4 January

Gee what a struggle to get to the computer!  Even harder with it heating up. Where was I?

Before resuming on my heavenly way to reenergise after partying  from one year to the next, here is a photo of a yoghurt aisle in a supermarket. Please note, on your left, yoghurts. And on your right, MORE yoghurts!

Anyway, I think I did promise some pictures of the pic nic spot. Imagine driving down a cliff of vegetation into an "alcove", a flat portion of land covered with green grass and alleys of coconut trees. Before you drove down it was hot and sticky and all of a sudden it's nice and cool and you can hear the wind in the leaves and the birds singing and the waterfalls splashing and you can see the open sea in the distance.... aaaahhh isn't that just nice?

Look up:

Go for a walk along the sea and look at the Badamiers and Pandanus trees.

There's even a big Banyan tree (those bits of bark will become trunk and roots) by the fishermen's little boats. That boat  is meant to read : Ti coq, yes, truly it is, no matter how hard to believe someone would have mispellt Q on their own boat).

Technically, you can't swim in the sea (although some of the locals do) but you could always go and stand underneath the small waterfalls or sit in the clear streams of water (too bad you forgot your swim suit though).

See? That was a good day!

I did loose a game of "Philippines" though. When two litchis are stuck with each other, 2 people make a deal: they choose a prize each ( I chose a rougail morue mangue vert- ie a cod and green mango dish and mum picked the painting of my brothers' room, the one with the graffiti) . Then you both pull, a bit like a bonbon.  The one that has the stick of the wood chooses a date. On this day, the first person to say "Philippines" to the other, won their prize.
I should have known better really, last time I played I got beaten by my little cousin, who remembered to say Philippines one year later as we had bet.
So now I may have to paint my brothers' room. On the up side, I get to paint the graffiti :)  And I guess the colour is up to me too since she did not precise any.........


After our pcinic,  I went home and did some gardening with what I had thought was a smart set up. Garden at the back until the mosquitoes come out, then garden at the front. Unfortulately the mosquitoes came out much earlier than expected and truly determined  to eat me even when covered with tea tree lotion (I have never smelled so Australian) and I had not really counted on the red biting ants being so hungry at the front either.  On the upside, Eugene the lizard let me touch his tail.

Yesterday was spent in a giant family picnic in the mountains, which was awesome (check out the food)

 and today consisted of family visits which were very nice too. One of the hihglight of the day was passsing our old house, in a street named " the Golden Basket", and, guess what, the new owner added turrets to the house. So it looks like the Castle of the Golden Basket street. How did we find out? You won't believe it. My mum visits the sick in hospital, and one day one conversation went like this:

"So where do you live?
-In the 14ekm in le Tampon.
-Oh, really, I used to live there! Where exactly?
-In the Golden Basket street.
-Oh, really, I used to live there too! what number?
- 08.
-...........!!!! That was my house! You bought my house!!!!!"

 and so followed a detailed account of what neighbours remained and so on. Here is a photo of the house, still being renovated, in case you don't believe me about the turrets (sorry about the quality but the sun was high):

It does look odd in the Reunion Island landscape, and it leaves me with this tortured thought that will end today's blog entry:

OMG I COULD HAVE BEEN THE PRINCESS OF THE GOLDEN BASKET STREET! (that left turret is right where my pink bedroom used to be. Darn!)