No chemo this week. Only one more round to go. Decided not to go away for the weekend. (To be honest a couple of the places were disappointing and now I think the Ritz has spoiled me!)

Just enjoying being home and using my present from Erich.

Did I happen to mention how much I love my new ‘Magimix Cook Expert” ?

I have been trying new things almost everyday. I am particularly taken with the way it does soup almost automatically. So being the compulsively driven woman that I am, yesterday I decided to have a soup making afternoon. In my solidly packed freezer I have added:

• Cream of Celeriac (never used it before) and Spinach Soup
• Pear and Watercress Soup
• Butternut Squash Bisque
• Creamy Chestnut Soup with Pancetta and Sage
• Creamy Carrot with Spinach

Part of my taste success is that I use my own chicken bone broth as my stock. Yesterday I depleted my supply in the freezer so I went to Prahran market early this morning to buy 5kg of chicken bones. They are now in my gorgeous copper stock pot. I’ll cook the stock for 24+hours and it will be a very healthy and tasty base for my next batch of soups.

We had the chestnut soup last night. I had never made it before and it was amazing. Too expensive though as I had to buy frozen chestnuts and they weren’t cheap. Everyday Erich and I have a soup for lunch. Each recipe usually makes for 6 so we get 3 lunches out of each batch. The freezer at work also has lots of our soups in it. If there is a gold medal for healthy soup making I claim it.

I gave my Thermomix to Rebecca and PJ. So I expect there will be some yummy stuff coming out of that kitchen as well. I have to share a cute thing in French. The way you say ‘in law’ is ‘belle’ so daughter is fille so daughter in law is belle fille – which literally means beautiful daughter, Mere is mother , so mother in law is belle mere. So ma belle fille now is the proud owner of a Thermomix. So I asked my tutor how do I say my beautiful daughter in law? Not belle belle fille but ma merveilleuse belle fille – even if you don’t speak French it sounds great, n’est pas!

I bought 400 Soups a few years after Soup Bible and when I got it home I discovered it was the same content just repackaged.

Peter is selling up a storm. There isn’t a lot for sale on the market in Melbourne at the moment which is keeping prices up. Erich and I are both enjoying having him in the business. It gives me more peace of mind when there is a family member there when Erich and I are not.

Maddie is still coming in and doing some data entry stuff for us. She is enjoying her course and last weekend she did her first paid make-ups. She turned 19 earlier this month.

Our Paris photos arrived this week and we are thrilled with them. Now my dilemma is choosing and figuring out how and where I can make a small display.

Well the magical holiday is over and after some jetlag which seemed to last almost a week I am back in the swing of things. Last week I went for genetic testing. I won’t see any results until mid September. Actually it will be on the day of my last chemo. I am not overly excited with this testing as the thought of passing a yucky gene to one or both of my daughters is very upsetting.

I had my first chemo of round 5 on Friday and already some the skin irritations are starting on my arms. I am not as upset this time as they did improve enormously during the break and they didn’t really effect me in Paris. I am mindful that my oncologist said I would be able to make the trip and I would have hair. So I am grateful. Now I need a new target as my hair is falling out at a great rate. I am more upset about the side effect of neuropathy as the damaged nerve endings in my feet which gives numbness/pins and needle may never recover or take a long time to do so after the treatment finishes. They have reduced the drug that causes it so hopefully it won’t get any worse – it can effect fingers as well.

We are delighted that Liz has had such a good result re the girls and the possibilities/ for living in New York for a longer period. It is still sad for us as we probably won’t get to see the Buchanan/Joyce clan for quite a while. I am thinking of my special birthday bucket list next year and am thinking of a Singapore Paris New York jaunt end of Aug into Sept for Erich and me.

Kate was into thinking about painting this week and she managed to do in 10 minutes flat what I haven’t managed in 41 years. She not only worked out the name of the Dominican painter of the market and woman paintings (Plutarco Andujar), she talked via email with the owner of the gallery where Geoff and I bought them.

I think when things like this happen it is worth telling the story around it. It was probably around April, May 1974. I was pregnant with Liz and we were leaving the Dominican Republic. We had previously started the habit of buying a piece of art from where we had visited or lived. We never had much money so they were fairly modest pieces, originals but usually bought at a market or the like. We had been told of a gallery in the capital, Santo Domingo, which had an exhibition/sale of one  of the countries best artists. When we arrived the exhibition was outstanding and the gallery was filled with Americans who were apparently in the D.R. working for Gulf and Western (later we discovered it wasn’t the oil division it was film making – they were there making Godfather 2 but that’s another story).

I fell in love instantly with the market one but we couldn’t afford it so Geoff tried to move me to the woman which I hesitated about. One was better than none I was thinking. Then something amazing happened, a big yank behind me said “Ma’am make up your mind as we are buying all that are here!”. Something happened to Geoff, he said we are taking them both!! He wrote out a bouncing cheque to pay for the two. I am not sure how we covered it – probably he had saving stashed away, but there weren’t funds in the account to cover it as he wrote that cheque. The painting went back to Canada, PNG and then Melbourne. It was finally framed in Hampton Street in the 1980s. The woman came framed.

Two smiling Sydney-siders this week:

We had a sleep in and when we went down for breakfast the outdoor area was closed so we breakfasted indoors. Emanuela collected us mid morning and we set out to explores the tastes of the left bank. Traffic was already building as the road were all cut off across the river and so we had to walk across the bridge. The tasting tour was fun and we ended up near the gardens.

It was quite hot. We rented two sail boats. The boats all have flags of different countries. There was a good breeze so the girls had fun chasing their boats and untangling them from other countries’ boats. Charlotte was entangled with Great Britain for a while and Sarah had clashes with NZ, Australia and Canada.

It was a long hot walk home. Once we got back to the right bank we were shocked by the crowds. We had forgotten about the race!

The girls had their final swim at the Ritz. They played with their bears and then we went out for our last dinner together in this beautiful city.

It has been a wonderful time. I think the girls will be talking about it for a while to come.

We were up very early. Breakfast downstairs in the conservatory restaurant (very beautiful) and in the taxi by 7.55am to make our 8.00am appointment with Lindsey who is a professional photographer (originally from Denver married to a French chef). She was wonderful. We took shoots over 2 hours in several locations. Hopefully we will be all thrilled when we see them (maybe not for 4 weeks) as the weather was perfect, the locations were absolutely stunning and we were out early enough to have most places almost to ourselves. I thought this was one way of having a few good photos of our trip as I am not known for my photographic skills!

I am also glad I did this blog as the days are starting to merge into one another for us all. After the photo shoot we went back to the hotel and played around for a while before heading our for lunch. Then it was into the pool before Florant came to collect us at 3.00pm. He took us to many interesting shops on the left bank. The girls selected a few more clothes (most less than half price in summer sales). We visited the very beautiful Hermes Master shop which I had never been to before.It is built on the site of an old swimming pool complex. Absolutely stunning!

Today the step count was over 16,000! We had a small dinner in the room and the girls crashed.  Only one more day and only one activity organised – a tasting tour over lunch period, then if we can cope to Lux. gardens as we missed them during the week because of the rain. Tonight I said to them that I was pleased we had not killed each other yet – Sarah added that she has felt like it!! A mark of her maturity I think that she has held it together.

Hopefully the trip will be something the cousins remember favourably for a long time.

On a financial note to bring a smile. Yesterday we had some washing done and a couple of things just pressed. The cost of that was the same as the total bill for 3 nights at Hotel Quai Voltaire!! It is another universe here at the Ritz and I love it!

We were up early to breakfast around the corner. We then had our stuff packed so we could leave when we finished at Le Louvre. Stephanie came and collected us and we went across the river to Le Louvre. She was great with the girls again though we were really feeling all the walking on marble floors. I found my joints ached. We saw the highlights and the girls received little gifts from her so it was great. Then it was off to the Ritz.

Our room wasn’t ready but I didn’t complain as for some reason we were upgraded. It is hard to describe the luxury of the suite. It is amazing. There is a huge living room with a huge couch, several easy chairs, a desk and a bed for me. The girls are in a king sized room with their own separate toilet. There is a powder room off the foyer. We love it!!

I had no luck with the 2 shops off Place Vendome that I wanted to visit. I went to Charvet – an exclusive French shirt maker to find a tie for Erich but despite there being 100s to choose from I came away empty handed. The same happened at a designer dress shop where I have bought before – nothing in my size.

Late in the afternoon I had organised a private lesson in a home on how the French set their tables. We enjoyed it. The girls now know that they need to stand when I enter the room and that I should be the first served at the table (provided that there is not an older woman there). The woman who took the class is taking us on a gourmand walk on Sunday.

Tomorrow in the morning we have a professional photo shoot and in the afternoon we are being taken on a family shopping tour to kids shops. We were disappointed today as we walked to where the oldest toy shop in Paris was meant to be but apparently it closed a couple of years ago but it still in all the books on kids’ things in Paris.

The girls have been amazing. The occasional spat but all worked out fairly quickly. Charlotte seems really comfortable and can mostly say what she wants without hesitation. I have been amazed at how much they have played with the soft toys. They have made furniture, beds etc for them and play for ages with them. Only 2 days to go. I am going to sleep for a week when I get home!

Thursday morning was down time so we packed our boxes and went to the post office. We were actually under weight so no stress.

We were collected at 1.30pm and had a one hour drive to Giverny. It was very pleasant. The driver talked the whole way. Talk about information overload!! It was worth it. The gardens were beautiful and we really enjoyed it. Then we had the trip back with more information!! We are experts on nudes and which nudes sent you to gaol and which nudes were OK.

We had a bit of homesick wobbles but we managed to get over it and the day ended well with dinner at Le Voltaire – a swish restaurant just down the street from our hotel.

Our guide Stephanie collected us at the hotel and we walked the block to the Musée d’Orsay. She had a booklet for the girls with things to find, puzzles etc. The tour was very interesting and the girls enjoyed it. It last around two hours. Hard on the legs!

The previous night we had scouted out where the Jacadi store was, so we went straight there. Unfortunately there wasn’t much summer stuff to choose from but we did manage a couple of things each. When we came out of the shop it was raining which was a shock as the forecast was for sunny and hot. We were lucky and hailed a taxi and did a change of plans – instead of the gardens we went to Bon Marché – the up market department store on left bank. The girls had fun trying on lots of possibilities. They each managed a couple of outfits – it is Paris after all! We had lunch there as well.

We decided we each needed a box to send excess stuff home as I really wanted to stick with carry on only. So we went to post office to check it out. We bought our boxes and will mail them Thursday morning.

It was around 4pm so we thought we had time for the Batobus. It was very hot on board. The rain had been short but the day stayed very overcast and got hot. We hopped off at Notre Dame, did a detour over to the smaller island to buy Berthillion ice cream. I think because of the time there was no queue. We each had a double scoop which we ate as we strolled back towards home. Sarah decided we should eat at Cafe de Flore so that added a bit more walking. We were truly exhausted by the time we got back. It was a great day. Thursday is rest in the morning then off out of Paris to Monet’s garden in the afternoon.

We certainly enjoyed our last breakfast at Le Bristol. We took some photos around the hotel. It is very impressive with fresh flowers everywhere. In the courtyard it looked like they had set up a runway for a fashion show. We were lucky and caught Pharaoh having a rest. The girls were delighted to be able to pat him.

We took our time packing up and then it was time to leave. The staff once again fussed over the girls. We taxied over the rive to our next hotel on the left bank. Quite a contrast. A brisk Bonjour and we were handed the key. That’s it. The two girls managed to squeeze into the lift together with their bags and I had to make a separate trip. The three of us can manage to do it together when we don’t have bags. The girls like to settle in, get homes made for their rabbits etc.

We then headed back to right bank through Le Louvre. We went to the Palais Royale as there was a special shop I wanted to go to. The girls were only slightly interested and so onto the next stop with a lunch break on the way. I took them to my favourite shop with all the copper cooking stuff. I thought I would buy them a small piece each. The only thing Charlotte really liked was a very small copper frying pan but they were out of stock and Sarah didn’t really want anything. She declared herself as a baker!

We managed to get a jellybean game on the way home which they loved playing.

We had a nap during the afternoon as it all seemed to have caught up with us. 34 degrees also didn’t help. We all have aching feet/legs even though we have been doing only 10,000-12,000 steps a day which is normal for me.

For dinner we walked around to Les Deux Maggots and then found where the nearest Jacardi is even though it was closed. We will go there tomorrow. Our room is very noisy and there is only a fan. So “the poor hotel” is taking some getting used to. Charlotte likes it!

4 days already!

We had a great breakfast at the hotel. All very swish. The china they use for breakfast is just beautiful. The girls are fussed over everywhere they go in the hotel.

They wanted another swim so back to the pool for a quick dip. Then we set off along our famous street. There are so many stunning shops. I managed to buy two dresses at Marina Rinaldi – I bought the dress I wore to Liz’s wedding at this same shop. Next door was Ladurée so we had to stop for morning tea at such a famous macaroon institution. Then onto La Contrie. I had planned this as the extravagant treat. The girls got to design their own handbags. We chose a style which they can use now but will work as a small clutch when they are older. They chose the leather for outside and leather for inside, plus the stitching and hardware. They take 3 months.

On the way back we stopped at Bloch and there were some ballet flats on sale so they each chose a pair. I laughed when I discovered we came all the way to Paris to buy some Australian shoes!

In the afternoon we went by taxi to northern part of the city to the cooking school. The other kids were American. Although one dad was originally from Melbourne but now lives in Texas. The girls enjoyed it and we bought the red aprons as a souvenir.

We had a bit of a rest time then we went to a small restaurant just around the corner for dinner.

The girls are having fun and are both behaving really well. We are all exhausted at the end of each day.