Marc's Public Blog - Family

2015/12/28 Yearly Dutch Family Gathering

π 2015-12-28 01:01 in Family

Sadly, we missed the our yearly Dutch gathering the last 2 years. 2 years ago, I had to leave early for my yearly conference in Australia which had been moved to an unfortunate early date, and last year, we didn't make it there for a combination of other unfortunate reasons.

So it was great to finally make it there and see my Dutch family again, even if it was after a 3 year delay:

Dutch and French Furbies, love at first sight :)

The next day, we had a quick look at the local town and went to see Harold and Rési before driving home:

that is a hefty and happy chat :)

I didn't know they had mésanges all the way up in holland. They are beautiful birds, I wish we had them in California

It's kind of a habbit which I did learn in Holland as a kid, when I see chicken, the chicken get it. They don't like being picked up, but once you have them, they're usually pretty docile:

And it was time to drive back, so long Holland:

I didn't get to take the cat though :)

2015/12/25 Xmas with My Mom

π 2015-12-25 01:01 in Family

Last year, my mom was in pain before her hip surgery, so I only got to see her a short time. This year I went over to Xmas day, and stayed with her a few days, as went to Holland and back with her, before moving back to my dad's. Here are a few pictures from our Xmas lunch, thanks to much help from Diane and Patrick:

My mom now has a hard time getting around, so she depends on her walker and needs help from the motorized chair to get up and down. For now, she able to enjoy watching TV:

2015/12/23 Another Xmas with My Dad

π 2015-12-23 01:01 in Dining, Family, Ndining

This year, I arrived on Dec 23rd, without Jennifer who was resting at home after her ankle surgery (better recovery if she's not battling sleep deprivation due hard to beat jet lag, which would often give her a cold, and then even bacterial infection, making the trip not that fun and bad for surgery recovery). Thanks for a good enough night in the business united seat (a bit tight, but lay flat), I was not in too bad a shape when I arrived.
We went to have some couscous when I arrived:

Soon thereafter was Xmas Eve, and my brother and his family were invited, which gave my dad a chance to do a round of cooking for us:

On the 29th, we went out in Paris and had a good dinner at La Fermette Marboeuf and its very nice decors:

Soon later, for New Year's Eve, James and Lilian joined us, as well as Tata. Tata did her famous sweetbread

admiring wall art most of which were drawn by James

one of the many entrées

one of my dad's many nice plates :)

We had a british Xmas pudding in James' honor

On Jan 2nd, we went to see a musical "Irma La Douce", which was quite well acted with a few hints of today's changes into a story that's more than 50 years old:

On the way out, we had a nice dinner close to the theatre:

And just because we were a bit hungry still, on Jan 3rd, we went to Les Bouquinistes, they had a good tasting menu that was quite reasonably priced:

And after a day at Google on Jan 4th, which I also used to walk around Paris a bit while weather was good, it wsa time to go home and pack for reasonably early flight on the 5th. Great to see everyone again.