Provost Family & Friends Blogs

I can't sit down

Gerry and Jean Provost — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:59:00 GMT

I’ve been spending too much time sitting this winter due to all the snow. I’ll be on my computer for hours reading, watching downloaded shows or playing games and then realize I haven’t put in any miles on the treadmill. Well. We found the solution.

I’ve been putting in 2 or 3 hours a day, walking 1 MPH and watching movies or emailing or talking on the phone. Yes, I let Gerry take a turn every now and then.

Only 93 shopping days left

Gerry and Jean Provost — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:45:00 GMT

Bompie’s birthday! He really wants one of these:

NOT the cap, the goofy looking soft one. Curling hat. He is about to lose his mind watching the curling and calling the shots.

Progress

Gerry and Jean Provost — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 10:31:00 GMT

The ceiling is patched. You are seeing a reflection and the primer is not totally dry, but it looks good.

Ger didn’t go sailing due to ice on the lake so he came home and amused himself with the chainsaw. We had a dead tree that needed to come down:

Late to the party yet again

Gerry and Jean Provost — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:16:00 GMT

I’m almost all caught up on HBO’s “Band of Brothers” and I finally got Gerry to sit down and watch the first episode last night. I know, I know, the series is 8 or 9 years old and I don’t know for the life of me why I didn’t watch it when it was first out, being a WWII buff (of sorts). This is the most amazing series. It is so heart-rendingly perfect that I think it should be required viewing. Ordinary men getting the job done once again proving Tom Brokaw was right, they were the greatest generation and we owe them such a huge debt of gratitude.

Dick Winters is still alive and well. It brings a lump to my throat to think about it.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to get Gerry caught up is Spielberg’s new series “The Pacific” starts in March. Don’t miss it.

Helpers

Gerry and Jean Provost — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:01:00 GMT

We’ve been over at Miss Becky’s “helping” out. She’s had pot lights installed and took down the fan in her kitchen. Mostly we stand around drinking wine and making obnoxious suggestions. We like Andy-the-electrician. He can be obnoxious along with the rest of us. Gerry is working on the dry-wall patch, and doing an excellent job of it I must say. When forced to do something besides drink and talk I go do a little touch-up in her recently remodeled laundry room or paw through her utensils drawers begging for stuff to put on birdhouses.

The ads

Gerry and Jean Provost — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:50:00 GMT

There have been many years when ALL I watched was the ads and managed to totally ignore the game. Yes, it’s true. These are my favorite ads from this year:

1. Snicker’s/Betty White

2. VW Stevie Wonder (inspired!)

3. Audi Green (made me wish it was real, almost)

4. Letterman/Oprah/Leno (simple, short, hilarious)

5. Doritos dog collar, Doritos Ninja (laughed out loud, well beer was involved)

Worst ads were those showing men in their underwear. Don’t need to see that.

My beer of choice for the evening was Boddingtons Pub Ale.

Holy crap!

Gerry and Jean Provost — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:42:00 GMT

The 141 million dollar lottery ticket was sold in Asheville…but not to us. I am so bummed. I just may be bummed all damn day.

We had a very small super bowl party at Becky’s condo last night. Just the three of us. I made Buffalo hot wings dip and some jambalaya. Becky made chili. We had a great time, managing to talk through the controversial commercial so totally missed the controversy. I’m glad it was an exciting game because Becky has no computer for me to play with downstairs. I was stuck. I haven’t watched an entire football game in decades. Whenever I got bored I’d holler “who dat?” just to, you know, get going again. Gerry and I wore black t-shirts with gold mardi gras beads to show our team spirit.

We all three pretty much hated the half-time geriatric rockers. You’re never too old to rock ‘n roll, but you can get too old to try to imitate your younger self. They should have lip-synced it and spared us the humiliating spectacle of Roger Daltry straining for notes that were better left un-sung. Pete Townsend with his belly-baring windmilling was so awful it wasn’t even humorous.

I’m happy for the Saints and all their fans. They proved they deserved to be there and they played an exciting game. Whew! Glad that’s over. I can go back to ignoring football for the next 20 years.

The snow samba

Michelle C — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:30:00 GMT

The snow samba, originally uploaded by jmcouraud.

This is Arnaud after finishing shoveling for the second time. That was at about 3pm. Right now there is about another inch on the ground but it has FINALLY stopped.

The creek is rising

Gerry and Jean Provost — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:40:00 GMT

How high’s the water momma?

I don’t think we’ve ever seen this much water in the 5 years we’ve lived in this house.

New Birdhouse!

Gerry and Jean Provost — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:34:00 GMT

We designed and built a birdhouse for a charity auction this weekend. Gerry pretty much designed this one on the fly. He really likes the asymetrical roof line.

Friends have been giving us things to use in our quest to make our birdhouses unique. This one has two pieces of silver-plate, a tray under the house and a footed piece under the center post. The tray has been drilled so it won’t hold water and breed mosquitoes. I placed bicycle gears on the front and on the side roof and then I hung crystals hoping the bluebirds would be attracted to the “shiny things”. The center post is a leg from an old table, the feet are old drawer knobs. The bird perch is a very scuffed up finial. On the right there is a brass light fixture base. I slapped that distressed aluminum on the front because I wanted to hammer in some more copper nails. I love to put those copper nails all over the place. The white porcelain knob on the side is for the clean-out. This house is functional and decorative. I hope it brings as much as the one we made last year, but this event is in danger of being postponed due to the CRAPPY weather!

Claire turns one

Michelle C — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:52:00 GMT

Claire turns one, originally uploaded by jmcouraud.

Seeing all these photos together in one place makes it more believable that it really has been one year!
This little girl is such a joy in our family. She is all smiles all the time. She has been walking for a month now. Babbling and making herself understood. She uses several bits of sign language to help in that effort. She idolizes her big brother and is totally in love with her papa. She keeps me company all day long (I hate the mornings that I have to hand her over to the babysitter to work at the bakery.)
Of course, we are on a fast track to toddlerhood and all the "fun" that goes with that. But with such a sweet temperament to begin with, I'm hoping that it will be easy sailing. Keep your fingers crossed!

Lil pinky

Michelle C — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:36:00 GMT

Lil pinky, originally uploaded by jmcouraud.

This little one is so curious about everything. And she wants to do and touch everything I have - including my camera. It makes it virtually impossible to get any decent pictures these days. Unless that is, you stand on the couch above her, perched with your leg against a big window to get the light just right. Oh, the lengths I will go ;)

File under "Goofy"

Gerry and Jean Provost — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:39:00 GMT

As bummed as I am about the party, I just had a really good laugh reading that Dave Matthews would have said no to John Edwards had he asked Matthews to play at his fantasy roof-top wedding in NYC.

I picture John Edwards reading this and feeling bad. That makes me start laughing all over again.

Left-overs

Gerry and Jean Provost — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:13:00 GMT

I’m bummed about the canceled dinner party. I have all that pomegranite that I cleaned for the champagne cocktails.

Snow...again

Gerry and Jean Provost — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:07:00 GMT

I made Morroccan stew yesterday.

We got several inches of snow. I think the city has shut down. Sleet fell on top of the snow to make driving more interesting for the fools that want to get out in it. We were supposed to go to a dinner party tonight, but I think it’s been canceled. I’m trying to work up enough interest/energy to be productive but not making any progress.

Pretty blue eyes

Michelle C — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:29:00 GMT

Pretty blue eyes, originally uploaded by jmcouraud.

I just realized when I uploaded this, and a couple of other photos, that I haven't uploaded in almost an entire month. Now, what's up with that? I could enumerate all the excuses but what good would that do. It's just, as with the rest of the world, I was too busy. Days quickly turn into weeks and just as quickly turn into months. And so many things I've been meaning to do are still piling up the to-do list.
This passage of time is even more evident when I think about the fact that this sweet little baby (or should I now say girl?) is turning one in a week. Last time this year, we had settled in to the "big wait." Grammy and Bompie were finishing up her room. I was having false labor and everyday seemed like the longest in history! Funny how that is, really. We are never satisfied with the speed at which things are moving. Last year too slow, this year too fast.
It all reminds me that this year, instead of a New Year's resolution, I chose a word to remind of what I want and need. I chose "FOCUS". I want to keep focus when I so easily get distracted, I want to focus on what's important, I want focus on who's important. Just focus.
So picking up my camera this afternoon, that's just what I did. After running around most of the day, I slowed us down for a bit. Put on some music and focused on just Claire.
Focus.

Miep Gies

Gerry and Jean Provost — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:38:00 GMT

Those two words make me proud to be a member of the human race. What a remarkable woman. Brave, in the simple, pure, unquestioning way of someone who knows what is the right thing to do and just does it.

I stand at the end of the long, long line of good Dutch people who did what I did or more – much more - during those dark and terrible times years ago, but always like yesterday in the hearts of those of us who bear witness. Never a day goes by that I do not think of what happened then.

The world is a lesser place with her passing.

Speedy

Michelle C — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:03:00 GMT

If she's going this fast after 6 days, I suppose she'll be sprinting at her birthday?

11 months old

Michelle C — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:27:00 GMT

Cutie, originally uploaded by jmcouraud.

It truly blows my mind that this girl was born 11 months ago today. In the blink of an eye, it seems like I went from being enormously pregnant to now having a toddler in the house.
I was looking through photos on New Year's Eve, trying to pick my 12 favorites. And it was so amazing to see all the changes in all of us. But of course, the changes with Claire are the most obvious. In the last couple of months, I've been so busy keeping up with her that it's been hard to keep up with updates.
She's now able to walk. But she doesn't always choose to do so. You see, she's in a real hurry. Have to catch up to big brother, have to try and catch those darn cats. And many other wonderful attractions. And when you've mastered the speedy head-down crawl, you really don't have time for toddling to your goal. So little steps have been made and continue to happen but it's perfectly alright with me if she slows down just a little.
I have to keep reminding myself to slow down and take it all in. Savor all these little moments. I have to stop myself from rushing through things like giving her a bath or feeding her. Because I know from my blurry, vague memories of Julien as a baby that these moments are minute compared to the years ahead of us. Just as these 11 months have flown by, so will the next and the next after that. I sometimes wonder if my memories of his baby-hood are so vague because I didn't stop to take it all in.
So tonight as she was crazy happy as I turned on the water to her bath, I watched her splash a little longer and I held onto this little day a little longer.

Hitting the slopes

Gerry and Jean Provost — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:00:00 GMT

Griffin took to skiing like a duck to water. Who’s surprised?

12 Favorite photos of 2009

Michelle C — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:06:00 GMT

12 Favorite photos of 2009, originally uploaded by jmcouraud.

Seeing as it's the last day of a very memorable year, I wanted to do something to look back at it all. BUT the task of looking through all my photos was just way too daunting. So it was a relief to me to read a challenge on a blog I read: Set a timer for 12 minutes, search your digital photo library for 12 photos you love.
OK, so I have to admit that it took me a tad longer than 12 minutes. But I did stop myself from taking too long at it. Obviously, this is not at all an exhaustive collection of my favorite photos for the year. But in the 25 minutes I took, these are the ones that either popped out at me or I went searching for.
A wonderful glimpse into our 2009.

Quasi take a bow

Gerry and Jean Provost — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:06:00 GMT

Once upon a time I met a cyber-pal at a blog. We exchanged emails and recipes, if I remember correctly. When I started up my art blog she bought a painting from me and it was a very special event in my life because SHE is an artist and she liked my painting.

To be precise, she is a famous artist. Sally Cruikshank. And today her animated film “Qausi at the Quackadero” was selected for the National Film Registery by the Library of Congress.

The Library of Congress selects 25 films each year that it considers "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant," chosen from hundreds of titles nominated by the public, members of the National Film Preservation Board and the library's motion picture staff.

Check out her blog here.

Look out world!

Michelle C — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:31:00 GMT

Our good luck insurance

Gerry and Jean Provost — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:23:00 GMT

I’ve got the pot of black-eyed-peas on the stove to simmer for hours and be consumed with glee. That is a big ol’ ham-bone you see poking up above the broth. Serve with cornbread and champagne. I insist.

Happy New Year!

Rewind

Gerry and Jean Provost — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:06:00 GMT

Some of my favorite photos from 2009.

The Bomp Strikes Again

Gerry and Jean Provost — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:40:00 GMT

We've just come back from a whirlwind visit to see Angela, Josh and Sophia. I thought we were going to spend a quiet Christmas, and maybe replace a window. But Nooooo! The laundry system was to be moved into the house from the garage. This involved blasting a hole through the concrete wall, and redesigning the large storage closet.

After three days of solid work, the same view looks like this.

And through the new bi-fold door we put in the spare room wall.

I left Josh with the trim and staining, but it looks pretty good.

We didn't save any of the wrapping paper!

Gerry and Jean Provost — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:31:00 GMT

Fun was had by all in the Greben household. We cooked and laughed and watched a lot of strange movies. Sophia and I had watched “Mystery Science Theatre – Santa Claus” and I lived to tell about it. Surreal would be the jumping off point.

There is always something to fix:

There were lots and lots of hugs.

Fashion show was pretty much 24/7.

Sophia and Bompie played some chess and then they cuddled up to watch…MORE MOVIES!

Robert Plant is so yesterday

Gerry and Jean Provost — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:35:00 GMT

Girls are so fickle. Sophia has a new man in her life and he inspires her with a passion for nature. Her new crush is none other than David Attenborough. He of the wrinkled, dirty khakis and propensity to climb on things old people should just stand and look at. She particularly likes his bird videos. We've been here since Tuesday and I've seen it 3 times already. You'd think his budget would provide him with a change of clothes so that when he turns his back to the camera you don't blurt out "his ass is muddy again". He looks like he travels with a change of underwear and a toothbrush. Maybe.

Snowstorm December 2009

Michelle C — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:31:00 GMT

Snowstorm December 2009, originally uploaded by jmcouraud.

It started falling Friday night and continued non-stop until 9pm Saturday. Snow, lots and lots of snow. We measured 19 inches on our front step. Julien measured 16.5 inches on the sidewalk.
It was quite a weekend!

Winter Wonderland

Gerry and Jean Provost — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:38:00 GMT

This was the view out our living room window this morning.

Here’s the driveway:

The good news is our power is back on!

Big Snowstorm

Michelle C — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:47:00 GMT

11:15 and I'm still in my jammies

Gerry and Jean Provost — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:22:00 GMT

Gerry is making a must-see movie list. In about an hour he’s going to pack the van and head to the pond to sail. We are both enjoying a few quite moments. We leave again on Monday so I’m not sure I’m going to unpack. I hope we can take some photos of my most recent paintings.

The closest to I’ve come to holiday decorating is to put out a couple of cards that we got in the mail. I had an old neighbor call me last year. She said they were going through their phone list and saw our names and wondered if we were dead or alive. I told her we were alive and well, we had just stopped sending holiday cards because we’re too lazy.

My plan for the afternoon is to get on the treadmill and watch some TiVoed tv. When Ger is out of the house I can turn the volume up to dish-rattling decibels.

Peace out.

Grammy & Bompie

Michelle C — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:34:00 GMT

Grammy & Bompie, originally uploaded by jmcouraud.

This picture is blurry but it totally epitomizes the last 4 or 5 days. Crazy, non-stop action.
Grammy & Bompie blew into town last Wednesday. Which meant that there was constant Christmas decorating, DIY projects, movies everyday, kid cuddles and baby smooches.
A typical visit, really ;)

Holiday Cheer

Michelle C — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:19:00 GMT

Julien and Claire, originally uploaded by jmcouraud.

With 2 assistants on hand, thanks to a fun visit from Grammy and Bompie, I was finally able to catch a photo of these 2 for Christmas. There are several different versions of this photo - most of them with some grimace, weird smirk or eyes looking off in the distance. But this one captures something special. This boy loves his little sister. And she's CRAZY about him! Warms this mommy's heart.

I'm way overdue with updates on these 2 but Claire's increased mobility has meant my decreased productivity! Soon, I promise.

An important skill

Michelle C — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:17:00 GMT