She ain't no Alice

Alice was the ice cream lady in Dupont.  Alice was quite weathered and was missing most of her teeth, and could be very aggressive in her sales around town.  She would drive as slow as possible and go in circles around your neighborhood until you were forced to give in and buy something.  It wasn't that I was opposed to buying her popsicles, "the freshest around" according to Alice; it was more that I hated having to get caught in a conversation with her.  You see, Alice was a military brat herself, her dad was a big shot in the Air Force and they moved all over the place.  The woman would share her life story with you every chance she had and then air her grievances, complaining about her competition and their stale ice cream, and about how she was the first ice cream seller to discover Dupont.  No longer a military dependent, Alice now lives out in Spanaway and drives her little three wheeled cart clear to Dupont to extort allowance from the little kiddies.  Some locals really like Alice and want to take care of her via buying popsicles for everyone at the park on any given day.  I love people like that, truly I do, especially when I don't tend to take my wallet to the park.  Of course the kids grew fond of Alice because she'd always convince the moms that the Sponge Bob with the gumball eyes was the best deal going.

Alas, here we are all the way in Belgium, a long way away from our old neighborhood and all of it's charms.  We are making due without our Starbucks drive-thru and have even grown accustomed to coffee served in shot glasses.  We no longer can walk to a park or five, but we do live on ten acres with our own fishing pond and baby ducks.  It's not so bad.  To top it off, our ice cream lady kicks some serious butt over here!  I saw her today when I was out on a run and tried in my slowly improving French to ask if she goes by the chateau.  No, she doesn't, in fact she doesn't know where it is...so I tell her, call Brian and prep him.  She's a no show (thanks to my bad French most likely) but thankfully the kids never knew.  Later today we packed up the bikes and took them to the path and had a lovely afternoon riding through the countryside.  Once in the car as Brian was loading the bikes, I confessed to the kids that there is an ice cream VAN around here, and I proceeded to hum the tune it plays that I believe to be Greensleeves.  Would you believe at that moment a white van headed toward us, playing that very same song?  Sure enough, it was the same van (we were a few villages away).  So...the excitement builds and we cross the street to check out the goods, and find that not only is the girl pretty and has all her teeth, but she is selling freshly made ice cream, the real kind, on cones, for half the price of a Sponge Bob popsicle.  I am in love.  Homemade mocha ice cream after a long bike ride?  Incredible!  Another bonus...there's a language barrier so conversation can be short and sweet!  I think we will be stalking her, versus Alice stalking us back in the day.  I love this place.