Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The final touches on Betty

Tuesday, September 7th

Yesterday was a quiet day. Christophe ordered the pump for Betty and it wouldn’t arrive until today at 2pm. That wasn’t a bad thing as Christophe was taking care of Sasha today as usually Virginie’s parents took her on Mondays but they were away on vacation. I did some administrative type activities from blogging to washing some clothes. I helped Christophe with the moving some furniture (trying to pay back a little bit) and we had a nice dinner and early night.

Christophe feeding little Sasha:

Cute Sasha:

Where are my grapes?

We fetched the pump at 2pm and installed it (well, really Christophe put it in). Betty awoke right away. Having some juice flow into the engine was all she wanted. I think our patient’s going to make it! I took her for a spin around the neighbourhood and she ran great. I wasn’t being followed by a blue smoke ghost anymore! Philippe, the next door mechanic, was back from a car rally and he admired our work (well, really it was mostly Christophe’s). It looks like I have a working campervan again...just one more test, the highway...but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

The neighbor, Philippe's rally car:

Sasha and yours truly:

Little Sasha has changed since I’ve been here. When I first arrived she was walking, but seemed more happy to hold on to mom or dad’s hand or even furniture instead of going it alone. Now she was stumbling I mean walking around all on her own. Her parents have been trying to get her to say “Dave” too...and today, finally...she said it. Well technically it was “Day”...but I’ll take it. What a gorgeous little girl.

Little Sasha walking:

Virginie returned home from work in combat fatigues. She was required to fire a gun at a range as part of her enlistment rating. She did quite well, 18 out of 20. Tomorrow, early, she has to swim 100 meters and a few days later, a run. The French military don’t mess around....

Me with my new friends:

Ninie and Sasha...just after bath time:


That evening, after yet another nice dinner, Virginie, Christophe and I played a game of Yam, a close cousin of Yahtzee. After Christophe did a brief reconnaissance for their dice, I offered up the Garth specials...the inch high cardboard set of dice that Garth made for me in Slovenia (accompanied with the rolling tool of my colander of course). We had a rousing game but yours truly prevailed in the end...getting not one but two yams (I have to admit it’s more rewarding to yell out “Yahtzee” than “Yam” when you get five of a kind). Being a school night (“weekday”) for Virginie, I was surprised that she suggested a second game at 11:20 but Christophe convinced her we should all hit the sack...good call.
Hot Yam (Yahtzee) Action:

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