Author: Andy Smallman

Today was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

City #1: Bordeaux
Melinda and Chloe left this morning by train for 4 days in the city of Bordeaux. Chloe doesn’t start back up at school for another couple of weeks, thus presenting the opportunity to do a little traveling. Melinda did some serious online research, one of her specialties, to find the best deal, both in the cost of the train travel and in accommodations in Bordeaux. I just received via email today’s photo. From the look of things, they seem to be managing just fine.

City #2: Nantes
Ella and I are both here at home in Nantes and, as it turns out, are both quite sick. I’ve been feeling so crummy today that I wasn’t sure I’d have it in me to post. In fact, I’m writing from bed, propped up on several pillows, having just awakened from an evening nap. Ella has also been under various covers herself all day, dozing and watching television. We’ve already determined that she won’t be going to school tomorrow and that I won’t be providing Monday’s English lessons. From the feeling of things here, we are doing our best to manage (dinner tonight was a couple of fruit smoothies, for instance).

My apologies to Charles Dickens….

Melinda even said there should be a third H for me, Heaven. Yup, that was what tonight was like for me. Heaven. For quite some time I’ve talked to Laurent about taking him to a hockey game. He suggested that we combine the hockey game with another of my desired plans for him, going to the Burger House (remember Ella’s and my first visit in September?). So that’s what we did, a night of hockey and hamburgers. Indeed, heaven for me.

But get this. Frédérique came along, which means Melinda came along. So it was a double date! I was with my date, Laurent. And Melinda was with her date, Frédérique. It started in what I think is very French fashion, with a glass of wine. But that’s where the French side of things ended (well, other than we are in FRANCE!). After our glass of wine, we zipped over to the rink for the game, only to find the place was filled. There were not 4 decent seats to be found together. Nantes was playing Cholet, a city about 30 miles away and the top team in the league, so lots of Cholet fans came. In order to be together, we sat on the steps in an aisle way. It was a great game, back and forth, until the 3rd period when Cholet scored 3 quick goals to win 5-3.

Afterwards we drove into town to the Burger House. It was difficult to find a place to park and the tiny restaurant was overflowing with customers. But our desire for hamburgers and our patience won. Besides, Rick and Sidonie, the owners, took good care of us. I know I still have some work to do with Frédérique and Laurent. They ate their Route 66 cheeseburgers with knives and forks (other than this first bite photo I got of Laurent). But I did get Frédérique to practice saying, “I’d like a classic cheeseburger, hold the mayo.”

I took this picture this morning at about 7:45. That’s Ella’s left ear in the foreground on the right side of the photo. We are both standing at the end of the tram, Ligne 2, of course, on our way to her school. I took it to try to represent how many people were on the tram. It was fairly packed.

It’s an interesting thing, riding the tram at this time in the morning just before school or when school lets out in the afternoon. On Monday morning we could hardly fit on the tram. In fact, my arm was in the doorway and kept the door from fully closing at first, thus delaying the tram’s departure. I think something like this had happened on some earlier stops because that tram was late Monday morning. It also was the first day back to school after winter break so I think students were a little earlier than what becomes normal. With trams running every 7 minutes and it being easy for them to get delayed by a minute or two, it’s not surprising how some trams end up more packed than others.

Ella has developed some theories about this and suggests waiting for a later tram if there is too great a gap between one that recently left and the next one coming. The next one, she says, is bound to be full, just like this morning’s. I think she should create a guidebook, “Ella’s Guide to Riding Line 2.” After all the coverage I’ve given it you’d buy a copy, right? In no time at all it would be Amazon’s bestseller, I’m sure.

If you are unfamiliar with Groupon and are a fan of cost-saving concepts, you really should check it out. The word is a combination of two words, “group” and “coupon,” the idea being that if a minimum number of people sign up for an offer, one of which is presented each day, then the deal becomes available to all of them. If this minimum is not met, no one gets it. Groupon exists in a number of cities all over the world. I signed up for Groupon Seattle and used it for several things, including Chloe’s senior photos last year. Imagine my surprise when I discovered there is such a thing as Groupon Nantes!

As you might expect, Groupon Nantes is in French so to fully understand the offer I sometimes need to use a translator. This is where the fun begins! The explanations of the offers are often poetic and Google’s translations are hysterical. Today’s blog post title comes from one for a weekend getaway that translated as follows:

“Get out of your cocoons during those long winter months foggy, drizzly, leave the pollution in cities for the serenity of wide open time for a romantic stop. Groupon invites you to head for the Ile de Ré, you rub spray, let the wind blow like a gale of freedom in your hair disheveled, smelling the sea air wake up every part of your body.

“Le Relais Thalasso Ile de Ré opens one of its cozy rooms for a weekend under the sign of well-being. Upon arrival at the Relais Thalasso, you will be overwhelmed by a feeling toned and soft at once, triggered by the special glow of soft light and this unique space, facing south, which extends over five acres. Here you’ll enjoy all the pleasures of outdoor life, go for long bike rides through vineyards, tidal marshes and rugged coastline and relax in their space Hydromarin.”

I thought today’s photo fit the title somehow, especially when you see Melinda in the background, peaking through at the camera.

Six months ago today our plane touched down in Nantes, meaning we have reached the halfway point of the sabbatical. I won’t bore you with the details related to us staying on three more weeks in July this year. I’ll just say that it involves airlines and round trip tickets and PSCS and our lives moving forward and…

Six months ago tomorrow, Romain gave us our first tour of Nantes, referenced on this early blog entry. Ah, we were such Nantes newbies then. To mark the occasion of six months in France, the four of us returned to the scene of our lunch with Romain, captured both in text and in print at that linked blog entry. In July we ate outside, wore shorts and flip flops, were feeling jetlagged, and otherwise required the presence of our guide and translator. Today we ate inside near a roaring fire, wore coats and scarves, were wide-awake, and managed just fine, thank you, with the menu and ordering. Following Ella’s July cue, Melinda and I joined her today in ordering a dish that comes with meat one cooks at the table. Ella and Melinda had both steak and chicken. Me, having become a bit of a fan of it, ordered duck. On the near stone in this photo is my duck and on the far stone is Ella cooking a piece of chicken.

As we rode the tram to town today we commented on how familiar everything is to us and how different that feels compared to our first day in town. See, you CAN teach a couple of old dogs, and a couple of younger ones, for that matter, new tricks.

Interestingly, I came up with several titles for today’s blog post before finally settling on “Water of Life.” I considered “Bon Voyage,” since Melinda’s parents left Nantes this morning. By the way, they left our house at a *fairly* reasonable hour, 8:15am, and traveled by train (TGV) to Paris where they are spending the night in a hotel INSIDE the Paris airport – now that’s smart! And we just read an email from them that includes a description of their room. Apparently, there is a view of the runway from their bed! I want that!! Oh, back to titles…

I considered “April Fool’s Day” with the idea that my post would be a complete joke, as well as a test to see if anyone could figure out why I called it “April Fool’s Day” today. Given I passed on this, I’ll tell you. In Europe, and I’m sure other places, the numerical representation of the date starts with the day, then the month, then the year. So I kept seeing 4/1/2011 on reader boards. To an American, that’s April 1st, right? Okay, I passed on that idea…

There was also “Lunch in Angers,” considered because Melinda and I took the train (another TGV) to the nearby town of, get this, Angers for, get this, lunch. With all of our guests having left, we decided a little treat was due the two of us. We found a cute little restaurant, La Soufflérie, and had, get this, wait for it, wait for it…, soufflés (another potential title) for lunch.

But I settled on “Water of Life,” the English translation of “Eau-de-Vie,” the digestif I had after the soufflés (while Melinda ate a caramel au beurre salé crêpe – that’s her in the background). This one is specifically eau-de-vie de poire (pear) and was served ice cold. It was delicious and hit the spot perfectly, just like so many things in France.

Sometimes something is so spectacularly thoughtful or kind that it takes your breath away. When someone does something kind for one of your children, the splendor is exponentially increased. Today’s post is hereby dedicated to Ivaly and Louisa (and whatever support they had from their parents), Ella’s two best friends from Seattle, who delivered such a kindness today.

Being away from home has been understandably the hardest on Ella. She was 13 when we left, and had her entire life uprooted. On top of that, she has been the most fully immersed in French life, having been enrolled in a French school full time. As we like to say, even her math class is a “French class,” given that it’s taught in French. Ella has met all of these challenges with her usual grace and courage. Frankly, she’s an inspiration.

So imagine Ella’s joy at coming home from school for lunch today and finding a large box from Ivaly and Louisa waiting for her. The squeal of delight was incredible, punctuated by several more as she carefully opened each wrapped package inside. I had the privilege and joy of witnessing this, and snapped a few photos to commemorate the occasion. And as lovely as each gift is (my favorite being a photo of the two girls in which they’ve made their arms into the shape of a heart, the superheroes that they are), none of the gifts could top the overall importance of the thought and gesture the gifts represent.

Thank you, Ivaly and Louisa.

The horse racing season resumed today at the racetrack near our house. I casually mentioned this earlier today, after Dwight, Michele, Melinda and I had a delightful brunch at Annabelle’s. Dwight expressed interest in seeing a race or two, something I was only too eager to provide. So just as the sun came peaking through the clouds this afternoon, Dwight and I walked over to the track and caught the last two races. It was trotters today, something I learned was of interest to Dwight. He told me that when the girls were young his family acquired a pony that was stabled on an island near Seattle. Dwight always had the idea of building a little sulky for the pony to pull. So as we exited the track after the last race, we were excited to be able to examine a couple of sulkies that had just been used in the races. Now that pony is long gone, but perhaps Brenda & Melinda will still get the surprise of a homemade sulky. I wouldn’t put it past Dwight.

On the subject of the Shaw family and their pony, Dwight shared with me a great story of the pony taking off with Brenda on its back. Apparently it wanted Brenda off its back and tried running under a low doorway to remove her. She was smart enough to lay flat but Dwight still chuckles at his recollection of her calling for him. Ah, parenting.

One more unrelated thing about today. Dwight took all of us and the Boudeau family out for dinner tonight, 10 of us. We had a delicious galette & crêpe dinner and were able to all sit together. It was lovely, and part of the goodbye process for Dwight and Michele who leave Nantes on Tuesday.

I’m kicking off the new year on a high note. You see, Dwight, Melinda’s dad, has lamented that he can’t find his favorite salad dressing, Thousand Island, in France. Now he’s been to France many times so I think there is something to his lament. I mean, I know Dwight well enough to assume he’s looked for it, and I was part of the crew that checked for it in Leclerc, one of the huge grocery stores in France. We have salad with our dinner each night, and Dwight pretty much takes it on the chin each time he wishes he had some Thousand Island for his salad, which is pretty much every night.

On the subject of Dwight taking it on the chin, and to further illustrate the significance Thousand Island dressing plays in the Shaw family, both as a source of semi-embarrassment and humor, I have this story. At Dwight’s & Michele’s 50th anniversary party two years ago, in front of 200+ guests, I was asked to make a little speech. Sitting at the head table, I had just witnessed Dwight lamenting the lack of his favorite salad dressing at such a significant event in his life. Apparently, some thoughtless chef had whipped up a supremely elegant dressing, likely something with virgin oils and vinegars manufactured in remote countries or something, a dressing capable of miracles, no doubt. Michele was thoroughly enjoying it, as were Melinda and Brenda, when Dwight asked for some Thousand Island. So in my speech I made reference to this, that any marriage that can last though 50 years of Thousand Island controversy has to be a good one.

But I digress… I started this off by saying I’m on a high note. And if you haven’t put it all together yet, tonight I made some Thousand Island dressing for Dwight. It was a hit! Even Chloe and Ella liked it, meaning there is undoubtedly years of Shaw embarrassment ahead. Dwight even compared me to Paul Newman (I don’t think it was my blue eyes).

Oh, about the title of this post. In French, father-in-law is “beau père.” Fair enough. But translated, it literally means “beautiful father.” So today’s posting is dedicated to “my beautiful father” for withstanding years of salad dressing abuse.

The knock-outs in the center are Frédérique and Melinda, of course. The lucky guys on the ends are Laurent and me. Just think what two incredibly attractive women like this COULD be doing on New Year’s Eve in France if they put their minds to it… Instead, when this photo was taken they were about to have dinner with us. What might they be thinking? Is this the best we can do? Earlier I posted about 20 years of marriage. Now it’s about a New Year’s Eve dinner with attractive women in France. Am I blessed or what?

So, yes, we had dinner at a very fashionable French restaurant in Nantes called “Le 1” that was chosen by Frédérique and Laurent. To get a sense of how hip this place is, check out their website. The meal was 4 courses over 4 hours, paired with wines selected by Laurent. How many of you got to have a real live Frenchmen not only pair wines for your New Year’s Eve dinner (and 20th anniversary), but sit with you and translate the menu?! What fun we had, complete with a very goofy ringing in of the new year that involved shooting little balls at each other (and the other patrons) through things I can best describe as pea shooters on steroids. After doing that, we even took to the dance floor and boogied (yes, I used the word boogied) to “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”

After dinner we went to the house of Laurent (yes, another Laurent) and Sandrine, where we sat chatting until about 4am. Frédérique continues to promise me that she is laughing with me and not at me. I’m not so sure, especially after writing out on a piece of paper what sound Americans say a rooster makes. Cock a doodle doo, right?