December, 2010

Chateau de Costaeres
One of our favorite beach walks is on the top right headland

Well, we are here. We made it without fuss or drama, just the way we like it. We managed to visit Joe (who happens to be our pastor) and Charlotte, Ed and Marilyn and daughter Kami in Los Angeles. Together, we visited the Ronald Reagan Presidential library and had a blast. After wrapping up, we flew to Paris. Thanks to our cleaning lady Mireille the house was impeccable as always and we soon settled back in.

We have started making the rounds visiting friends even though the weather has been colder that we have ever seen it here at this time of the year. I had forgotten just how bone chilling, soul sucking, cold could be. (25 F, -1 C) Note to self: Winter in California, spring in France.

Janice with her mom

Friends Joe and Charlotte

Daughter Kami with us by a piece

of the Berlin wall at Reagan library

Touring the old Air Force one at Reagan library

In fact, we got here to a weeklong snowstorm in November that was a first for the area in the past 30 years. Al Gore, you charlatan, you let me down again. Where is that ‘global warming’ you keep promising us?

Janice immediately reported for her first treatment at our local hospital. In New York the treatments take about 90 minutes. Here the treatment was exactly the same except that it took 5 ½ hours to get around to it. We hope that it was just first time patient blues and that visits from the hospital shrink, esthetician and other assorted hanger’s on won’t be the rule.

Yearly maintenance on entry light

We soon got off to a start on this year’s projects. Nothing major mind you, just little stuff to make living here better, like a counter top for the washer and dryer to allow clothes and linens to be folded. Or, another cabinet in our dressing room for additional storage. Bedroom door trim here, 4 new room radiators there, repainting our entry light (a 5 foot rooster head sculpture), it all adds up. [Old stone homes cannot really be retrofitted for central heating so each room must have its own radiator. We have replaced 6 of them to date with 4 more rooms to go. Depending on the size, two can cost as much as a central heating furnace at home]

Before

During

Not bad for a slacker with a rusty hammer, huh?

Friends on both sides of the pond ask us what kind of odd items we brought over this time. 3 years ago we brought a kitchen sink with a bathroom sink wrapped in it and I have yet to hear the end of it. You would think that was weird or something. Last year we brought a kitchen food disposer for the sink and a reverse osmosis water treatment filtration system (R/O) as the items are either unavailable or exorbitantly expensive here.

The problem was that the R/O was defective and in spite of having a new part shipped to Europe, it simply would not work. So, we brought it back to the US (without the tank), exchanged it for a new one and brought it back with us. It works great and we no longer have to purchase and lug bottled water. We are nothing if not determined.

The only other item of note we brought was Ethel. Every night I put her into one of the rooms and shout “This floor had BETTER be clean by morning, or else”. Janice rolls her eyes and mutters something about my being a “sexist p.. ” Ethel is one of those newfangled robotic floor cleaners and is a testament to our laziness as to how much we love it. The only downside is that it doesn’t have a short skirt. It is the size of a flattened shoebox, weights as much as a toaster and cleans all the tile and hardwood floors in the dining / living room / kitchen / 2 bathrooms and 3 out of the 4 bedrooms (the master is carpeted).

It operates on an indoor GPS system and is meticulous in crawling under every piece of furniture, cabinets and around every chair leg. My job? Keep the battery charged and change the swifter cloths. Oh, and issue the nightly manly commands. Still, it might be best to keep it on the down low, just between us or I won’t hear the end of this either.

Manoir de Limoëlou

(AKA Jacques Cartier's digs)

Ok, ok, I hear you. "Who the heck is that?" Please understand that our family and friends in Canada are all atwitter over the 'discoverer of Canada'. I can remember as a lad in school hearing all about his exploits so it seemed fitting when we went for an outing to Saint Malo that we would visit his home-become-museum.

Far be it for me to steal his thunder but it must have been quite a surprise to the indians to be 'discovered'. They seemed to think they knew who and where they were all along. Christopher Columbus probably held an opinion on the subject also as he seemed to believe that he discovered America some 4o years earlier. Then there were the Vikings.....well enough. Suffice it to say, he was quite an explorer. Well my Canadian friends, this one was for you.

Le Barrage de la Rance

It seemed silly to drive near the worlds first hydro electric plant powered by tidal action alone and not see it. So, after strolling the medieval walled city we stopped to have a peek (also in Saint Malo) and chatted with the technicians. I wonder what we will do for fun tomorrow.

Life in the French lane

Every time we transition from one place to another, we start a choreographed dance of sorts suspending and re-instating everything from satellite TV service to magazine subscriptions, home telephone and internet, car insurance, cell phone contracts and on and on and on. It would be silly to be paying year round for services we would only get to use for part of the year.

Invariably, there are hitches in the giddy-up, like magazines that continue to be sent to where we are not or requests for internet reinstatement that are incredibly slow. At the island, a phone call a few days prior to our arrival guarantees that everything will be up and running when we walk into the house. Here, a ‘show up in person’ visit to the phone company office is mandatory, where you stand in line for 45 minutes waiting to talk to a representative and have him place an order for your internet service.

This, of course, is after you have provided him proof that you are the homeowner (a utility bill) and a signed authorization allowing them to make a direct debit from your bank account to pay your bill. Then he tells you that it could take up to two weeks to get it up and running. After 9 days, we returned to check on another issue (45 minute wait, of course) and incidentally found out that somehow our request for internet had been canceled “…un issue technical, monsieur”. A new order was placed, fast tracking us to service “within two weeks”.

Finally, we got things sorted only to find that the service was intermittent. That is we were on for a minute and off for hours and it was up to us to guess when our minute of service was occurring. Another call to the company (30c a minute to talk to them) and we were given an emergency appointment with the technician to come to our home to fix the glitch…a week later.

One of the things that we find quite interesting here are the differences in TV commercials. Here you have the usual product pitches but you also see ads against human trafficking. Makes you wonder what kind of joint they are running around here anyway? They also frequently run ads for entire countries. For instance, Nigeria runs a spot touting itself as the “Gateway to Africa”. Macedonia plugs its infrastructure, its educated work force and believes that investing there would be “a wise profitable decision providing sustainable growth”. Finally, Uzbekistan would like to remind you that as far as they are concerned, it is a ‘tourist destination’ worthy of your visit.

As novel as these ads may be to us, they reflect the broader view Europeans have of the world. ABC news in the US touts its nightly broadcast as “World news tonight”. It should really say “World news tonight… that happened in the US”. The news coverage here truly covers the world on an order of magnitude from what we see at home. We Americans are embarrassingly, shamelessly insular.

Prince Andrew was recently caught up in the Wikileaks scandal when he was quoted as saying that Americans knew little of geography. I would say “the nerve of him” except that I hate the fact that he was right.

We are bracing ourselves for the onslaught of Christmas events and get togethers and hope your holidays are memorable also. C U next year.

[Editors note]

Last month I wrote about our home town in California having been rated in a new book as the happiest place to live in America. One of the two of you who read this blog sent me a link to a video news story covering this very topic. It’s pretty cool if you are of a mind to watch it. Go on, take a peek. Then you will both have seen it ;) Just click on the link below.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_weekend/20101125/ts_yblog_weekend/welcome-to-the-happiest-place-in-america

November, 2010

California dreaming...
Avila Beach, minutes from our home.

This, that and whatever.

Jessica and Naeem

Well, it’s a done deal and we have moved on. Shortly after a late fall visit by our niece Jessica and her guy Naeem, the cabin, plane, car and boats were tucked in for the winter and this season on the river was over.

Efficient storage. Plane suspended with boat below

Having finished a 7 month stint on the Island, we were anxious to get back to the West Coast and see many of the kids and grand kids as we were unable to last spring when Janice received her diagnosis. They are all growing like weeds, as kids do at those ages, but a year is a long time in their short lives.

Dawn view from Honey Bee

Speaking of my bride, she is now on a 21 day schedule for her infusion treatments until we return to the Island in June. This schedule determined how little time we could see the kids and friends as she is due for her next treatment in France on the 25th of this month. It will also determine our travel plans in Europe this winter as everything we do revolves around those infernal 21 day dates. Still, we have nothing to complain about.

On the road again....

This ‘travel the world’ gig has been absolutely marvelous but I am missing home so much I feel like I am going through D.T.’s. With the last kidlet soon to be launched, we will start to build a financial war chest of sorts for the next 12-18 months, to do extensive maintenance and re-modeling upon our return to our home here. Going forward, that will put us on a 4 month schedule between California, France and the Island in Canada.

End of season river run with Ian

Speaking of the Island, I try to share some of the beauty of the Thousand Islands every month with a photo from our friend Ian Coristine's collection. ©Ian Coristine/1000IslandsPhotoArt.com This month I came across an unauthorized, uncredited collage of some of his pics that are definitely worth a look see if you are at all interested in seeing our neighborhood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C2o75tbIPA&feature=related

Challenger II

The plane? Oh, it's fine. Thank you for asking. This month I finished covering the fuselage and priming it. It's now ready for paint. I am now trying to track down an instructor and will begin lessons upon our return in June.

Fabric gets glued on then 'shrunk' with an iron.

Once shrunk it is tight and with primer the shape takes form.

This is the last time you will hear about this subject for the next 7 months.

Hey, I heard that. ("Thank god!")

The transition

Our first stop was in Seattle Washington, where we rented a car and drove to Rainier Oregon to see daughter Cassie with her little ones Kayla and Marilyn. Along with my customary DTDLOC (Daddy to-do list of chores), I helped Marilyn figure out a magic set she had been given. The last time this happened, my son Wesley was 7 years old and I ended up with a 25 foot trailer, 2 1/2 tons of equipment, a cast and crew of 7 and an evening stage show.

While Janice filled her customary role of cooking and living in the laundry room, we still managed to read stories, play choo-choo and spend a lot of fun time with the family.

After several days, we caravaned up to The San Juan Islands to arrive on daughter Amy and Vance's doorstep. With a family of 7 of their own, what's 5 more of us?

Most of the crew.

Getting them ALL together is like trying to corral cats!

We are currently in sunny California and I can think of no better place to call home. I know I have written before about our lovely state and you might be inclined to think "there he goes again..." It is unarguable that our state finances are a colossal mess and you know about our unenviable political situation. In spite of being surrounded by fruits and nuts --most of them in our state capital-- (think Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Maxine Waters), where else can you be taxed to oblivion to support millions of moochers and looters and be administered by someone known the world over as governor 'Moonbeam'? Still, the place is incredibly special. Like having a dysfunctional family, they maybe weird, but they are yours.

A flash from the past. Patrolling the streets of San Luis Obispo

Now that we have our dirty laundry out of the way, you should know that every year for the past several decades, the Harris poll asks people what state would they would rather live in, if they could uproot and move. For the past 7 years in a row, California ranked # 1 and has never been out of the top 3. Then again, a book written evaluating the top 430 metropolitan areas in the nation ranked San Luis Obispo # 3. Finally, the just released book 'Thrive' ranked the 44,000 residents # 1 in the nation in overall emotional health.

We are not feeling we have made a mistake.

October, 2010

©Ian Coristine/1000IslandsPhotoArt.com

Pick an island. Any island.
They are all stunning.

The brainiac

Well it’s official. Kid # 4 is a university graduate. Mandy has graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in European law with a minor in Art law from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands.

She completed her classes in late July but just recently received her final grades. As she had intended on continuing with a Masters degree, she began some of her advanced classes months ago while completing her undergraduate work. Then a funny thing happened.

Back in March she competed in a ‘moot court’ in Vienna and was invited by faculty to apply for a slot for an International Commercial Arbitration Masters degree (Masters in Legal Science) in Stockholm, Sweden. Realizing that this would be a step up from her current study path, she did and was accepted. Only then did she find out that there had been 1000 applicants from 40 countries with only 30 of them being accepted. She now lives in Skarpnäck (Stockholm) and will graduate in January.

Well done, grasshopper. We are all very proud of you.

Cancer 2.0

For the past month Janice has been going to her daily radiation treatments (5 days per week). Initially, our plan was to drive to the hospital on Mondays with Janice staying over for a couple of days and for me to pick her up and take her back home for the week-end. It was a very practical plan except for the part that it meant we would not be together a few days each week. Clearly, that was not going to work. Besides, undergoing the treatments away from home is bad enough without having to deprive her of husband adoration time also.

Playing in the islands

The new and improved plan was to simply drive her to Syracuse for her treatment on Monday, take her to the Sarah house where we are staying during the week and drive back to the islands to the hangar to work on the plane for 4-5 hours then return for a late dinner. It makes for a 200 mile round trip daily, but it is the best compromise that allows us to make lemonade out of a lemon of a situation. By the time we are done next week, the daily commute will have been the equivalent of having driven from Los Angeles to New York….and back.

It was interesting that after a few months of back and forth with the insurance company over the issue of allowing us to return to France for the winter to complete Janice’s treatments, the solution ended up being so simple. At first we tried to explain that we had no other option as we could not stay at the island for the winter because it freezes over. They didn’t care, that was our problem.

Then, we suggested that since treatments are cheaper in France they could save money. HA! we thought, that will get their attention. Wrong. They didn’t care, the rules are the rules and they didn’t want to be confused with the facts. Finally, we just cried and begged for mercy and asked for a compassionate waiver. "Denied", they said, mumbling something about ‘feeling our pain’ for not being able to stay at the island or returning home in California, but having to return to our home in France…

“Hey….wait a minute”, they said. “You have your home in France? So, you are ‘moving’ there and it will be your ‘residence’, albeit only for a few months? Well then, since you have an international health plan, we will cover you 100% wherever you ‘move’ to. And, when you notify us that you have moved back in May, that will be your ‘new’ residence and your coverage will be back here.” So for insurance purposes only, we will be ‘moving’ a few times a year.

Thanksgiving?

Canadian Thanksgiving

Canadians have the habit of celebrating holidays on different days but when in Rome, we play along. I mean Thanksgiving in October is so...uhh...un-American but most years we end up being invited to my aunt and uncle's summer house on the lake in Quebec Canada. It is becoming a really fun fall tradition, marking the beginning of the end of our time on the East Coast for yet another season.

We get to spend time with cousins that we did not see much of when we were younger, play corny games, tackle a project or two to be helpful and generally eat, drink and be as merry as we can. It is a great time to be in the countryside as it is the peek of color for the fall leaves and the area is truly beautiful.

Are you done yet?

Does this guy look like he has a
clue as to what he is doing?

So why does it take so long to build a stupid airplane? When I first explored the idea that I would assemble this ‘kit’, an obvious and often asked question was “how long will it take?” The factory answer was “under 200 hours”. “Cool”, I thought. Then a friend who knew better said “plan on 300-400 hours”. I figured that I am a smart guy, I won’t mess around and I will punch it out in less time than most. Isn’t it great when we are all ‘above average’? Then, the 17 boxes were delivered, one being the size of my car.

Do you see anything wrong here?
Speak up now or I will forever hold the pieces

The instructions were simplistic and were written for someone who had built 20-25 of these and knew every step forward and backward. They were more like notes to remind yourself of some of the steps. Clearly I had homework to do. The first thing I realized was that the factory was right. You ‘could’ build the plane in under 200 hours. It would be safe and would fly right. But it would look pretty rough. More like a lawn chair strapped to a balloon. Nothing painted, nothing smooth, nothing pretty, few instruments, no doors…heck, it would look like an ultralight!

The extra hundreds of hours are what turn it into a plane to be proud of, a real airplane with little conveniences and creature comforts built in. Like an intercom system so that the pilot and passenger can talk to each other, or doors that you can choose to fly with if the weather is cooler or to make a passenger feel safer being enclosed, or take them off if you want that Red Baron open cockpit feeling. It is similar to someone asking “how much does a car cost?” It can vary from $500. to $100,000. They will both take you from point A to point B but it is a different ride…



I completed the electrical work this past month and without the engine mounted, tested as much as I could. Aside for a hiccup in the intercom that my friend Wayne helped track down, everything was a go. Wayne is one of several friends and family members who have told me in no uncertain terms- some quite vehemently- that they will NEVER fly with me. Some don't like to fly, some don't trust the plane, some don't trust me, some...well... all of the above.

I have waited my whole life to do this

The engine is not installed at this point because the fuselage must be painted first and I don’t want to get paint all over it. Don’t worry, it will be put through its paces in due course. Elevators and rudder were fine tuned and I even started covering the fuselage which is quite a milestone. The weather is closing fast and the clock will soon run out for this season.

September 2010

©Ian Coristine/1000IslandsPhotoArt.com

Zavikon Island

The owners of these Islands are the only people allowed by both Canadian and US officials to cross the border without clearing customs. Their house is in Canada while their 'deck' in the US. The border runs between both islands.

Sarah House

Well, it's official. Our health care insurance company finally relented and agreed to allow us to finish Janice's cancer treatments in France when we return there for the winter. Meanwhile, she has finished her Chemo treatments and has begun her radiation schedule consisting of treatments 5 days per week for the next 6 weeks.

Janice found the 2 hour drive each way to the hospital was too fatiguing to commute daily and opted to stay at the Sarah house near the hospital. The Sarah house is like a beautiful and elegant Ronald McDonald house for grown ups. A former nunnery, it has about 10 bedrooms, 2 fully equipped and stocked kitchens, 2 large living rooms, 2 laundry rooms, a formal dining room, an office, a screened sitting room and landscaped grounds.

The Sarah house

I am staying with her for the first week but the plan is for us to drive down on Mondays and for Janice to spend Tuesdays and Wednesdays on her own. I will return on Thursday, spend the night there and return home with her after her treatment on Friday for the week end.

As great as the place is, it is a house of sadness. We got to talking to one guest whose husband had renal failure and had no insurance. Another had his 20 something son in the hospital. The kid had fallen asleep at the wheel, drove off the road and nearly decapitated himself on a piece of farm equipment. Someone's child was in the hospital burn unit and would be there for months. When asked why she was staying at the house, Janice said she was being treated for cancer. After an awkward silence, someone said "Oh..." You could see by the expression on their faces they were thinking "Is that ALL?" It's all relative.

We have visitors!

Christine and Matyas

This month we had our niece Christine and her friend Matyas from Montreal spend a couple of days with us. It had been some time since Christine was here, so many changes were to be seen. As with all visitors, we made the rounds of some of the Islands to give them a sample of what there is to see in the area, then ate, drank, and we were generally merry.

Kami and Alyssa

Then, daughter Kami and friend Alyssa spent a few days with us while returning from attending the US Open tennis tournament in New York City. Kami makes kid number 4 of 5 to finally get to see what mom and dad have been raving about for years. We hope to have daughter Amy's family out here at some point also.

Hurry Pop! You are not getting any younger...

This months project

Shortly after we bought the property a number of years ago, we decided to enlarge our dock area. The rules regarding permitted building on the river were becoming more restrictive all the time and we feared that by the time we could afford to get around to it we would no longer be allowed. So, with that in mind, we went ahead and hired a marine contractor to bring his barge over and drive the steel pilings on the shore of our island. (What, you thought I could do EVERYTHING myself?)

Before...

Even though the steel rusted to a 'natural' brown color, it was still an eyesore at the very front of the island that we had to live with for several summers. Too many priorities, too little moolah. Well, with Janice having a rough go of chemo # 6, I stayed home with her for a spell and decided to put this 8' X 20' (3 X 7 meters) baby to rest. This is now our lounging about area, as opposed to the business part of the dock for our boats and visitor docking. A plus will be that it will allow a place for the jet ski that we don't want but that Janice surely feels that we desperately need. Surely.

During....

It is not an easy life we lead

The Challenger...
is a challenge.

Neighbors like this make me look bad

Up until chemo #6, I was on quite a roll last month, getting the electrical done on the plane. Another week of dedicated work and I think I might be able to call it a wrap. Then, onto covering the fuselage. It seems counter intuitive to be building a plane from the inside out. It makes a lot of sense though when you realize how small it is and how much easier it is to reach through the structure to run wires, control cables and such.

The more I am crawling in and out of the innards, the more I am seeing that you don't so much 'get into' this plane as much as 'put-it-on' . There is enough of room for two but...that's it, folks!

The Starfire Aviation Division (AKA the 'skunk works') has been operating out of a storage facility at an undisclosed location for the past two summers. This year, the owners commissioned an artist to paint three sides of the building with a 14 ' X 200 ' ( 5 X 65 meter) long mural to illustrate the history of their business.

A close up of a portion of the mural above is seen below. The artist wanted to paint a plane towing a banner but had no model to work from. Spying me through an opened door, she stopped by to ask if she could sketch my project and paint it for posterity. The result is seen here.

Now for the bad news

I am not even in the air yet and
already they are out to get me!

August, 2010

©Ian Coristine/1000IslandsPhotoArt.com

Guess where that truck driver would rather be?
Around here, we are apt to say...
"If you are lucky enough to live in the Islands, you are lucky enough.

TIAFU
(Thousand Islands Air force Update)

I bought an aircraft carrier last month. No really…I am not kidding. OK, so it is mis-marketed as a ‘pontoon boat lift’ but I think that is just so the Russians don’t catch on. I bought it much sooner than I needed it as the plane is hardly finished, but it is another critical component to allow this wing of the Thousand Islands Air Force to patrol these parts.

What is this gizmo?

Pre-launch scratching, spitting and planning

It was used, but it was the only one I had ever seen of this size that would accommodate the floats on my plane. The way it works is by lowering the frame underwater and floating the plane over it, you raise the frame with the plane on it by turning the large wheel.

Working smarter, not harder. We
are going to float this puppy into place...

Opportunity knocked and I rushed to open the door. Because of its size, I had to disassemble it, float it across the river in my smaller aluminum boat and reassemble it on the island. The real event was picking the now reassembled 450 pound (200 kilos) unwieldy beast up and getting it out to its final resting place in the river.

Gently.....

I realize that no one really gives a rip about this thing but I spent many sleepless nights trying to think about every possible misstep and what I could do to prevent or mitigate it. Every step of this process required help. I am grateful to my many friends who risked life and limb to help make it happen. The whole event was injury free and flawlessly executed, due to meticulous prior planning and having the right tools. Good work, men!

No, this is not a Chinese fire drill.
This is a well oiled, coordinated work team.

I had planned for 8 of us to move this thing, including a neighbor who had allowed me to use a tool in his garage a few days earlier to work on a part for my airplane. Unfortunately, just as I was about to stop by and ask him, he was killed in a horrific motorcycle accident when he was struck head on by a drunk driver in the middle of the afternoon. He was a quiet but very competent man who a few years ago was instrumental in saving our island during our absence, when a fire started near a burn bin we had . We will forever be in his debt for that.

Success!

Here is how it works.
Pretend I am the plane. No, not some whacked out nut job, a plane.
As seen here I float over the submerged lift and...

...when the wheel is turned the plane is lifted out of the
water to secure it during storms, wake from passing boats, etc.

Speaking of the plane, I did get to put in a few more hours this month and I continue to chip away at it. The most visible part of what I got done was putting my instrument panel in and got serious about the electrical wiring. Getting serious does not mean I am done. It means I got seriously started.

Where does the purple wire go on the back of the instrument panel?

See? Piece of cake!

This picture ought to bring chills to a couple of my friends who have helped me with some electrical issues I have had in the house and was not able to figure out on my own. They know that in spite of having wired two homes, electrical work does not play on my strengths. Knowing that I will do all the electrical work on my plane will surely cause them to run out and take a life insurance policy on me, naming themselves as beneficiaries.

The business end of things.


My uncle Dave helping me install the windshield.
White paper covers the Lexan to protect it
from scratches until final assembly

Finishing the electrical does signify an important step though because when I am done, I will be ready to cover the fuselage (the main part of the plane you sit in), paint, install the engine, perform endless time consuming minor tweaks, adjustments and finishing touches so I can begin to fly. Cool huh? Meanwhile, don’t hold your breath or ask me in a month if I am done. I won’t be.

Birthdays galore!

We had a whole raft of birthdays this past month. For one, it was 10 years ago this month since we bought the Bee. We had come to the East Coast to attend my grandfather’s 100th birthday family get together when we spent a few days at a cottage we had rented nearby.

We toured the area on a tourist cruise ship and we were in awe. Later that day and on a whim, Janice and I drove over to the Canadian side to have cocktails at a riverside hotel when Janice picked up a real estate flier and spotted an island for sale. “Wanna buy an Island?” she said. The next morning we were on the agent’s boat and the moment we saw it we were in love (with the island too).

Janice was a birthday girl this past month but I can’t quite say she celebrated. It was shortly after her chemo treatment so it was hardly a party or a picnic for her. I had my birthday also, truly a depressing time as I entered the next decade of my life involuntarily, kicking and screaming all the way. Funny, I don’t feel like I am circling the drain. There is a real irony in the fact that the best time of my life is happening at this age. Could my birth certificate be wrong?

I figure I have at least another 70 years of plans and projects ahead of me so I better either get moving faster or plan on living longer because people tell me the math is not adding up.

New Hampshire

We just got back from New Hampshire where we spent a week on a home exchange. As always, it allowed us the opportunity to visit little nooks and crannies in New England that we were not familiar with. With the Island rented out for a week during our travels, it gave us a break and a vacation from...well...eh... gosh, I dunno! What can I say, it was a blast. It was a resort home facing the pond within the Forest Hill Estates in the White Mountains.

One of the reasons Janice likes the home exchanges so much is that she often sees something that catches her eye that 'we' can do at our place. I am happy that she then has a reason to keep me around a little longer.

It was a real relaxing time for us as we visited the area.

We swam at both a local beach

at the foot of Mt. Washington...

and at a local swimming hole....

We crossed a number of New England covered bridges...

and took the Cog railroad up Mt. Washington. It is the highest peak in the North West US, with the record for the strongest winds ever recorded by man (231 MPH / 372 KPH). This was the worlds first Cog railroad, with the wheels only keeping the train on the tracks but supplying no power. The power of this steam powered train goes to the 'Cog' or gear that climbs a center sprocket between the tracks to prevent the train from sliding back down the mountain's 37 degree slope.

This, is seriously steep.

Another diagnosis...

You would think that with Janice battling Cancer, we would have enough on our plate to deal with. But no, having just past another un-welcomed milestone on the birthday calendar, we now find out that we have both been diagnosed with a new condition. Something called 'Islomania'. It is a little embarrassing to write about on these pages but there is a short description of the condition at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islomania
(You can copy and paste the link into your browser)

No, it is not fatal but then again there is only one known treatment and it is expensive. Currently, we have somewhat under control. As rare as it is, we actually know at least one other person with it.

How I spent my summer vacation...

Meanwhile, Janice continues with her chemo treatments and will begin radiation sessions in September. As of this date we are continuing to try to work things out with our insurance company to allow us to return to France for the winter and complete the treatments there. We will see.

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for a much larger view.
Drop us a line, we would love to hear from you.