Even our dog wears a scarf!

We have all certainly learned the value of wearing a scarf here. You gain so much warmth from such a simple garment and yet can so easily shed it if you get a bit warm. We really wear some version or another for most of the year. Anyway, today, while the kids were home for lunch, Max put his scarf on Coco. You wouldn't believe how much she liked it and how unencumbered she seemed to be! Maybe this is the warmth she has needed all this time! Don't worry, we don't want her to get strangled, so she can only wear it when someone is watching her.


This morning, I walked down to the mayor's office and picked up my brand-new French drivers license! I feel so legal and official now! We were legal before but I hated the thought of getting stopped and needing to show my US drivers license with my French residence card. The French license is very strange. It's basically a piece of folded paper with only 1/3 of it laminated. I will somehow have to keep this bulky thing intact in my wallet. It is not the primary identity card here so I guess it is often not carried with you if you are not driving. After this accomplishment, I walked over the old part of town to do a little shopping.

Remember that French stores can only have sales at two different times a year and Christmas is not one of them! It's so odd to not see big Christmas reductions taken on things. I did find Tabitha a great new winter jacket however, that was on clearance because the store is going out of business.
After lunch, I joined my friend Sabine for a drive out to Sene where she needed help dropping off a mattress at "Goodwill". Goodwill would not accept the piece because it had a small hole in it so we drove a bit further to leave it at the dump. Once again I am amazed at the friendliness, cleanliness, and orderliness of all things French. The dump was a sight to behold. (Sorry, I didn't think to bring my camera!) It was so well-organized and staffed! Everyone greeted us very pleasantly, pointed us to the correct car line, pointed us to the correct dumpster (that was ergonomically designed for easy dumping), helped us with the unloading and wished us a pleasant day. I have never, ever had such a "dump" experience! After dropping off the mattress, Sabine and I drove around a bit in search of the store of a friend. We finally found it and had a great time checking out Isabelle's beautiful hand-painted furniture and wares.