Fire and Ice

Yesterday the kids were fascinated at the park with red ants or, les fourmis rouges.  I cannot tell you how much this made me laugh...as insects aren't very common here in Paris.  Even Hannah left surprised that she never saw a fly, gnat, or mosquito.  They do come, but only when the weather is good and juicy enough to invite them out to play.  The kids literally sat and watched the ants march in a line back and forth from a pile of squished apple to their home, an almost toppled over mound of dirt built in the sand.  I couldn't help but remember the summer I stepped in an ant hill waist deep at my Granny and Papaw's house in Natchez, MS.  I was young, maybe 4 or 5 so my waist wasn't that high, but those red ants in Mississippi...man, those are some you don't forget.  

In other news....I'm sad to report that the "ice" phenomenon in Paris just hasn't caught on.  When you go to McDonald's they give you 9 or 10 small chips of ice, but only because it's an American company.  At a really touristy restaurant, you are given one giant ice cube, and you should consider yourself lucky if you get two.  Most regular restaurants give a cold carafe of water, and often a refrigerated coca-cola if you order one...but it doesn't surprise me anymore to drink a coke with no glaçons. 

There is no room in anyone's home freezer for an ice tray (because of all of the year-old Picard purchases no one ever eats)....and I haven't seen a refrigerator here yet with an ice cube maker (much less having the option of cube or crushed).  That being said a friend of mine is an au pair for an American family and they seemed to find a fridge with an ice maker.   Anywho, I saw this ad at Nicolas, the local alcohol/wine distributer and it sort of made me chuckle.  In Tennessee, we can go down to the "Quik Mart" and get a 10 pound bag of ice for a couple of bucks.  Maybe prices have gone up since I've left, but I'm fairly certain that's what it was when I left....correct me if I'm wrong.  (Now that I think about it, I can't imagine what we ever used 10 pounds of ice for...except maybe at a party...seems kind of excessive since I've been living without...)

Now in France, you can get a 4.4 pound bag of filtered and purified ice for only $5!!  Whew, we are movin' on up!  I have no idea how this idea will go over...and can't imagine that unless it's for a party where people would even keep a 2 kilo bag of ice for it to stay frozen...but-it's here!  No worries!