Thursday, October 31, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
forts
we searched for destinations to visit around our little village this afternoon and fort l’ecluse came up. it is a 15 minute drive from our home. it is a natural entry to france from switzerland. history says that the designated area of land was used for fortress grounds dating back to 58 b.c. cray. I guess there are no photos of the actual fortress on here but these are some of the photos that we took of our hike.
we still are not sure as to what we stumbled across on our hike but it was some sort of an old mountain bike trail. we found a number of palettes in this open area. I quickly drew up in my mind a fort of our own. I felt like I was 12 years old again back in the day when my friends, gracie and I would own the forest grounds. it worked as you can see from the photos. we also found a natural stream of water that we drank from. it was just what we needed today. as we headed back down I grabbed some moss to add to our collection of plants. we are proud parents of now three baby plants.
salut
john
banana.bread
Monday, October 28, 2013
saturday morning in carouge
so if you follow jessie’s blog you would now know that we own a french car. so this past saturday we took advantage of her and drove to geneva.
carouge: a charming district has developed over the years into something of a bohemian center, with all sorts of artisanal activity going on during the day and a wide selection of bars and restaurants to occupy you through the night. The Place du Marché forms the heart of the district, with its quirky Italianate church at one end and a regular produce market which has been in operation for over 300 years. www.viator.com
it was said that carouge was built to provide refuge to catholics from the protestant power of geneva. italian designers were hired for the construction and you can see chapel in one of the photos. it was so fun. I even ran into an old man that I recognized from over 4 years ago. he serves as the old traditional candy man who pushes a music box around that also seats his feline friend. the children love him. they give him 2 swiss francs and in return they receive a lollypop.
we found a thrift store and I got an old leather briefcase for nothing. also a homeless man stole my breakfast while I laid it down for two minutes.
anyhow, I don’t have a photo editor yet so excuse the overexposures.
salut
john
we.are.heading.to.denmark.tomorrow
Friday, October 25, 2013
sometimes...
i miss america or better yet amercia me misses. french lesson:
The French verb manquer is a regular -ER verb. It means "to miss," but can cause confusion because it is sometimes used in an unusual construction.
Manquer + direct object means "to miss something," in the sense of not being at/on/in it
J'ai manqué l'autobus.
I missed the bus.
Il va manquer le film.
He's going to miss the movie.
Manquer + de + direct object means "to lack something"
Vous manquez de patience.
You lack patience.
Ce thé manque de lait.
This tea is lacking (needs) milk.
Manquer + de + verb means "to fail to do something"
J'ai manqué de faire mes devoirs.
I didn't do my homework.
Ne manque pas de m'écrire !
Be sure to write to me!
(Literally, Don't fail to write...)
Manquer + à means "to miss a person, place, or thing,"* as in to feel the lack of it:
David manque à moi. > David me manque.
I miss David.
Tu manques à moi. > Tu me manques.
I miss you.
so as i was saying sometimes i miss america i mean america me misses and i play bon iver over and over again. jess nor i have yet to see him but we will one day. also pepperoni pizza me misses much.
salut
john
we.did.buy.a.car.and.to.see.more.go.to.www.jessicannna.blogspot.com
Thursday, October 24, 2013
and so we wait
binge
binj/
informal
noun
-
1.
a short period devoted to indulging in an activity to excess, esp.
drinking alcoholor eating (pastries)
*I know the text above has nothing to do with anything but it is there to pacify my very need to be creative in silly textual ways. that job belongs to my wife though I guess. anyhow this isn’t important but perhaps I will include french words or phrases in the future like so. voila.
jessie and I take walks down to the small center of our little village from time to time. we have two main boulangeries in town. it is so fun to go search for fresh bread everyday. we haven’t yet decided on which is the best. we will keep you updated on that and may even post photos of our treats along the way.
we decided to focus on mailboxes the other day on our walk which actually give a decent view of what we have been looking to everyday. to be clear, we have been waiting for almost now 3 weeks to receive our debit cards for our french bank account. the french are like escargots. slow pokes. they insist on sending you three separate letters from the bank which gives you the green light to go pick up your card at the actual bank only to tell you that the application is still not complete once you have received the three letters and make the 30 minute trip. so we are still waiting on our cards. and it wouldn’t be so bad if EVERYTHING else wasn’t contingent on that one debit carte bleu.
salut
john
we.might.buy.a.car.tonight