Category: Summer 2013

In this case, the expression “Mind the Gap” is referring to the store “The Gap.” I’m sure Chloe and Ella will know why I’m using this expression, at least once they see this picture. Right, girls?

You see, Melinda was laboring over what to bring Celeste & Claire from the U.S. as gifts. In desperation, she “allowed” Chloe and Ella to make the decisions, sending them out late last week with the task. They went to The Gap and came back with four items. Now the question was, which two items went to each girl?

Last night this was settled as Melinda explained that one girl got to pick first and the other girl got to pick second and third, meaning the girl who picked first also got the fourth item. Initially, Celeste, age 13, was going to pick first, but ultimately Claire, age 11. did so. I’m sure some sisterly strategy was involved.

For those of you scoring at home, Claire picked the sweater, whereupon Celeste selected the scarf and bag, leaving Claire with the bracelet.

I don’t think draft picks, future considerations, or cash was involved.

(Remember, you can click on the photos to enlarge them. FYI, all were taken today.)

I thought another way to kick jet lag would be to do what I normally do on Sunday mornings back home, that is to go for a run. It was 8am or so when I started out today (or 11pm Saturday night in Seattle) and a bit chilly. But within seconds, I felt great.

I started at the Boudeaus and ran down to the river. I crossed the bridge and then made my way over to a trail I regularly ran when we lived in Nantes 2+ years ago. It was quiet and cool, so reminiscent of my morning runs after taking Ella to school that I wanted to pinch myself, so content was I. I continued in the direction of our old neighborhood, then on to another trail there I ran regularly before hooking up to a city street that took me straight to the Hippodrome.

As I’ve needed to do lately at the 30 minute mark of any run, I stopped at the Hippodrome to stretch and rub out my achilles and calf. I took a couple of photos and started up again, running on the racetrack, the same place that I began running 2 1/2 years ago! My heart was beating fast and it wasn’t from the running.

I crossed the street in front of the main entrance to the Hippodrome and found the tiny entrance to a trail I discovered on one of my many Nantes explorations. I felt like a resident, especially as I passed other runners. Me, in my shirt and watch from Décathlon, running on tiny trails that a visitor would never know of.

On I went, down the tiny trail, before connecting with a larger trail along the camping site at Petit Port. I ran it to the Ligne 2 tram stop, then over to Ella’s school, Le Loquidy, stopping to take pictures. I reversed my trail back toward the tram stop and ran along a road next to the Université de Nantes, then over to another trail that took me to our favorite restaurant, La Belle Equipe.

Having hit the hour point of running and experiencing some tightness in my left calf (a new injury?), I decided to walk back to the Boudeaus. I climbed the stairs to the bridge and crossed back over, stopping to snap a picture of me on the bridge overlooking the Erdre.

Man, if I could do this every day…

I mentioned earlier today that Melinda was talking to Ella on the telephone. If you don’t know what a telephone is, it’s an old fashioned long distance conversation device that restricted those using it to just hear each others’ voices. I suppose there was some advantage to this, like for instance if you were just getting up in the morning (right, Melinda?). But gimme a break, really. It is just so much more human to be able to see who you’re talking to.

Given that, Melinda and Ella switched their conversation to Facetime, a handy little application that is part of iPhones, iPads, and iDon’tknowwhatelses. I snapped this picture of Melinda’s iPhone as she & Ella chatted.

On the subject of Ella, embedded below is a video of a song I introduced to her last Thursday as we drove over to Granny’s & Grandad’s place for lunch. I like it so much I made her listen to it several times, especially as I was working out what the singer was spelling. R-E-G-R-E-T was easy enough, and I figured out too L-A-T-E. But what I D-O-N-E was tripping me up. So here you go, Ella. It just gets better with each listen, and like Facetime over the telephone, it’s nice to see Corb Lund sing it:

It’s 6:30 in the morning on Sunday as I write this post. We went to bed 8 hours ago and slept fairly fitfully for a few hours before waking up pretty solidly just after 5am. Ah, adjusting to the time change.

Melinda is right this minute talking to Ella on the phone. It’s 9:30pm Saturday in Seattle, a good time to reach her, and, apparently, a good time for us to be wide awake.

Say, I’m following no rules in terms of how/when/how many times/how many photos I’ll be posting here.

This photo is another test for Chloe & Ella. Where did I take this picture of Melinda?

It’s hard to believe that exactly 24 hours ago Melinda & I were on the plane at SeaTac, just about ready to fly to Amsterdam. A day later we’ve been in Nantes since just before noon, had a sit-down lunch with the entire Boudeau family, and had dinner with the Bertails (minus Max & Théo). I accompanied Bérnard to Leclerc and went for a long walk around our old neighborhood.

From that walk I present these 5 photos specifically to Chloe and Ella. Each picture was taken this afternoon. Can you identify each location (click on each one to enlarge it)?

Note – I wrote this yesterday at SeaTac and tried to post it so there would be a first post on the new blog site for you all to see. Lo and behold, the Internet connection at SeaTac was spotty so it didn’t get posted. I decided to post it anyway, even though we’re now at the Boudeaus in Nantes.

Bet I scared you with that post title, eh? Actually, for Melinda and me it just turned out to be a minor inconvenience. For those behind us, it’s probably a pretty big deal.

Anyway, “unavoidable delay” was the phrase that came over the loudspeaker in the shuttle that took us from the main terminal to the “S” gates at SeaTac. It came on just after the shuttle came to a stop, about three feet shy of its proper stopping spot. What made it somehow less concerning was that it was a recording.

I mean if the airport has to record an “unavoidable delay” message, it must happen pretty regularly, right?

So we stood on the packed shuttle for 10 minutes or so, long enough for me to take this picture of Melinda and for a worker to squeeze open a door to get on. Soon thereafter, the shuttle moved those final three feet. Still, though, I had to activate the emergency switch on the door to get it to open.

Once in the “S” gates we heard a not recorded message announcing that trouble was being had with the shuttle and no one could get to the “B” gates.

“B gates.” Now you’d think something with the name “B gates” would have some pull in Seattle…