One Year....

So today marks one year since I left the snowy, cold Albertan prairie to begin my adventure in Europe. And I couldn't be happier.

Nic and I woke up at 6:30 this morning (voluntarily!), meditated, and enjoyed a perfect, slow coffee morning. A trip along to the post office and then a laughter-filled phone call, some guitar and handstands rounded it all out. We enjoyed lunch with Libby at Chez Vero's, the only (but really good) resteraunt in Congenies. Then I napped off the 2 glasses of wine and my full belly outside in the sunshine, woken up by Nicole singing in the garden. Now I'm at the computer to do some work and later will work on some drawings...

Like I said, I couldn't be happier.

I'm in awe of my life right now and so grateful that I have had the opportunity to spend the past year travelling. Thanks Mom, Dad, and everyone who have offered their support and love. I'm sending warm sunshine thoughts across the ocean to you all.

big love
kyla

such a beautiful day

Again it's been a long time, so there is an awful lot to write about, so instead of trying to explain it all, here are a few photos.

Here's Nic and I on our bike ride home from the Sommiers market. It was a beautiful day and we stopped several times to do handstands and cartwheels on the voie vert and laugh like mad.




This is my favorite part of the markets - the spice stands.



Here's a photo from Berlin, where I spent the last 2 weeks. Flo, a beautiful man I met there, took me to an abandoned amusement park and this is one of several amazing images from that day.


Ok. So I realize that this update does nothing to explain my last month, but the overall sentiment is :

"life is amazing"
- Nicole from across the kitchen table

bonne fete

Hello!

Happy almost new years and belated xmas to everyone! Thanks for all the kind wishes from all who sent them along. Christmas in France was a bit bizarre, it being +20 outside and not being around the family, but we made the best of it anyhow. Nicole and I got to open 2 stockings each, care of some loving mothers back home, and we spent the day at our neighbours house.

There havn't been any new developments on the olive front, and I'm beginning to wonder if they will even be done before I leave! Aside from olive tending (which I don't do enough of), we have been having a lot of fun going on hikes, creating fantastic soups and pizzas, and meditating each morning. I've also been busy practicing hand stands, and making embarassing mistakes in french :

meant to say: I need to wash my hair
actually said: "I need to wash my ponies"

meant to say: Our house is a little messy right now
actually said: "Our house is a little satly right now"

There have also been a few mistakes that are a little less PG, the seemingly innocent words 'kiss' and 'excited' meaning far more than intended.

Tomorrow we're going to Uzes, a beautiful city about an hour from Congenies, to go skating and check out the sights. I hope everyone is well at home, sorry this post isn't terribly entertaining, I'm lacking inspiration. Hopefully the pictures make up for it!

Love!

Olive Update, Day 92305981

Dear Olive enthusiasts, and Kyla supporters

This whole olive thing is getting old. it's now day 92305981 and the olives are still really bitter and awful tasting. Even despite the hard work that madre is seen doing in the above photo!

So, Madre came and Madre went. She was here for the coldest week this year... it was freakishly cold. We even had frost one morning! When asked what to pack, I had given the wise advice of "hmm... maybe a pair of shorts". Mom now thinks that I am a liar. It warmed up exactly the moment that she caught her plane, and I reminisced fondly over the lovely week we had, but only after I changed into a pair of shorts.

Also my dear friend Nicole came to visit and is currently staying with me. We are having a lot of fun, but when asked exactly how we spend our time, or what is specifically so hilarious, we very rarely have an answer. We spend a lot of time singing songs, riding bikes, hosting imaginary cooking programs in our kitchen and persuing the perfect cup of french coffee (café créme? café alongé? avec lait sur la côté?).

December 1st in Congenies was a curious evening for the two of us. A nighttime bicycle tour revealed the newly hung Christmas decorations around town (5 strings of blue and yellow lights, and a 2008 lighted sign near the tabac, the 8 not yet lit!). The Christmas decorations were pleasant enough, and really no suprise, just a bit odd to see them without snow on the ground. The strange thing was our second discovery of the night...

A loud chirping from the bush in front of the parish fountain in the middle of the town. Loud. It could be heard all down the street. Granted, these are pretty quiet streets. It sounded like... a cricket?

We discussed the feasibility of a lonesome cricket lost in the middle of Congenies on December first. I brought up the (rather clever, no?) point that the cricket's chirping was a mating song, and we decided that certainly it's inappropriate for crickets to mate in December.

Going out last night on another nightime tour revealed the cricket to still be singing near the parish fountain. And we began to think... maybe this is some cruel French joke - to hang the Christmas lights and place a fake cricket chirping machine at the same time. This seemed like the most likely senario. But upon closer inspection the cricket (or cricket chirping machine with built in censor) stopped chirping as soon as we approached!

Any thoughts on this?
Dad, I'm counting on you here...

Olive update: Day 13

Here's a photo to show what's going on with my olives. On the left we have a not very happy looking olive. On the right, we have a pretty-happy looking olive. In the middle? The olive monster. I don't know why the unhappy olives are unhappy. I think they may have been exposed to air. I bit into the happy olive after taking this picture, to see what it tasted like. It was awful, and I had to rinse my mouth out after to get rid of the bitterness. Fingers crossed that things improve...

Olive Update: Day 11

Something stange is happening to the olives.

I think that they are mutating and are changing into a strange, pickled olive monster who will rise out of the brine one dark night...

Actually, there is a funny smell.

I got super sick with the flu this week and wasn't able to change the water for 3 days in a row. Perhaps this is the reason for the funny smell? Are my olives ruined? The smell... it smells like olives. So maybe it's okay. But it's strong. Hmmm...

Stay tuned for updates.

being there

hello hello

...it's been a long time and a lot has happened. To try and re-hash it all would be boring for everyone, so let's start fresh.

I'm in France, being the friend in resident at the Quaker Meeting house in Congenies. What's a quaker and why am I hanging out with them? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quakers There you go.
Right. So I'm living in this gorgeous tiny town in the south of France. I sunbathed yesterday and today. Full on sunbathed. It's November. I love this place.

In other (very important) news, I am making olives. On Sunday we picked the olives (there are 3 trees on the Maison's property), and put them in 2 separate piles: those olives that are bad (riddled with worms) and those that are not-so-bad (only half riddled with worms). We took the bad ones to an olive mill (moulin d'olive) today in exchange for a future 2 liters of olive oil. The not-so-bad ones... the "good" ones, we'll call them... I'm processing to turn into delicious green edible olives! This involves soaking them in water and changing the water every day for around 20 days. Heavy work, but hopefully worth it.

So here's some photos of the olives, they are so pretty that I had to post a few different pictures. Also, I'm posting a series of my "nightime" friends from here in Congenies.

Big Love everyone!