Thanksgiving, of course!

I was not especially motivated to do much for Thanksgiving this year, with Ed gone and being in France and all.  The kids had school and I thought we would just trudge along business as usual.  I didn't think I would really miss it.  Boy, was I wrong.  And luckily for me I didn't get the chance to skip it.

We received the welcome invitation to join a couple who live 45 minutes to the northwest in Grignan.  They are from California and are in their second year of living here with two daughters, ages 5 and 7.  They were pulling their kids from school for the afternoon, and inviting their French neighbors.  I signed up for pumpkin pie and green beans, and the children insisted on and made "sugar grapes."  These are big grapes dipped in egg white and then sugar. They have the appearance of frosted grapes and look great on the table.  And the kids love to pop them in their mouths.  They are a tradition now in our home, thanks to family friend Della.  The pie was challenging.  No mixers here, a small mix-up on the spices, and, as it turned out, I realized I had no pie pan and made do with a low casserole dish.  No worries that you can't find canned pumpkin easily-- if you saw the prior blog we had plenty of pumpkin on hand and it easily roasted into a great puree.  And I even figured out what evaporated and condensed milk are in France.  The pie turned out great!

So, as Asha's and Ford's classmates piled into the door through which all students who have gone home for lunch must pass after lunch, Asha and Ford exited.   They skipped happily home chirping about stuffing and gravy and turkey.  The blue sky beckoned.  We hit the road about 3:00 and toured through stunning scenery.  We had not spent any time with David and Lisa and their daughers, having just chatted in the town square of Vaison one day and exchanged numbers.  The kids promptly started playing and had a great time all night.  David, Lisa and I exchanged start-up stories and had fun conversing without the pressure of trying to figure out how to say what we meant!  It was great.  And they cooked a fabulous meal.  And when their French friends arrived, they added to the festivities with tasty wine and champagne and good tales.

Here are the photos of our Thanksgiving in Grignan, France:

Ford, Bella, Asha, Ani

Lisa & David

We send love and hugs to all friends and family.  We trust your Thanksgiving was also full of delicious food and smiling faces.  Thanksgiving touches all Americans in a unique way.  We shared it with you in spirit.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Pastimes

We have been passing time, enjoying some lazy days of November in our adopted town while we await Ed's return.  This weekend was rainy at times and cloudy, but we were still outdoors a lot.  The children did their horse-back riding Saturday.  Ivy and I look forward to this time as we have found some wonderful walks around the horse farm.  The farm is about 7 minutes east of Vaison.  It is surrounded by vineyards.  Some photos of our walk last weekend when it was sunny:

This week I found some great views of Ventoux but did not have my camera.  I'm going back with it soon!  Also came across about 30 beehives tucked into a grove of scrub oak.

The kids are progressing in their horse-back riding and their instructor gives the group more challenging things to do each week.  Here they had to sit on their horses:

Just kidding!  They really are advancing.  They have to guide their ponys through different tasks now, and can't just follow the pony in front.

We like to check on the river and see what it's doing.  It was very full for quite a while, like this taken a few days after a massive rain:

From the new bridge west to Mt. Ventoux

Pont Roman - no longer just a trickle

From the new bridge east

Later we went down to investigate.  This is the "rock" where Ford likes to fish and swim in the summer, way too swift right now, and the view to the Roman Bridge:

Sometimes we just like to chew on the fireplace ledge:

(Don't worry, Dad.  No marks.)

When that turns tiring, we think about new sporting equipment.  The kids have been roller blading at school.  Guess what came to mind?  Roller blades.  And so we got some:

And some video:

And again, with a brief neighborhood tour:

This weekend we also played Monopoly (it ain't over but Ford is bleeding AJ and me to death), saw the Speilberg animated flick Tin Tin, read, did homework, grocery shopped, bought shoes, cooked (including Ford who made soup and quesadilla for lunch today), and bathed.

Nothing like a bubble bath!

Les Invitees

In France, guests are referred to as "les invitees" (i.e the invited).  I always found this interesting.  It resolves the dilemma often presented to Ann Landers or Dear Abby about what to do with uninvited guests.  In France, by definition, there is no such thing as uninvited guests.  Apparently here you will never have to worry about having visitors foisted upon you.

I invited my French family to visit us.  In 1989, I studied abroad in Perpignan, France, and lived with a French family headed by Jean and Mireille Guillebaud.  They are delightful.  Very active in the outdoors.  They have a mountain home about 1 hour outside Perpignan, and love to hike.  They are now in their mid-70's, and appear as active as ever, showing me pictures of their recent 3-day hike with a group of friends.  And, they relate so well to children.  It was like having another pair of grandparents here.  They do have grandchildren both here and in Canada the same ages as my kids.  We had extraordinarily warm and sunny weather last weekend.  We explored the town together:

We also enjoyed a nice time visiting, sharing pictures, eating, and preparing our giant pumpkin (grown by a neighbor) for soup-making:

It was wonderful to have the company of Jean and Mireille!

Earlier we also had our very first visitors.  Asha's FASPS classmate Rykley and his family the Brauns visited us in early September!  They had been celebrating family anniversaries with extended family at a Provencal home about an hour away, and stopped to see us before heading back up to Paris.  We were so happy they were able to fit us in!  Asha and Ford were especially eager to show them around Vaison as we had just gotten settled.  Here are some photos of that visit with Jen, Trevor, Rykley, Dax, and Eve:

Not to be outdone, Ivy has issued a standing invitation to her friend, known around here as "the cat."  Here they are enjoying the night air together.

Here Ivy has her paw on her buddy's back:

It's great to pal around with pals.

News and Pretty Pictures

          Averil, Ford, Asha and Ivy now hold down the fort in Vaison la Romaine.  Here is the news as relayed to me by telephone:

          From Asha:  A boy kicked her in soccer.  It was on purpose.  Asha told the coach, who also happens to be her mom.  Asha painted her nails rainbow colors.  Her mom painted the same colors.  Ford and Averil watched "Mars Attacks" on the computer.  Asha did not like it when the martians shot the people with their ray guns, which caused their skin to dissapear and left only bones.

          From Ford:  Mars Attacks was awesome.  He needs a new swimsuit.  Ford and Asha were bad.  It made their mom mad.  They made it up to her by giving her breakfast in bed the next morning.  She had already gotten out of bed when breakfast was ready, so she had to get back into bed to eat it.

         From Averil:  Mars Attacks was awesome.  Asha's friend has divorced parents.  Her father lives near us so when Asha's friend is at her father's house she is nearby and can come over to play.  She found a mechanic in Vaison.  Wire some more money please.

         And here are some market photographs taken in October:

Road Trip Day #12

          Last night we stayed in Chartres, two blocks from a very famous and large cathedral.

          But we didn't really care.   Our mind was on our car, which was acting strangely.  On Wednesday, it had periodically be losing "ooomf" on the autoroute, and then, 30 miles outside of Chartres on Wednesday night, in the rain and dark, the engine light came on.  That's not what you want to see when you're on a road trip.  And there was no way we were going to risk breaking down on the autoroute on the 400 mile trip back to the south of France.  We resolved to stay put in Chartres until we had the all clear on our car, even if that meant a big change in plans.

          Once again, lady luck was with us. 

         First thing in the morning, we were actually able to locate a Hyundai/Suzuki dealer on the outskirts of town.  Averil called.  They had a garage there where they repaired Hyundais.  Averil described the problem to the mechanic.  The mechanic invited us to bring our car right over so he could check it out.  We did so. 

          The Hyundai mechanics were nice enough to look our car over for nearly an hour.  Their diagnosis:  the problem is not grave and can be dealt with when we return to Vaison.  There would be no danger of it breaking down on the return trip to Vaison.  Oh, and "no charge" for their inspection by the way, and "Bon Route!" 

          They were nice to us.

          Armed with that reassurance, we left Chartres for the 6 hour drive to Lyon.  We were relieved that we would not be stuck indefinitely in Chartres:

We Get the All Clear from the Hyundai Mechanics

          I might mention that when we bought this car, we had the foresight (or good luck) to have spent some extra money to buy a form of insurance for mechanical issues good for one year.  So any repairs are covered.

          We made the six hour drive to Lyon without incident.  It was long, but the countryside was pretty and Le General amused herself by taking self-portraits:

        We arrived in Lyon in late afternoon.  It's a nice city so far as we can tell.  After that long car ride, a 1 and 1/2 hour walk was in order.  The weather was balmy.

 
It is a very sophisticated seeming university city.  We walked for a long time.  Ivy chewed on some broken glass, we watched bats flying over the Rhone river, saw some great architecture and public art, and watched a rat eating garbage.  Then we had Thai food for dinner and strolled about a lovely park where we saw drug addicts getting methadone from a mobile dispensary.  It was a great evening.

          And now it is time for the sad part of this blog.  Because tomorrow morning, Averil and Ford and Asha drop Ed off at the Lyon airport.  He's got to go back to Seattle to get ready for a trial.  And Averil and Ford and Asha will continue on down to Vaison which is only 2 and 1/2 hours away by car.  They should even make it to school for the second half of the day tomorrow.

          It was a great road trip.  Thanks for tuning in.