Tintin party

The timing couldn't have been better, as Michael's class party came on the heels of Spielberg's treatment of:

Carolyn hung Tintin banners and designs throughout,

placing "Milou (Snowy) has been kidnapped" signs in key spots:

The children came in costume - Capt Haddock a clear favorite

but the standouts were pirate ghost, Red Rackham,

and opera diva, Bianca Castafiore.
The Thompson twins

Carolyn made lanyards for each character, dividing the children into teams

for Tintin quiz competitions

Then on with the games!

What we learned: these kids are 5 years older than the last time we did this and much more rambunctious! We settled into brownies, newly popular here, but hard to find one that passes American muster (figurines from Happy Meals)

and tangerines (clementines from Spain and Israel are to die for).

Not sure what Pierre was

Present opening

followed by more outdoor play and the whirlwind ended

and Michael a neuf ans and Milou was found.

ERS at 97!

With Pepperdine on break and Swiss schools ending at noon, we drove up the mountain to wish Mrs S "Happy Birthday!"

Sometimes I think she'll outlive me.

We gave a wonderfully read audiobook of Elizabeth Enright's children's classic, "The Four Story Mistake"

and multicolored roses arranged in a vase I gave the Schaeffers almost 30 years ago; filling this low-ceiling chalet with their fragrance.

Served up local patisseries - a local bakery does exceptional work - on one of Mrs S's hammered aluminum platters,

then lit up sparklers spelling 97.

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Jack's second patisserie was "mille feuille" ("thousand layers") - a puff pastry with French origins dating 400 years. Bakeries here serve a pink or white icing with custard layered between pastry dough.

As with cream puffs, when they're fresh, the dryness of the thin pastry balances the custard filling for a crisp contrast. Italians call it a Napoleon; a baklava with custard, maybe. I asked Jack, tasting his first mille-feuille, "What do you think?" Reply: "It's awesome, Daddy."

The chalet is crammed with the material traces of a rich past, objects that are lovingly used, granting a sense of celebration to everyday events: tea with English bone china, garden flowers on the table. As busy as L'Abri was in those days, it wasn't the drinking coffee on the run culture of Starbucks.

My own family had nice dishes that were used on New Years Day, then stored the rest of the year. I & others learned from ERS the utility of beauty - its "use value," as Marxists say - recovering not only theological purity, but an eye and ear for, lack of a better term, aesthetics.

The beauty of holiness, a love of the Law, a poetics of truth, an historical faith; the relationship between content and delight.

These aspirations for a full-orbed approach were an ERS hallmark, as she tirelessly strove for art in everyday life, the vitality of prayer, musical imagination, appreciation of craftsmanship, children's literature, & breaking bread as the workshop for human belonging - all with an incredible taste for flair & style. A Christian Chanel.

Many of us now self-consciously reach for what she evinced, naturally, reminding me of her often spoken wish, "I pray my children will not be veneer, but solid oak, maple, cherry."

Fall

Fall continues to amaze with its string of unusually warm days.

Michael's love of singing seems to function like an IPOD device - an inbuilt audio world that enhances his experience as he tunes out his surroundings.

The Chapmans landed in easy weather for touring,

including a climb to the top of the Lausanne Cathedral tower.

and Marta's hot chocolate at Le Barbare, a medal-winning recipe in Switzerland.

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A Playmobil exhibition opened in town

but the highlight may have been seeing Tintin, enjoying the local fanfare around the comic book character, as well as pouring over the complete collection in Pepperdine's library.

We took a group of students - raffle drawing winners - after a quick raclette dinner (melted raclette cheese poured over potatoes) in our apartment; connecting two tables into an L, as in old L'Abri days...

Andrew posed

and, like most of the students, had never heard of the Belgian hero before, but could easily see the Indiana Jones inspiration.

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The swans of Lake Geneva

to the dungeons

of Chateau Chillon -

it's nice when the weather cooperates.

Beyond all the region offers,

was the ultimate fun of putting on a show

in the downstairs music room, where stars were born.