"My house/Amis Dec 2003" by Kate-Me

My house is on almost 1/4 acre, so I have quite a large garden and lawn.
I have a native back garden....and here is my more European side garden.

This is the side of my house, which is made of Western Red Cedar.

Well, once every five years or so it snows enough in my town to just cover the ground...but it only lasts hours, if that, so we have to get the camera out FAST.

Chez moi, c'etait presque la plus grande Soiree de L'alliance Francaise 'groupe du splinter' .

This was the the biggest birthday party I've ever had at home.

Fitting 14 people (my friends from Alliance Francaise) into the dining area of a home only built for 2 people was a little tricky...but we managed it and it was great fun.

By fully extending the dining table, we could fit more people there. Then my husband had the clever idea to bring in the new picnic table from outside, as an extra table (to set the room up like a restaurant!), but this table was so big we couldn't get it through the door. So, Paul simply got out his cordless drill and disconnected the base, got the table inside, then reassembled it! Voila. Perfect.!

I cooked an Indian food banquet (since that's what I cook best) all carefully organised all along the day so I didn't have to work too hard ;-)

The menu was a little French though, as Julien brought along some Foie Gras.

(Mais le menu etait un peu francais, parce que Julien a apporte du Foie Gras) ..

We played a lot of French music, to complete the setting...and all was nice.

We had a superb chocolate cake, made especially for me by my brother in law, who is a chef, and great cake decorator.

(Nous avons mange un gateau de chocolat tres superbe (cuit par un beau frere de Paul qui est un 'Chef de Cuisine')

Mes amis Laurent (Basel) & Jean Pierre (Toulon) a Ballarat Bird World, fin December 2003.

Nico, Irina et Iris with Nico's 'brand new' $1000 camping van (complete with mattresses, even CD player!).