I was unexpectedly able to both start and complete a little outside project that I've been wanting to do for months, just in time for Christmas. I'm so pleased with how it turned out I thought I'd show you, too.
With a little help from my friend partner, I was able to transform a dead corner of our driveway into a bit of a showplace, despite its continuing rusticity.
Christmas 2014 is upon us, although some of us have been celebrating all month long. I love the Christmas season and everything it represents. I love decorating my own house but also seeing what is done everywhere else.
I thought I'd share with you some of the things about the Season that I'm enjoying in my own life.
Our village has an annual Christmas market; and ever since the country dance class got started, they always do a little demo during the market. It actually was in watching them one year that we got interested in that being an activity for us to try. Too bad we hadn't started when they did originally, as we'd be a lot more advanced now.
We had a party instead of a lesson our next class time after the demo, and I thought I'd share how we try to have fun sometimes!
Having finished our Thanksgiving celebrations of three separate dinners, it was finally time to get into the Christmas spirit of things going on everywhere else around us, as the French don't have to wait until after Thanksgiving themselves.
So what did we do? We had another dinner, of course! Which meant we had to get one holiday packed up and another one set up rather quickly.
The American Thanksgiving was the first major holiday we missed when we first moved to France. So we invited our new French neighbors to share a traditional dinner with us, especially as they had helped us so much just like the Indians did with the original Pilgrims (from whom Doc Leo is directly descended).
We've been sharing it with the locals ever since, and this is how it turned out this year.
Yesterday we had our second of three Thanksgiving dinners planned for this year. Do you remember the
pool party last summer that didn't actually happen quite as planned? Well, we finally had a chance to make up that missed event with the same two families and all their little people.
I thought you might enjoy how it all went down in a normally very child-free environment!
As Thanksgiving is a very American holiday (Canada has their own version not related to ours), and as I don't live in America, trying to celebrate it has been an interesting challenge over the years, often frustrating, sometimes amusing, always successful.
In Paris, I let the American community serve itself and only invited my French and international friends to my house for as traditional a dinner as I could manage. Down here, my friends are still quite mixed, but my American friends are not part of a larger American community, so I try to involve them, too. However, I have too many friends to invite for one dinner, so this year I've broken it in three! I thought I'd share how we enjoyed the first one last Sunday.
Not only did we inherit the driveway from hell, it's done nothing but fall apart since we've been here. Being as parts of it seem almost vertical, we can't just fill in the holes it has developed; but as I want to redesign its shape, we've never done anything very permanent to it. As the hillside had eroded down right near its edge, part of my project was building it out a whole lot. So now it was time to try to make some kind of a finished edge between the driveway and hillside.
No, I did not fall off the face of the earth since my last post. Nor did I fall off the side of the hill I've been working on non-stop for the past two months. I haven't even taken the time to share with you, nor done anything else productive in my life, trying to reach a reasonable stopping point, especially before winter weather strikes. But now I finally have an empty palette to design. I thought you might enjoy what it took to get there.
After way too much lapsed time, I recently indulged myself and did some more sewing. I could easily sew instead of doing just about anything else, especially hard stuff like construction or boring stuff like fall cleaning my house.
While I have a whole stack of projects I'm just dying to dig into, I did a spur of the moment something else! As it was kind of a fun adventure, I thought I'd share some of the highlights for you other seamstresses out there.
Today is the 221st anniversary of the death of the Queen of France Marie Antoinette. Forty years ago, not only was that not foremost in my mind, I wasn't even aware of such a historical date. As you can see, I was on my way to the hospital to give birth to my second daughter.
Yes, today another one of my kids turns 40. While that was one of my own most exciting birthdays, as I was starting my new life in France, my kids don't seem to understand they are not allowed to do that.
It makes me feel old, and I don't like that!
The Calvary Chapel Couturières now has another success story. From a group of absolute beginners who for the most part had never touched a sewing machine before, we had a number of young women create their own little drawstring bag to hold their sewing supplies during the first class.
Then Janka was the first to finish an actual wearable garment, a T-shirt, with Lindsey coming in second, as part of the second class project. And now we have Sandra, who ended up doing a different garment.
I am a cat person. It's genetic. My grandma was a cat person, I grew up with cats, Doc Leo is a cat person, so it's only natural that our children are also cat people. I am also a seamstress. I've been sewing my whole life. Which means I've been sewing with cats.
Thus, it was very exciting to be given a new badge that I have truly earned over the years!
My first post on the camp fall clean-up was all about actual cleaning and maintenance. However, there were two major projects going on at the same time. One was officially organized, the other was one of my own personal making. Both enhanced the camp facility. I thought you might enjoy seeing how it all went as the week wore on.
But first, I received this copy of a publicity for future volunteers showing how much fun our work weeks are. This is from 2011, showing many of the same people as were involved this year, but it also shows Christina in her last year.
Particularly interesting is her standing amidst all her laundry before I cleared out her view of the river later during that same week.
As I posted my last entry, the first part of our week doing fall cleaning at a camp facility, we got the news of the hideous death of Hervé Gourdel, the kidnapped and slain French mountain guide, by Algerian terrorists. What was especially poignant for us personally is that he came from the same village as the camp, where we just spent a week, and we go there several times a year.
It was like he was a neighbor, which brings tragedy so much closer to home. Also, he was a guide in the mountains I've personally done a lot of hiking in myself, which doubled the familiarity feeling.
We recently participated in the annual fall clean-up of a camp facility mostly for disadvantaged kids up in the mountains, as we've done for the past four years. Not too many capable people have a schedule that allows taking off work, so our "retired" status allows us to be available.
I thought I'd share just what kind of work needs to happen behind the scenes in keeping such a facility in good operating condition.
As I proposed in my last Rock Village post where we passed through Dolceacqua but didn't stop in, I've compiled a few old pictures of past visits. While the quality of photos isn't terrific (my old camera wasn't as capable as I could have wished for in the harsh conditions all the shadows provided), putting these together brought back so many memories of the visits we've had. And taking everybody to this town was a top priority!
As we were wandering around the fun little Principality of Seborga, part of the Italian Rock Villages behind the Riviera dei Fiori, enjoying their Medieval Knights Templar theme everywhere, we came across this amazing little antique musical instruments museum.
The door was open (most everything else didn't seem particularly animated the day we were there), the entry was free, so we checked it out.
What an amazing treasure trove we discovered! Perhaps you'll also enjoy some of the highlights I captured.
Before its unification in 1861, Italy was divided into a number of city-states, such as Venice and Florence. A micro-nation just across the Italian border from France, Seborga had a medieval historic importance during the 10-18th centuries, being possibly the first principality in the Holy Roman Empire. Doc Leo thought this would be a great destination on our recent little Italian vacation, and I thought you might like to visit it with us.
As we continued our Italian tour, making our way back from the hills to the coast, we encountered another of the medieval villages dotting the landscape. This view was taken long distance as seen from
Apricale.
Its name, Isolabona, means it sits at the confluence of several rivers. We could tell we were getting back down to sea level, as it was much flatter than all the previous towns had been.
We started out the second day of our little Italian tour on this little sliver of road out in the middle of nowhere, with a number of olive groves all around.
While the site itself wasn't very exciting, our views were really nice, the weather was great, and nothing was pushing us to be doing something else, whatever that might be, rather than just relax and enjoy life.
What more could one want?
During Doc Leo's last years of employment, he often worked in Italy. As it was more practical to drive than fly, he usually whizzed by the countryside on the coastal autostrada (turnpike), often wondering what the villages up in the hills were like. We decided to take an end-of-summer last camping fling exploring a few of them, so you don't have to! I tried to capture some of the sights for you, but you're on your own for the sounds and smells.
People suffer natural disasters all over the world, such as hurricanes, landslides, earthquakes, fires, etc., often losing everything they own, including their lives.
While we suffered what I call The Disaster, it doesn't compare, and we are capable of digging ourselves out and starting over. After a year and a half, with help from a few friends, we finally got started on that task last week. As you might imagine, it wasn't easy, both emotionally and physically, but it's a relief to finally be making progress again.
Once upon a time, we had an ugly hillside (we actually had nothing but ugly hillsides everywhere). Right outside our kitchen and main outside dining area, there was this ancient falling down chicken coop and nothing but wild irises all over the hillside.
It was such an eyesore, I had such grand visions, we finally decided to realize those visions.
Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful? (To quote a certain Stevie Wonder.) We got her in May 2007, the week before Doc Leo came down with a problem in his neck that put him in the hospital for six months. At first, we wondered if trying to get her out of the car is what did him in. (It wasn't.)
At the time, we were spending a lot of time in Italy, the Doc had a lot of jobs in Rome and it was easier to drive than fly, so we were checking out all statue places we came across, as that was a theme we wanted for our property. One time, we found this place that supplies the whole world. Not only did they have good prices, but we could also provide our own transportation, so we did.
When we were young, we moved all over up and down the East Coast of the US, searching advancement with better jobs. When we ended up staying a whole 11 years in one spot in Florida, that was amazing.
Then we made another move in 1990 that changed our lives completely. On this date 24 years ago, our family minus one arrived in France. With absolutely no idea what that would mean for our futures.
(We had just come back from a graduation trip to Saint Martin in the Caribbean.)
It's fun to have a baby in the family. You've met Diggle, the latest baby in our family, who is currently still an actual baby.
But Diggle has an older cousin, and yesterday was his birthday. A big one. Our first grandchild has finished being a teenager and has now turned the big 2-0!
And we'd like to wish him a nice Happy Birthday!
Now that you've seen what all we found interesting along our round trip to Paris, I thought you might enjoy the way we saw it all.
We can be fairly unconventional when we travel (just ask our kids), born out of financial desperation then continued through personal choice. This is our typical modus operandi.
As we traveled along the route, we came across a number of fun things, as one does when one travels the small roads, as we did. I thought I'd show you some of the more interesting bits that caught my fancy.
For starters, here's an example of driving down one of Napoleon's tree-lined straight roads. Such a pleasure! Such current controversy!
France is an agricultural country. If you don't believe me, check out the toys some kid plays with in his back yard. (Whoever has taught him the neatnik game really deserves a prize.) He also has a few small people-sized riding farm equipment.
As we traversed the countryside, we came across all kinds of fields, which were actually rather pretty, so I thought I'd show you just what summer crops look like over here.
In the 19th century, after the various regions in Italy unified into one big country, the French were concerned about protecting their border against potential invasion. Thus, they started developing a few military outposts along their alpine frontier. Over the years, they enlarged their installations, and we came across a number of military "ghost towns" along our very high-in-the-sky route.
The routes between the north and the south of France on the east side of the country often go through big chunks of various European mountain chains. As you get down to the southern area, you hit the western edge of the Alps. That means you can find yourself fairly elevated from sea level, which we did on this trip.
Doc Leo loves Google Earth. He surfs it whenever he can for as long as he can. Then he likes checking out as many Panoramio photos as he has interest (and time) for. He gets a lot of enjoyment out of seeing all the places he'd like to go himself, as well as how all the places he's already been look. Over the years, he's probably found where most of you live if he's ever been there (or even if not). On one of his virtual trips, he came across this little detour he surprised me with. I hope you enjoy visiting it with me.
As we were traveling down the countryside, we found ourselves surrounded by vineyards. France is full of vineyards. But we happened to be in the Chablis region, which is a popular wine in America, so I thought you might be interested in how your wine gets its start.
This little roadside map shows the various areas in which the different qualities of grapes are grown. I think. It's rather confusing, but it looks so pretty, I just wanted to include it!
Imagine casually walking down some quaint streets in a pretty town and glancing down a side street and being confronted with this view. Not generally your everyday scene, I don't think.
This is the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Bourges, built between the late 12th and 13th centuries, with construction starting by 1195. It is a contemporary of the Notre Dame de Paris and Chartres cathedrals, all using innovative structural design for the times, such as described in Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth.
It is still surrounded by many of the original half-timbered houses of the old medieval town, enabling one to really capture the ambiance of the original time period.
We recently met a young Canadian couple who have just relocated to France as missionaries with our church group, and we had a chance to visit them on our way to Paris. They settled in Bourges, which is only 25 miles/40 km from the claimed geographical center of France.
It was really fun to be able to actually visit a Medieval town rather than just pass through, not to mention enjoying getting to know this wonderful family a bit more.
France has a number of beautiful gorges, and we took a tour around one of them that was on our route. The rock structure that allows a gorge to form can create a number of natural formations including high cliffs, caves, grottes, and canyons down to a river that may have caused rock erosion over the eons. At least, these are features of the Gorges de l'Ardèche that we explored on this trip.
This is actually a follow-up to the earlier post on lavender fields, which were either buried under snow or just beginning to bud during the times we happened to be passing by.
Unfortunately, we did not go by our particular comparison field on this trip, so that complete story will still have to wait. We don't often have an occasion to be in that area at the right time of year.
When we recently went up to Paris for a weekend visit with our son and his family, we turned the trip into a little driving vacation lasting about a week and a half. We had so many interesting experiences, I thought I would take everybody else along with us in an armchair travelogue with a series of photographic descriptions on the various aspects of the interior areas of this country.
For as long as I can remember, today has always been a special day. It was on this date in history that Yours Truly arrived on this planet, and the world has never been the same since!
This is not a weekend to be on French roads. They are to be avoided at all costs, because in general they will
not be avoided! This is the biggest annual traffic weekend of the year, every year, in France, and it's really quite something. The term
chassé-croisé essentially means criss-cross, a reference to the dance step where the man and woman alternate crossing in front of each other. In French terminology, it means
massive traffic jam.
Besides living next to a major airport, Diggle & Family also live within walking distance of a little educational farm. Our visit made a good opportunity for everybody to take him for his first rural exploration. It undoubtedly won't be his last.
(The Millers Park Farm )
Any old baby can master a silly xylophone. In our family, we apparently have a budding concert pianist, who gave us a magnificent performance. In preparation, he managed to promote himself quite grandly in fascinating telephone calls to his potential audience.
We just had the occasion to play Grandma and Grandpa to our second grandson, now 14 months old. Not only is he currently the most adorable baby on earth, he's at an adorable learning stage. We have so many cute photos, this will be the first of several posts in order to share as many as possible with all of you.
Two down now, another two to go in the continuing saga of the Calvary Chapel Couturières and the four budding seamstresses who were able to trace out their T-shirt patterns. While Lindsey has her own sewing machine, it's not properly in shape to handle her fabric, and she was getting rather discouraged. As I'm going on a little vacation, then she's going back home for a month right after that, she came up to my house so she could get it finished in time to show her mom!
Yesterday, our Canadian friend requested our help in cleaning up some property out in the middle of nowhere before a group picnic next week. As we aren't part of the group, we'll have to find our own activity for Bastille Day; but in helping out, we got a day out away from all our typical responsibilities. When the work was done, we played a bit. A game of Petanque (the group's activity), to be precise, which I played for the first time. So I thought I'd explain a bit about this very French game.
To all my fellow Americans, I hope you are having a festive day today (at least, those of you not being blown away or washed out). It's a great opportunity to remember our heritage, no matter where we may be finding ourselves physically on this planet. It's also a great day to barbecue with friends, provided you don't have to work. Best of all, there might also be local fireworks to enjoy!
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| A Provençal vineyard along our route |
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| Three-day-old parents and infant |
