June, 2019

Hi there.

L'abbey Du Barroux

OK, the heathens among you can skip this story, but for us it was an experience for the memory banks. We stumbled on this monastery out in the boondocks of France and walked in to have a peek. It was the end of the day and a time of prayer for the motionless monks in the eerie somber chapel. Suddenly, one of them pulled on a rope by the altar that went clear to the roof and rung the bells. They rose in unison and left 2 by 2. 

The sight was so moving and impressive that since we were in the area for another day, we decided to return in the morning to witness an entire ceremony. This was a service by the Benedictine monks who sang in the Gregorian Latin and had an uncanny reverence for the rituals of their vocation. I think the only other time I have witnessed anyone with as much dedication to their function in life were Navy Seals.

Just think. With not a hint of appreciation or gratitude, these guys are praying for the likes of you every single day of their lives.

The project corner

You remember that picnic table I made that I wrote about last month? Well here it is.

Bathroom # 3 at our villa in France is almost done. OK, except for the last of the demo, a little tile on the walls and floor, a touch up on the ceiling, a tub, plumbing and a toilet and sink. Because I can visualize exactly what it will look like, in my mind it is all but done. Next year for sure.

Look what is growing in our trees!

Meanwhile, we have landed back at the island and we are not letting the grass grow under our feet. After dealing with the usual knicky knacky ticky tacky goofy maintenance issues like replacing a kitchen faucet, it was time to get busy and finish what we had started last season with two projects happening pretty much simultaneously.

First up, finish remodeling a small deck. I tore out all of the old rotting railing / benches (UGH!, so 1960's) and am replacing it with red Cedar and solid posts. Next, I am assembling 8 really nice outdoor chairs with serious upholstered cushions to furnish it.

I have failed to mention that much like 2017, the Thousand Islands is suffering from flood conditions. The river is swollen and MUCH higher than normal (what ever that means) and many homes / cabins are - once again- under water. All of our friends are in the same boat as us, (pun intended) that being that their homes are high enough to be OK, but all of our our main docks are under water. Not the end of the world, but not real funny either. Fortunately, we have a few floating docks here at the island so we are faring better than many.

Island Life

Look who came to visit this morning. 

Mom and her 16 goslings.

Something else

We remembered those who stormed the beaches of Normandy this past week and justly so. I found this picture months ago and every time I see it, I get choked up. Not all our battles are 75 years old.

Where do you even begin.....?

May, 2019

Another month on Janice's chain gang

What got done:

• Removed old grout from kitchen counters and re-grouted. Check
• Installed a new gas cook top. Check
• Installed more roof gutters. Check
• Repaired and improved stone stairs down to a garden area. Check
• Built and tiled a new picnic table top for a the 3rd terrace. Check
• Cut channels in cement walls to bury electric wires for outlets and lights in bedroom #5 in the lower level area currently under construction. Check
• Cut offending tree limbs in the boss's garden. Check

Cutting channels in the walls and ceilings
 to bury electrical wires

We are always looking for ANY excuse to push away from our homeowner projects and having family and friends visit is a perfect one. Last month we had son Wesley and his girlfriend, but this month we had island friends Bud and Bev Andress join us for a 2 week visit. First timers to Europe (and France obviously), they were like taking kids to a candy store. We tried hard not to disappoint.

PARTY TIME!!!!

Giving them little time to acclimate to the 6 hours time difference for them (we reminded them they didn't come to France to sleep) we got started El Pronto with sights to see near to home. The visit in photos below.

You can never go wrong with beer on the beach.

Followed by bottling our own wine

 Sealing the corks

TA-DA!!!

Now a certified master bottler.

5 O'clock at friends

Went to an antique car show

Next, we took a 3 day road trip to visit a dozen little medieval villages. 

La Carriere des Lumieres. A spectacular light show held in a former underground quarry the size of a football field that ranged from 30 to 80 feet high. (10 to 30 M). Impossible to accurately describe, it is one of those things that you have to experience to believe. Note the size of a man on bottom left of the pic.

Visiting the Roman town of Glanum (27 BC)



Breakfast before we hit the road on the second day

Trigance Castle (1037 AD), where we spent the night

Aerial view

We agreed that we could get used to this

The King and Queen of the castle's bedroom



Where the little people stay: Janice and Michael's room

Castle innards leading to the armory

The lounge

Gorges du Verdon: France's Grand Canyon

Visiting the Fragonard perfume factory in Grasse

La Turbie. 100 ft high monument above Monaco to Emperor Augustus. Erected in 67 BC

Shopping for an upgrade in Monaco

Test driving the track. Since there are no 

cars in front of me, I must be in 1st place!

 Cannes red carpet as the preparations were under way for the film festival

 A quick run from our place into Italy for lunch

 Our next stop below was a little tricky to
 get to as it is a hilltop village

Pellion. Established in the year 1014

Nibbles with our friends and neighbors Maurice and Brigitte

The girls at home

Here we go again....

No, this is not our island, thank God, but it is nearby. Two years ago, our part of the river suffered serious flooding and it was dubbed a once in a hundred year event.  Time flies because here we are again.

As was the case the last time, our island will not be seriously impacted as we are high enough that if the cabin gets flooded, New York city is underwater too. Our main dock, however, will be underwater for a while so we will use the USS Ronald Reagan (the floating dock for the plane) to come and go until things settle down.

This will impact some of our friends though and businesses and marinas up and down the river will be hurting. As we go to press, we are two weeks from landing, so if you are nearby we would sure appreciate you drying our dock for us.

April, 2019

Wesley, Amanda and the mama at a Roman amphitheater

# 1 son visits!

Things can't be too bad when someone who has been here already decides to return. Our son Wesley was here 2 years ago when we took him all over Germany and surrounding countries. He decided to return this year with the love of his life [Amanda] to... (drum roll please)...meet the parents... 

YIKES!!!

They spent two weeks with us, so off to Rome and all asundry we went, to initiate her on her first trip to Europe. After a few days to acclimate to the 9 hour time zone change, we set off with our first stop in Italy at the (leaning) tower of Pisa. Next up, the Colosseum in Rome, Roman stuff galore everywhere, and the Vatican.

Tivoli gardens

This was followed by Hadrian's villa, Tivoli gardens and the Etruscan Necropolisis of Cerveteri tomb hunting. One of my favorite parts of our trip, this 'Indiana Jones in real life' experience, has been shared previously with daughter Mandy.

 There are over 1000 of these tombs that date to 700 BC, making them up to 2700 years old

Paintings inside some of the tombs

The tombs of Norchia that we also explored

Nope. The Holy Grail is not in here either!

The only access into Civita, known as 'The city in the sky' 

We wrapped up out trip by visiting Siena and stopping in Monaco on our way home.

Monte Carlo Casino

Chores? What chores?

Ok, I would have to make some up if we had not done any. Nothing exciting, really, just boring homeowner stuff.  I installed a second set of washers and dryers that would typically take a few hours to replace, but here required two days. Holes to drill through the wall to install a dryer vent, jack hammer part of the floor to allow for a stacked unit, door frames to remove and re-install to accommodate appliances that would not fit through the door... you know, little stuff.

Then there were a dozen air vents to drill through walls and window frames to allow ventilation to prevent moisture buildup and the formation of mould and tons of little repairs and maintenance. All necessary, but nothing sexy. Finally, I re-textured the walls and ceiling of our living room and dining room. I promised Janice that it was a 2- 3 day job, which only took me 2 1/2 weeks.

The long and the short of it is that with the amount of company we will have this season, we may- or may not- get around to do much to finish the lower garden level rooms (2nd kitchen, 2nd laundry, 5th bedroom and 3rd bathroom) that are still raw concrete boxes. No problem. Whatever we get done will get us one step closer.

Team Rubicon

The fellows must miss me. Having been back for less than 3 months from my disaster response deployment in Florida, I have been asked to deploy twice to two locations in California for fire recovery, to Nebraska for flood relief, to Houston Texas for home rebuilds after the hurricane there, Guatemala, Guyana and twice to Mozambique (a country in South East Africa) for cyclone and massive food shortages. The last one interested me but conflicts with committed company we will receive here at the end of the month. OK, so it is not Paris or Rome, but if I wanted to travel the world's most destitute areas, this would be the way to go.

When I first trained to be part of Team Rubicon, I wondered if they would ever actually use me. Now I am finding that it is a bit like making a donation to a charity or political party. You get on their list and they will be contacting you at every turn.

I am sure there will be many other opportunities to help.

Operation Dragoon

Higgins landing craft. We have visited the factory in New Orleans where they were built.

The longer we are here the more historical tid-bits we pick up on. We have known that the invasion of the French Riviera by US forces during WWII led to the pincer move that caught Nazi forces between the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy from the north and this force from the south. There are little plaques and memorials near our home here, but this month we discovered the beach where the main landing took place.

The place is called Le Dramont and it was a costly military operation. 7,300 US troops were killed and a US cemetery in nearby Draguignant has 861 of them burried there.

Other bits

There is a Facebook page for folks who are keen on keeping up with the latest happenings in the Thousand Islands. People post articles, pictures and videos of interest and this month Janice noticed two new ones. One was about the many interesting homes and cabins in the area, and a friend showed us that the "Bee" was shown twice in a video. Then, just a week ago, there was a picture taken from a drone as seen below. There is still some ice on the river but all our docks look intact, awaiting our arrival to let the fun begin.

March. 2019

We would like to welcome Mr. Samuel Levi Lindor to the world and our family. Weighing in at 7 pounds, 4 ounces, this gentleman is the proud son of daughter Amy and husband Vance. He takes his place as # 11 in our grandchildren hit parade, and # 8 of their children. No, that was not a typo.

Computer blues

Last month, I wrote that I was writing the Epistle on a silly tablet. Criminy, we had been without our computer for 18 days after the hard drive crashed. This is France, you know, and few people are available to work on a US computer and put it back together so that things will be in English. US English. Not French or British English.

Given a choice, and I was not, I would have preferrred to be without power or water. After 18 days, I was going through DT's. Finally we found someone who was able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again and here we are. For the record, we have had an off site backup system called Carbonite (there are others) that we knew that 'someday' we would need to save our butts when it would all go to hell in a hand basket and we would need to return every document, picture and video we have accumulated since All Gore invented the internet.

France: the adventure

When we are in North America, we often miss news of happenings in Europe and elsewhere. Like the demonstrations that have been going on here, for instance. France, according to government statistics, has about 10,000 demonstrations a year. Few are prohibited by the government but all require pre-approval from the authorities. The government believes that they act as a sort of safety valve, allowing people to vent their frustrations over all manner of issues, blow off steam and then return to whatever they were doing in the first place. No harm, no foul. 

The largest current series of demonstrations involve the "yellow vests". This began as a protest over higher gasoline taxes slated to support environmental global warming programs of sorts. Protesters wear the yellow safety vests required by all vehicle occupants in the event of a breakdown or accident, as a visual tie into the issue.

As in all demonstrations, trouble makers and anarchists of all stripes join in, set cars on fire and smash business storefront windows in support of other causes. The government dispatched thousands of military and police to quell the troublemakers, people got hurt and some were killed. Meanwhile, the government assumed things would settle down and would go back to normal once the folks got it out of their system.

Problem is that this has been the 18th week-end in a row that the demonstrations have raised cane all over the country. Meanwhile, a huge number of vehicles on the road sport the yellow vests on their dashboards in a not so subtle support to the cause.

US? Well, we are aware that we are tourists with a house here, guests in the country (as we are in Canada) with no right to vote so we keep our opinions to ourselves. Still...
If that was not enough, right across the pond is the debacle that is occurring in the UK (England), with the Brexit meltdown. (They are leaving the European Union) It makes the worse of our dysfunctional US politics look like a walk in the park. High drama and interesting times.

Meanwhile, we went to a concert to think happy thoughts

See us on Netflix!

I have strutted our stuff many times in these pages with puff pieces written or filmed at the island, in California or here in Europe. Well, we inadvertedly came across a new one. We were watching a program called "Charly Luxton's homes by the Mediterranean" on Netflix when on season 1, episode two (there is only one season) where they were describing how magnificent the French Riviere is (it is a TV program after all) and claimed that fully 1/3 of all international tourism comes to this area.  

Then, 4 minutes and 30 seconds into the program, they feature a villa in our town called 'Les Issambres" across the bay from St Tropez. The kicker is that we can see the villa they featured from our terrace and the announcer gloated over the view that includes our home in the shot. If you are subscribed to Netflix, you can see it here: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81023647 

Maybe I should have gotten that Ferrari after all....

Venice Carnival

A year ago, our great friends, Ian and Lyne, decided to join us in Venice Italy this year for the internationally acclaimed Carnival. Think Mardi Gras on steroids. We have been to both, and Mardi Gras is more of a hard drinking party atmosphere whereas the Venice Carnival is more of a theatrical extravaganza. Some people rent elegant elaborate costumes (reportedly at up to a $1000. a day) to join the festivities.

Costumes for rent. You too can be Cleopatra.

 Lyne and Janice with the 4 compadres

 The view out of our bedroom window

We booked a place to stay in the center of the action a year ahead, knowing that there would be very limited availability as the time drew near. They flew in from Canada and made their way back to their home here in France when it was all over.

Practicing for my first sermon. Now if I only had a congregation to listen.

Janice and I drove from our place and broke the 8 hour trip with an overnight in Verona, Italy. There we visited the Duomo (Cathedral) built in 1189. It was right down the street from a 1st century Roman theatre. Then, since it was a short walk, we visited both Casa di Giulietta and, minutes away, Casa di Romeo. These, of course, are the 14th century homes of Romeo and Juliet of Shakespeare fame.

Juliet's balcony. While there, I resisted the old platitude of "Romeo, Romeo, where art thou?" "Down here in the bushes, stupid, the ladder broke"

 Proclaiming my love to my photographer at what was the entrance (to my right) of Romeo's house

Our return trip was given a breather by spending the day in Cremona Italy, home of the violin museum. Cremona, a World Heritage site, (The 135th one we have visited over the years) has a long history of being the capital in the world of master violin builders who still ply their craft making every component by hand. There were hundreds of rare instruments, but only 6 made by Stradivarious. The highest price paid for one was 45 million dollars at an auction in 2014. Yes, there was an armed guard standing next to the glass encased display I was ogling.

Oh ye of little faith....