The Winter in France

The green and the blue sky, originally uploaded by L'Aubergine Grillée.

We have decided to come to France for a long holiday from Winter to Spring. I am not sure why I choose to come and stay for long in these snowy and cold season in Europe. Of all the beautiful seasons of Spring, Summer and Autumn in France, I chosed to freezed my butts off over here.

This is the slowest period I feel of all the other seasons. I needed a break from overhectic season in Singapore. It is the city which never sleeps, even coming in to holiday season in this economy crisis they are still busy shopping for everybody. The heat of the sun of the day has forced me to keep on running to meet a deadline.

Don't get me wrong, we love the sun. It's a source of the energy but we needed some moment to reflect. I see winter as the season to slow down and reflect what I've been doing, I'd like to restore my energy for the coming few months.

I like the tingle sensation of coldness into my skin when the cold breezes blows me. I like observing how the day light passes quickly and the dark night is appearing faster. It is telling me the time to get ready for Noelia to prepare her dinner and bedtime story. The cold weekend just right for baking and sleeping on the couch listening Noelia singing strange song. The afternoon for hot ginger tea and a piece of chocolate. It's quiet evening to read and teaching Noelia another song...

Every morning I have 4 pieces of tartine marmalade after my morning duties with Noelia. In this slow winter, the morning activities could be a real hectic if I do not organise it really well. Since a couple of days ago, she starts the day a couple of hours later than she was in Singapore. I have to wake her up at 8 am by opening up the big shutter which darkened the room all day. Every evening we close the shutter of the big sliding windows to prevent the cold outside creeping inside the room even with the window closed.

We are so lucky, Noelia's body has a good system to defend the cold. Thanks God, she hasn't feel sick although the viruses from children have been all around her. Maybe I give her enough vitamin C from Kiwi and Orange Juice every morning and Iron on her green legumes. After breakfast, we are out for a walk about 1 hour in the cold winter. Yes, it's a little bit troublesome to put on layers of winter clothes and take them off again when we got home. But life goes on even in this period.