Clean-up

Lots of changes. People have been visiting and we're moving out on Sat for several weeks to Pully - a nearby village - to a quieter setting, house with yard, etc. So, meanwhile, here is an assortment of photos.

Michael's Christmas dress-up from EbayUK/Jack's pirate costume.

The Tree: the Lausanne Program's legacy on the southern wall in the student area. You can see Michael and Jack's handprints at the lower right of trunk.

These "Japonois" patisseries were amusing. All slanty-eyed and sinister looking (to me). Most are smiling, but some are missing a mouth altogether. Is that a French beret?

Note to Laurie Oban: that tearoom still serves the cream in a chocolate bucket, but it's heavy whipped, not liquid, cream now. Closer to Gruyeres cream or Devonshire, I think; not airy. When it melts in your coffee, the whole drink becomes rich, thick.

Went back to Strasbourg's beautiful cathedral with the in-laws. Note the circular star pattern above Mary - a not so subtle emblem of the European Union, which gifted the stained glass for the chancel. The political message stamps the icon in a secular reversal of "In God We Trust."

Posing for a humorous sketch. Michael really enjoys this kind of attention. The other day, at the altar during communion, he was prostate, looking blissfully pious at the railing. A real ham.
And Michael has been really drawing a LOT. He said that he wanted to make something you'd hang in a museum, ie BIG ART. His drawings have narratives now: a burning castle with a trapped mom needing rescue.

Swiss kindergarten has encouraged him to paint and make various crafts. They also get to a farm periodically and milk the cow. The other day, he came home, saying he had carved a pencil with a knife. Another time, he calmly replied, "I chopped wood."

Yes, with a small axe. Children still do this in Switzerland. In school.