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That’s a line used several times by Kurt Vonnegut in his nonfiction writing. He explains, though, that its origin is his uncle Alex, of whom Vonnegut wrote, “And his principal complaint about other human beings was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy. So when we were drinking lemonade under an apple tree in the summer, say, and talking lazily about this and that, almost buzzing like honeybees, Uncle Alex would suddenly interrupt the agreeable blather to exclaim, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.”’

Let me just say that the line, as important as it has been to me in the past, so much so that I have said it multiple times during our sabbatical, has never been as a poignant as it is right now. Here in Nice today we spent much time at the beach (note, I’m using a photo I took at the beach yesterday instead of one from today in swimming suits – I know where my bread is buttered, if you know what I mean). So tell me, can you imagine a better time than sitting with your family on a beach in the French Riviera?

Here’s more from that Vonnegut essay (which you really should go read yourself, especially you, Steve Miranda), “So I do the same now, and so do my kids and grandkids. And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.'”

If this isn’t nice (Nice), I don’t know what is.

We left nice Paris this morning at 7am, taking a nice 75 minute airplane ride to nice Nice. We gathered our bearings and took a nice bus from the nice Nice airport to town. We boarded the nice Nice tram for a nice ride to the nice Nice train station where we stored our nice bags for the day. We walked to a nice Nice sidewalk café where we relaxed over nice drinks. The nice sun came out in nice Nice making the day in Nice itself quite nice. We walked to what Rick Steves calls “Old Nice” (quite nice) where we had a nice lunch at a nice Nice restaurant, also recommended by Rick Steves. We think he’s nice and he thinks Nice is nice. Nice has multiple nice gelato shops so we all each had a nice scoop of nice gelato in front of a nice Nice church. We then walked to the nice Nice beach, on the very nice Mediterranean, part of the extremely nice French Riviera. Mid-afternoon, we checked into our nice Nice apartment where we will be living until Friday, what we anticipate will be a nice Nice day, just like today.

Thinking about this, imagine what I could do with a blog post if Stephanie, Tammy, Olivia or Perrin (my nieces) came to visit! Maybe one will come, just so I could say, “I bet you can’t guess which nice niece is visiting my nice family in Nice.”

Nice.

I’m writing from the Sheraton Hotel inside the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, the airport being the site of today’s photo (taken less than an hour ago). From our hotel room window I’m watching planes take off and land (it IS an airport, after all).

Speaking of airplanes, airports, and being in a hotel in Paris, tomorrow morning we are flying to Nice (pronounced like the relationship any of my brothers’ daughters are to me, and Melinda’s sister’s daughter to me, too!), a city in southern France. We’ll be there until Friday, at which point we’ll be taking a train to Italy where we will spend the next week. It’s our last BIG trip of the sabbatical, and one that has been in the works since family members made out their “sabbatical wish lists.” Melinda and the girls all had Italy as a priority. Me, I’m pleased to be just about anywhere.

Today’s trip to the Paris airport is also serving as a bit of a dry-run for when we begin our trek back to Seattle in July. We rode the same train (TGV) from Nantes to Paris that we will ride then. I keep telling everyone to take a minute to imagine that it IS July and we are on our way home. Then all of sudden, I tell them, remind yourself that it’s April and we still have 3 more months in France (including a week in Italy, of course)!

As I understand it, the bells in France have been silent since Thursday, having flown to Rome to hook up with the Pope or something. They returned today to ring out loud and strong, and have brought chocolate for the children. Anything that involves chocolate can’t be all bad, I’m sure, in God’s or anyone’s eyes. So Chloe & Ella woke this morning (or was it this afternoon – Ella IS still recuperating from her trip to London, after all) to find some bell-shaped chocolate waiting for them, as well as a few egg-shaped pieces. How Chloe still qualifies as a child, I’m not sure. I mean she’s considered old enough to legally drink here. And there was no bell-shaped chocolate waiting for me this morning, or even this afternoon for that matter.

I know, I know. I’ve got to get over myself. Chloe will always be my child…

To learn more about the Easter traditions of France I strongly recommend you spend a few minutes listening to that well-known American cultural anthropologist, David Sedaris. He can explain it all better than I can, as he does in this excerpt from the outstanding radio program “This American Life.”

Ella has always had what I’ve called “an accidental design eye” when it comes to taking pictures. Some of my all-time favorite photos have been taken by her, some when she was very, very young and on cheap, cheap cameras (for an example, Facebook users should look at Melinda’s profile picture – I love this pic!). So last night, after we met her at her school at 11pm (their projected return time) and rode our beloved Line 2 home, I was not surprised to find several such photos among those she took while in England the past week as we excitedly looked through her collection.

Case in point, today’s photo. I think it’s brilliant. It captures something in London that impressed Ella while demonstrating that they did a lot of touring on a bus. At this point in the trip I think she’d figured out how to turn off the flash, meaning you don’t have a light reflection from the bus window in the photo. But even those look pretty interesting.

To sum up the trip, Ella had an absolutely marvelous time. She enjoyed being the one student who could speak the native language (for once). Her favorite place was the wax museum, with Shakespeare’s Globe coming in second. Her host family was very, very nice. She is also quite pleased to be back home. She slept in until noon today and has spent the day reacquainting herself with her iPad.

Welcome home, Ella! Not only did your iPad miss you, we missed you, too!

Regular readers here will know that I’ve given Seattle-area names to a number of places we regularly visit, most notably shopping centers. I’ve dubbed one “Northgate” and another “Bellevue Square” (I bet you can guess which one is fancier). Near our house is a wooded area with a trail, what I’ve come to call “Ravenna Park.”

About a month ago Melinda and I noticed that a circular area along the trail had been cleared. A fence had been erected around it and along the fence a kind of hedge had been planted. We came back a few days later to see that much of the earth in the circular area had been cleared, then a few days later we saw concrete being poured in specific locations and in specific shapes. Needless to say, we were intrigued. What was it? A garden? Some kind of miniature labyrinth?

About a week later we came back again and saw that playground equipment had been attached to the poured concrete. Everything fell into place then, of course. It’s a cute little neighborhood playground with a living enclosure! Now we’ve gone back to see this living fence grow and are impressed by its growing speed. The playground is not yet open for children but we think that day is coming soon. Ground cover is another recent addition. You know, the wood chip kind of stuff you see at the foot of play structures.

Someone once said “All the world’s a stage,” right? Can I amend that to say, “All the world’s a playground?”

We are finding ourselves saying things like, “When we get back home we…” and “Remember when we first got to France and…”

It’s both exciting and sad, if that makes sense. On one hand we are looking forward to be back in our Seattle home and re-engaging in all the things we love about living in Seattle. And on the other hand our lives in Nantes have been so wonderful that part of us doesn’t ever want to leave. For instance, the store over Melinda’s and my shoulders in today’s photo is something I will miss. It’s a sporting goods store called Decathlon (French website / English website). To my knowledge, there is nothing like it in the U.S. I’ve purchased very inexpensive clothes that I really like, food products (I’m a nut for energy bars and powders), my pedometer, and a stopwatch from Decathlon. I will miss it.

More important than the stores, though, are the people. Melinda was touched yesterday when Christine mentioned how much she is going to miss her, a sentiment Melinda had recently shared with me about Christine. We had a similar conversation with Frédérique on Sunday.

We need to keep in mind that we still have 3 WHOLE MONTHS left to enjoy France (well, France and a week in Italy that’s coming up).

Wow. What an experience this is proving to be. Everything we had hoped and more.

By catch-all, I mean to provide quick updates on several things that are happening in our lives.

First, we’re having another wonderful day in Nantes, temperatures again in the mid 70’s. Melinda and I ate our lunch outside, next to the pool. I haven’t gone in yet, having come inside to write this post, but I intend to. I can’t begin to express how wonderful this weather is for us. It’s like taking a spring break trip to California, or even Mexico, without having to leave the house.

Chloe had her usual French class at the University of Nantes this morning. Her French is getting better and better, and she continually is being complimented for it. The most recent compliment came today from a teenage neighbor. Right now she is babysitting, due home before dinner.

Ella continues to be having a great time in London with her classmates. Yesterday they toured a church and took time out for shopping. She likes her host family and appreciated the Indian curry she had for dinner.

Today’s photo was taken by Frédérique on Sunday just after Laurent had finished the marathon. He was stretching and rather than take a picture of him doing that, Frédérique situated Melinda and me in front of the famous Nantes elephant. It’s a great shot, don’t you think?

Today’s photo is a screenshot I took exactly 3 minutes ago listing up-to-the-minute information about Nantes, including the current temperature (I changed it so it would display in Fahrenheit). Yes, at 5:25pm it’s 75 degrees in Nantes, replicating the weather we had a week and a half ago. Melinda and I just came in from spending two hours outside. We were sipping cool drinks and reading. I even went in the unheated pool, and not for cleaning purposes this time but to cool off. It was refreshing.

I read in The Seattle Times today that it is the coldest April on record, apparently a great thing for moss (who knew?). Melinda chatted with her sister last night who told her about the cold, cold weather back home. Sitting by the pool today with an iced coffee in hand Melinda said to me, “Well, if the US dollar is going to continue to slide against the Euro, I’m going to see it as us buying ourselves a little warm weather and sunshine.”

When she said that I got the idea for today’s post. Yes, our sympathy is with you, Seattle, but only up to a point. We are going to enjoy our super weather here to its fullest.

Last night Ella and a few dozen classmates left school by bus for a week in London. This trip has been pointed to for months and months, perhaps Ella’s highlight of the school year. Chloe is extremely jealous, not just because Ella has now made it to England before her but because of her visiting just before the royal wedding. Chloe is sure Ella is going to see things about the wedding she wishes she could see.

We’ve received a few text messages from Ella today. The first came just after 6am as they boarded a ferry to take them from France to England. Another message indicated that the head teacher on the trip had forgotten her passport and had to head back to Nantes by train. Whoops! If she is to join them she will have to fly to England. Ella also explained being the only student who had to exit the bus to go through customs, given her status as an American. She was excited to say she got her passport stamped. Other messages indicated the group’s safe arrival in England, a visit to a church, and stopping for lunch.

Today’s photo was taken last night, just before Ella boarded the bus at school. She was gracious enough to offer each of us and a goodbye hug and kiss. Other than that, I think we embarrassed her quite properly.