It's Me, Sara Louise

++ It looks like those pesky April showers have given way to May flowers. After a month of mostly rainy days the weekend is forecast for sunny skies and 21°C/ 70°F (after we get past the 60% chance of rain today). It’s perfectly delightful weather for barbecues and rugby which is fantastic because that’s what we’re doing this weekend. (Total shocker, right?!)

++ For May Day (Labor Day/ La Fête du Travail) my neighbor presented me with a potted lily-of-the-valley (the traditional May Day flower). It’s decorating my windowsill next  to the tiny rose bush she gave me a month ago. Since moving to France I’ve been very lucky in the neighbor department and that’s something to be grateful for. There is nothing as horrible as having nasty neighbors.

++ Fifty has a bad case of doggie insomnia lately. The past two nights he’s been awake pacing about and sticking his nose in my face while I’m sleeping. He’s like, “Mom, whatya doing?” Waking up in the middle of the night with a dog face staring at you from six inches away is quite startling. Now, none of us are sleeping. I’m thinking of shooting him with a tranquilizer dart (I’m just kidding, I don’t have any tranquilizer darts…. note to self… find and order tranquilizer darts).

++ In thirteen days I’ll be hopping a flight from Marseille to Dublin. Yippee-ki-yay! I know I was there in February but that was such a wham bam thank you ma’am kind of trip, that it barely counts. This time, we’re going for a week and I have so much planned that I know it’s going to pass by in the blink of an eye but that’s fine, because it will be an awesome blink.

++ Two days after we get back from Dublin, we’ll be going to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer for the pilgrimage honoring Saint Sara, a.k.a. the Gypsy’s pilgrimage. There are no words to describe how excited I am about this, it’s like jumping up and down, piddling excited. I’ve been waiting for this for ages and now it’s only three weeks away! I’m practically verklempt.

++ Last night I finished reading Fall of Giants. It’s one of those times when finishing the book leaves you sad and a tad depressed. The next book in the series is out but I don’t want to read it yet because the third and final book in the series isn’t being released until sometime in 2014 and waiting a year between the second and third books sounds like torture. So in the meantime, I’m taking suggestions… feel free to leave one down there below in the section marked comments. S’il te plaît et merci.