No Problems!

We have arrived!! No problems with our flight and our arrival in West Lafayette. We have been able to spend some really quality time with Josh's dad and he is looking better than we had hoped. The kids are off to visit other grandparents and Josh will be off to work later today. I'll type more later....

And, we're off....

A day of packing and preparing.... We leave early tomorrow morning to drive the 5 hours to Paris Charles de Gaulle before our flight leaves for Chicago at 11 a.m. We plan to spend a large part of our time in the U.S. in West Lafayette helping Josh's dad manage some of his affairs. Josh will also work in Batesville some and we will visit family in other parts of the Indiana/Ohio region as well. The kids are so excited! They mostly love being in the U.S. for Halloween. It's just not a big deal here.
Couple of French things....
Quincy and Tabitha were commenting today on how many girls at their middle school wear high heels to school!! Can you imagine? I guess they must start young if French women can so beautifully manage to walk quickly on these cobblestone streets in 5" stillettos!
Josh and I took Coco to the kennel today during Josh's lunch hour. We were then short of time and it was raining hard so we grabbed a baguette and some cheese from a little shop and then ate in our car. So not done here!! I have never seen anyone eating in their car, either while going some where or while it's parked. Hope we won't be reported and kicked out any time soon!
People in the States often ask me how interested the French are in the U.S. election.... the answer is VERY! It was the huge front page story today and 3 of the kids' teachers asked us to bring in election day newspapers from the U.S. when we return. One French woman I know is even having an election day party!
It was rainy all day today but we did start out with some beautiful red skies for our walk to school.
I'll be on and off for the next 2 weeks, depending on my computer access.... Take care!

Delicious Salads

Sorry, the blogger site was down last night when I was trying to publish..... Here is yesterday's news.....

This morning, I had to buckle down to work. It's so easy to just hang out with my friends all day and to neglect my studies!! I have started taking an online creative writing course and am really enjoying it. I am in my third week and have about 2-3 hours of homework to do each week, due every Tuesday. This week, I wanted to jump the gun a bit and get everything done early as we are leaving bright (actually it won't even be bright yet) and early on Saturday morning for our U.S. trip. I also have a larger project due this week so I had to get busy. I spent the morning at my computer getting my work done before walking downtown at noon to meet my fellow ex-pat, Susie, for lunch. We had yet another gorgeous day so Susie and I enjoyed a walk to the port where we found a great little "saladerie" for lunch. We both enjoyed beautiful seafood salads before indulging in dessert. We went our separate ways after lunch as we both had shopping and packing to do before our kids get out of school tomorrow for their 2 week October break.



As I was walking to my first shop, I remembered that it wasn't quite 2:00 so nothing would be open yet after lunch.... Because the day was so gorgeous, I headed to my favorite walking path along the gardens of the city's medieval walls. I took a bunch of pictures and watched the city gardeners change the flowers yet again to keep it perpetually beautiful. Fantastic!

Pumpkins and Apples

Whew..... I've told you before how crazy Wednesdays are.... Today was a bit more calm than usual just because Max was gone all day at a retreat for his First Communion preparation class. The 50 kids went to the shrine town of Sainte Anne D’Auray which is a famous destination for pilgrimages and was even visited by the Pope in 1996. Max said that they learned a lot about Jesus and Mary and had a great time. He said that they watched a "film" that was "inappropriate" for kids.... but "don't worry, Mom, they told us to duck our heads during the bad parts".


Because of Max being gone.... Tabitha and I ended up with a very, very rare 90 minutes of time with just each other. We took full advantage of it by heading downtown to the market and enjoying delicious pieces of chocolate orange cake and big cups of hot chocolate at our favorite tea shop. We then did a little shopping for gifts for our upcoming U.S. visit. It was a gorgeous, gorgeous day and we loved our time in town.

During the rest of our crazy running around kind of day, Tabitha, Calvin and I took the time to make a "real" pumpkin pie. Roasting the pumpkin, puree the pulp and even making a homemade crust. Remember, there is no canned pumpkin in France. Quincy then wanted to make a "real" apple pie with all of the apples that we had acquired at the apple festival on Sunday. I think we had more dessert than food at dinner tonight! Gotta love that!!!!

Coco's favorite spot in the house..... when the sun is shining and I leave the front door open for her.


As usual, the diligent city workers have changed all the flowers in the roundabouts and intersections to mums. They all looked gorgeous today!!

Language Frustrations

Today, we returned to our more normal gray and rainy skies but the temperatures were quite warm with highs close to 60. After taking my little guys to school this morning, I stood around a chatted with a couple of moms like I usually do. In the course of a conversation, a couple of them asked me if I wanted to go across the street with them to Diane's house for a bit. I missed the rest of what they said but since I know Diane and always like to say "yes" when I am invited to join something, I went along. Next thing I knew, we were all kneeling in Diane's living room and praying the rosary! No big deal, certainly didn't hurt me in anyway but certainly surprised me!!! The rosary is a good way to learn French prayers I discovered, with so much repetition. Since Max is preparing for his First Communion and both Quincy and Tabitha are preparing for their Confirmation, a few French prayers will come in handy. After saying the rosary, everyone disbanded and went their separate ways. Apparently they do this for just 30 minutes every Monday morning. I headed over to my American friend, Suzanne's, house for a cup of coffee and some catching up. I met yet another UK woman who lives in the area. I had no idea that we were so inundated with English speaking people in this part of France! Anyway, Mary was great fun and all 3 of us had a good time. After feeding the kids lunch at home today and walking them back to school along this quiet little street,

I took part in my next "group activity". I had volunteered to help at church by copying and assembling hand-outs for Max's First Communion retreat which is to take place tomorrow. I can honestly say that this is the first time that I was really, really frustrated with my lacking ability to communicate on a grand scale! I thought I was going to pull my hair out!! 6 women and 1 man spent 55 minutes trying to figure out how to copy various songs and pages onto back to back pages to create a book!! I am quite skilled on the copy machine but could not explain myself well enough to them to JUST LET ME DO IT! I wanted to rip the papers out of all of their hands and run screaming from the room. They finally understood that they should just let me at it and I had it put together in less than 5 minutes. We then spent a pleasant hour making multiple copies and stapling them together. Whew!!!!

It's in the Mail!

This little guy was at the festival we went to yesterday.....

Our ballot is on it's way.... We have now done our part to help the U.S. get the best possible candidate into office as President. Keep your fingers crossed that it works out that way.
Mondays are always full of busy work, trying to make up for some lazy time over the weekend. Calvin went home with a friend for lunch today which was quite fun. He said they had good time talking about all the differences between France and the U.S. I had coffee with a friend this afternoon before heading out with my Irish friend to my MRI for my knee. She acted as my translator and provided entertainment during all the waiting. Again, the French healthcare system is so efficient! I love it! I had to pay for the whole MRI out of pocket until we get reimbursed by our insurance company.... a whopping $123! The last MRI that I saw in the U.S. was billed at more than $5,000!! Same equipment, same personnel involved..... hmmmmm.....
I was also given my results and a consultation with the radiologist immediately after the scan. A piece of something - probably the meniscus - is floating around which is causing me pain. Guess I will be referred to a orthopedist next.....

Oh, I forgot to tell you.... Quincy's little 8th grade "girlfriend" came to his party on Saturday night. She came not only bearing snacks for the party but also brought ME a bouquet of flowers! Gotta like this girl.... Not sure that would ever happen in the States!

Fête des fruits d'automn

Sorry about that.... we didn't have internet access for most of the day yesterday....
We had a great weekend. Gorgeous weather with temperatures in the low 40's at night but up to the low 60's during the day. Plenty of sunshine! Tabitha spent the afternoon at the traveling carnival on Saturday with a friend. They rode all the rides and despite feeling a bit nauseous when she came home, she said they had a great time!
On Sunday, we piled into the car and drove the 45 minutes to the little town of Peillac for their annual Festival of the Fruits of Autumn. This turned out to mean apples, pumpkins and chestnuts. The tiny little town was jam-packed with people. Everyone was roaming the streets listening to the various music venues and sampling lots of the seasonal food sold at stands all through town. We watched them bake bread in wood stoves, roast chestnuts over an open fire and press apples for cider. We sampled hot chestnuts,
beignets des pommes (basically, apple fritters), fresh honey, apple cider, and fresh bread. Delicious!! We toured a booth where they had examples of 100's of apples to teach us all the types of apples that are available in the region. We listened to a high school marching band and a traditional Breton band. And, we admired the many gorgeous old, stone buildings of the town.
Great day!
Click on the above to see a brief video of the festival and listen to the traditional music. Turn up your volume because it's quite quiet.

8th Graders Party!

30 minutes to go..... But, who's counting? Quincy has about 20 kids over from his class to just hang out and to celebrate his class presidency. Whew! They are actually all very respectful and nice but it is a bunch of noisy kids in our little house and it is almost 11 p.m.! They all seem to be having fun though with a intermittent watching of a movie, playing basketball and hide-and-go-seek in the yard and eating lots of junk food. In the usual French style, they all brought something so we hardly had to provide much at all in the way of snacks. It's fun to see Quincy playing with this big group of friends and to hear him speak only French. The girl that we hear rumored to be his "girlfriend" even brought me a bouquet of flowers! Ooo la la....
Max and Calvin had basketball games today. Max's was his first ever and he had a great time. Calvin's team won 54 to 2! Pretty exciting game, eh?

A 3 Hour Lunch

Today started out with the usual errands and trip to the physical therapist's (those people are mean!). Just before lunch though, I was picked up by my Irish friend and driven to a local culinary/hotel/restaurant management school where we met 3 French women and a Scottish friend for lunch. Each day, the college age students of this school have to prepare a 5 course meal and then present it to the public in a beautiful restaurant setting. They are nervous but obviously well-trained and well-supervised. Our Scottish friend eats there about once a month and said that she rarely has a bad experience although it is slow. We had a fantastic meal today of all sorts of very fancy French foods. I had to laugh though because when we were brought the wine list, the 3 of us English-speakers, just said whether we preferred red or white but the 3 French women, discussed the wine list for more than 20 minutes before coming up with the perfect selection for us to all enjoy with our seafood. The same was true when the cheese cart rolled around. I just grunted and pointed in my usual manner but the French women had long discussions and obvious preferences about what cheeses go with our particular meal. Very interesting! I tried to learn as much as I could from them because I do love both wine and cheese! We had a great time throughout the meal with discussions about everything from contemporary art to what a "biscuit" actually is. Apparently it means something quite different in English, American and in French. It is even a type of Cognac, which I certainly never knew. There are so many words that are so different in American versus English. My Scottish friend, who has an extensive collection of books, even has a English/American dictionary, right next to her English/French dictionary. For example.... did you know that a garbage dump in American is a "tip" in English? During lunch, I discovered that my Scottish friend is actually the step-grandmother of Daniel Craig - a.k.a. the current James Bond!! How exciting is that?! Also, the mother of my Irish friend played at Wimbledon several years in a row back in the late 50's. Famous crowd, eh? After lunch, I went to my Scottish friend's house for a brief visit and to borrow some of her English books. I also had to enjoy the amazing view of the gulf that is right out her back door. Unfortunately, the sun was in the wrong place and I only had my camera phone so my pictures are not good but I thought I would post them anyway. The day was beautiful so I snapped a quick picture of the lake by our hospital and a house I love on my walk back home.

English Practice?

Today was absolutely gorgeous in the morning, we didn't get our daily rain until well after lunch. So, Coco and I enjoyed a nice long walk (sometimes, I just have to ignore the knee pain). I took pictures of some of my favorite styles of houses as well as some of the fall changes and flowers along the way.





After lunch, I picked up my American friend so that we could join a group of people who get together every other week to practice their English. I was asked to join them about a year ago but was never able to fit it into my schedule until now. It was quite fun. We got to see a beautifully renovated old French country house and join this group of several French people with several British people as their English-speaking mentors. We had a lively discussion about all sorts of things. As we were leaving, I just had to take a picture of the gorgeous stone longier with the thatched roof that was right next door. I am just fascinated by a thatched roof!!

Anticonstitutionellement

Tabitha just informed me that "anticonstitutionellement" (meaning against the constitution) is the longest word in the French vocabulary. I don't know.... I'll have to say that "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" trumps that one!
Not much going on here today, as you can tell. It was Wednesday so Q and T had school in the morning but the whole rest of the day was filled with kids' activities. From 10 til 11, from 11 til 12, from 1 til 2, from 2 til 3, from 3 until 4:30, from 5 until 6 and from 6:15 until 7.... someone has something..... Now Josh is out at his basketball practice from 8 until 10! Whew!!! Our poor dog doesn't know if we are coming or going!
With all of our running around, I was thinking about how much more observant and reactive French drivers have to be and are. We have seen very, very few accidents since we moved here. The streets are so narrow, the cross-walks are everywhere with the pedestrians really having the right of way, and the round-a-bouts are so hectic..... No wonder talking on your cell phone is strictly forbidden and you don't see anyone, anyone eating or drinking while they drive.
Today, while I was crossing a crosswalk on foot, I tried to wave a car on through but they refused to go. They simply waited for me to get my kids together and proceed across. It is so ingrained!! I swear that I even saw an ambulance with lights on stop at a crosswalk to let someone through!!

He is a Teenager

No matter where we move him, I guess we just can't keep Quincy from becoming a full-blown teenager. Rumor has it that he has a cute little French girl friend - he has been spotted on several occasions by different people with this girl. He is planning a party for his classmates at our house on Saturday. This evening, he was on the phone with one friend while online chatting with several others..... Sigh, at least he's practicing his written and verbal French and he's certainly not whining about wanting to move back to the U.S. too quickly.
I have been receiving physical therapy for my painful knee for the past week. It has been very interesting to observe the similarities in French and U.S. healthcare within my own field. Kind of fun, although my therapist and I both know that there isn't too much either one of us can do until I get an MRI done and possibly have surgery. My therapist speaks only French so if nothing else, it's a good French lesson. He told me today that my French was quite good because I can almost always understand him and I can express myself when I need to. He said all of that grammar is over-rated anyway!
Because Max and Calvin don't have school tomorrow, they are having a "camp out" in our tent on the 2nd floor landing. They wanted to do it in the backyard but neither one were actually brave enough when it came down to actually sleeping outside without mom or dad.

Sewage Guys

Today, I got to be the observer of an interesting little scene....
I walked over to my friend Sabine's house for a quick cup of coffee this afternoon. I happened to arrive at the same time as a couple of guys from the city of Vannes. Sabine quickly explained to me that they had accidentally discovered a sewage problem in her yard over the weekend. These guys were there to help clean up the problem and to figure out why it wasn't draining appropriately. Anyway, turns out that they were having some serious septic issues which were really a private problem for Sabine's house and not a city issue at all. The city guys quickly volunteered to help to clean up the problem and then spent the next hour or so doing just that. They bragged repeatedly about how much money they were saving Sabine by fixing this problem with city equipment and on city time. When their boss happened to stop by to see why they were taking so long on one stop, they quickly lied about the problem and got him back on his way. They then instructed Sabine that she needed more help with her septic system which they would gladly fix on their own time for private pay over the weekend if she would just give them a call. She felt obliged to give them a big tip before sending them on their way. Very strange....
Max continues to want to pronounce words with a French pronunciation so his English reading is lagging a bit behind. We are careful to work with him on this each day. Tonight, while he was reading me a story, he dropped the last letters on a word (like all good French words do) and said.... "Oops, sorry, I was in France there for a bit."

An Afternoon at the Beach

Last night, we joined the other Americans from Hill-Rom for a dinner out. We all enjoyed big pots of mussels with french fries and a gorgeous view of the port here in Vannes.


Today was another beautiful day. I think that it actually reached about 72 degrees, fantastic! After Mass, we packed up the dog and some snacks and headed out to our favorite beach at St. Gildas du Rhuys. It was beautiful, uncrowded and very relaxing. Definitely the way to enjoy a beautiful Sunday afternoon.






Quincy and Tabitha have tough decisions to make for school by tomorrow. They get to choose their "activity" to participate in during mandatory "activity week" in April for school. Quincy's choices range from First-Aid to embroidery to a trip to Spain, England or Italy. He had to make 2 choices and the decision will be based on a lottery system. His choices are either a week in England or a week in Italy. Tabitha's choices ranged from embroidery to arts and crafts to a week of skiing in the Alps.... She chose either a week of scuba-diving/fishing or a week of sailing and kayaking. They are both quite excited. Calvin also gets to a take a week long school trip in the spring. His whole class (5th graders) will go to the Pyrenees for a week of skiing. Must be nice....