Heaven is My Corner Cherry Tree

Our cherries have been utterly magnificent this year. Sweet, juicy, plump and not a cherry worm in sight (unlike previous years).

The tree also doubles as a perfect shady picnic spot on a hot day. J, Murphy and I have passed many an hour under its' leafy umbrella.

J and I polished off this entire bowl after school today. Next on the menu: cherry crisp, cherry ice cream, cherry pie...

Heaven is Spring Time in Paris

A kiss in front of Rodin's 'The Kiss' in les jardins Tuileries

Can there be any more magical city in the world than Paris? If there is I haven't seen it yet! C2, J, my mum, my Auntie Harriet and I traveled north to the city of lights to rendez-vous with friends from Montreal for the Easter week school break. We had rented an apartment in the 1er arrondissement of Paris, near the Louvre, in order to be near our friends who had rented a flat within the glorious Palais Royale.

Under the Pyramid in the Louvre

I had at one point questioned whether a week would be too long in Paris with a 5-year old but honestly it was barely long enough and I still didn't do all I would have liked. We walked, without exaggeration about 7 hours a day including one full day at Parc Asterix, an amusing theme park based on the French comic strip Astérix le Gaulois, about 30km outside of Paris, as well as one exhausting day at Disney Paris.

Strolling the David gallery in the Louvre

But Paris is not about theme parks, they were a simple diversion for the younger set. I'm not even sure at this point that they were necessary as my favorite memory is J's utter fascination with the gallery of neo-classical historical paintings by David in the Louvre. We must have spent an hour looking at them closely. It was the first time I introduced him to a museum offering more mature subjects than natural history and he rose to the occasion. His tastes, however, did not extend to Monet's Waterlillies which are beautifully displayed in the Orangerie gallery in les jardins Tuileries. Impressionist art didn't make much of an impression on him.

J's other favorite Paris landmark was the ubiquitous Eiffel Tower. He spent hours searching out just the right souvenir models and begging every adult in our group to part with a few coins in support of his purchase of another and another. Final tally of miniature Eiffel Towers was around 10. They are now carefully on display in his bedroom in Geneva.

A couple of the odder things that we fit in were visits to the sewers of Paris, a somewhat funky-smelling but still interesting wade (pardon the pun) under the Quai d'Orsay on the Left Bank. The other was a visit to the Catacombs of Paris, a vast underground ossuary where the bones of overwhelmed city and church cemetaries were moved and stacked into eery piles of femurs, tibias and skulls.

While both were mildly interesting (wildly for the boys), my personal Paris remains solidly above ground in the gardens of the Tuileries, in the architecture of 17th century apartment blocks and palaces converted into museums or other public spaces, in the bridges spanning the Seine - each with it's own history and charm, and in the winding streets of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the 6th arrondissement.

Heaven is Ski Week 2009

We just returned from our annual ski week in Les Gets, France with the Mighty Family (names changed to protect their privacy). This trip was tinged bittersweet with the knowledge that our friends are soon moving to the USA. Perhaps because of this, the weather gods were on our side this year, delivering utterly spectacular weather and piles upon piles of snow, and perhaps equally important, delivering me from my previous week's winter doldrums. The sun never stopped shining and the temperature hovered between -5 and -1c making for perfect snow conditions.

Ecole du Ski Français, Mighty Mouse in pale blue, J in green


This was also the first year that J was capable of consistently skiing the steeper red runs between our chalet and ski school. So around 9:00 every morning, the 7 of us walked out our back door, put on our skiis and glided down to the lift for the 30 minute ski to the other side of the mountain to ski school. We adults then had the rest of the morning to explore the broad terrain of Les Gets and Morzine, heaven!



As always, the apres-ski was grand, wonderful meals including our annual visit to our favorite fondue restaurant in the village, much champagne and fine wine, tired kids, happy dogs, and lots of laughs.

Six half-days is a long time in ski school for the kids but their level of skiing improved immensely. Emma the Brave was skiing black runs with ease while Mouse and J skiied all reds aggressively and more importantly with fun, hooting and hollering the whole way down. By the final day of testing, Emma earned her 3ème Etoile while the two little ones proudly earned their 1ère Etoile.


It will be hard to imagine our annual ski week without the Mighty family, it would indeed be strange renting our perfect side-by-side chalets without them on one side. Perhaps we will have to start new traditions. Their leaving is one of the down sides of the expatriate experience, having to say good-bye to good friends. However, C2 and I wouldn't have traded the last 3 years of friendship with them for the world. I think it's safe to say J wouldn't have either.

Related Posts: Life was Pretty Good at 1172 Meters Too and Heaven is at 2002 Meters

Heaven is THE Perfect Cup of Coffee

Among the many many joys of being a foodie and living in Europe has been experiencing the unparalleled perfection of coffee. In Swiss-Romande (the french-speaking part of Switzerland), one must clearly understand the subtle differences between a café crème, a café au lait, a cappuchino and the revered café renversé in order to get exactly what you want.

The café renversé quickly became my preferred coffee of choice. I believe an actual translation means 'knocked-over coffee', however in short, it is a strong espresso with slightly more heated milk and just a touch of crema. Crema being that delicate foam that forms at the top of the coffee. My favoured beverage is available at any one of the multitude of obliging cafés and boulangeries around Geneva but the cost over time would require my dipping into a non-existant trust fund. Enter Nespresso, every local barrista's preferred coffee maker and hey, who can resist a company boasting George Clooney as their global spokesperson.

We've been enjoying our Nespresso since our first week in Geneva over 3 years ago, and have valiantly tried to replicate a perfect café renversé by heating up milk in a pot on the stove and/or using a plunging coffee frother but something was always slightly missing. It just didn't taste quite like the ones I ordered at Globus, until one week ago...

C2 recently marked a milestone birthday and our great friends and fellow Montrealers/Calgarians, Nathalie and Marc gifted him with an automated Nespresso milk heater/frother. Globus eat your heart out and keep your 5.00 CHF per cup, given enough of this now perfect brew, I could rule the world.

Heaven is a Perfect Late Summer Evening

Last night was one of those perfect late summer evenings. The air was warm and fragrant. We lingered at the table over a bottle of Burgundy until twilight. J was playing on his swing when he noticed some activity overhead.

We three plus Murphy and Angus spent the next hour prone on the grass watching a family of bats swoop and soar in hot pursuit of droning mosquitos. We also kept a running count of stars as they winked on one at a time in the darkening night sky.

La Vie est Belle

We're back home again after spending a few blissful days in the South of France with Sheila and her family. For several years now, they have owned a charming house in the Alps of Haute Provence. It's a picture perfect spot for skiing in the winter or swimming, sunning and hiking in the summer. It's a 14 hour drive from London for them but thankfully a little less than 4 for us.


It's one of those places where the living is easy. We sleep late, drink coffee and eat fresh pains aux chocolats while the kids play in the pool, do whatever the spirit moves us to do during the day, and never miss a happy hour on the patio. We spend our evenings eating locally-sourced freshly cooked meals washed down with local Provence wines while watching the sun set over the Alps. The skys are clear and the country air so clean that we were able to see the moons of Jupiter using Cas's telescope last year.

We did fit in zip-cording or Indian rope climbing this year. The kids excelled on the debutant course. Sheila and I mustered all our 40-something courage and did the mid-course - about 20 feet up in the air. Great fun, punctuated by lots of laughs and a few well-aimed curses.

The best part is, we get to spend Sheila's birthday with her as we have made an effort to do for the last 4 years. In short, Cherines is a little piece of heaven, and I am always loathe to leave.

Heaven is Europe in the Springtime

Geneva, Switzerland May 2008

London, England May 2008

Yvoire, France April 2008

Cap d'Antibes, France April 2008

Barcelona, Spain April 2008

Lugano, Switzerland March 2008

Heaven is at 2002 meters

We just returned from a week's ski holiday at Les Gets in France with our friends, the Mxxxx's. With J having just figured out how to ski, we were hoping for a good week. We got an exceptionally great week!
Less than one month ago, J was still balking at snowplowing down the bunny runs. Yesterday I chased him down reds. (For you other North Americans, red runs are after the blues and before the blacks). Skiing as a family down long sugary runs in the mild air listening to J's whoops of joy was an incredible experience.

I remember a conversation with my best pal Sheila. While lamenting J's of enthusiasm for skiing, she said to me..."be patient, the day will come when you spend all your time skiing after him hollering to slow down and turn". I doubted ever seeing that day. Well, I did a whole lot of hollering yesterday.


J proudly earned his Flocon medal from the Ecole de Ski Francais and wore it like a hard-won badge of honour. Congratulations buddy, well-done!