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[Jamie]

@SMR

I was someone who never ever felt "at home" or liked I belonged, so I left the States as soon as possible, though too fast and unprepared really. My husband is someone who never felt a part of where he came from either, mostly his family and spent his youth and young adulthood breaking the vicious cycle of not-overl-educated and low-expectations. He also lived in Marocco for 2 years as part of his military service and had traveled quite a bit after college. So in meeting each other we found our true restless-soul-mate.

When we had the chance to move to Italy (and hubby tho an expat worked in an Italian publishing House, not a French subsidiary), we put our older son, then 3 1/2 in the French pre-school. After a year and a half, we realized that it was if he had never left France. And we looked around and saw all the expat French huddled together in a closed group, ditto for the Brits and ditto for the Americans. We said to ourselves "Why decide to live in another country if you don't assimilate, speak the language, send the kids to their public schools, live with the people?) We did and our kids did and we got so much out of it. Our kids - also being half French and half-American - now have an ease and an understanding of what makes the world tick, the differences and similarities between people in different countries/cultures, and can get along fine anywhere. Son #2 wants to go to Japan for a couple of weeks to discover it. Talks about Norway as well. Bully for him, I say!

I did go to my 30th high school reunion and I felt every second how different, more aware, more "cultured" than the rest. They felt it too. But I loved it, cause I was such a nerd in high school....

[Jamie]

Yes, Brit, that is exactly what I meant!

[Jamie]

@ira2 -

I left you a note on the Recipe forum thread, basically saying that I am working on the rabbit/yellow pepper conundrum and I am looking for a small cookbook we got in Italy with only Rabbit recipes. I had forgotten all about it!

[SMR]

Jamie --

Know just how you feel.  Our toddler was Scottish (down to the accent) from birth.  The little village playgroup, nursery, etc., and even though our tuition at the international school was paid for by the company and the staff had known her since day one we never intended for her to go there...

I am too wonky right now to do your post justice, so will try to catch up with you on the flip side after I've had some sleep.  So tired I'm feeling ill...

Night everyone!

[A Brit Abroad]

Sleep tight SMR!!!

[Jamie]

Sweet dreams SMR!

[ira2]

Jamie - that's the first one then... happy reading.

Ira - I love the fire truck!! And the dog! What are the trees in the background?

Yeah, the truck is great. It's pretty much all original stuff, too! The dog, well... you gotta love them to love them, I think. LOL! The trees are mixed... on the left, the thick bunch of them (along the ditch), are willows, hazels, a few pines, with an elm in the foreground. The one almost in the middle of the picture is a crabapple. The one next to the wood fence/doggie yard is a maple.

Along my ditch, among the trees, I've got wild roses and raspberries galore, and a small patch of showy lady's slipper. This is Minnesota... what you don't mow down or kill off diligently grows like there's no tomorrow. I appreciate that a lot, but it's hell to keep up with when you're sick off and on and your lawnmower doesn't work on and off! To illustrate, I have raspberries growing in my garage and the workshop  No water ever, barely enough light to sustain a hibernating fly, but there they grow.

[ira2]

Night, SMR 

[Jamie]

Can't find my rabbit cookbook  must be in the basement.

Gonna do some gym, I keep running over to check mudflats in between sets (every 10 minutes)...

[Jamie]

@ira2 - I would love to have raspberries growing in my garage! I bet your place is gorgeous! What do you do in your workshop? I went to your website just once quickly  and thought that you were a photographer....

[Jamie]

Brit - did you see the photos of my big messy appartment? Since then we have moved everything around and I recovered our two armchairs in gorgeous saffran and polka dotted fabric that is really cool. But was just wondering if the links worked

[A Brit Abroad]

Hiya Jamie, yes they worked - just writing an email to you!!! (Not doing too well at multitasking at the moment - need more caffeine).

Ira - that was it - crabapple! Minnesota sounds like somewhere I'd like, I think - I've thought that for years - and some time I'll do something about it. I'm a bit more inclined to visit the US now than I was three months ago, for some reason.

Argh, must go - just had work fall into my inbox with that annoying plingy sound. I shall dream of raspberries in garages as I type... you may have to wait a bit longer for that email Jamie...

[ira2]

@ira2 - I would love to have raspberries growing in my garage! I bet your place is gorgeous! What do you do in your workshop? I went to your website just once quickly  and thought that you were a photographer....

Hm. I guess it IS kinda gorgeous. I just don't see it, usually, because I don't like living here (in Minnesota). It's definitely paradise when it comes to growing things though. Got two apple trees, one of which needs propping up to keep from breaking under the fruit load... a row of wild plum trees and wild black cherries along my south ditch... wild raspberries and wild roses anywhere and everywhere, and black currants trying to rival them... hazels and highbush cranberry and elderberry... wildflowers so thick that you can pick and pick and never make a dent... delphinium and hollyhock up to the eaves in my flowerbed... I keep saying that you can spit on the ground here and something will grow! The variety and number of birds is plain stunning, as are the butterflies and other insects. I got deer in my backyard, and squirrels and chipmunks and groundhogs... there are black bears and wolves and coyotes around... it's somewhat overwhelming 

Workshop = woodworking. And I'm getting into small engine repair by necessity, it seems. Humph.
I would like to be a photographer, but it's really just a hobby until I make money with it, right? LOL!
As for other hobbies, I also design and make quilt tops, and if I ever get my stuff set up (lacking furniture and all for now), I'll get into stained glass. And I paint and write and draw and cross-stitch and make whatever else I want to have and can't afford to buy. Much talent, no particular skills, definitely no title or degree in anything.

If you look at the blog roll on my blog, you'll see a link to Phantom Art and Glass. That's my friend from AZ who got me hooked on stained glass. She's an absolute marvel... she gave me a crash course and I've been itching to get into it ever since.

Rambling again... hehehe. That's my specialty.

[ira2]

Hiya Jamie, yes they worked - just writing an email to you!!! (Not doing too well at multitasking at the moment - need more caffeine).

Ira - that was it - crabapple! Minnesota sounds like somewhere I'd like, I think - I've thought that for years - and some time I'll do something about it. I'm a bit more inclined to visit the US now than I was three months ago, for some reason.

Argh, must go - just had work fall into my inbox with that annoying plingy sound. I shall dream of raspberries in garages as I type... you may have to wait a bit longer for that email Jamie...

*Grin*... if you think you might like Minnesota, don't listen to me or I'm likely to kill that thought! Our other Minnesotans here should be more favorably disposed to the state than I am.

[A Brit Abroad]

Awwww... actually, it's the thought of all the vegetation rather than anything else, I don't really know why. I always thought it was somewhere I could just go and sit in a field and look at the sky!

I'm under the impression that Minnesotans are rather Scandinavian-like in their manner, but I don't know why... I think it's because many people I know in central Sweden have relatives in Minnesota (but they all wish the relatives lived in Miami instead!).

[Jamie]

I am back having finished my gym, kicked Simon off the computer (he's home from school on a 2 hour break) and grabbed my morning yogurt.

ira2 - I will go check out your site fully today as well as that of your sister. I am curious how you ended up in MN if you don't really like it. Or maybe you are like us just never satisfied.

[Jamie]

New Celebratory Night Kitchen is open on another thread. Come join us in drinking a toast!

[ira2]

Awwww... actually, it's the thought of all the vegetation rather than anything else, I don't really know why. I always thought it was somewhere I could just go and sit in a field and look at the sky!

I'm under the impression that Minnesotans are rather Scandinavian-like in their manner, but I don't know why... I think it's because many people I know in central Sweden have relatives in Minnesota (but they all wish the relatives lived in Miami instead!).

Got you vegetation:



...and a view of the sky (dragon cloud!):



And yes, Minnesotans are rather Scandinavian in manner. There's lots of Swedish and Finnish blood here, and quite a bit of German too. Maybe that's one reason why I don't like it... it's too much like Germany, but with a serious Appalachia influence if that makes sense. At least right here that's how it is.

[ira2]

I am back having finished my gym, kicked Simon off the computer (he's home from school on a 2 hour break) and grabbed my morning yogurt.

ira2 - I will go check out your site fully today as well as that of your sister. I am curious how you ended up in MN if you don't really like it. Or maybe you are like us just never satisfied.

Most carefully researched flop decision ever, that's how I ended up here 
When I couldn't afford to stay where I was living in AZ, I went online and looked at the whole country to see where to go... landscape, climate, safety, health care, property affordability and low property taxes, etc. Northern Minnesota won out, so I moved here. It's still the best bet for my needs and abilities, I just happen to dislike it.

-- Poor Simon! Good yogurt though, yes? 

[Deuce2 AL Renegade]

Mornin' Brit & Jamie,   We're going to have to stop meeting like this,
people might begin to talk, know what I mean? According to my info
team, it's 0 ^o in Wasilla and it's 23 ^o here in Bama.
How are the both of you this mornin'?