Category: Uncategorized

July 27, 2011

So yesterday I mentioned the family photo shoot Melinda, Chloe, Ella and I like to do each year. I said we choose the photo we like best and enlarge & frame it, and put it up in our home. We followed the tradition this year in Nantes; in fact, you can see this year’s photo in this post from Day 105, our 100th day in France.

Today’s blog picture comes from our recent photo shoot with the Boudeau family. If you’ve followed the blog for any length of time, you know it was the Boudeaus whose presence in Nantes inspired us to move here. It was the Boudeaus who found our house for us, negotiated with our landlord, found Ella’s school, helped us with our French bank account, etc, etc. Today Frédérique helped us again with our French bank and helped get us checked out of our house. In short, I can’t imagine what our sabbatical would have been like without them.

On our last full day in Nantes, the day we move out of our house (we’re spending the night at the Boudeau’s house tonight and then being taken by them to the train station at 5am tomorrow), I salute the Boudeaus, now permanently part of OUR family.

And speaking of the Boudeaus, on this day last year I wrote about the sexiness of French fire hydrants, an observation of mine that Laurent frequently references…
Day 27 (27 July 2010) – Ma Chérie, Bouche d’incendie

July 26, 2011

Last August, soon after we moved in to our Nantes house, we staged a “photo shoot” for the four of us on the back patio and got this picture. This is something we like to do a few times each year, hoping to capture what we call our “album cover” portrait. Each year we choose our favorite of these pictures, have it blown up big, frame it, and put it up in our house. I referenced this once in a post on the Kind Living blog.

This month, before leaving, we wanted to replicate that August photo shoot but this time include the members of our “French family,” getting photos that include us with the Bertails and others that include us with the Boudeaus. I’ve chosen to feature pictures from those “shoots” today and tomorrow, our last two full days in France, to honor and express our appreciation for these families.

Today’s photo features the Bertails. Meeting them has been one of those experiences that demonstrate one is on the right path. The kindness of their entire family, from Bernard’s stately presence to Claire’s bubbly smile, has been a gift to us of enormous proportions. We are proud to count the Bertails as part of OUR family.

On subject of families, a year ago today I wrote about how Melinda and I were neglecting our children. Hmmm…
Day 26 (26 July 2010) – Oysters at the Pornichet Market

July 25, 2011

We leave in less than 3 days, meaning we have very little time left to get ready. A big part of this is getting our suitcases packed, and a big challenge to this is keeping them under the 50 lb weight limit. We are each allowed 2 large suitcases to check, plus a small carry-on bag and then a purse or laptop bag (I haven’t yet decided whether to call mine a purse or a laptop bag).

I brought the bathroom scale downstairs in order to place it on a large flat surface for uniforming weighing. I told Chloe that I thought we should try multiple ways/weighs. She didn’t laugh at all; in fact, I think she rolled her eyes. If not that, she just looked aweigh.

Ha!

The most consistent style of weighing was setting each bag on the scale by itself, as opposed to me holding them as illustrated in today’s picture. It’s kind of funny how we fine-tune each bag, moving an item from one into another in order to best make use of our weight allowance. One advantage we have this time around as compared to our trip to France is Romain is coming with us. He has the same baggage allowance but doesn’t have so many things since he is just staying in the US for a month. We’ll be using his second bag.

Speaking of Romain, a year ago today I wrote about him playing with his sister in a swimming pool…
Day 25 (25 July 2010) – Siblings in the Pool

July 24, 2011

Okay, here is one of those pictures I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the one in which I so rudely ignored all the great photos and story possibilities in favor of posting a picture of me at a racetrack. You just have to understand that I have my priorities.

So, yes, yesterday we spent a couple of hours at the newly remodeled racetrack in Pornichet, having had a wonderful lunch at Luc’s & Isabelle’s house. Then after the races, we drove into town, parked, and went for a long walk along the beach. We stopped at a strategic point for this photo, taken by Luc’s sister who was with us (L-R: Luc, Isabelle, Laurent, Melinda, Frédérique, Andy).

Back at home in Nantes today we are cleaning and packing, readying ourselves for our move back to Seattle. It’s all feeling a bit surreal. I was cleaning the shower and reminiscing on the day last year when the owners of our home were first showing us around the house. Was that really a year ago?

Speaking of a year ago, as I mentioned yesterday, on this day last year I imagined what the Pornichet racetrack would look like in 2011…
Day 24 (24 July 2010) – The New Racetrack

July 23, 2011

Perhaps it’s a little bit selfish of me to choose this photo today, especially when I have several others from our day trip to Pornichet and the city’s new racetrack. I mean I have a nice shot of Laurent and his friend (and our day’s host) Luc cheering on their selections in an early race. And I have a lovely picture of Luc and Isabelle, his wife, just outside their house. Then there is a group shot of Frédérique, Laurent, Luc, Isabelle, Melinda and me during our late afternoon walk along the beach with the Atlantic Ocean behind us. But I choose this one of me with racehorses. Yup. Selfish.

On July 24 last year, a year ago tomorrow, when we were staying in Pornichet, I wrote about the construction of the racetrack. I lamented that we had arrived in Pornichet a year early. Then the opportunity came for us to go today, thus closing this tiny gap in my France experience. Laurent & Frédérique set it up and agreed to drive. Luc & Isabelle provided an incredible lunch. And they live so close to the racetrack that we could easily walk. Turns out it was a special day at the track, too. Free admission, pony rides for kids and more. Laurent was the big winner, clearing 60 centimes on his betting.

A year ago today I introduced you to the library at Pornichet…
Day 23 (23 July 2010) – Pornichet Library

July 22, 2011

As you can likely tell, I took this picture right after I took the one I used in yesterday’s post. I have been imagining at least one person (my mom) reading yesterday’s post and saying something to the effect of, “But I can’t see their faces!” So here they are, Zacharie and Luce, in all their glory.

Let may say it again. These are adorable children. And they speak fluent French. Go figure. I’ll tell you, there are few things cuter in my world than hearing a small child speak French. Luce, especially, just melts my heart. Chloe has a video of her singing, too, that is priceless. If listening to a small child speak French is cute, hearing one sing in French is over the top cute. Given both parents are professional musicians, there isn’t much surprise that Luce has some musical ability.

Switching gears, today Melinda and Christine went out together for lunch. Back at home, Chloe tried to coax the sun out from behind the clouds by sitting by the pool. It didn’t really work. For you Seattle folks, the last couple of weeks in Nantes have mirrored the weather we hear you’ve been having. Ella finished up Book 9 in her math series, meaning she’s right on track. Me, I cleaned the pool. In a few minutes, Laurent and Frédérique are picking up Melinda and me. The four of us are heading to a garden party at the home of Alice’s parents. Chloe is going out with a girlfriend from China she met at the University of Nantes. Ella has a date with some fan fiction, I think.

A year ago we went in search of cheeseburgers…
Day 22 (22 July 2010) – In Search Of…

July 21, 2011

It’s astounding to me the mix of emotions I am feeling as we near our departure date from France (a week from today). I’ll be communicating with someone from Seattle and get all excited to be home. For instance, I talked to my parents by phone yesterday and exchanged email with Steve, a co-worker at PSCS, and felt the build-up of excitement that comes with looking forward to an anticipated event. Then today we were invited over to the house where Chloe did most of her babysitting this year to say goodbye to Zacharie and Luce, the incredibly adorable children she took care of, and Penny, their mother. The profound sadness I felt in saying these goodbyes is palpable.

When we arrived, Penny and the kids had decorated the house, baked a cake, and created a beautiful table complete with strewn flower petals. The kids provided bissous all around, something I will never tire of from children and will desperately miss back in the U.S. Chloe had made special videos for each child of their year together. Since Penny’s DVD player isn’t working, we all came back to our house to watch them. I don’t think there was a dry eye among the older set as we watched. Luce and Zacharie just had ear-to-ear grins watching themselves on TV.

Today’s photo is of the two kids sitting at their table in their house, having just been served cake and grape juice. I snapped this picture just as they clinked glasses. This was a complete surprise to me, watching a 6 year-old and a 4 year-old touch glasses before eating. It was beyond sweet and undoubtedly contributed to the emotion I am feeling tonight.

A year ago today everything was so fresh and new. We were in Pornichet, still 10 days before we would move in to our house in Nantes. We were having fun on our rented bikes. Wow. What an incredible year…
Day 21 (21 July 2010) – Tour De France

July 20, 2011

There are some inside jokes that when you try to explain them, they just fall flat. I feel that may be the case here. You see, Frédérique, Laurent, Romain, Melinda, Chloe and I went out for a sushi dinner tonight. It was a long-standing idea, Melinda & me introducing Frédérique and Laurent to sushi. Deep into the dinner, Romain made a comment that cracked up all the native French speakers at the table. I mean Laurent, Romain and Frédérique (especially) were nearly besides themselves with laughter. Romain’s comment? “Pas de souci.”

Chloe seemed to catch on first, then Melinda. To a certain extent, I’m still trying to figure it all out. Here’s what I’ve got. “Souci” sounds a lot like “sushi,” part of what makes this funny. Literally translated, “souci” means worry. So the expression “pas de souci” means “no worries” or “no problem.” Suddenly, anything anyone at the table said got a “no problem” (“pas de souci”) response. It has gone down as the expression of the day. In fact, I think it’s one I might remember.

Okay, maybe you just had to be there (and, as in my case, there is no guarantee that you would catch on too quickly).

Say, it’s my mom’s birthday today. I talked to her earlier and promised we’d toast her birthday at dinner tonight. Chloe took the picture (and I’m back manipulating pictures, as you can see). And sorry, mom – we chose beer over red wine to go with the sushi.

A year ago today I celebrated my mom’s birthday by sending her a picture of a sign…
Day 20 (20 July 2010) – Happy Birthday, Carib!

July 19, 2011

All the other images for this month I’ve been manipulating with an online photo enhancer called Be Funky (I’ve been using the “Underpainting” feature found in the “Artsy Effects” section, if you’re interested). I decided that today’s photo deserved to be left as it is. Actually, I didn’t want Melinda telling me that I messed up such a good photo.

This photo is from last Thursday, July 14, when we went with the Bertails to see the Bastille Day fireworks in Nantes. I suggested to Melinda & Christine that they pose for me so I could have a picture of them together. Seconds after I took this one, Christine leaned over and planted a big fat smooch on Melinda’s cheek. I was late getting THAT photo. If I had gotten it, you can bet I would be using that on the blog.

For Melinda, it goes without saying the importance Christine has in her life. I mentioned recently that she is easily the best friend Melinda has made since we’ve been married. Beginning last summer when Melinda helped Christine with her kitchen remodel, the two have spent hours together. Right now they are involved in a series of workouts each morning. I’m sure they plan to continue this with Skype or something.

A year ago today we rented bikes in Pornichet and I snapped of picture of Melinda riding away from a bakery with a baguette poking out of the top of her backpack…
Day 19 (19 July 2010) – Bikes!

July 18, 2011

Once upon in a day or was it several of them,
I went to Orange with my wife (in French that is “femme”).
I went with my wife not to go it alone,
We went to make sense of our cellular phone.

We met a young man with a nice smile, a nice bod,
He gave me his card that said his name, it was Saad.
He wanted to help, he wanted it bad,
Three hours later I think he was mad.

You see, our phones were a mess, wound tight like a clock.
We wanted them free but they wouldn’t unlock.
Saad called up Nokia, he called up his boss.
In the end all he could say was that he’s at a loss.

The phones are the same as they were at the start,
Saad is still nice; in fact, nice, kind and smart.
My wife is concerned ’cause our friend’s in misuse.
And me, all I can do is make rhymes like ol’ Seuss.

I’ve looked for a moral to the day’s repartee,
And decided it rests in trying to be arty.
I’ve written this rhyme in hope of gaining a laugh,
But just like today, I think it’s been a gaff.

Day 18 (18 July 2010) – The Beach