Red carpet

For a couple of days I had no heat at home. The boiler had a problem on Friday. The cold came slowly, I didn’t really realized very much at first: it was very sunny Saturday. But it went reeeealy cold in the evening, and the house was at 12°C this morning…

Cold outside or inside the house, I got no excuse to go out for my weekly long-run! Well, it was raining, and temperature about 1-2°C. I also had to wait for the boiler to be fixed… I cooked a bit for the week (this will be in another post very soon), and when I could I put my new long wind/rain-proofed pant, few layers on top of my super Malaysian running shirt, a warm hat and a bit more layers, and went out.

This run was kind of magical. The light rain increased the contrasts of the red of the berries from the grey sky, the green of the pine trees, and even the red of the oak leaves and pine needles fallen on the path. I had a red carpet…..

Not to mention the strength of the ocean slapping the rocks. Beautiful.

Hikes!

Ile de Ré is FLAT.

At the University I hated Geology.

But one day someone showed me the mountains, the feeling of the fresh air, the view, the grandness! Their shape, their smell, the way to reach their summit. Well, I fell in love (of the guy even more than of the mountains, but that’s another story!).

Merci Fidel.

Bali, Indonesia – Kerala, India – Pyrenees, Spain – Personal photos Copyright Zoe’s Blog.

Tango

Tonight I watched some videos on YouTube. That’s not very often. I just wanted to remember Julio Balmaceda, a great dancer, a maestro. One says that he is considered “one of the most important tango teacher around the world due to his style and pedagogy”. I can believe that. He left us some days ago (and that’s why I went dancing last Friday!).

I was lucky: I had a private lesson with him in Singapore in 2015. He gave me only a couple of advices but that made me understand how my joints and legs work, it modified my feeling of the dance, it was a lesson that I kept in mind and might keep in mind forever … And his “joie de vivre”… Magic moments…

You can see him there, with Virginia Vasconi, in Singapore.

And you can see him here as well some more years ago, with Corina de la Rosa (I love this one!). Enjoy!

Histoire d’Îles *

I grew up on Ré Island (Ile de Ré), in France. It is a small island in the Atlantic sea, north from Bordeaux. The region is famous for its salt, oysters and muscles, wine, Pineau des Charentes and Cognac, and its long nice beaches of yellow sand and fresh water. Very touristic in the summer, the island is quiet and calm during the winter.

Ile de Ré from above. Public domain data from LANDSAT, NASA (Wikimedia Commons)

I then traveled and settled a bit in different cities in France for my studies, traveled and settled a bit more in other countries in Europe developing my research career and Fidel’s one, and ended up in Singapore. One very small city-state in Southeast Asia. Exotic, multi-asean-culti, exciting, crowded and busy all around the clock, this island is 10 times Ile de Ré, has a 7am-7pm dark light cycle all year, 26 to 32°C and 70 to 90% humidity all year without strong seasons, so this was a radical change.

Singapore (CIA World Factbook, public domain)

After almost 10 years, I exiled in Mount Desert Island in Maine, an island 3 to 4 times bigger than Ile de Ré, very touristic in summer, very very cold and quiet during the winter… Dr. Freud, anything to say?

*”Island stories”, in French language

Quin dia avui!*

It all begun with a call with Fidel, my husband. Kids were not home yet, it was just nice. This kind of call that seems normal but make you warm. Morning for me, evening for him. 13h difference… My day was beginning.

I was ready to go for my run but decided to investigate once more the car and see if I could find my phone – the number of hours with light are counted in Maine and when I come back from work it is already dark… And I found it! I found my phone, in the small box in between the two front seats! I vaguely recall something on Saturday…. is it early Alzheimer?

And my run was great! A bit cold (2°C only, a bit grey as if the snow wanted to get down).

I was ready for the day!

* “What a day today!”, in Catalan language.

Ready for the snow?

Today the paths of the outside building were surrounded by yellow sticks… waiting for the snow to come down?

I’ll try to upload some pictures soon, but for now I can’t access any pictures…

I got some trouble lately with my phone: I lost my SD iPhone from Singapore last Saturday and at the same time I was asked by Apple to restore my new iPhone 8, which changed all my settings. Don’t ask me why it happens all in one… The good news is that I had an auto-backup from 2 days earlier so the “restoration” made me get all what was in the old phone and I don’t think I lost much data at the end ! The second good news is that I didn’t do auto backup on my new phone, meaning that I kept all what I had collected until now! I just realize it now…. and now back-up-ing the new phone…

This has some goodness to be ignorant! I think I will sleep better tonight. The real bad news – apart from losing the phone and the SIM card from Singapore – is that I promised this phone to Jules, my son.

It’s raining

18th November. It is raining today. I expected a bit of snow, but obviously it was too warm for this. Remembering the great sunny weekend that just passed by…Blue Hill, the Eagle lake run with the backlight on the lake…

But you won’t see one picture of this, thanks to Apple: it asked whether I wanted to “make this a New phone or restore Zoe’s iPhone?” Of course it is not a new one… well almost. I lost a bit. I am not sure how much yet, because it is still downloading. In the meantime it is still raining…

The very first one

Welcome!

This is my first blog. And this should be my very first post, but I am a beginner…

This blog will be my buoy. My lifebuoy, my lifeline, this little things that will keep me close to you.

I have decided to travel ahead of the family. We were living in Singapore for a little less than 10 years and I decided to go live on the other side of the globe, in Maine, US, on a little island named Mount Desert Island. Madness? Maybe… Irresponsibility? Possible…. Opportunity? For sure… I am sure I will get the chance to talk about all this.

Welcome to Zoë’s Blog!

Edit: Our two children – teenagers – joined me in December 2019 with our cat Phantom, six months after the original plan, due to COVID19. I have swapped my single-isolated-mum’s routine with a family of three’s needs… including adapting meals, rhythms, schools and increasing social activities while the pandemic is also guiding our life. We can’t wait to welcome our last family member, at least for some long days of holidays whenever possible. For now we are still face-timing…