Tag: French Sabbatical

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?

Today’s occasion deserves a rule being broken. And I’ll do it in one of two ways. Either I’ll post twice, starting with this one, obviously. Or I’ll make this posting and then delete it, putting up another later.

You see, Melinda & I were married 20 years ago today. We did it in a style that most define as “eloping,” given that we didn’t really tell anyone of our plans. But unlike the stereotypical elopement that involves deciding on the spot to go off and get married, Melinda and I made the decision two months earlier. We spent the ensuing time planning exactly how we wanted to get married and how we then wanted others to learn of it. Critical to this plan was “kidnapping” the two people responsible for us meeting, our buddies Kevin and Bruce, so they could be our witnesses. We managed that, then drove to the Justice of the Peace for our pre-arranged wedding time, 4:30pm in Seattle. After that it was a quick sip of champagne in the parking lot, the cork flying high into the night sky and then coming back to earth to be caught by Bruce before hitting the ground. We drove to tell our parents, including a 45 mile drive in the snow to reach Melinda’s parents at Alpental in the Cascade Mountains, before finally arriving at a New Year’s Eve party Melinda was supposed to be hosting with her sister.

This is really the only photo that came out of our wedding itself. If you look closely, you’ll see I’m wearing “our” (read: Melinda’s) wedding ring. That’s a story in itself.

Tonight we are having dinner with Frédérique and Laurent in Nantes. What a wonderful 20 years it’s been, time that includes two wonderful children and the creation of a school. And get this. We really like each other.

Pictured on the right in this photo is Dorothy, our incredible next door neighbor in Seattle. We credit Dorothy for the fact that we are living in that house (when we are living in Seattle, of course). When we bought it in 1998, it was a “for sale by owner” and the owner wasn’t present. We had it shown to us by Dorothy. Now 1998 was a crazy time for real estate, especially in Seattle. People were offering more than the asking price on houses, and getting into bidding wars with others. We made our best offer, even stretching a bit, and were thrilled when our offer was accepted. Then we later learned that someone had offered a little bit more. Why was our offer accepted? Dorothy recommended us. Thank you, Dorothy!

Just a few minutes ago we finished a Skype session with Dorothy, courtesy of another of our incredible neighbors, Janet, pictured on the left. We wanted to wish Dorothy a happy birthday, given she turns 92 tomorrow. Yes, 92. And she still lives by herself and is a capable daylight driver. She is also incredibly sharp. She told us today the story of a relative who had died at 90 by falling into a mill pond, remembering how old 90 seemed at the time. Today she said, “Oh, 90. That is so young.”

So meet Dorothy, young at 92.

First, before explaining today’s title and photo, let me just throw out a question. What is it about people visiting us who think they must sneak out of town before the crack of dawn? Last month my parents left Nantes at around 5am, and today Brenda, Greg & Perrin did about the same. Are we so embarrassing that people need to depart under the cover of darkness? On top of that, Greg had to leave with some kind of stomach ailment. So not only are our guests making a break for it before the sun rises, some are getting sick in the process.

Fair warning to the rest of you who have thought about a visit…

Okay. So last week Chloe went to significant effort to prepare a way for Perrin to make a “gingerbread” house. She bought large cookies to act as the gingerbread, as well as a variety of candies and sugars for decoration purposes. Along with Ella and a series of adults, they spent an afternoon building their city which they aptly titled, in honor of Seattle’s “Candy Cane Lane, “ “La Ville de Sucre d’Orge.” The translation of this, assuming we got it right, is “Candy Cane City.”

Yes, I know, there are not any candy canes in the city. Stop being so picky. I haven’t seen a candy cane in any of the stores. Chocolate of all holiday kinds, yes. Candy canes, no.

Frédérique and Laurent invited us over for a wonderful French lunch today. Trying to express in words the gourmet meal served by Frédérique, complemented by the incredible wines chosen and served by Laurent, would not begin to give the meal its just due. Let me just say that we were treated like royalty, down to the Boudeaus sharing with us some of their most special wines that are served only on the most significant of occasions.

So instead of telling you about the meal, let me say that it was tremendous fun watching Perrin play with some of Manon’s old toys. Manon had packed away a couple of Barbies and related accessories, and Perrin lit up with delight at the opportunity to play with them. Before long, Chloe, Manon, Ella and Perrin were all playing. I suggested to Romain that he join in (I mean there was even a Ken available if gender concern was what was stopping him), but he really wasn’t having it. Then I learned that he wasn’t feeling too well. That certainly explained things.

After lunch Greg set up his camera’s timer to take this group photo. We missed out including Annabelle as she had to leave by then. Take a close look at Chloe. That’s her new haircut, done just today at the place where Manon gets her hair done. I won’t say anything about which hair she had cut or my offer to cut her hair, any of them, for less than what she (read: we) paid. No, I won’t mention that.