Treat Wednesday

Treat Wednesday involved a bike ride to the park and then coffee and an apple pastry! Lovely jubbly!

The waterfall in the park

The only way to get around Luxembourg :) They have these cool little bikes all around the city and they're a great way to get around.

Yum yum!!!!!!

Things that make me smile...

After talking to a friend I haven't spoken to in a good while I began to think about things that are guaranteed to put a smile on my face, here's a little list...

Crocuses in Spring

The Sunscreen Song

Snow and mountains (The Lake District especially)

Barbecues when it's so cold you still need to be wearing a down jacket

Sunshiney days at the Lake (when I still lived in the Lakes)

What's your instant sunshine?

Lazy Sunday Afternoons

I should be being productive and doing French homework, preparing for tutoring lessons and generally being productive. However I know this isn't going to happen. Instead I will listen to Benjamin Francis Leftwich's album (which makes me cry happy tears), daydream about baking more potato bread and what veggies to plant, and maybe watch some tv.

Potato bread.

Here is a lovely link to a video that a friend and I found on a very lazy Sunday afternoon, I fell in love with Andrew Bird on this afternoon and this is him performing on From the Basement. I hope you fall in love with him a little bit too.

10 reasons why I love my job.

1) The children are absolutely gorgeous

2) I get cuddles approximately every hour and a half

3) Every morning I get four hours to study french and do odd jobs (mainly catching up on tv programmes)

4) I'm learning french! A language that I've always wanted to learn.

5) I'm living in Luxembourg (not somewhere I ever thought I'd live, but at least it's exciting!)

6) I get to cook wonderful food, and try out new recipes on children who have seriously advanced tastes (the three year olds like olives)!

7) My bosses are wonderful, LE brought me a very tasty slab of chocolate home with her today for when I have my cup of coffee.

8) Getting to revise all my phonics knowledge for tutoring children.

9) Being able to go travelling around Europe with the family and being paid to do it! Paris for the weekend? Yes please!

10) Knowing that I'm not too far from my family (even though I have to travel through three countries on the train to get home)

Remembrance Day

Today is Remembrance Day. It's a day to remember those who have fought, and are still fighting, in the wars of the last century. It's a day that makes me miss my Granddad and worry for my friends in the forces.

I spent my morning at Church and listening to the most wonderful sermon by Rev. Lyons. He wasn't skimping any detail about the horrors of war. It was an interesting sermon, which I imagine raised a few eyebrows but the fact that it was blunt and not sugar-coated is what, in my eyes, made it great. My thoughts and prayers are with all those who felt a loss today and with the service men and women who are fighting at the moment.

A gig and champagne?

So last night I went to see Death Cab for Cutie with my friend from Church, H. After a bit of a mix up which left me standing in the cold for an hour feeling like I'd been stood up, we headed to Den Aetelier for an amazing gig! As we walked in, after grabbing a glass of champagne, we heard the sweet sounds of a British voice. Not just a British voice, a voice that hailed from the Midlands! I don't think I'd been so excited in ages! This voice belonged to a wonderful fella called Joel Nicholson, the lead singer of Butcher the Bar. Oh these boys may have even been better than Death Cab purely because they were from the Midlands! Saying that Death Cab were incredible! Their songs were beautiful and they were just as good live as they are on their albums. I welled up at Soul Meets Body and danced along to Company Calls (my favourite song of all time because of the lyric 'I'll take the best of your bad moods, and dress them up to make a better you.') The gig made me a very happy bunny indeed!

Treat Wednesdays!

Ah peace at last. Although it was lovely to have LE's mum here I was so worried that she hated me that I've been exhausted (it turns out she didn't. She gave me a huge hug at the airport and thanked me for all the hard work I'm doing for the family, which was very nice of her.) Treat Wednesday was very needed this week, and this is what this week's treat was ...

The French name is Flan, but it's an egg custard with sweeter pastry. Very yummy, but possibly a little too sweet. Thank goodness I have a very strong coffee to go with it. Think it may be an afternoon for a nice book, The Poinsonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is my current read and it's fantastic!

Art Galleries and dreaming of gardens

So LE's mum is here for a few days and since LE is opening her new surgery this week I've been the one spending time with her. Yesterday we headed to Casino Luxembourg for a bit of art appreciation. I think the only 'art' that I apprectiated there was a video of a wonderful performaning artist named D'Janau Morales, her wonderful song like voice wove an acute observation of New York city which you couldn't help but be drawn into. I loved the line about each heart beat being a steady bass beat. This was the most impressive piece of art in the place.

There was a chap chopping up a huge tree trunk to make a single toothpick, which the lady at the front desk seemed very impressed with, but all I could think was, what a waste of a tree.

We left very quickly and went to a wonderfully festive Chocolate House, the Christmas things were starting to be put up and the chocolate gifts were just beautiful! After a long chat about the world and everything else we headed home to collect children and make supper.

This morning has been spent dreaming about gardens and missing my own little plant pot garden which I lovingly tended this year.

My wonderful make do greenhouse where my tomatoes and cucumbers flourished.

My huge mint plant from B's mum and my tomato hanging basket, that managed to survive a miserable Lake District summer.

My Tiny Plot was visited for some gardening inspiration. I love this woman's writing and her garden is what I aspire for mine to be like, practical and beautiful.

I'll talk about the holiday at some point!!!!

So I was on holiday last week which I shall talk about at some point but I need to write about what an amazing night last night was!! S and I were in need of some drinking and girly times so we headed to Scotts Pub which is the closest thing to an English Pub that you'll find in Lux. We had intended on having a simple night and going to the Piano bar after a drink but that just did not happen!After way too many Diekirch's we got chatting to two Luxembourgers who were absolutely hilarious! One was Dutch and reminded me so much of a friend from uni it was untrue, I probably called him Seb like 10 times! So after another too many beers we headed to Clausen to this bar called Rock Box, totally amazing little place with an awesome band playing, I have no idea who they were but I was so happy they were singing in English! The whole night was very English and was just the cure for the bit of homesickness that was popping up!!!

I'm now in desperate need of a trip to the bakery to carb me up!! I miss having Peggy's Bakery two doors down!! (If you're ever in Ambleside, Lake District UK you need to pay her a visit and get a bacon sausage and egg butty with brown sauce. A can of coke and an egg custard. Best hangover cure ever!)