March, 2017

The sky is falling!!!

Relax, this is not about Trump.

You may have heard that after a 5 year drought in California, last month saw a deluge of almost biblical proportions. Whenever something big happens in California (fires, floods, mass shootings) friends and family often ask if it was in our area. Short answer: no.

Last month though, we did not walk away unscathed. Neighbors sent us pictures of the damage done by a freak windstorm, knocking part of our fence down and shredding our patio umbrella. All this while we were suffering benign weather on the French Riviera.

Speaking of which...

The first 3 rules of real estate

We have all been told that the rules in purchasing real estate are simple. The 3 crucial things are location, location and location. Everything else can be fixed, but get the location wrong and you are toast.

Our choice of location here was a winner for us, and this past month seemed to be re-confirmed. We have found many local postcards, place mats, tourist pamphlets, videos and the like with photos of our immediate area, always including our villa in the  pictures. This month, we found a front page newspaper story that was published last May when we were here about our little neighborhood.

The front page of our local paper describing our rocky inlet as a "preserved shelter" and a "privileged coastline" .

The two page article went on to describe the "beaches, creeks and rocky inlets" that were in "one of the most appreciated protected environments". That its inhabitants were "rocked between the calm of the winter and the dynamic summer activities". Finally, they were unlikely to leave "this little corner of paradise".

Next was a large format, glossy, high end travel magazine featuring our immediate coastline at the bottom of our property which has a view that would rival anything we have ever seen in Malibu.

The magazine called our community "A little corner of Paradise" (I thought it might have been the same author but it wasn't) The photo is a little misleading as our property is 50 feet (17M) above another rocky inlet (outside of the right picture frame above but seen in the photo below). Only the width of the road separates our property from the sea.

Also on the photo below in another local magazine, you can see a restaurant to the right of our beach. They are currently putting the finishing touches on a multi-million dollar renovation there.
 

Factoid: Water skiing was invented here in 1930 when the National Federation of Alpine Skiing could not wait for winter to resume their sport so they proceeded to put their skis on water behind a boat. The rest, as they say, was history.

As long as we are on the subject, Time magazine just published a report on the "Happiest and Healthiest Cities in America" Researchers analyzed 350,000 interviews conducted in  2016 to rank 189 communities by physical, emotional, financial, community and social health. Our town in California ranked # 7 in the nation. It had ranked #3 but I assume the downgrading was the result of the sadness that folks feel because of our long absences.

 Goofing off

This month, we had California friends Joe and Charlotte stop by for a few days on their way to Albania, giving us the perfect excuse to take yet more time off.  It was their first foray to the Riviera so we made the best of it. On a day's outing, we started by the obligatory walk down the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival theatre. We have had more people walk down that carpet than Meryl Streep.

 Charlotte covering up to prevent being recognized by the paparazzi

After a leisurely lunch in Italy, we returned by visiting the medieval village of Roquebrune Cap Martin (wow, is that a mouthful !) and climbed to the top of it's fort with a view of the port of Monaco in the background.

We strolled through Monaco and tempted fate at the Monte Carlo casino before confiscating our wives credit cards when entering the shopping areas.

Returning home, we hunkered down for one of our 'Mistral' storms. One of the weather peculiarities of the area is that in the winter, we occasionally get  violent, cold, northwest winds that accelerates when it passes through the valleys. These are the mother of all winds when on that night it blew at 80 mph (130kph) with some gusts in the area clocked at 110 mph (180kph). Damage? I had to repair 3 clay roof tiles.

Undeterred, Joe and Charlotte will be visiting us at the island this summer.

Les amis

Neighbors and friends Maurice and his wife Brigitte as well as Christian and his wife Lydia dropped by for dinner. Christian is a master chocolate maker and does not muck about. A recent creation of his was a 200 kilo (440 pounds) chocolate bar for a charity auction. He volunteers to teach the craft at schools and community events. He keeps us well supplied.

Last call!

As we go to press, we picked # 1 son Wesley up from the Marseilles airport this AM for his first European trip and a two week visit with mom and dad. After giving him a tour of our local area, Wesley will join us for this years road trip through a half dozen countries including a visit to his sister Mandy's place in Germany. I suspect there will be more on the subject next month.

February, 2017

Best laid plans of mice and men

The plan was simple. Fly up north, spend time with the grand kids, then fly to Europe. What could possibly go wrong? 

The problem was that we have long had the curse of having one or both of us getting really sick right before, during or as soon as we leave those little petri dishes. This year was no exception. Hmmm...I wonder if there is a message there.

The day before we left, I came down with the creeping crud. I wore a face mask the whole day we flew (fellow passengers gave me a wide berth). Then after getting tested at the local walk in clinic in the town where we were staying in, I was told by the doctor "For God's sake, stay away from everyone, you have type A influenza". 

Janice was unscathed, but after flying 1000 miles, renting a car and a BnB for the duration, I spend the next 9 days in a self imposed quarantine, holed up in our room while Janice  helped Cassie and her kids. 

Half way through our visit we were supposed to switch up and drive north of Seattle to be with daughter Amy's family and her 5 kids at home, but on the news of "Typhoid Mary's" condition we were dis-invited. Our grandson Christopher had just undergone a serious surgery with an immune system that was compromised, and Amy is due with # 7 in April. The nurse immediately declared us persona-non-grata and nixed any idea of us visiting. Rats.

I, of course, had no intention of going anywhere near them  (I love hanging around hotel rooms) but the fear was that even though Janice was well, she might be carrying some of my nasty bugs as a result of our close proximity. Being a humble Republican, I would have been blamed for any Ebola outbreak.

We plan these trips a year ahead and it will be a year before we can do this again. We have declared this visit all but a bust for me, but Janice got in some much-loved Kayla, Ryan and new born Lindy time.

What I missed out on

The transition 

Well, the time came and off we went. 37 hours on the clock from door to door (including a 9-hour time zone change). After the usual 4-5-day re-alignment with our new time zone, we were back in our French groove. Some day when we get old, we may have to do this in two steps with a day or two stopover on the East coast before crossing the pond, but being spry and young, this is simply not an issue.

Project update

There ain't none. We have been here two weeks and are barely awake. After the usual restocking of the fridge and pantry, changing the oil in the car, I was in catch up mode with all the little honey do fix its.  There are no sexy show and tells when all you do is fix minor plumbing leaks, dig trenches to lay electrical wire to my mini workshop and lay a plumbing line for an additional garden faucet. Still, they are the infrastructure that make to cool stuff happen in the months to come.

Really?

Last month, I got some blow back from folks who thought I was a little harsh describing our home state of California as being the land of fruits and nuts and the lunatic fringe.

Well, I respectfully submit the following.

Chief Heather Fong (left), was the first SFPD female, lesbian chief of police. Theresa Sparks (center), a former male, was former president of the San Francisco Police Commission, CEO of a multi million-dollar sex toy retailer, and a transgender woman. Sgt. Stephan Thorne (right), a former female, is the first transgender male SFPD police officer and was subsequently promoted to Lieutenant. This makes her...eh...I mean HIM (!) the highest ranking transgender law enforcement officer in the country.

Our representative in Congress Nancy Pelosi, who 12 days in the president's term, was looking for ways to impeach president "Bush" (?). Isn't that special? Finally, Maxine Waters (our honorable Congresswoman) recently shared her concern about Russia invading South Korea, which was news to both countries. Cocaine and Botox diets have consequences.

A recent poll showed that 1/3 of the state residents favored making California a 'sanctuary state' and separating from the rest of the country.

Hey. I report, you decide.

 How cool is this!

Just before we pulled up stakes in California for the season, we had the good fortune to have Air BnB contact us, offering to have a professional photographer come by and do a 'photo shoot' of our home. (Air BnB is one of the web portals we use to rent our property while we are away) They did the same here in France last year and we ended up with the best pictures of those two properties we have to date, far better than any of Michael's instamatic specials :)

I have included a few of them here and if you have any interest in seeing the rest you can view the listing HERE. Just click on the VIEW PHOTOS tab on left side of the homepage photo.

Michael's reminder to Michael

January, 2017

Introducing

Ms. Lindy Michelle Stuckey...

 

Daughter Cassie gave birth to sweet little Lindy Michelle this month. She was the perfect Christmas gift (to say nothing of a great little tax deduction) :) This little pumpkin is the apple of her mother's eye and is starting the long slog as the shoe in for Miss America 2040. Lindy MICHELLE becomes grandchild # 9. Any more and I will need a Rolodex to keep up with all their names. Two more and we could have a football team. Mom and baby are doing great and we will be on our way to see them all in a few days. Did I mention her middle name is MICHELLE? Just saying...

Ian and Lyne

We capped our season by having the pleasure of inviting island friends Ian and Lyne to fly out and join us for our last week here and then remain for an additional week on their own without any adult supervision. This is their first foray to the center of the universe and we are trying to contain all the hyperventilating over what we are able to see and do locally. We will join them again in a few months at their home in the south of France near ours where they spend part of the year also.

 Going wine tasting is serious business in these parts

A few years ago when they visited us in France at our home in Brittany, they returned home to Canada, went online and bought a house in France sight unseen. Well, they had Ian's daughter go check it out first, but they actually stepped foot into it months after the deed was done. Hmmm.....I wonder if they will do the same when they leave here.

Vandenberg Air Force base is about 30 miles from us as the crow flies, and is where many military (and some civilian) rockets are fired, often with super secret payloads.
We had the chance to see Elon Musk's Space X rocket launch from our house as we were leaving to go exploring for the day. It happened to contain 10 communication satellites and was a successful launch but the most exciting part was that the booster was not lost at sea like NASA'S but let it self back down upright gently and landed on a ship at sea! Unreal!

 

Photo: Ian Coristine, 1000islandsphotoart.com

Pre dinner gathering with friends

While Ian and Lyne are terrific friends, we are clearly from different sides of the political aisle. We are hard core conservatives right down to our DNA and they are, well, 'them other guys'. So, out of mutual respect, we have a negotiated agreement for a cease fire of sorts and to a political no fly zone during their stay. You would think that it is an equal effort but the burden is much greater on us since we already live in California, the land of fruits and nuts, and home to the tin cap flat earth lunatic fringe ;)  

Having them as guests anywhere results in an embarrasment of riches, as they always come up with some over the top gift. The mantra that "it is better to give than to receive" does not apply here as being on the receiving end of their generosity is by far the better end of the deal. Ian has published 8 books, ( 1 E book, and 7 picture books) The E book and 6 of the picture books are available everywhere. The seventh book had a press run of two. It is a stunning hardcover coffee table photo book of pictures he has taken all over France. Ian and Lyne kept one, the second resides on our coffee table.

Photo: Michael Laprade Starfire productions ;)

Listen, I would love to stick around and chat but we are off to Santa Barbara, San Francisco......     

 Feedback from the peanut gallery

Every month when we send the Epistle out, we often get replies, so it is real nice to be able to keep up with your news too. Then again, we sometimes get tongue-in-cheek comments that make us laugh. Last month I posted pictures of our little deck project with the built in waterfall and got this back from a friend...

"But won't the waterfall splash onto the new lower deck? No - it will disappear through the deck, and emerge out the far side as a stream, with little boats you can get into and float directly into the sauna, which will be moved accordingly, the stream water being diverted slightly to keep the hot rocks wet. Get on with it!"

OK wise guy, I get it. :)

I am often teased about the amount of work we do or the number of projects we take on. Words like "workaholic" are frequently introduced into the conversation. Some will ask "Why can't you just relax sometimes"? It's enough to make some  guys feel a little defensive, but me? Not a chance.

For most of us, our homes are much more than a place to get our mail or sleep without getting rained on. Our home is a place that not only expresses who we are but where our family bonds were forged and strengthened. You know, the place we can't wait to get back to when we are away. Away where? Doesn't matter. Away just means not home. For us, making our home better in any way makes our family stronger.

If we are traveling, entertaining friends, visiting kids or whatever, we don't  give a thought to 'projects'. But if we are just home kicking about, we wake up each morning thinking "what can we do today to make this place nicer, more practical, more convenient or better in some small way?". On the other hand, I rarely speak about future plans knowing that the term "premeditated" could later get bantered about the courtroom. 

So what grand projects did we tackle this month?

Absolutely none. See, we do know how to relax.

A trip down memory lane 

Like all of us with kids, over the years we took a bunch of pictures of the little rug rats growing up and created a full shelf of albums. Janice has spent a lot of time scanning those pictures so that we could have a digital copy to give them and for safekeeping should something ever happen, like a fire.

This year we have started a new tradition by sitting down each New Year (since that is the time of the year we are here) and going through 1 album a day reminiscing about "do you remember when?..." We always knew that this day would come and we would want to flash back to the good times we had with our kids and the times they drove us crazy. We have photographic evidence of both.

We even have a picture of one of the kids (who will not be named to protect the guilty) who decided to try on my work handcuffs when I was at work one day. (I would say that she got them out of her mothers closet but that would put me in the doghouse). The moment was priceless so we made sure to video the bantering between us when I came home to remove them with various keys that clearly would not fit.

Ahhh, the memories...;)

The bills are beginning to pile up so it is time to hurry, pack and skip the country. Next month: Home in 'La belle France'