A year ago yesterday...a year ago today / Il y a une année hier et il y a une année jour pour jour

A year ago yesterday we received your attribution, my Angel...

A year ago today we discovered your beautiful little face...

Il y a une année hier nous recevions ton attribution, mon Ange...

Il y a une année jour pour jour nous decouvrions ton ravissant petit visage...

Today it is August 1st...Aujourd'hui c'est le 1er août...#2

The Swiss National Day!
The Swiss Confederation was founded as a defensive alliance among three cantons: Uri, Schwytz and Unterwald against surrounding aggressors mainly the Habsbourgs Empire. A citizen of each of the canton swore on August 1st 1291 on the "Rütli" meadow: "We will be a one and only nation of brothers ...". This lead to the term confederation ("Eidgenossenschaft". Many other localities joined the original three and in 1648 the Declaration of Independence was pronounced. Switzerland becomes an independant Nation then in 1912 the Swiss Federation declares its neutrality. In 1815 Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva joins the Swiss Federation - Switzerland gets its final bounderies.
A few other interesting facts about Switzerland:
In 1848 The Swiss Federation changes from a Union of States to a Confederation. Its first Federal Constitution ("Bundesverfassung") is set up.
In 1864 The International Red Cross (ICRC) is founded by Henri Dunant.
In 1872 sets the beginning of the railway across the alps construction("Gotthardbahn").
In 1882 the opening of the "Gotthardbahn" after 10 years of hard labour.
In 1932 the Swiss physician Auguste Piccard sets record when he reaches a height of 16'940 meter with his balloon. This was the first ballon equipped with a preassure cabin.
On February 1st 1959 The canton Vaud (VD) was the first canton to give women the vote, followed on September 27 1959 by the canton Neuchâtel (NE) and on March 6, 1960 by canton Genève (GE).
In 1960 The son of Auguste Piccard, Jacques Piccard sets record when he dives at the amazing depth of 10'916 meters deep together with american Don Walsh in a Bathyscaphe (some sort of submarine) called "Trieste".
In 1963 the ICRC received the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1971 Swiss people vote for the women's suffrage.
In 1978 A few villages "leave" the state Bern and found a new Canton called "the Jura".
In October 1984 The combined federal assembly elected Elisabeth Kopp as the first woman as Bunderat (executive authority). Sadly, Ms. Kopp had to step back due to some possible illegal activities of her husband.
On April 30 1989 Appenzell Ausserrhoden (AR) was the last canton to give women the vote; Appenzell Innerrhoden (AI) had to be forced by the Swiss federal court ("Bundesgericht") to give women the vote (27-nov-1990).
In 1992 Swiss people vote against becoming a member of the EEA (european economic area) or "Espace Europeen Economique".
On July 31 1992 Claude Nicollier takes off on board of the space shuttle Atlantis and becomes the first Swiss in space.
In 1993 The combined federal assembly elected Ruth Dreifuss as the second woman as Bunderat (executive authority.Then in 1999 she became the first female president of the Bundesrat "Bundesratspräsident"). That same year the combined federal assembly ("Vereinigte Bundesversammlung") elected Ruth Metzler as the third woman as Bunderat. Ruth Metzler is only 34 years old!

On March 20 1999 Swiss Scientist, Bertrand Piccard (Grand son of Auguste Piccard and son of Jacques Piccard mentioned above) and british co-pilot Brian Jones have become the first balloonists to circumnavigate the globe with a non-stop, non-refuelled flight. It has taken the team 19 days, 21 hour and 55 minutes to travel the 46'759 km on board of Breitling-Orbiter 3. (I remember flying to Asia and the pilot waking us up to say to look out of the windows on the right wing of the airplane we could see a dot a few miles away and that wasthem! - brreee it gives me the goose bumps!)
In 1999 The Swiss people accept a new Federal Constitution on a referrendum.
In 2000 The Swiss people accept the bilateral contracts with the European Union.
On March 3rd 2002 Finally, Switzerland is to join the United Nations. Today, both the people and cantons have accepted the popular initiative on Swiss membership of the United Nations. 6 months later on September 10, 2002 Switzerland was declared a full member of the United Nations as recommended by UN's Security Council.
In 2003 the Alinghi Team lead by the Swiss Ernesto Bertarelli wins the 31st America's Cup in Auckland, New Zealand after a 5:0 victory over Team New Zealand. Team Alinghi makes history by bringing the America's Cup to Europe for the first time in 152 years. And I have a question...where do the Swiss learn to sail? On their lakes naturally the closest see is the Mediterannean sea.

So what do Swiss people do on Swiss National day? Well I don't want to sound too boring so I won't elaborate but a lot of them would have a few glasses of wine, they would light up bond fires and kids would walk around villages and town with lite up lanterns.

Today it is August 1st...Aujourd'hui c'est le 1er août...

And what does it mean???

Et cela veut dire quoi???





It means that it's been one year since the referral of our daughter! One year!!! I cannot believe we had to go through one year of paper work! We even thought at one point that we had lost her referral! Just the idea gives me the goose bumps and I get very emotional!

Cela veut dire que cela fait une année depuis que nous avons reçu l'attribution de notre fille! Une année!!! Je n'arrive pas à croire que nous avons passé un an dans la paperasse! A un moment nous avions même cru avoir perdu son attribution! Juste cette idée me donne la chaire de poule et je deviens très émue!

SEYCHELLES

Hier c'était UNE GRANDE JOURNEE pour nos amis Seychellois ils ont dû se présenter aux urnes!!! Yesterday was a BiG DAY for our Seychelles friends who had to "cast their ballot"!!!

Les résultats provisoires/ The provisional results:

James Michel (actual President) from the SPPF party: 30119 votes cela fait/therefore 53.83%

Wavel Ramkalawan from the SNP: 25628 votes cela fait/therefore 45.81%

Philippe Boulle independent : 200 votes cela fait/therefore 0.36%

I will write more about Seychelles on an other post. J'écrirai plus sur les Seychelles sur un autre "poste".

Thank you Sandra for keeping me up to date! ;-)

EARTH, FIRE AND WATER #2

I found and ordered "Earth" and "Fire". Dolly if you are interested I will gladely lend them to you. Otherwise you can find them on amazon or if you click on the above link.

Joyeux Anniversaire mon Coeur! Happy Birthday my Love! #2

Darling, last night we celebrated your birthday with a nice meal, then we had cake in your honour and champagne!
Mon Coeur, hier soir nous avons fêté ton anniversaire avec un bon repas, puis nous avons mangé un gateau et du champagne en ton honeur!







Only 13 days to go!
Plus que 13 jours!

Joyeux Anniversaire mon Coeur! Happy Birthday my Love!

Comme j'aurai voulu être auprès de toi aujourd'hui, mon Coeur, pour fêter tes 2 ans mais saches que tu es là dans nos pensées à chaques instants de la journée.

How I wanted to be with you, my Love, to celebrate your 2nd birthday. Know that you are in our thoughts every minutes of this special day.

Gefeliciteerd Zus!

Van harte gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag Lieve Tintje!

En ton honeur je te dédie toutes les citations de ton chéri "The Muscles of Brussels" aka Jean Claude Van Damme car je sais que tu l'aiiiiiiiimmmmmmmes!
Alles liefs, kusjes en Tot ziens

"Au début pour faire l'amour..., et je ne parle pas que de sexe..., il faut être physical, mais ensuite, il faut être plus mental,et après quand tu as un enfant, il faut être spiritual pour bien l'élever."
"Ce n'est pas moi qui parle..c'est nous qui parlons."
"Dans la vie, il faut partager. Au plus qu'on donne, au plus qu'on reçoit."
"Il faut se battre pour essayer de ne pas répéter nos erreurs, elles sont faciles à retenir mais on les répète toujours."
"Il ne faut pas avoir peur de la réussite. Si on devient riche, on peut devenir généreux et on peut aider beaucoup de gens."
"Il ne faut pas écouter les bruits du monde, mais le silence de l’âme."
"Il y a des gens qui n'ont pas réussi parce qu'ils ne sont pas aware, ils ne sont pas au courant, ils ne sont pas à l'attention de savoir qu'ils existent."
"J'adore le papier toilette, le Replicant il adore jouer avec le papier, parce que c'est doux."
"J'aime Forrest Gump. Parfois les personnes simples ont les bonnes réponses."
"Je crois au moment. S'il n'y a pas le moment, à ce moment-là, il faut arriver à ce moment-là, au moment qu'on veut"

"La création et l'amour sont les deux énergies de la vie. Rien d'autre ne tient la route face à la création et à l'amour."
"La drogue, c'est comme quand tu close your eyes et que tu traverses la rue. »
"Le grand combat, c'est contre soi-même. La victoire, c'est d'avoir compris ce que l'on veut... et d'y croire. »
"Le monde est composé de flèches et de molécules, et d'électricité, comme le Big-Bang tu vois, et tout ça ensemble, ça forme l'Univers."
"Le rêve, it's a feeling, c'est une sensation, une sensation réelle qui se produit si on veut".
"Le ridicule n'existe pas, on crée le ridicule."
"Les gens voient Van Damme en tant que monsieur muscles, tout ça, c'est super, le karate, les arts martiaux, mais y'a aussi une force intérieure, que j'ai acquise avec les années."
"Ma devise, c'est toujours : se recréer. Il faut se recréer... pour recréer... a better you. Et ça, c'est très dur ! Et, et, et, et... c'est très facile en même temps"
"Marcel Proust, oui. Un peu comme moi. Longtemps il s'est couché."
"Me montrer nu de dos ne me pose pas de problème mais, de face, c'est une autre histoire, je ne voudrais pas perdre tout mes fans."
"Mes autres prénoms sont Camille et François. J'aime bien Camille, non ? Ca fait old fashion , tu trouves pas ? Ca respire le meuble de Provence!"
"Moi, Adam et Eve, j'y crois plus tu vois, parce que je suis pas un idiot : la pomme, ça peut pas être mauvais, c'est plein de pectine..."
"Nous les humains, on a inventé le temps. Mais le temps n'existe pas, car il y a une matter, une puissance de compression, qui n'est pas la même pour chaque species on earth."
"Quand j'étais jeune, j'étais très con. Je suis resté très jeune."
"Quand je vois un enfant qui est moitié Belge, moitié Viêt-Kong, et qui est mon enfant, tu vois.., c'est.., c'est.., c'est mon Dieu quoi."
"Quand on croit à la perfection, on a fait la moitié du chemin."
"Quand tu joues au Go.. faut être aware. Si t'es pas aware, tes pierres sont mortes, et toi avec."
"Quand tu prends confiance en la confiance tu deviens confiant."
"Quand tu t’aimes bien, tu peux commencer à créer de bonnes choses dans la vie."
"Selon les statistiques, il y a une personne sur cinq qui est déséquilibrée. S'il y a 4 personnes autour de toi et qu'elles te semblent normales, c'est pas bon."
"Si tu es très près de Dieu, tu peux avoir une certaine communication. Je ne parle pas d'un téléphone : je parle d'une certaine spiritualité."
"Si tu téléphones à une voyante et qu'elle ne décroche pas avant que ça sonne, raccroche."
"T'as pas besoin d'un flash quand tu photographies un lapin qui a déjà les yeux rouges."
"Tu regardes à l'intérieur de toi et tu deviens aware of your own body!"
"Une noisette, j'la casse entre mes fesses tu vois..."
"Une seule langue, une seule monnaie et pas de religion, et on s’en portera tous mieux."
"Une vache, ça te bouffe trois hectares, moi, avec trois hectares, je te fais deux mille kilos de riz.. avec trois hectares, je te nourris Avignon, tu vois..."
"Y'a pas de religions mon frère. On est aware."
"Si tu travailles avec un marteau-piqueur pendant un tremblement de terre, désynchronise-toi, sinon tu travailles pour rien."

BTW C'EST LAQUELLE TA PREFEREE???

YABADABADOO!!!

ON A RECU L'AUTORISATION DE SEJOUR!!!
WE RECEIVED THE PAPER TODAY!!!

PAPER HAS NOT ARRIVED! LE PAPIER N'EST PAS ARRIVE

@#*ç%&/¢¦+

But our credit card bill did! :-(((((((((((((((((((
Par contre notre relevé des cartes bleues si! :-((((((((((((((((((((

Cross fingers, prayers...Croisons les doigts, prions...

On attend (depuis 7 semaines presque) le dernier papier du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères. On a besoin de ce fichu papier pour le visa de notre fille. Croisons les doigts, prions que le facteur nous amène cette enveloppe magique et pas de factures aujourd'hui!

We are waiting (since nearly 7 weeks) the last paper we need from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We need this stupid piece of paper for the visa of our daughter...let's keep our fingers crossed, pray, whatever works that the mail man will bring us today this magic envelop and not more bills!

WE'VE BOOKED OUR TICKETS / ON A RESERVE NOS BILLETS!

Departing August 9 returning on my birthday, August 16.

I am so happy! Finally AT LAST!!! It would have taken 1 year and 10 days to hold our angel in our arms!

I guess we will be able to say it has been a long and difficult labour!

Départ le 9 août retour le jour de mon anniversaire, le 16.

Chui si heureuse!!! Enfin!!! Cela aura pris 1 and et 10 jours pour tenir notre ange dans nos bras!

Je crois qu'on peux dire que cela aurait été un long et pénible accouchement!!!

Patience is a Virtue?! La Patience est une Vertue?

Yeah sure! Ouais c'est c'la!

Anyhow, it's bloody 2 o'clock in the freaking morning and I cannot sleep! It's soooooooo hot...too hot!!! I've checked it is 28.9 degrees in our bed room. We have a cool old fashioned Indian Fan ...it does make a little difference! But I guess we will need to get used to it, it's so much hotter in India!
Also I am starting with a sore throat! @*#%&!!!

Bon, il est 2 heures du mat et je n'arrive pas à dormir! Il fait si chaud...trop chaud!!! J'ai regardé...28.9 degré dans notre chambre à couché. On a un ancien ventilateur Indien. Il a vraiment de l'allure. Ca donne de l'air. Bon je me dis qu'on devrait s'habituer car on aura encore plus chaud en Inde!
Aussi je commence avec un mal de gorge! @*#%&!!!

Bellini's

The Bellini was first invented in 1948 at Harry's Bar in Venice Italy. Giuseppe Cipriani was the head bartender at the time and he loved Italian White Peaches. He worked long and hard trying to develop a perfect cocktail which would use them as a base, then he tried the simple combination of pureed white peaches and prosecco. He knew it was IT!

I personnally think that one should NOT use French Champagne when making Bellini's as it's too rich of flavor and usually it is not a good match for such a fruity cocktail. A light, fruity, Italian style sparkling wine is the perfect accompanyment to the peach puree. A good Asti Spumanti would be perfect!

A true Bellini is a refreshing drink. Don't confuse it with a Mimosa. It has nothing to do with it as people use orange juice and often juice from a carton which isn't all that great to start with.

I've search in my cook books, on the net for Bellini's recipes and I could not really find THE recipe so I decided to try it myself...I just put some beautiful peeled, ripe white peaches in the blender. I did not add anything. I just pureed it to a very thin consistency.

Measurments should be:
1 ounce white peach puree
5 ounces chilled champagne




The Harry's Bar Bellini

EARTH, FIRE AND WATER

EARTH
FIRE

WATER

So what are they? 3 of the 4 elements? Where is air? Well that is a very good question...but I am not really talking about the elements as such...I am talking about Deepa Mehta's films. I heard they are the most beautiful films ever...so I went a did a little research...

So who is Deepa Mehta?
It appears, she has become the voice of a new India, but India has a difficult time accepting what she has to say. Due to her bi-cultural roots (she was born in Amritsar in 1950 and moved to Canada in the early seventies) she has become one of India's most controversial and taboo-breaking filmakers. It is said that women salute her and that men often dispise her. It is reported that a man shouted "I am going to shoot you, Madam" in 1996 after the première screening of the movie "Fire" the first movie to explore female homosexuality in modern/contemporary India.

In 1998 Earth came out. Ms. Mehta showed religious intolerance and violence that erupted among Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus during the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. The movie was better accepted by the Indian community, in large part because it was set in the past and because it investigated the effects of colonialism.

Fire is a tale of two vital, beautiful women breaking their cultural obstacles and being reborn through the passion they express for each other. Their relationship is forbidden, but it is by giving into. It is supposed to show the struggle between tradition and new ideas.

But Water, the final film in Ms Mehta's trilogy on the elements, sparked controversy even before filming started. The shooting was supposed to take place in the holy city of Varanasi in 2000, because the "widow houses" still exist there but violence from local political parties and Hindu extremists forced Ms Mehta to retreat. Shooting resumed only years later in Sri Lanka. Even there, the movie had to be shot under a false working title. The story is told through the eyes of a six (6!!!) year old widow. It tells the story of Indian women who are labeled as worthless because their husbands have disappeared. Forced to live in a house of confinement, they often turn to prostitution to survive.

It appears that in Earth, Ms Mehta's explored the taboo of religious extremism, in Fire, she explored the taboo of female homosexuality then in Water attacks the taboo of social humiliation of women.

Does that mean that Ms Mehta’s movies will make a difference in todays society?

In the meantime I would love watching these films...Mim, thank you so much for telling me all about them. I got so curious that I decided to conduct this "little research project" and post it on my blog.

Have any of you seen any of them? If so I would love to hear your comments about them.

I am trying to find a DVD of the first two and cannot wait for Water to come out on the big screen here in Luxembourg!

Pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas...for the ones who don't know

Below pictures of the village we live in.
Ci-dessous, des photos du village où l'on habite

One Big, Happy Family

One of my fellow blogger has question our ability to "parent" both our little girl and Pashmina...

Here is an interesting article on how we can help our four legged fur face babies accept the new addition to the familly.

http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?

The article is by FRAN EISENMAN and appeared in www.adoptivefamillies.com

Interestingly enough we followed her recommendations instinctively.

We have also sent our little Princess photographs of us all including Pashmina, our house, her room, her bed, my car, an airplane (inside and out). Apparently she seems to be very interested looking at the pictures but she keeps on looking at Pashmina and saying: "NAI" which means dog in Tamil.

Mdr / LoL!!!

Today I nearly had a car accident listening to the "coup de boule" song that was playing on the radio...

Aujourd'hui j'ai presque eu un accident lorsque la chanson "coup de boule" passait sur la radio luxembourgeoise...j'était MDR

Mais commençons par le début: le 7 juillet, Cauet présentait cette chanson au publique...



Depuis...je crois que le GRAND TUBE de l'été va être:

Thank you Dolly for giving me this wonderful receipe! Merci Dolly de m'avoir donné cette délicieuse recette!

Haartelijk Dank lieve Dolly! Het was echt heel lekker! :-))))

Mon test de la saison...this season's test

Mes tomates...j'en planterai plus l'année prochaine! Elles sont si délicieuses!

My tomatoes...I will grow more of them next year! They are soo good!