Will walk for baguettes.

 

 

Thank you universe! The rains that we've been promised have finally arrived, and Doc and I jumped on the opportunity to head out for an early walk this morning.

 

 

We headed out literally between raindrops, as it started pouring the moment we got back inside the house.

 

{Master Shake out for a stroll}

 

{Apple trees in a front yard}

 

One of the many things that I love about France is that rather than using ugly decorative shrubbery to adorn their lawns, French people tend to plant fruit trees, and other fruiting plants. Sometimes it's one tree, sometimes it's 10. Or maybe a big row of raspberries. Or a small personal vineyard. Or a wall of blackberries on a trellis. It's so depressing for me to walk around where my parent's live in Southern New Jersey and see every house with the same five ugly pieces of shrubbery that the landscapers put in to take up space.

 

{Assorted fruit trees leading up to a house}

 

 

But I digress. We headed up to our favorite boulangerie in St. Jean de Gonville, where we picked up some bread, croissants, and pain aux chocolat...

 

 

...and spent some time walking around town, as it's been quite awhile since I've been through there.

 

 

I can't even begin to describe how good it felt to be out and walking. I've felt so cooped up lately, being stuck in the house because of the heat, that I couldn't have cared less if it started downpouring on us while we were out...

 

{29 weeks and 6 days}

 

 

...though our baguette would have gotten a bit soggy.

 

 

I decided to go uber American style this morning as well, complete with Phillies baseball hat and my coffee to-go.

 

 

I've been obsessing lately over the fact that summer is soon ending (hooray!) and that fall is fast approaching (bigger hooray!), and I'm hoping that Doc and I can continue on these morning walks with hot apple cider in hand and bundled up in sweaters.

 

 

That is, if any of my sweaters still fit me by then...

 

 

A girl can dream, right?

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey

DIY: Propagating Lavender

 

 

Nothing makes me happier than getting something for nothing, or at least next to nothing. Maybe that's why I love gardening so much, there are just so many possibilities! This summer I wanted to expand my propagating skills to more than just fig trees and fruit trees from seed, so I decided to research how to propagate one of my favorite herb plants: lavender.

 

In my ideal little world I've got lavender plants on every windowsill, because there's nothing that screams France in the summer for me quite like the smell of lavender on the breeze. Achieving that dream without propagating the plants myself would prove a costly endeavor, so I crossed all my fingers and toes when I started this project about 8 weeks ago. I had all but given up on my hopes and dreams of obtaining lavender plants for free though, as not much was happening to the cuttings I had utilized. The only change of note was that for the last week or so there were a few tiny little flowers budding at the top of the cuttings, but nothing in terms of root growth. However, today to my surprise (and delight), I noticed a bunch of roots at the bottom of the jar I had placed the cuttings in. It seemed like it literally happened overnight! Of the five lavender cuttings in the jar, one has a good amount of roots, and two have the very beginnings of roots. I'm hoping that by this weekend I can get 1-3 of these rooted cuttings in soil, so that they can get established before we head into fall. [Cue crossing fingers and toes again!]

 

 

How to propagate lavender:

 

1. Find a lavender plant. I had bought one 2 years ago as it's one of the things that just hasn't worked for me from seed, so I took my cuttings from that. You could also very kindly ask a friend who owns a lavender plant if they wouldn't mind you giving their plant a teeny tiny haircut.  

 

2. With a pair of clean pruning shears or scissors, cut a few branches from near the base of the main trunk. You want the skinny branches, not the main trunk. (Cutting the main trunk may cause your friend to not be your friend anymore.) I took five branches to start with, you may want more or less, your call. I kind of wish I had taken ten instead of five, but I didn't want to go crazy on my first go.

 

3. Remove the leaves from the bottom third of the cutting.

 

4. Put it in a jar of water with the water line going as high as where the leaves were removed, but no higher. Some people I've talked to say to change the water every week, but I'm pregnant and lazy. I only changed the water once in eight weeks, and they've obviously rooted.

 

5. Place jar of water and cuttings in a sunny window. Refill with water as the water level goes down during the week.

 

 

Talk about a no fuss DIY, am I right?

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey



A New Twist: Fig Tree Propagation Update Trois

 

 

...and just like that, POW! We're finished week 3 of my propagating fig trees in water experiment. So let's get to it, shall we?

 

 

The budding leaf growth on cutting #1 in the left living room window from last week has continued! This cutting now has three leaves coming from the top, and the two leaves from last week have grown in size.  

 

 

Nothing new to report in terms of root growth on cutting #1. The root nubs look about the same to me after comparing last week's root picture to the currents nubs.

 

 

The little bud that was forming close to the water line last week has now sprouted two teeny tiny little leaves.

 

 

The tiny little budding area mentioned last week is sprouting little leaves, two to be exact, despite being submerged in water and amongst the root nubs...

 

 

...but like cutting #1, nothing new to report in terms of root nub growth.

 

 

However, what cutting #2 lacks in root growth, is more than made up for in leaf growth. This is a huge difference from the leaves that were just starting at the top third of this cutting last week!

 

 

Moving on to the right living room window: look at all those roots on rockstar cutting #3! I thought last week's root growth was significant, but wow! Not only have the thicker roots grown significantly in length, but they also have a ton of little thinner roots growing off the main roots now.

 

 

Not only have the roots had a big week for growth, but so have the leaves. Last week these two leaves were just a bud, and if you look to the left of the leaves there is another little green bud forming.

 

 

Cutting #4 also has more root growth, with the thicker roots becoming longer and the start of some tiny roots coming off of the main roots.

 

 

The buds of last week have given us several little leaves...

 

 

...with a new little bud starting on the side.

 



 

And last but not least, lonely little cutting #5, all alone in a la Parfait half liter jar by our bedroom window. Nothing new to report as far as root nubs are concerned...

 

 

...and not much to report on leaf growth except that the two leaves from last week are a little bigger.

 

And what about that "control" cutting, you ask? I know I haven't talked about it at all since the beginning but...

 

 

...there wasn't anything to report up until now. If you remember from my first post concerning this experiment, I started one cutting in soil (the manner in which I typically propagate fig trees) to serve as a control element of the experiment. I was curious to see which would get leaves first, the cutting in soil, or the cutting in water. Unfortunately when you plant a fig cutting in soil you can't see it's root growth, but it's easy to see that this cutting has some big leaves on top, and some smaller ones forming further down the cutting. This cutting was placed outside from the beginning (though under the protection of the roof), and began to bud from it's uppermost tip after 2 weeks and 3 days. Typically when I propagate figs in soil it takes 3-6 weeks to show leaf growth, but I think the heat that can possibly be attributed to the rapid growth on the cuttings in water could also be applied to the cutting in soil.   

 

How things went down in week 3:

 

29/7/13: Increase of leaves on cutting #2

30/7/13: Control cutting in soil: uppermost bud is opening.

31/7/13: Cutting #3 is getting tiny side bud

1/8/13: Cutting #4 is getting a tiny side bud 

 

Observations:

 

1. Due to the amount of root growth and the start of leaf growth, I'm planning on planting cutting #3 in the next week or two, with cutting #4 shortly thereafter. I'm afraid that leaving them in the jar of water for too long after such significant root growth could lead the plant to die from lack of nutrients (ie not being in soil). At the earliest I would plant it next weekend at the conclusion of week 4.

 

2. I'm wondering if the lack of progress of cutting #5 has something to do with the fact that we are now running a portable air conditioning unit in the bedroom. It has lowered the temperature of the once "greenhouse" by 8-10 degrees Celsius.

 

For a review of this experiment and what I'm trying to do, click here.

 

For the week one update, click here.

 

For the week two update, click here.

 

Make sure to check back next Monday as I'll be sharing my week four update!

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey

Only in Switzerland...

 

 

This edition of "I can't make this merde up" comes courtesy of the ladies room at Globus. Were you happy, sad or Switzer-ly neutral about your toilet experience today?

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey



And then, there was this.

 

 

Did you really think we would celebrate a negative gestational diabetes test without indulging in something special and sweet? Once we got the good news I made an executive decision that I wanted macarons. And not just any macarons, but the best macarons on the planet:

 

 

Ladurée macarons.

 

{In my happy place.}

 

 

Behold! 8 delicious macarons in flavors of orange blossom, citron, rose petal (my favorite), licorice, coffee, pistachio, ginger and salted caramel.

 

 

The woman behind the counter said that they would last up to 4 days in the fridge, and it took every ounce of self-control to not laugh in her face. You think these will last 4 days? Try 4 hours lady macaron slinger!

 

 

I'd like to add that we still had to work for our sweets...

 

{Salted caramel and rose petal}

 

...2 miles of walking kind of work.

 

 

So, that kind of evens it out, right?

 

 

Right?

 

(Crickets.)

 

 

We spent the whole car ride home trying to decide which one we would devour first. For me it was salted caramel, for Doc it was pistachio. With a little espresso on ice it was just what I needed after the last few days.   

 

 

And you can't beat this sweet little gift box in honor of la fête nationale Suisse !

 

Have a sweet weekend everyone!

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey



29 weeks: In Geneva.

 

[29 weeks and 1 day}

 

Today we spent the morning in Geneva again, as we had to meet with our doctor. We had a great appointment, but the best part was being told that I do not have gestational diabetes.

 

 

We were pretty stoked.

 

 

So to celebrate, we spent a little time wandering around Geneva, as it's actually been quite awhile since we crossed over to the other side of the lake.

 

 

It was early in the day, so it wasn't oppressively hot yet, making it nice to get out and stretch my legs a bit. One unfortunate thing about this hot weather that we've been having is that I can't really leave the house for too long. I've been literally daydreaming about fall crisp air and being able to go on mountain runs once Homekid gets here in mid-October.

 

{Place du Molard}

 

 

It was eerily quiet in the city, which was strange for it being tourist season. Maybe everyone had a bit too much fun at la fête nationale Suisse yesterday?

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey



Dreams do come true.

 

By a strange stroke of luck, I find myself sitting on our bed, relaxing with a glass of iced jasmine sun tea, and looking out at the fig trees in the Duggan Terrace Orchard and Mont Blanc. This is strange because I haven't been able to do so for about a month, as our bedroom has averaged 84 degrees F both day and night for that period of time. How is this possible today, you ask?

 

Let me introduce you to our new (to us) portable air conditioner unit! I've already named him R2, as every time I look at him I think of R2D2. Yesterday, thanks to one of Dan's graduate students, we found out that a used portable AC unit was listed for sale on the CERN marketplace, and swooped in to buy it that afternoon. Perfect timing as we're getting up into the 90s again tomorrow.
 

 

This is the first unit like this that I've ever seen here in France, which makes sense, because the man we bought it from (who purchased it when HIS wife was pregnant), actually bought it in Switzerland. It took some tweaking as we had no window to put the hose of hot air through, but by this afternoon Doc had figured out a solution. Give a physicist a hardware store and a problem to solve, and you're in for a solution of some sort, even if it does involve wooden siding, a box cutter, and some adhesive insulation tape.

 

Now that I can actually spend time upstairs without melting, I'm excited to let the nesting take hold, as I've got baby clothes to organize. R2 and I are gonna make a good little team, I can tell you that much!

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey