Transitioning again
Reporting from an undisclosed location while in political exile, we have temporarily left the Golden State behind yet again while we continue on what seems like ‘Pee Wee’s’ big adventure. After my visit with Kami in Los Angeles, we flew to Seattle Washington to catch up with Vance and Amy and 5 of our grandkids, arriving just in time to celebrate my man Christopher’s second birthday.
Kami and Dad
Many have asked how he is doing and the long and the short of it is that he is stable, whatever that means. He is not in the hospital and that’s good. On the other hand, he is at a stage where he is not making huge medical progress either. As you can see from the photo he is still on a humidified oxygenated ventilator with his trach. As a result, he is unable to make a sound, cry out loud or speak so he has begun to learn the very fundamentals of sign language. Christopher is quite adept at asking for his favorite cartoons and loves to operate any remote control. He has a feeding tube as he is still unable to swallow, is in a wheelchair as he is unable to walk and will need 24 hour nursing care for quite some time to come, perhaps permanently.
He maybe disabled but he’s no dummy. He is a mischievous 2 year old, a handful under the best of circumstances. Lately he has taken to disconnecting his ventilator, knowing full well that the monitor he is also connected to around the clock will sense a problem and set off a warning alarm. This in turn will cause Dad, Mom or the nurse to come running to his side to reconnect it. As a two year old it’s fun to ‘snap your fingers’ day or night (by disconnecting) and watch someone run to your bedside. Mr. Funny Guy is scheduled to meet his behavior modification therapist shortly……
Typically, if there is such a thing, he will make most of any medical progress he is going to make between his 3rd and 5th birthday. This however, is by no means assured. While this little boy will clearly have a special place in heaven, I believe his mom and dad will have earned a place right next to him for have knowingly, willingly and lovingly turned their lives inside out to meet his every need.
Kayla, grandma and Cassie
While visiting with the rest of the munchkins, we drove down to Oregon for a week to spend time with daughter Cassie and the newest, sweetest addition to the family, Kayla Marie. Both Cassie and Amy are blessed with their youngest that seem to want little more than to be fed, changed and spend the day smiling from ear to ear.
We did not get to see son in law Matt as he was off to Texas working on the installation of commercial wind turbines. It was great giving another one of our kids a little mom and dad face time, helping with ‘honey do’s’, having mom cook and help with laundry and get to spend some time with Kayla and 5 year old Marilyn who followed me around like a magnet. It was wonderful seeing Cassie’s cute little house and giving her a much needed break from being a brand new mom alone at home.
Glad to be home
Few things put a bigger smile on my girl’s face than to be boarding the plane to go back home to France for Christmas. We love spending time with the kids but flying to Europe marks an almost uninterrupted 5 delicious months of no responsibilities. Then again, the Bee does that too…
Within 24 hours of our arrival we had restocked the larder** and put up our Christmas tree, as well as decorated the house for the holidays. We are among the last here to do so as the village had all its seasonal decorations up already.
Lannion (the nearest little city) literally rolls out the red carpets on its sidewalks for Christmas shoppers. This month’s blog is being posted on the fly as we will not have internet at home for perhaps another week as it takes a long time for the phone company to reconnect us. Having just arrived, it is too early to contemplate any ‘projects’ but I am beginning to see the gleam in my bride’s eyes. I know trouble when I see it.
The big news here is the giant peeing contest between the French president Sarkosy and his detractors over a new law he is trying to pass regarding allowing people to work on Sundays. The French, who seem allergic to work, fear that simply allowing people to work on Sundays will encourage employers to put pressure on them to fill those positions. Even the provision of double time pay won’t budge many into messing with their traditions. By and large it is a replay of last year’s battle over a proposed law allowing people to work more than a 35 hour work week.
**Every six months when we transition from the Bee to Europe or back, we clean out our refrigerator and pantry and give or toss any remaining contents. Then we fly 9,000 miles and restock everything from scratch. When we reintroduce our home in California into the mix we will get to do it every four months. At least the ketchup won’t go bad…
Last winter I wrote about our little village called Langoat. (Invariably mispronounced by English speaking people as ‘Lan-goat’. The correct pronunciation is more like ‘Lawn go at’). This month I thought I would share a little about our adjacent town called Treguier. It’s only 4 miles from us but is within a larger area known for its rugged pink-hued granite coastlines, incredible beaches, fertile farms, and mysterious moorlands. Of all of France’s provinces, Brittany is the least “French.” Fiercely independent, Bretons are loyal to their families and traditions, while sharing the Celtic heritage of Ireland, Wales, and Normandy.
Brittany only officially became part of France in the fifteenth century, a relationship that remains precarious to this day. Road signs are in Breton (a Celtic dialect) as well as French. Roman ruins and aqueducts are tucked into many of the hills. ‘Menhirs’, tumuli, and dolmens (giant stone monoliths) erected between 4500 and 2000 BC dot the landscape. The area drew Gauguin and fellow painters of the Pont-Aven School, and later even Picasso and Matisse. As on the coast of Britain, it’s never too hot and there are no bugs.
Clearly, Brittany is a food lover’s paradise. Within an easy drive from the house are the great salt marshes of the Guerande peninsula, where the famous fleur du sel (sea salt) is harvested. The surrounding bays and estuaries are plumbed for oysters, scallops, shrimp and mussels. The farm lands grow artichokes, as well as leeks, lettuces, potatoes, and cauliflower. There are sweet grasses for cattle grazing, goat and sheep that produce Brittany’s distinct milk, butter, cheeses, and lait ribot (buttermilk).
One of Janice’s favorite walks is down by the flax ponds. Many of the Manoirs ’in the area dating from early in the last century were built from the profits derived from the highly sought linens that were extracted from the flax harvested then treated in these ponds.
Designated a Cite de Caractere (city of character) by the French government, the sixth-century walled city of Treguier is a port for sailboats, small fishing vessels, and yachts from around the world. It is located on the Jaudy River, where it developed around a monastery and served as a capital for the Tregor region. Built in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, La Cathedrale Saint-Tugdual, a spectacular cloister of forty-eight arches and three spires that stands above the city, is a masterpiece of Breton religious Gothic architecture.
The Cathedral houses the tomb of St. Yves, the patron saint of lawyers. The town’s maisons à colombage (brightly painted houses of wood beams and plaster) from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and hôtels particuliers en granit (residences constructed of granite) from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are typical examples of the region’s architectural character and style.
Other cool Treguier factoids; it was where the first French/ Latin /Breton dictionary was ever printed in 1482. Also ‘Le Guindy’ stone arched aqueduct built in 1610, named after the river that flows under it is on the edge of town.
Happy Holidays to all and please write when you can.
