The Epistle, March 2008

Chateau Coat-an-Noz

Psssst!

Hey buddy, wanna buy a Castle?

OK, I’ll admit it. Yes, I have fantasized about buying and ‘fixing up’ an old abandoned castle or two and over the years during our travels here we have seen plenty of them available. We crawl all through the ruins and layout all our plans regarding what we would do first and just how incredibly cool it would all look when we would be finished. They come in all sizes and conditions with some actually for sale and some well….who knows? Some seem to have been abandoned for so long no one has any idea who owns them or if they would have any interest in considering a sale. We found one a few weeks ago that is a perfect example.

Chateau Coat-an-Noz is about 20 minutes from the current ‘Chateau Laprade’, located in a forest bearing its namesake. Built in the mid 1800’s by the countess of Sesmaisons, it is not particularly old by European standards. It was purchased by Sir Robert Mond (nickel magnate) in 1929 but he shortly went bust. A succession of owners followed, none of whom managed to get their act together sufficiently to bring it back to its former glory. There is conflicting information as to whether the place was used by the resistance or occupied by the Germans during WWII. Either way this bad boy is ready for picking.

The exterior structure is all but pristine as there is very little stone work that would need repair. Sure the roof would need to be re-slated but that is to be expected. The place has been vacant and abandoned forever so the interior would need to be gutted. Rampant vandalism is evident with graffiti everywhere, and everything that wasn’t nailed down has been stolen. In fact, even the grand staircase that was nailed down is gone. Moldy mattresses and empty beer bottles witness to the hookers, drug addicts and partying teenagers who have made it home.

And what a home it was! At just under 20,000 square feet over 4 floors, it has 4 corner towers plus an arched stone vaulted basement. With15 foot high ceilings it could have a dozen bedrooms, a humongous dining room, grand staircase entryway, wine cellar, library and a living room to die for. Heck, as long as you are dreaming, you would have space for a ball room and servants quarters too!

OK, so it’s a little rough, but at $270,000. it’s yours! Not exactly chump change but just think of the potential!!! Your very own Chateau in France. How cool is that? Talk about bragging rights.

So why don’t these places get snapped up and made grander than ever? There you go asking the tough questions. To start with, re-slating the roof would cost an arm and a leg. Make that 2 arms and two legs. Windows alone are estimated at well over a quarter million dollars. All of the interior walls and ceilings would need to be redone at a cost that would exceed that if you were starting from scratch. All plumbing and electrical would be a re-do and at the cost of heating the place would take your breath away so some serious and costly insulation would be called for. It would be worth millions but would cost millions to do. And, we haven’t even touched the subject that a little period furniture would be needed also.

Of course all of this is obvious. What is less so is that the government here often requires that these places be renovated by ‘licensed historically experienced builders’, so you can just add lots of dollar signs to any reasonable estimate. Property taxes would get your undivided attention but if you are still counting the pennies in your piggy bank, I am about to rain on your parade. This particular castle has a fatal structural defect as the towers stand on inadequate foundations and are slowly tearing away from the building and heading for eventual collapse. The fix? Simple. Bulldoze it to the ground and rebuild.

Property prices in general here have risen quite rapidly over the last decade. These Castles were considerably cheaper (even relatively speaking) 10-15 years ago. The sad fact is that if one were GIVEN to you, you could not afford it. Whenever I see an abandoned property (Castle or regular house) I always wonder why on the last day the owner walked away for whatever reason he did not simply sell it, even if it was not for a good price. Was it better to simply let it go to ruin and get nothing rather than to sell it and get something? I can never figure it out.

The other significant thing I have noticed is that most of all of the really magnificent buildings you see here are hundreds of years old. The spectacular Cathedrals, the ornate artistic stone carvings, the architecture to die for, it’s all very, very old. Most ‘new’ buildings are quite boring and in my view on the simple economical side. Wood frame construction is rare here and many Europeans are genuinely surprised that we use it at home. Although stone homes are found everywhere in Brittany, virtually no new ones are built as they are too labor intensive and therefore expensive. Instead, they are now built of variations of cement or clay blocks and covered in stucco or plaster. Some add stone 'features' to try to stay in character.

I am not saying all are boring or cheap as there are obviously incredible digs here but am saying most of what is new is boring to my eye. I have not seen any "WOW!" modern gated communities here like in Malibu, mansions like in Florida, Beverly Hills or Newport in Rhode Island among many others. Many of the most beautiful homes here are modern renovations done in very old buildings, chateaux’s or forts. People say “no one can afford to build those kinds of buildings at today’s costs” but those places were quite expensive in those days also and they seem to have managed. Heck, they can’t even afford to remodel many of them today.

Christopher

Our grandson took a turn for the worse recently. His last surgery was not the success it was hoped for and he soon needed to be put on a ventilator. He now requires 24 hour in home nursing care and it’s expected to go on for about 6 months. The only good news is that, unbelievably, he is expected to outgrow all of this at some point.

Big Find

Here is a little something unlikely to happen at home! France's biggest trove of Gaulish coins -525 of them superbly preserved, dating from 75-50 BC, were recently found close to here during the construction of a highway bypass. The antiquities teams that examine building sites during construction in promising historical locations occasionally hits the mother lode as they obviously did here. As most people bartered for goods and services, people with currency usually meant they were not only well healed but often traveling some distance with their wealth. There were no clues as to who the owners were or why the treasure trove was buried.

I will have mine well done, please.

I am always amused at how the typical French choose to eat their meat. [Factoid: The average European only eats 40lbs (18 kilos) of meat per year. This represents 42% of the average Americans yearly meat consumption of 95lbs (43 kilos). The trend doesn't appear to be likely to change anytime soon as the French meat market is declining. ]

The average Frenchman will eat meat that to my trained culinary eye appears to be all but jumping-in-the-plate raw. I know my taste run a little on the well done side but personally I am put off by meat that is still cool in the center. I have learned that to order meat in restaurants here I must not be casual about it. First, I get the waitperson's undivided attention and say “I would like my meat very, very, VERY well done, please”. They usually roll their eyes and give me that look of disdain. Then, as they begin to turn away snickering, heading for the kitchen, I gently nudge their arm and say “…and when you are done cooking it,……cook it again”. It usually comes medium-well.

The ongoing saga

I have not written anything about our projects here since we arrived in France. The reason is quite simply because we had not hardly worked on any. Other than building a closet for our current bedroom, we had Mandy visit in December, we were traveling for 3 weeks in January and shortly before leaving I injured a tendon in my shoulder. That created a perfect excuse to spend a lot of time on the computer doing some projects that have been in my “one of these days” file for years. Well, my bride finally said that I should quit whining and get my lazy rear end up to the loft and finish our Master bedroom and bathroom.

For the past few winters I have written about having done ‘some’ of the framing, ‘some’ of the electrical and insulating, ‘some’ of the vapor barrier, drywall and taping and ‘some’ of the painting and texturing. I can now report that by the time the ink on this dries, we will be finished with all of it. Whew! Next will be laying some tile and installing the toilet and sink. A sound insulating barrier on the floor and generally preparing the area for carpeting will follow. Unfortunately, we will not be able to carpet or have our fireplace connected before we leave, due to heartbreaking, unemployment induced fiscal sadness.....

3 down, 1 to go

Our village blacksmith surprised us by finishing yet another piece of our fireplace set, this time finishingour forged wood rack. It is a stunning beast of a piece that is a perfect match for the rest of the set and only the fireplace tools remain. It will be a long time before we see those, I am sure. Meanwhile, I have started spending a few hours a day with him, several days a week, to make odds and ends that we wanted forged for the Bee.

People often think that we will have problems when we bring these items back and forth to and / or from America and Europe. "they will detect them in the airport Xray machine" they tell me. They don't realize that you can bring darn near anything on board an airplane, as long as its in the luggage hold. Over the years, I have brought a 4 foot sword (1.3 meters), a 50 pound slab of steel [fireplace sacrificial iron] (23 kilos), a suitcase full of metal hardware for shutters, a kitchen sink, a framing nail gun, a large oil painting and even an 8 foot blow gun (2.5 meters) from the Amazon in Peru in the cargo hold. Yes, the Xray machines 'detect' it all, but if its not explosive, corrosive, toxic or outright illegal, its pretty much OK. On the other hand, I have had the metal point of a tracing compass that was in my briefcase taken away from me in more hysterical times.

The Epistle has a hiccup

A few days after posting last month’s Epistle I was looking something up when I noticed a part of the newsletter was missing. Resisting my inclination to call Homeland Security, I opened a new browser to try again but it was simply not there. This blog format has been quite reliable but in spite of my double checking everything before I hit the “send” button, much like its author the blog ‘disremembered’ a portion. I have since fixed it, but just know that you have missed all that was written below the picture of the tower of Belam (the group of 3 pictures near the end of last month’s newsletter). You can scroll down below to it now if you like, but be careful not to go too far or you will be reading 12 month old news!

Have a great month.

The Epistle, February 2008

We proudly announce to the world at large that on January 31st 2008, Ms. Megan Grace Lindor, 8bs 10 oz , of daughter Amy and favorite son in law Vance fame, made her grand entrance on the stage of life. We welcome the little pudding into our ever growing family and look forward to meeting her upon our return in May.

Meanwhile, almost simultaneously, our grandson Christopher was undergoing emergency surgery in his skull. The little guy had been passing out off and on for short periods due to pressure from an inoperable cyst on his spinal cord at the base of his skull. The surgery removed bone the size of a domino from the back of his skull to relieve some of the pressure. The prognosis is excellent if you don't count this latest assault on the the poor kid's short life.

Speaking of family, Cassie moved up to Oregon this month with her roommate Matt and his young daughter. Then Kami, being temporarily out of work due to the 3 1/2 month writers’ strike in Hollywood, wisely accepted a 3-4 month position in Oregon also.

We have a lot to tell this month so you might want to put your big girl panties on and get a cup of coffee while we take you along for the ride.

On The road again.....

Within minutes of posting The Epistle last month, we packed our laptop, got in the car and drove off toward Morocco on the northern tip of Africa. All work and no play make’s Michael a dull and sad boy, so we took a little vacation from our eh….retirement. Yes, it’s a ways from the house but it could be driven in two long days as it’s about the same distance as the two furthest points in California. If you are wondering, no we didn’t, we took about 10.

We made several stops on our first day only hours from home. You see, years ago my older brother gave me a copy of our family tree and history that he had gotten from an uncle on my dad’s side who had spent considerable time and effort researching it. He came up with a lineage that showed that we Laprades were related to some guy in France in the 1600’s. It was interesting but I have never been real big on family trees and who’s-who-in-the-zoo stuff so after glancing at it, I buried the document in a drawer. Besides, France is a big country and the guy could be from anywhere.

Recently though, my daughter Mandy was asking me about it and started to lay a guilt trip on me for not having translated it for my kids and making it available to them. Fair enough I thought, so I read it.

HOLLY SMOKES!!! The document clearly chronicles 13 generations of Laprades, not only naming names but in some cases marriages, occupations and lifestyles. The kicker was that the Laprade ancestors not only were from France but my 12th generation back grandfather’s parents were from ‘St-Julien de Cocelles’, a town in Brittany. My G_G_G_G_G_G_G_G_G_G_G_G_ grandmother lived close by in ‘St. Marguerite de La Rochelle’ (home to Jacques Cousteau's "Calypso"), slightly outside of Brittany proper. Furiously, I Googled the locations on a map and found that they not only existed but were just a few hours’ drive from us.

And so, on our first leg of the journey we stopped by to walk the towns where my ancestors had lived. A friend kidded me about perhaps reclaiming an old chateau but I was more concerned about someone wanting me to repay 350 year old debts. Of course with all the wars, revolutions, fires and various catastrophes’ that have occurred, it is impossible to find much specific considering that in France they even ‘recycle’ cemetery plots after 25 years or so if the family does not pay to renew the space. I wondered if my 12-13th gen grandparents ever gave a thought as to whether their progeny would come back to look them up 350 years later. Will mine?

Many old headstones here are simply flipped over and re-used as walkway flagstones, filler in the walls of the stone homes or as foundations in the barn walls. Where in the area could my families be?
This walk down memory lane had its roots last year when we visited Bari in the south of Italy where my dad had served in WWII. (Note to family; I have received my father’s complete military war records. If you would like a copy, just ask.)

Now I am finding out that just outside of Montreal Canada, a mere 30 miles from where I was raised, is a creek and minor roadway named after the first Laprade to have landed in North America. I looked it up and bigger than life, it’s on the Google map. In a very minor way, WE’RE FAMOUS!!! We will drive up to see it when we are at the Island this summer.

Continuing on further to the south of France, we drove to the city of Bordeaux. Last May it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site (WHS), coming in at # 79 on my growing list of previously visited WHS. It is a lot like Paris but on a smaller scale. This seeking out "World Heritage" sites has become a real passion for us as we can rarely find more impressive places to see or things to do when we travel. It is truly the "who's who" of superb places to visit.

Moving on we arrived at Biarritz on the coast near the Spanish border. We spent a week in the Basque country on the Northern border of Spain in a home exchange that we had arranged. See it at: www.homeforexchange.com/property_detailed_view.php?propId=19144 The owner spent a week in Brittany with friends at our home there. All in all, it was quite a reasonable little house. Plus, it did give us a chance to spend a week exploring the area in the French and Spanish Pyrenees mountains. We had a picnic at the foot of Mt. Perdue (WHS # 80) http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/773 . We spent a day at Lourdes, Chateau Mauvezin and the prehistoric caves of Gargas.

We have visited many other caves all over the place but these are special in that they contain a few hundred etched wall carvings and painted cave art including numerous human hand prints, reputedly over 27,000 years old. France has very serious problems with the few such caves that it has, with substantial damage done to them as a result of rising temperatures and humidity from the visitor’s presence. The largest such cave in the country is closed to all visitors including scientists for at least another decade. This one is the first to use fiber optic lighting to reduce temperatures. They also required reservations and limited the number of visitors to 20 for the only 3 tours per day. The kicker was that as a fluke we were the only ones there so Janice and I got a private tour with the guide.

We drove to San Sebastian for the city’s annual celebration of their patron saint where hundreds of drummers played on the town square prior the crowd running ahead of a bull (they strap him to keep control). Of course you do remember that your history teacher told you that Christopher Columbus sailed from this town’s port in 1492, don’t you?

Another day saw us in the royal city of “Pau”, birthplace of King Henri IV but better known as home to the real Three Musketeers. We have such incredible times because we travel off season. Yes, we miss some of the gardens in bloom and generally better weather but what we often do get are (as above) private tours of the sites we visit. One tour guide and the two of us- that’s it. In “Pau”, we had a private tour of the Kings castle with the curator who was the resident expert of the 16th century tapestries’. Because of our intense interest, he took us beyond the roped off areas allowing us up close to the exhibits and in areas that are usually restricted. Spending his lunch hour with us, he took 2 hours for what was to be a one hour tour. The experience was wonderful! See it at…http://www.justtourfrance.com/chateau/chatdetails.asp?chat=Chateau%20de%20Pau&area=Pyrenees-Atlantique&county=Aquitaine

Leaving France, we drove through Spain to Madrid where we visited the Royal Palace and the Prado Museum. (This time like minions, no private tour). Continuing on we drove through La Mancha (home to Don Quixote) and the hundreds of kilometers of olive orchards to Malaga just outside of Gibraltar on the Mediterranean coast on the southern tip of Spain. We set up camp here for a week at another home exchange. See it at… http://www.homeforexchange.com/property_detailed_view.php?propId=12545#bimg

Hopping the ferry we sailed off to Morocco to dip our toe on the African continent. We visited the medina (old city) and the Casbah (walled citadel) in Tanger with its warren of narrow alleys and shops that remind me of images of Jerusalem. We attended the obligatory Moroccan dinner complete with performances and belly dancers (like attending a luau in Hawaii).

We saw many men and women in their traditional djelaba and hijabs dress and we also drove 120 Km (80 miles) in to the countryside up in the Atlas mountains to the holy city of Chechaouen, a city much more interesting and cleaner than Tanger. The countryside looks a little bit like a cross between Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. There we saw the neighborhood bakers working out of a shop the size of our bathroom, taking kneaded bread, cookies and other goods from most of their neighbors without cooking facilities and bake them in their wood fired ovens for a token payment. We saw a large group of women down by the creek beating clothes on the rocks to scrub them, then rinse them in the passing water. Morocco was even the first country to recognize America’s claim to independence. Sound like an exciting trip that you would be interested in? Don’t bet on it. Here is the rest of the story….

Our accommodations were rated as a 4 star hotel and it was, if hotels are based on a 50 star system, hot water in your room is not important and you don’t need half the light bulbs. The prisoners at my old facility in California enjoy better accommodations than we had. Tanger has trash everywhere and running water in only parts of the city. We saw people filling their plastic jugs at the communal wells within line sight of the Ramada Inn. There are relentless, persistent beggars, thieves and shysters at every turn and the Islamic call to prayers can be heard all over the city on loudspeakers 5 times a day as early as 5AM and as late as 10PM. The buses and trucks run on paved roads but every street off of them into the neighborhoods are dirt roads and rutted paths. Hundreds of partially built derelict apartment buildings that have been abandoned dot the landscape. It reminds me of what we see on the news when Gaza is having a bad day and have made the Israeli’s really mad.

There are sheep herders and goats on the side of the roads. You see the plastic and tarp covered nomad tents in empty lots. Donkeys are used to pull a single wood hand plow to till the fields. I haven’t seen that since I was in Peru. I have seen poverty before but this was poverty without dignity as no visible effort is being made to improve their lot. It's like a case of societal arrested development, life one notch above cave man. All this a mere 14 Km (9 miles) from the modern, civilized Spanish coast.

It was a vivid reminder how we are blessed winners in the world genetic lottery. I know that some of you have been to other parts of Africa and loved it. I know that to say that we have seen Africa because we saw a small part of Morocco is as silly as saying you have seen the USA because you flew into NYC. I know there are beautiful things and places in Africa that we have not seen. But let me just say that if you decide to go visit any part of the continent, be sure to let us know how it turned out because we are done.

Back in Spain we visited Mijas (Julius Cesar used to hang out here) and Gibraltar. Heading back home we drove to Portugal and visited 3 Unesco World Heritage Sites (WHS) in Lisbon one morning before lunch. The Tower of Belem (WHS # 81)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bel%C3%A9m_Tower

the Monastery of Jeronimos (WHS # 82) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jer%C3%B3nimos_Monastery%2C_Lisbon the Palacio National and Palacio Da Pena in Sintra (WHS # 83) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pena_Palace

It has been 2X15 + 10 years ( I just can't bring myself to say the combined number) since I was there last and the country has obviously changed

It was a kick to see cork trees harvested (I got to cut a sample off). Heading North East, we drove to the Spanish border stopping in Salamanca to see the old quarter (WHS # 84) http://www.salamancapatrimonio.com/ and Burgos (WHS #85 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgos_Cathedral

Crossing the French border our trip ended much as it started; by my scouting out the last location where it all began, Mesonnay (now called Maisonnais-sur-Tardoire) outside of Limoges, birthplace to the first Laprade that traveled to America and was responsible for all of us that have been there ever since. (Note to family, if you would like a copy of the pictures taken of the villages, just ask) Jean Regasse Laprade, was born roughly in 1643. Having run out of money long before we ran out of fun, we went home.

Whew, we are pooped. I am history, culture, chateaux, art, architecture'd out!!!

We need a vacation :)

The Epistle, January 2008

Chateau La Bourbansais

Built in 1583 upon Gallo Roman ruins it was enlarged by 3 generations of parliamentary families in the 1700’s. Traditional French gardens flourish and the guided tours of the living areas of the Chateau with its period furnishings allow you to experience the ambiance of the past. Critical restorations were done in 2007. It is located about 2 hours from home.

Mandy visits with Gillian

Making her yearly pilgrimage to Dad and Mom’s, Mandy joined us for Christmas again this year. This time she brought her friend Gillian, a Montana girl currently finishing her Masters degree from the Manchester Royal College of Music in England. Following her graduation, she will study for her PHD in composition. The girls spent two weeks exploring the area with Mandy as her tour guide. They biked and walked for hours daily. Mandy is quickly becoming an old hand at this and is familiar with many of the local sights. The two of them loved mom's home cooking and ate and ate and ate.

One of the sights we returned to were the WWII D-Day invasion beaches in Normandy. I have been there a couple of times before but never felt that I got my fill. It was always a drive by, so to speak, on our way to or from Paris. I wanted to dedicate an entire day there slowly going from one beach to another and spending some time at the cemetery and museum at Omaha Beach. The girls wanted to tag along so the three of us went together. (Janice had had enough from the previous visits)

What’s new?

This past month has seen a number of significant developments for us. To start with, my friend Carl put a website together for us. This for the purpose of renting out our home here during the summer and other times we are gone. We are absolutely thrilled with the result and you can take a peek at www.my-holiday-in-brittany.co.uk He spend an enormous amount of time on it and it shows. Bear in mind that the site is specifically geared to target the British market so there are a few terms that would seem a little off to an American reader. It was also carefully designed and optimized for the Google search engine and contains little idiosyncrasies to that end, including a few deliberate misspellings and ...the name itself. Finally, it only contains photos and information on the "public" part of the house as the sauna off of the courtyard and the entire 3rd floor are inaccessible to renters since it houses our as yet unfinished master bedroom and bathroom / dressing area. A locked door at the bottom of the staircase ensures that the area remains private. If you do look at the web site, I would appreciate any critical comments you might have, as seen from fresh eyes.

We started renting our house out as a holiday home ( see what I mean?) the first year we bought it. We had minimal luck the first two years and chose to change our approach. The third year was considerably better but left a lot of room for improvement. Last year was our best year yet and we feel that we may have finally found the winning formula and look forward to a busy and profitable summer. We will want to give this a few years to make sure we are not just being lucky in the short term. If this keeps up and our costs here continue to be offset by our rentals, Janice could end up with her wish to have a tiny weenie itsy bitsy little house in Italy.

As a result of our dealing with English clients we have found it necessary to have a bank account in the UK. As you know, England has not adopted the Euro for its currency and so our clients pay us in Sterling pounds. The problem was that British law does not permit foreigners to open a bank account in the UK. We found a cumbersome work around for a while but this past month we arrived at the solution; an offshore bank account in Jersey (a British island off of France). It’s like a Swiss bank account but..... without the money. They deal in Sterling and allow us to have a checking account without the UK banking restrictions.

Finally, we made one more important improvement. Last month I wrote of our bringing a huge pile of receipts to scan and store digitally. This month we moved a step further by copying everything on our computer to an off site, internet based storage facility. I know that to some this will be old news, something you have done ages ago. If so, shame on you for not telling me about it sooner. You see everyone knows that it is important to back up their computer but recently I started thinking that even though I have a backup drive we could loose both our computer and the backup in a fire or theft. By moving all our data and pictures to an online storage site we can access the entire contents of our computer anywhere in the world. Also, since we have less than 25 Gigabytes to store, it’s free. We know that some people worry about security and data theft but we worry far more of possible data loss.

Pineapples anyone?

As bizarre as it seems, this is the second winter where we have seen salvaging occurring along the coast. Last winter a large vessel dumped a number of cargo containers at sea off the coast of England during a storm. People quickly rushed to the shore to collect sealed packages of diapers and other goods destined for UK stores. A lucky few even found BMW motorcycles still in their crates. A recent storm dumped a number of cargo containers full of pineapples and tobacco off our coast on our local beaches just a few miles up the road. Word spread like wildfire and locals quickly stocked up.

Speaking of local happenings, this month we discovered that there is a rock quarry nearby that is exclusively contracted to the NASA space agency. One of only two such quarry’s in the world, they supply some of the unique raw materials used in the fabrication of the tiles on the bottom of the Space Shuttle. These tiles act as a heat shield during re-entry and are used on other spacecraft as well. This place never ceases to amaze me.

Kid number 4 launched!

Always an event for weary parents to say nothing of their pocketbooks is the launching of a kid. Some go easy, some go hard but go they all must. It is with great satisfaction that our youngest baby girl Cassie Anna passed her California state board exams last month and is now a licensed Cosmetologist. All finished with school and entering the world of work, she is eager for her independence. Currently, she intends to remain in California and consider her options. We are both relieved and proud of her accomplishment.Cassie turns 21 this week.

Whew! Fly, little hatchling, fly!

So how am I doing?

I wish I could take credit for the better aspects of our little blog but I am afraid that I can’t. There is not a single element of this that has not been the result of someone’s suggestion on how to make it better, easier to use or navigate, nicer looking or whatever. I do however, take full credit for implementing their ideas and following their advice. I am always looking for better ways to do what I do so if you have a suggestion, please don’t hold back.

Every month I struggle to keep my letter to you shorter as I am not trying to write a book or be so long winded that you will feel that you can't be bothered to read it. I also know that it is a little ‘off putting’ to some people that it is not a personal letter just to them, but it's a compromise I have to live with. I write about the things I would tell you about if we were sitting down and visiting with you.....or with a number of other family or friends if I were sitting down and visiting with them. The blog allows me to have a 'virtual' visit once a month with everyone that I am not near at the moment. If you are still not convinced of its merits, just consider the last time you would have had the time to write a nice long chatty letter to all your family and friends within the same month. Yikes!!!

Check this bad boy out!

18 months ago we asked our village blacksmith to make us some implements for the fireplace I built. At the time, we went into one of those ‘price is no object’ fireplace shops, found the nicest set we could never afford to buy, photographed the heck out of them then went to our blacksmith and said: “Can you make these for us? He assured us that he would forge the items in our 6 month absence while we returned to the Island for the summer.

Yea, right.

Six months later he had only completed the andirons. They were spectacular to be sure and we were sure grateful to have them but we had asked for a custom forged wood holder, fire screen and fireplace tools also. Well, 18 months later we have the second item, our fire screen. We love the work he does but at his advanced age we worry that he will kick off before he has a chance to complete the set. [Editors note: “advanced age” is a fluid and moving target. It is now officially defined as anyone older than I at any given time]

Bonaparte Beach

A mere 20 minutes away from the house lies Bonaparte beach. Interestingly, it was at this beach that from January to August 1944, 135 Royal Canadian Air force and other allied pilots were spirited from France back to England by the French resistance as well as British escape and evasion rescue teams. There are a whole slew of these kinds of historical markers everywhere around here as well as all over Normandy as they were the obvious transfer points back to England across the channel during the war.

Today, it is a source of great French pride to have participated in any effort to resist the German occupation. It is hard to find any of the elderly who do not claim to have been or have assisted in the resistance. It is funny to see how in most cases, revisionist history makes heroes out of the meek and creates enhanced memories out of pure fantasies.

Flax ponds

Many of the large Manoirs or Longeres in the Brittany area were funded by wealthy flax growers, harvesters and exporters of its linen products. For many years Brittany was renowned for the quality of the linens produced here. My bride and I found several of the old creek fed, stone lined, traditional flax ‘ponds’ just a few minutes from our village. It was here that the flax was submerged in water for days until it was broken down enough to be carded in order to separate the fibers and spin them into linen thread. From there the fine linens were woven.

Please write when you can and we will see you next month!

The Epistle December 2007

Chateau Bienassis

Built in the late 1400’s, this little gem is about an hour from our house. It remained within the family of the original owners until 2005 where the last descendants voluntarily deeded it to the state. With period furnishings and loads of interesting history, it was a great place to visit.

So, what’s new in France?

It is always a bit of a shock to arrive after being up for 36 hours on the clock from the time we got up in Seattle to the time we open our front door here. This includes flight time, delays, shuttles to and from airports, layovers between flights, the drive from Paris to home and the 9 hour time change. It was very heartwarming to arrive at our front door only to see the lights on, the hot water tank warm, the fridge turned on and a few necessities in it and----get this---- a roaring fire in the fireplace! WOW, what a welcome from our friends and neighbors Malcolm and Rebecca. We are sure treated better than we deserve.

With the US dollar now in free fall on the world market the cost of living here has got our undivided attention. We have seen these fluctuations before but over the last 5 years it has gone from bad to much, much worse. While the majority of the big-ticket items we have are bought and paid for (Homes, cars, boat) it is inescapable that everyday items (not to mention a daughter in law school in Europe) consume a much larger share of our pitiful resources. Our purchasing power has dropped 35% in both Canada and Europe in the past 5 years due to the declining exchange rates.

I imagine that you are on the verge of tears over our predicament so I want to reassure you that we have not sought the location of the local soup kitchens….yet.

All kidding aside, gas is now $2.10 a liter ($8.40 a gallon) and everything else is 1/3 more expensive than when we started coming to Europe ….and Canada. It can’t help but make a difference. I know that this financial pendulum swings back and forth and all of our European and Canadian friends are all thinking “It’s about time you get a taste of what we have suffered, you George Bush loving Republican!” Go on, gloat if you must.

One of the things I love about being in Europe is that while we have lived here half the year for the past 3 years we are forever finding little nuggets of interesting local history. For instance, I was walking though Treguier, a little town just 4 miles (6 kilometers) up the road from our house when I stumbled upon a dedication plaque on the wall in front of city hall. It indicated that it was where the first French/ Latin /Breton dictionary was ever printed in 1482, some 525 years ago or 10 years before Christopher Columbus sailed to America. (Breton is the second official language of Brittany) This was only 30 years after Johannes Gutenberg printed the world's first book (The Gutenberg bible which we saw in Mainz, Germany) using movable type in 1450. No town in America could lay anywhere near such a claim.

Treguier Cathedral

A big change recently in French Law has some Brits we know in a real tizzy. The French government has decided that anyone who is under 65 years old and is not employed in France must buy private health insurance. Previously, anyone who was a resident here and paid a minimal public health premium was eligible for French health services. Curiously the law is being applied retroactively to anyone who has been here less than 5 years and had not applied for citizenship. It does not matter if they are retired and receive income from abroad; the French classify them as ‘inactive’. The premiums are substantial enough that our dear friends and neighbors plan to return to the UK and maybe forced to sell their home. It’s a real bummer. This new law has no effect on us of course as we are not residents and are covered by our own private health insurance from the US. (This just in: the law may be repealed)

On a lighter side, I recently found myself needing to use a public bathroom and when I entered the men’s room I immediately came upon 4 women. One was entering a stall; the other was coming out of another. A third woman was washing her hands while the last one was brushing her hair. Quickly realizing I had mistakenly entered the ladies room I turned around and left. As I opened the door I glanced up to see that the sign on the door clearly said “Men”. (OK, it said men in French). I stopped to see that these women we glaring at me as if I had done something wrong. For a moment I flashed at our experience last month in Cape Cod when we walked into a transsexual convention but I could see that these were real women, with urinals behind them on the back wall.

There were among a growing number of women here who are sick and tired of waiting in long lines to use ladies rooms while many stalls in the men’s rooms are empty. The have cast aside any inhibitions or shame and are simply turning men’s rooms into unisex facilities. Any man who so much looks at them askance faces the scowl I got: “Wanna make something of it, mister?”

Who are you?

One of the fun little features of writing this blog is that it keeps detailed records of all those who read it. No, I can’t tell if you were in your pajamas when you read this but I can tell almost everything else. I can tell obvious things like how many people read it, for how long and if they came back to it later. Less obvious are things like what cities and countries they were in and what their IP address is. (It is like your street address but specifically for your computer) Who should be receiving this blog is obvious to me as I know whom I send this out to but last month I was stumped.

I noticed that someone in Renne Brittany had read it but I don’t know anyone there…that I can recall. Also in Atlanta Georgia, I don’t know anyone there either, do I? Someone in the city of Mission, in the province of British Columbia, Canada read the blog. Huh? I even had two readers from blocked web sites. Langley Virginia? Could it be the NSA? No, because there is No Such Agency…Finally, Pays de Loire, France.

Who are you people? As long as it is not the IRS…..

Artsy Fartsy

Last spring, days before we left for the Island we finalized an agreement with a young local “Ferronier d’art” (an artistic blacksmith) to accept a commission for an exterior art piece for the entry to our home here. This is not the old village blacksmith I ‘studied’ under last winter but a recent graduate of the formal state school for the art of creating forged art. He has made many objects that have sold but this was his first substantial commissioned piece and it was a doosy.

Our village goes dark at 11 PM when all the streetlights are turned off. (Don’t ask!) When I say dark, I mean go in your bedroom closet, close the door and shut your eyes tight ….kind of dark. So, we asked him to forge us an entry light and found a design that we felt would be in character with our village and the fact that our home is within the town square. This would look ridiculous anywhere else but here, but here is where it has to work. The design so impressed a friend in the village that he gave us the antique hand blown magnum that had been in his family for 50 years. It serves as the shield for the bulb contained within. It turned out much nicer than we had ever hoped for. Now when friends come over for the evening they are safe for the last 50 feet (15 meters) up to our door or the first 50 feet when they leave. After that, they are on their own.

Tip: If you are new to the blog, you can super size any picture by double clicking on it

You packed WHAT?

We have all heard the expression “They took everything but the kitchen sink”. Well, as I wrote last fall, upon our return to France this time we not only brought a kitchen sink but our Master bathroom one as well…and a faucet for good measure. This is for a little renovation we will work on this winter. Yes there are plenty of sinks available here but frankly we didn’t like the styles.

European styles are usually the rage in many things and are sometimes more sophisticated than what we have available at home. Oddly, many of the sinks here look like they are out of a tract home in the 50’s. The really nice American styled sinks are available at specialty shops but at prices that are prohibitive to us poor Americans. This not only because of the dollar exchange, but simply because so many things are breathtakingly expensive here to start with. I know it sounds like an inordinate amount of trouble to go to but we have come to see just how easy it really is. It is no more trouble than taking a suitcase to the airport and handing it in then having it handed back to you in Paris and putting it in the rental car to drive home. Bingo!

Savings? About the cost of the flight here for one of us. The food disposer and Reverse Osmosis water treatment system will follow next year.

This is not to say that getting something here is always trouble free. To explain, I must digress for a moment. In America you are permitted to deduct the ‘cost’ of your home on your taxes when you sell it. While we have no such plans to sell, at some point all homes are sold, so we (or our beneficiaries) will want to be ready to take full advantage of this tax break. Normally this is simple as people can prove how much they paid for their home. As we physically built our own, it is a little trickier. The cost of the property itself (the land) is documented with the county but we also have to provide receipts for everything we claim as a deduction towards the cost of building or renovating the house itself. Everything.

So, over the years we have accumulated enough receipts to fill a suitcase. After the recent fires in California, we thought it prudent to digitize this information by taking the time to scan them and have an off site copy available. A good project for Janice this winter, we thought. To that end, I packed them all in my roll-on to take with us. Because of their ultimate value, I was going to take them on board the aircraft as ‘carry on’, never leaving them out of my physical presence. We all know that checked suitcases have been known to get lost.

As we boarded the aircraft we were seated near the front so we were among the last to get on. The problem was that the overhead bins were now full so the crew wanted to take our roll-ons from us to put them in the cargo hold as checked luggage. This was not optional and these are testy days to get ‘in-your-face’ with an aircrew. Against my better judgment, I relented. With all of the straight-faced assurances they could muster they promised us that the bag would follow us to Paris. You guessed it: it didn’t.

It was the only bag that did not arrive and panic set in. There were well over $150,000 (100,000 Euros) worth of receipts in there and would cause untold havoc in providing acceptable replacement documentation, if available. Early on we were told that the bag had been located and would arrive within a few days. Since my shaving kit was the only other item in the bag, I decided to take on the ‘Mr. Hollywood’ look for a few days but then I quickly started to look like ‘Mr. Dumpster Diver’. Thankfully a knock on the door announced the arrival of my shaving kit…..and our receipts.

The ‘Le Guindy’ Aqueduct

Four miles (6 kilometers) from the house is the ’Le Guindy’ aqueduct, named after the river that flows under it. Built in 1610 it provided drinking water to Treguier where our local Cathedral is located.

Enough! We are off to explore
so we will see you next month.

The Epistle November 2007

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO!!!

It's SUPER Grandpa!!!!

Impressing one’s grandchildren isn’t like it used to be. Time was when reading a bedtime story or taking them to the park would suffice but today’s grandchildren have expectations that are hard to keep up with. While recently spending time with our favorite little ones, the family came up with the bright idea to string 1700 mini lights on their 40-foot (13 meter) Pine tree at the entrance to their property for Christmas. After all, they figured, their dad owned a crane with a sixty-foot boom (20 meters) and an industrial safety harness so all they needed was to hang ‘someone’ from the end and have him string the lights.

The qualifications were pretty straightforward. What was needed was someone big, dumb, heavily insured, with a short life expectancy and completely expendable. Not finding a volunteer it was decided to put the