfic? It's the perfect mix when written well - it pushes all my kink buttons, brings a voice to an entirely different universe or reality, and is often as hot as hell. Real, proper, fiction seems to pale by contrast, I think I' ( Read more... )