Les bons temps ! (Good times!)

As I wrote in a previous blog post, conducting experiments can be quite frustrating for a whole host of reasons – including very obstinate lizards. Additionally, it can be quite stressful to conduct a complicated experiment, as all ours seem to be, with wild animals. Despite the best-laid plans, every day’s schedule is contingent on the vagaries of weather or the mechanical state of the cable car to Pic du Midi. Animals need to be fed and cared for, equipment needs to be checked, and all the data need to be meticulously recorded, verified, and backed up. This can make for some long, challenging days for sure.

But the flip side of all of this is the great fun of doing cool experiments in beautiful locations with amazing people! I have been giving a great deal of thought lately to the human dimensions of doing science; that is, to the immensely important (and often overlooked) aspects of research that involve the building of creative, productive relationships. And the fun that comes with that! This past fall, we had no shortage of good times while working hard. To start, there is the silliness that comes with spending long hours working closely with someone while doing repetitive and largely mundane tasks.

Jérémie, who needs no excuse to be silly.

Brooke went completely overboard in cutting tiny pieces of tape to secure the thermocouples in the lizards' cloacas. And she was very proud of her work.

With fieldwork also comes excuses for excursions into beautiful locations. Back in August, just after Brooke arrived and Antonio was here to stage the lizard embryos, we had a lovely hike up to Étang d'Ayes on a hot summer day, including a swim in the delightfully crisp mountain water.

Antonio, Brooke, and Fabien at Étang d'Ayes.

Just outside of La Mongie is a lovely spot near the reservoir where I did some hiking with the kids earlier in the spring. While searching for good lizard habitat, we also found some other cool herps, including a lovely little smooth snake (Coronella austriaca).

You can see here that Laura was just delighted to find this little guy!

After a long day it’s important to relax as well. Though sometimes this moment didn’t come until quite late in the evening, we were pretty consistent in making sure that we had a chance to unwind.

It doesn’t get much better than enjoying a sunset from the top of Pic du Midi with a nice glass of French red wine.

Conveniently, the coolers used to test lizard critical minimum temperatures could be used for other purposes.

And most importantly, since this is France, after our apéritif we made some delicious meals together. One night, Jérémie even brought up an entire spread to make raclette in the tiny lab up at Pic du Midi – including several kilos of local cheeses (I'm not exaggerating), a bag of pre-cooked potatoes, and the fancy grill used to heat everything up. What a treat! We also took meal time very seriously when we stayed up in La Mongie, including quiche from Laura, croque monsieurs by Brooke, and our staples of mâche and quinoa. This was brought to another level when Anna stayed with us, as she would set a “fancy” table for dinner.

Anna with some of her “fancy” place settings in La Mongie.

And of course dessert! It became a tradition to have a square of some high-end chocolate after meals (lunch included), which led us to accumulate a variety of interesting flavors. The favorite: grapefruit dark chocolate. (I was skeptical too but Laura insisted we try. It is an amazing combination. Try it.)

Grapefruit-dark chocolate not shown (because we ate it all).

It was especially lovely for me to have Anna join us and spend the night in La Mongie several times last fall. I am so grateful to work with such accommodating colleagues that not only were totally cool with a 7 year-old tagging along for our experiments, but provided such great role models of smart, strong women for her (along with her mom, of course!). Anna just loved hanging out with Brooke and Laura. She had a great time with us, eating fancy dinners, watching movies after a long day, and especially when it came time to release our lizards after the experiment. I am deeply grateful that I can blend family, friendships, and science together like this.

Anna enjoys releasing the lizards.

And more good times are on the way – next month my good friend Rory Telemeco arrives on a TULIP Visiting Scientist grant, along with his wife Melissa and son Killian!