Saying Goodbye . . .

     First things first:  we had our first legitimate miracle!  An image of Lady Gaga appeared in Ed's burnt protein-pancake:

There She Is, on the Left, if You Squint and Hum 'Pokerface'

    That's good luck!  Now it's time to say goodbye to France.  It's hard to believe we've finished out the year.  We leave in just two days.  Fortunately, our departure plans seem to be coming together well.  Of course, with Le General in charge, what else would you expect?

Calm, Cool, and Collected

     The main order of business (on Monday) was selling our car back to the guy we bought it from a year ago.  That had the potential to go wrong on several levels.  We had to go to Avignon and rent a car (big enough to move our luggage at the end of the week), then caravan to the dealer who had agreed (two weeks ago, in principal, and only orally) to buy our car for a set price.  Then, on the way to the dealer our car started making funny noises again.  We hoped the guy wouldn't test drive it . . . we could see a last minute objection or an excuse to re-negotiate the price.  Then, as we drove it into the dealer's lot, one of us (she shall remain nameless) scratched the side of the car on a half-dead palm tree.  

     As soon as we arrived, the dealer had one of his workers take our car out for a final test drive.  We sat in the dealer's office and made small talk for what seemed like an eternity.  It felt like we were in a Quentin Tarantino movie.  It was tense.  Finally, the worker came back (after a very long time) and reported that it was making a strange vibration.  "Strange vibration?" said the dealer.  "Strange vibration?" said Le General.  So he took it out himself and the tension got even higher.  But we were relieved when he came back a few minutes later and dismissed the issue as minor.  We signed a few papers and left with the cash in the agreed-on amount.  Goodbye Hyundai!  You caused us grief, but never let us down.

     We discharged our last hosting duties . . . the family who hosted Ford for a week in Dinan last spring was passing through the area.  They stayed with us for two nights.  These are their boys, Brieuc and Theotime:

Naturally, we took them to the P.d.G. (if you don't know what that is, you haven't been reading this blog!).

     We have a lot of folks to say goodbye too, but we're ready to depart.  We're leaving just as hordes of Northern Europeans (we can tell from their license plates) have descended on Vaison for their vacations.  The traffic has gotten many times worse.  Time to go back to Seattle! 

     There's lot's more to say of course . . . but right now it's crunch time . . . lots of packing and doing stuff . . . so we'll fill you in when we get back to the states.  Let's just conclude by saying IT'S BEEN GREAT!

     Also, Ed saw a really beautiful woman at a dance show and had to take a photo:

 

P.S.  Here's her dog:

Ivy "Rests Up"