Been Playing Around

Time for a new look again here at Beneath Our Feet!

Now back to the real work. Sunny again so outside we go. After more coffee. And some tea after that. Procrastinate much? Who, me?

Working On Many Things - Pictures Included

I started working on the pictures I have promised from the rest of our holiday. The weather may have been warmer this weekend than it was on the continent, but it was rainy at the same time much of it. We still found ourselves crazy busy with pub night, barbecue here with family and at the farm with friends and spur of the moment with other friends at their home on Monday. They had planned on taking advantage of the predicted temperatures, but as were so many people, they too were disappointed about the eventual weather. Warm(ish) partly sunny at times with showers and the occasional thunder. Not so nice. Today it has just gone to rainy and cold. Which means pictures and other projects can be worked on while the garden and the allotment get a nice watering à la mother nature.

In addition to working on the pictures, I have somehow managed to get myself into making this for Anja. I know that I can do a decent job on it, and I will do. Yet I am feeling quite intimidated by it. The night before we went to France I frantically sewed a self drafted set of matching pajamas for Anja and myself. Why of all things I chose pajamas to make, I don't know. (perhaps because there is no pressure to make them suitable for public viewing) I did them well, and vowed to sew more. Of course I have not sewn since we got back. I have such lovely fabric that needs to be made into something. Naturally that would lead to making a kirtle for my 8 year old daughter, right? It does if you are me, apparently! With picture processing breaks at regular intervals, of course.

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

I promise. It will be worth the wait to see the pictures from the rest of our trip to France. My plan was to get them sorted and uploaded last week, but as it usually happens, as soon as I commit to something at a certain time, my body decides to go into a flare of pain and fatigue. I wrote a little bit about that here at my other blog.

The good news is that this week I seem to be feeling decidedly better so I am back to work and catching up on things. Today I am having a special tutorial with my French teacher who so kindly gave me an unexpected gift of the chance to catch up in my studies and turn in work that I had not done when I was feeling so poorly. Something I had not asked for and absolutely never expected. One of life's little miracles that we so often fail to acknowledge. In preparation for it I have been feverishly studying this week and will spend the rest of the afternoon resting so that my brain is at it's best for the tutorial. If the sun is out tomorrow I am hoping to get out to the allotment to plant transplant some beans and sow some flower seeds along the borders. If it is rainy then I will get the pictures done, otherwise they will have to wait until Saturday or later depending on how much I get done in the allotment. The pictures will wait, but I need to get things done outside when I can and when the moon cycles are right (that is part of the biodynamic approach to agriculture - using the moon and planetary cycles to guide you to optimum times to do each task. Sounds wacky - but it works!). As far as I know there isn't a moon time that is best for editing digital photos. There probably is, but I'll just let that remain a mystery for now!

So - patience is a virtue, good things come to those who wait, hold onto your britches - I'll get to it as soon as I can!!! I promise.

Paris in Springtime

I've heard tale told of the beauty of Paris in Springtime. And now I have witnessed it for myself.


The Eiffel Tower viewed from The Trocadero Gardens. The epitome of Springtime in Paris.


Viewing Paris from the Eiffel Tower


At the Louvre - another place that was very accommodating to wheelchair users.


I couldn't go to Paris and not go to my own personal Disney - The Fabric District!


They were probably imported from The Netherlands, but who cares. They were pretty and I saw them in Paris!


Notre Dame viewed from the Seine at dusk. That intense blue sky is how the picture came straight out of the camera. No back end enhancements. The sky at dusk is amazing for taking pictures.


Anja begged and begged for a beret and when she finally got it she was so happy!


More pictures in the flickr of course. Stay tuned for week 2 of our France holiday when we are went down Southeast of Lyon in the Rhone Alps region. If you think Paris is beautiful - you haven't seen anything yet!

Disney Surrpise

We have been back from our holiday in France for nearly 3 weeks now (is that possible??) and finally I am getting some of the pictures uploaded. Digital photography is great for freedom to take all the snaps you want to, but it does pose the problem of sorting and uploading when it's all done. Gone are the days when you took only a few shots for souvenirs of your travels. Instead it is a daily ritual of uploading hundreds of pictures from your memory card to your computer (of course you are traveling with your laptop) to make room for the next days onslaught. This cycle repeats through the length of your trip. No more dropping a couple roles off to be developed and picked up in a week. Anxious friends and family all over the world begin to email, send messages and tweets asking "When are the pictures going to be up?" Talk about pressure!

At last my traditional post holiday collapse seems to be winding down and I am getting some of the pictures ready to share. I will start off with our first few days of the 1st week -Disneyland Paris.

We had told Anja that we were absolutely not visiting Disneyland this trip to Paris. She thought it was going to be a full week of visiting monuments and museums in Paris. She was looking forward to the Eiffel Tower or course, but besides that it seemed like a pretty raw deal to go to Paris and not Disney when it was your birthday. On Monday morning bright and early we got in the car on the pretense that we were going to the Eiffel Tower. (DRIVE? to the Eiffel Tower? From the south end of Paris? Only an 8 year old would believe that one!) A couple dozen "are we there yet's" later we arrived at our surprise destination.



SURPRISE!!!!!!!!



She soon realized why I was so insistent that she wear the new polka dot dress that I bought for the trip. Minnie Mouse is a fashion icon!



First stop was the driving track. Be very thankful that this girl is not allowed to drive yet! My neck is still not quite recovered from riding along with her. ouch.



We were really lucky to have what we dubbed "The golden ticket" which was my pass that they gave me to board rides at the exits, thus in effect jumping all the queues. Since I am in the wheelchair and have the proper proof that I didn't just borrow it for the occasion they gave me the 'easy pass' which means that we didn't have to wait in long lines. I also got in for a reduced admission and Axel got in for free as my "attendant/caregiver". (We had this courtesy many of the places we went on our trip actually. Most places do their best to accommodate people with disabilities. ) I tell you, it sucks being mobility challenged, and I'd wait in a million queues if I had my health back, but this made it a bit more palatable.

We took Anja on Space Mountain without really giving her fair warning what it was all about. This resulted in many tears and her not believing us when we promised that Snow White wouldn't be scary. If she didn't need therapy before she will now. She decided that her idea of a good thrill ride was the teacups. Good old teacups. You can't go wrong with them.



It was a long 3 days full of crowds, the weather was not at it's best for much of it, and oh lordy was it expensive. But when you see this face smiling back at you,there is no doubt that it was worth all of it.




There are many more pictures on our flickr page. Disney is such a visual experience so looking at the whole set should tell a good story of our visit. ** 3 days in Disney left us just 2 days to do some quick sight seeing (and fabric shopping of course!) in Paris. Look for my next post within the next few days of our Parisian ramblings. For me and Axel, that is when the holiday really began!