Are you ready to meditate with Kari?
Make sure that you're comfortable in your bed and everything is just right in your room.
It's time to relax your body,
The goal of your day.
Heidi,
Cherry and Vea were at Charlie and Naomi's house.
The girls were having a French night,
A French themed dinner.
It was a potluck so everyone they knew were bringing something over that was yummy and French themed,
Something good to eat.
Heidi had been doing some research and what she'd found was that the French really,
Really take their food very seriously.
Food in France is something to be taken serious.
Heidi found out that everything in certain parts of France stops at noon just so people can enjoy their siesta and their lunch.
It's that serious.
The shops stop,
Everything stops just so people can enjoy their lunch.
Cherry said we could take something very French with the name like French fries or French bread as part of the potluck.
Vea said,
Hmm,
But if you're in France,
Would you call your bread French bread?
I think it would just probably be called bread.
And I don't think they call the fries French fries.
I think maybe they call them something else.
Hmm.
Good point,
Said Heidi.
Cherry said,
Why don't we do those thingies,
What they called,
Um,
You know,
Those things that you put in the frying pan.
Well,
Like,
They're like,
Um,
They're like a pancake,
But they're not like,
Um,
They're not like,
Uh,
Like an American pancake.
They're not fluffy like cakes,
Like pancakes,
Like buttermilk pancakes or,
Or like that.
No,
They're not like that.
They're more like,
Um,
Like the pancakes that they do in England that they just call pancakes.
But no,
These are like flat and thin and skinny.
And I think they call them cakes.
Yeah,
That's it,
Cakes,
Heidi said.
You mean crepes?
Yeah,
That's it.
Crepes,
Like drapes.
That's how I'll remember.
I'll remember.
Drapes,
Like your curtains,
Drapes are like crepes,
Not cakes,
Like bake.
No,
Not that,
No,
Crepes,
Yeah,
Crepes.
Why don't we do crepes and we can maybe do some savoury crepes or we could do some sweet crepes and like have them for dessert.
We could do that.
What do you think?
Heidi said.
That's a good idea.
We'll see.
Anyway,
On the actual day,
The cats took an asparagus and mushroom cream soup.
Heidi had found out that in France,
They like to forage for young,
Crisp asparagus and they also like to forage for mushrooms.
So she figured that maybe they could make a mushroom and asparagus cream soup.
So that's what they did.
The girls,
Charlie and Naomi,
Who were sisters,
By the way,
Said that that was a very good choice and the soup smelled absolutely delicious.
By the time everyone came,
The table was full with all different French themed meals.
Cherry nudged Heidi when she spotted something on the table.
It was a plate of garlic and white wine flavoured snails.
Oh no,
Said Cherry.
Oh no,
No,
No,
No.
Oh dear,
Heidi said.
What?
Because at first she didn't know what Cherry was talking about.
Cherry said,
Over there on that oblong plate,
That enormous long plate that's covered in snails.
Heidi said,
Oh dear.
Cherry said,
I know.
How do we tell them that I just met a really nice snail called Bill and all his community and they were really nice and they like to do karaoke night and sing and dance and things like that.
And,
And,
And,
And,
And what do we say?
What do we say?
Veo said,
Me thinks we could just be polite and appreciate that different people eat different things and not everyone eats snails,
But some people do eat snails and that's okay.
Cherry said,
Yeah,
Yeah,
You're right.
You're right.
I'm not going to worry about it.
It just made me a little bit,
You know,
A little bit,
Oh,
Poor Bill for a sec there,
But you're okay.
It's all right.
We'll focus on something else.
Let's focus on something else.
Let's ask the girls what's really popular to do in France.
They'll maybe know what we can do and what we're going to do tonight.
Since it was a lovely evening,
Charlie and Naomi and her family and all of the friends that had come over and set up lots of different activities outside,
They were going to play garden games,
Like outside garden games,
Like,
You know,
Like a mini badminton.
And they had a giant Jenga that they were going to play with.
And then they also had a spike ball.
And like I said,
They had badminton and they had a ladder toss game and ooh,
And a cornhole game and they were going to do lots of games outside and have lots of fun.
But mostly they were going to sit around and eat for a few hours and get to talking to each other and just being with each other and hanging out with each other and just enjoying each other's company.
Cherry said,
Oh,
Okay.
Yeah,
I can appreciate that.
I like the sound of that.
Let's all just sit down and nibble on nice,
Lovely foods and get to know each other and chit chat about food and maybe talk about,
You know,
Food and all that good stuff.
We could do that.
We could do that.
Let's do that.
Cherry and the cats and everyone else all sat around and enjoyed all of the different foods that everybody brought.
They got to meet all of Charlie and Naomi's friends,
Who they were really,
Really enjoying being with.
They ended up having a very nice evening.
The games were a lot of fun outside and then it started to go dark and the evening got cool.
So the cats came inside,
They were going to have a sleepover with Naomi and Charlie.
So they got the pajamas on,
Brushed their teeth,
Jumped into bed and got really comfortable.
The girls talked about living in France and what that was like.
The cats talked about traveling to different countries and where they'd been and where they'd visited.
The differences in the people and the customs and the food.
And then Cherry said,
Would everybody like a story?
Everybody said yes.
They all snuggled down even more,
Pulled up the blankets and Cherry started to tell a story.
Once upon a time,
A long,
Long,
Long,
Long time ago,
There was a very special place.
A place called French Bread Ridge.
French Bread Ridge was a ridge that was like a bridge in the middle of a forest in the middle of nowhere and it was made from French bread.
You would think a bridge that was a ridge that was made from French bread wouldn't be a very smart idea because,
I mean,
How strong is French bread?
Long French baguettes can possibly be very hard if you leave them out and they go stale but sometimes you'd think they'd just bend and break,
Especially if they get wet and moist if it rains.
But this was a magical bridge,
A ridge.
French Bread Ridge was a very magical place and it didn't matter if it rained,
If it snowed,
If the sun was shining bright,
If it was moist in the morning dew,
It didn't matter.
This place never fell down.
It never fell to pieces.
And even more importantly,
It was a very special home for all the mice in that area.
Part of the bridge was eatable.
Well,
All of it was eatable but the mice knew that if they ate all the bridge there would be no bridge because if they ate all the bread then there'd be no bridge,
Would there?
Silly mice.
So,
They discovered over a period of time that they could only eat certain parts of the bridge.
Certain parts of the bridge that weren't like the foundation of the bridge that held the bridge up or anything like that.
They could just eat the corners where it didn't really matter.
So,
There were so many mice,
So many nice little mice with big eyes,
Little tiny little mice,
Tiny,
Tiny little mice with little feet and little tails and little eyes and little ears.
They were so cute.
Tiny,
Tiny little mices eating ridge,
Bridge,
French Bread,
French Bread Bridge,
Yeah.
And it was such a nice,
Very magical place.
And that's it,
I think.
That's the end of my story.
She looked around and everybody was asleep.
She decided she was getting really,
Really good at bedtime stories.
Unbeatable,
She thought.
She could tell the bestest stories.
Better than anybody she knows.
Even better than Corey,
She thought.
She laid herself down next to everyone in the bed,
Closed her eyes,
And fell fast asleep.
The end.
