French déconfinement day 27

8,764 steps

We did crafts in the morning. We have piles of various craft kits left over from birthdays and Christmases. I'd like to use all the supplies up! I sewed four more face masks for kids' friends.

A storm two days ago washed all sorts of trash onto the beach. We spent the afternoon cleaning up, leaving the driftwood and removing plastic, metal, and anything else potentially harmful for walking on.

The kids built a raft and launched it. They were sad they couldn't find longer pieces of driftwood.

Dio has been complaining that everything is boring. "I don't want to go to the chateau" or "I don't want to go to the beach. It's so boring!" I rolled my eyes at him and said, "Dio, I'm going to repeat that back to you when we're back in Indiana with no beach, no mountains, no fun parks, and bad weather."

Eric and I happened upon a Black Lives Matter protest on our evening walk. So glad to see this movement all the way over here! (Well, glad to see people protesting--not glad that we need the protests in the first place.) The French national pastime is protesting so this is something everyone is used to and good at. "We are all united! We are all in this together! We are all human!"

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 26

10,607 steps

Music is playing outside at 10:30 pm. The bars are packed. I miss the quiet, empty streets.

The dead zone on my computer has nearly doubled in size. It's getting harder to work with such a small usable space left on my screen.

So...any recommendations for laptops? I've been using work-supplied HPs for the past 8 years. Really I have no idea what to look for.

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 25

I edited for hours and finished my vaginal breech simulation video. It came in at nearly 3 hours long! My students will get LOTS of practice by time they have finished it--which is exactly the point! It's currently uploading.

Pouring rain almost all day foiled my plans for a long run. Maybe tomorrow.

Zari had her first day of "real" school yesterday. She only had 5 students in her class! They had to wear masks all day and instead of switching classrooms, they stayed in the same room and the teachers moved around.

Starting next week Ivy gets to go to class every day (which in France is 4 days/week for elementary students). We are excited! She needs friends, she needs to speak more French, and Eric and I need some time to get our work done.

I broke my computer. I was adjusting the angle of the screen and I guess my thumb pressed too hard. Crack! At least 75% of it still works. I now need recommendations for a new laptop. (This is my university computer that I need to return when I get back to the States.)

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 24

7,069 steps

We spent the morning at the beaches past La Réserve restaurant, which we call Coco Beach. I'm not sure what the official name is. The kids played on the rocks, caught crabs, and explored the sea caves. Eric caught a cuttlefish. Dinner tomorrow! They watched several episodes of Absurd Planet and after dinner they played in the coulée verte while I went on a walk.

Tonight Ivy wrote in her journal, "Today was a boring day except going to Coco Beach and the coolé verte and watching Absurd Planet. Whatever." (her spelling)

May all my children's days be so boring.

Today's batch of sourdough turned out perfectly! The loaves did an overnight rise in the fridge and then sat at room temperature for 3 hours before baking. Mmmmm....

The large statue on the Place Masséna has acquired a mask that says "protégeons-nous" (let's protect each other).

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 23

5,466 steps

I filmed and edited most of the day. My kids would be proud of me--I used their fort-building skills to rig up a large backdrop exactly where I needed it. Ingredients:
~ projector screen
~ expandable painting stick
~ clothes pins
~ electrical wire
~ linen twine
~ sheet

The kids were fascinated with Sophie and Ivory. Inga practiced holding a newborn correctly. "It feels so real!"

Zari: "It's not an it. It's a she."

Restaurants and bars opened up all over France today. I was a bit shocked to see how crowded everything was.

Zari's art assignment today: create a piece that looks like "street art" with a white mask in the middle.

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 22

16,775 steps

School holiday! We did a short 5-mile hike to Mont Boron this morning. I like this hike because we can just walk out our front door. No driving required! We've done this one a few times but the kids still enjoyed it. Zari took pictures of flowers, mostly with magnifying glass pressed against the camera lens.

We rested for a few hours in the early afternoon, then went out for a swim. Eric took Dio and Inga on a long snorkel adventure to check out some caves in the rocks. Ivy jumped off rocks close to shore.

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 21

10,346 steps

The playgrounds have opened up again!

We went for a brief swim near the port while Eric went spearfishing. Well, I stayed on the rocks and supervised while the 3 youngest swam. Zari took pictures of the sunlight reflecting off the water.

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 20

9,668 steps

Eric had grand plans to go spearfishing early in the morning. But we had both slept poorly and chose to stay in bed and snooze a bit once the kids were up.

We went to the beach after lunch and ran into several sets of Ivy's friends--village life! One of them watched Ivy so she could play with her two boys (twins, one of whom is in Ivy's class). I took the other kids swimming in the Paillon for a quick half-hour. Then we gathered Ivy and ran into a few more of her classmates!

The best part of the day was when Eric came back from spearfishing. No fish...but he had a bike! It had just been thrown into the sea yesterday. Unfortunately the back of the frame and the real wheel were bent--likely from being thrown off of the 10m cliff. He'll see if he can straighten the frame and wheel out. However, it's not a very expensive bike and is not worth spending money on.

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 19

10,263 steps

I got out Ivory and Sophie today and did a series of breech simulation videos. I have someone coming next week to act as a "student." It's much better when I'm teaching a student, rather than me running back and forth between the pushing side and the catching side. But it still worked okay.

Ivy is off school Thursdays and Fridays, so we invited a few of her school friends over. Lots of happy shrieking coming from up in the attic while I was editing videos.

I baked sourdough loaves that had been proofing in the fridge for 48 hours. I pulled them out and let them rise for 6 hours, which ended up being too long. The dough flattened as soon as I put it onto the backing sheet. I've figured out most things with sourdough, but not the timing of when to bake. Nevertheless, the bread was delicious with a very strong sourdough flavor.

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 18

15,221 steps

I convinced Zari into coming along with me on my morning run. She rode her scooter and we chatted most of the time.

I did more filming and video editing. Zari was my assistant, holding the pelvis in place while I demonstrated maneuvers. I have one more thing to film: maneuvers on the Sophie and Her Mum simulators.

Zari, Ivy, and I went to the beach in the late afternoon, but lost our sun a half hour after we arrived. I brought the kids home as Eric was heading out for some spearfishing. He came back with a sar (sargo) and a chinchard (Mediterranean horse mackerel).

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 17

It's Wednesday, which means no school for elementary-aged kids. So everyone was home all day. By time mid-afternoon hit, we were all going a bit crazy from all the noise. Good, happy noise but still noise. Dio and Inga are the worst culprits.

I was tending sourdough bread, so I stayed behind while Eric brought the 3 youngest kids back to the Paillon. Today the channel was deeper and straighter until it hit the beach, where it did a hard right. I missed most of the fun but came for the last 20 minutes.

Zari and I went on a walk in the evening, because she had been inside all day. She is very concerned about the future of our planet--the environment in particular--and wants to find a job that will "save the world." She keeps lamenting how humans are so intelligent and ingenious, yet human nature also means that we end up destroying our own planet because we lack the political or social will for the actions that would keep our planet healthy and thriving.

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 16

8,344 steps

Dio's teacher was gone today, so he and Zari were home all day with me. I worked in the morning and took them out for some fun after lunch.

We "surfed" down the Paillon river where it empties into the ocean. There was a swift, narrow channel of cold water that swept us out to sea. The kids are so easily amused. Dio got really upset when we had to go home.

Eric went spearfishing in the morning and was so caught up in the amazing conditions that he was an hour late coming home. I was planning his funeral during that last hour...I like eating the fish but I hate the worry that spearfishing brings to me!

Eric took the 3 youngest kids for a second swim once school got out. Zari and I stayed home to prepare dinner.

Zari came to us at bedtime and said she was feeling stressed. She just heard that school is starting up again next week, and she's nervous. (Never mind that she has top grades in just about every class.) Eric had a good talk with her, while I sat on her other side in solidarity while also sending emails. Go multitasking.

France is doing well with its covid-19 numbers. We had 98 deaths today. Yesterday we had just 35 deaths and around 150 new cases, and 43 deaths 2 days ago. There's some variation from day to day, but wee're on a clear downward trajectory with both deaths and new infections. I wonder if it will change after a few more weeks of déconfinement?

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 15

13,601 steps

Another good work day for me: I jerry-rigged a way to suspend a cloth pelvis in the air, using a table I found at the garbage depot, some velcro, and thread. This served as a frame for filming breech maneuvers from both top & bottom perspectives of the pelvis.

I finished and uploaded one of the several videos that will come out of today's filming.

Zari went running by herself for the first time. Going on her own, wherever she wanted, was a bit intimidating at first. She's used to exercising in groups (soccer) or with us.

Eric has another book coming out this fall, a memoir about our first year here in France, when we had 4 kids ages 1-7 and were renovating our tiny apartment while living in it. The last few days have been devoted to figuring out the perfect subtitle. (Well, I'm sure he worked on other things, too! But he keeps reading me new ones.) Some are too long, some are too cheesy, some are too short, some are too vague, and some are too specific. Some he likes but his publisher doesn't.

Who knew subtitles were so important?

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 14

6,974 steps

I didn't get outside until the late afternoon, but I had a good excuse: I filmed another 2 breech workshop lectures. I have already edited both of them, having just finished the last one a minute ago.

Eric took the kids to the beach in the morning so I could film, and then we all went again in the afternoon. Why not?

The kids love to sun themselves on the embankment underneath the Promenade des Anglais.

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 13

9,728 steps

I finally made it to the post office! Our kids' visa renewals are now on the way to the préfecture.

After lunch we went grocery shopping and let the kids play in a nearby park. Zari took pictures of the wildlife--human and plant.

Eric took the kids to the beach while I was "babysitting" sourdough loaves. (The kids thought that expression was so funny.) Good-sized waves today.

Zari is reading Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks, a book about music-related neurological disorders and phenomena. She keeps telling me random anecdotes from the book: "Mama, here's a story of a person who thought their wife was a hat, but music helped him recognize everyday objects!" I read the book more than 10 years ago when it first came out. She thinks it's cool that I'm one of the rare people who has perfect pitch. I've always wondered what it would be like to have synesthesia.

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 12

9,474 steps

I've been trying to mail something this week and keep getting to the post office at the wrong time, or going to the wrong one, or showing up on a holiday. Maybe tomorrow I'll succeed...everything is hard to figure out with covid-19 changes.

We babysat one of Ivy's friends, a girl 2 years younger who was in her mixed-age class last year. She's one of my favorite children to have over. Our kids have a new little sister to play with who is super adorable, and it also forces them to speak in French all day.

And we had some other friends come over in the morning so I could show their mom how to make sourdough bread & feed the starter.







And we met up with 2 more of Ivy's friends at the beach, totally by accident. These fortunate accidents happen nearly every day in Old Nice.

When we arrived at the beach, the police were once again making their way down the shore, reminding everyone that it was a "plage dynamique." Some people got up and left. A few went in the water. Everyone else waited a few minutes and sat back down. The police were super nice--joking with Eric about how using a wetsuit was cheating, showing off their farmer's tans. Eric also got interviewed by a reporter for France 2 about his opinions on the beach rules.

When I was putting Ivy to bed, she asked if all of her friends could come over for a sleepover. I said no...but we did have fun figuring out where they all would sleep.

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 11

12,396 steps

I went for a run this morning; I needed the energy and endorphin boost after yesterday. I almost jumped in the sea at the end. It's getting hot!

I've been fretting about the future of Breech Without Borders. COVID-19 has made it clear that we can't rely solely on breech workshops to keep us running. If another wave hits, or if not enough people sign up, we are out of business. So it's time to start applying for grants.

Today I finished a long project of going through hundreds of private foundations that give grant money for medical education or maternal/child health. I've now read through all of the foundations' mission statements, endowment size and annual giving, exclusions and inclusions. And of course organized it all into a spreadsheet.

The next step is to select the first round of foundations to apply to, starting with ones that have a generous annual giving rate and that are a good match.

Today wasn't all work, though. We spent a few hours swimming and soaking up the sun.



A group of police were making their way down the beach when we arrived, reminding everyone that they were not allowed to sit--only walk or swim. Maybe 1 in 20 people actually followed those instructions once the police moved on. We all knew it was a lost cause, police included.

To our credit, we were mostly active: swimming, playing on the retaining wall, pounding bits of pottery into powder that the kids use as makeup, or stacking rocks and other found objects into patterns.





Eric went spearfishing and caught a sea bass (loup) which turned into sushi this evening. Yum.

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 10

10,718 steps

I was feeling despondent and unmotivated much of the day. I even curled up on the daybed and took a nap. So unlike me! I've been dealing with these feelings by reading.

I suppose reading is a fairly benign way of coping. Reading got me through those icky weeks of pregnancy nausea; I even immortalized coping-reading on Ivy's birth quilt.

We spent a few hours up at the chateau with several friends. Lots of Vitamin D therapy.

The kids started online piano lessons a few weeks ago with my mom. She's a Suzuki violin teacher but has also taken pedagogy classes for piano. She is thrilled that our children are finally learning music.

Music has been a huge part of my life since I was 5 years old. I was a violin performance major in college, until I realized that I wanted to study too many other things outside of music. And being a music major--the grades, the competition, the juried recitals--took the joy out of playing the violin. (Or maybe I was just afraid of not being the best and took the coward's way out...who knows!)

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 9

12,003 steps

I am getting a feel for sourdough. Today's loaves came out perfect. It's a bit less forgiving than my no-knead artisan bread. I have to form the loaves right when the dough is ready. But otherwise it's not much more difficult and it is so satisfying to make bread without commercial yeast.

Not much else to report from today. I need to find a way to get the kids outside after school and not push dinner and bedtime too late. We didn't bring the kids outside today and it was mayhem. They had too much energy! The only workable solution I could come up with is to make dinner before school gets out (depending on the child, it's between 4:30-4:45 pm).

Read more ...

French déconfinement day 8

17,406 steps

Running this morning, reading a book in the park after lunch, swimming after school, sunny weather...a perfect day. We all swam. I wasn't going to, but then the sea just looked too inviting. The water was cold, but more along the lines of "deliciously cold" than "numbingly cold."

And it was Eric's birthday! I have known him for half his life now. He celebrated by going spearfishing and catching a mulet, a saupe, and a cuttlefish. He also caught an octopus but let it go.

I got a break from making birthday cakes. Eric bought an opéra at Lac patisserie. Lots of happy sounds as we were eating it.

We are watching "A Series of Unfortunate Events" on Netflix. The kids look forward to it so much every day. At first I didn't like it as much as the original movie with Jim Carrey, but it's growing on me now. We don't watch TV very often, but it's been fun to have something to watch as a family.

The middle picture shows my final "film studio"--the one that actually works. It was worth the 40 Euros to buy the old-style projector screen. Now I can set up everything in just a few minutes without moving any furniture.

And after lots of editing and Adobe Premiere Pro magic, I'm able to create videos with me superimposed in front of my slides! I found a way to erase the background without a green screen. Opacity = divide + nest + color key = white.

Read more ...