Our lovely friends in Saint Quentin and Uzes (2)

They all made our trip wonderful!  They are, each and every one, interesting people, going places, and doing things, and making their way in a new world that each has created!  You, who are reading this at home in California, would like each and every one of them!  We hope you all get to meet each one!  They are invited to visit, and swap houses, and just stay in touch in every way possible!  Here are some pictures from the party that we threw at the end of our visit in the house in Saint Quentin la Poterie.

Sorry!  I don't have pictures of all the couples.  I still wanted to share these pictures with you....there is Martin and Angela are retired British couple who had worked at a University.  Martin hand makes jewelry and sculpture, and Angela hand makes books.... Diaries, and beautifully crafted books!
Ernie and Kate from Scotland.... Kate, sweet and lovely, and Ernie kept the French class laughing and light!!!  Brian, pictured with Bruce, is Irish, as is his wife, Astrid...he plays the bag pipes....Collin and Claire...British friends, of whom, I am afraid to say, I don't have a picture...We had a wonderful dinner at their home, and I learned how to make summer pudding!...Mâire and Roger, a Scottish couple who go back and forth between the home in Scotland, and Uzes...and their lovely daughter, Ellen.  They entertained us for drinks one night...we are hoping to exchange houses with them in the near future!...Not from our French class, but still wonderful and interesting are: Pam and Dan and Bill and Giselle.  We enjoyed every minute of every experience with each of them!  Thank YOU!

Kate Bell

Anglea Stanton

Bruce and Brian French

Roger Rist, at just the right moment, with a mouth full!

Ellen Rist, Mâire and Roger's charming daughter

Our lovely friends in Saint Quentin and Uzes (1)

Before I strictly write about Alsace, and our time up North, I would like to pay tribute to our friends, and the lovely way they added to our experience in Provence!

Several of our friends have asked us what we were looking forward to when we came to France, and what we enjoyed most while in Provence.  Bruce always felt he would enjoy the people that we met, but I had no idea that we would meet such wonderful folks!  Our dear friends and neighbors from Newport Beach, Regina and Larry, graciously guided us, every step of the way in planning and executing our journey.  We owe them a huge debt of gratitude for helping us to make our dream come true!  They also introduced us to many of their friends, and to an organization called AVF.  AVF is an association in France, for newcomers.  We joined, and took the French class at their behest.  How fun!
We met more wonderful people in our French class!

It seems when people are overseas, they are very open to meeting new people, and making friends with them!  We were the beneficiaries of this attitude!  After each French class, we would go for coffee, and just talk about who we are, where we are in our lives, our children, our latest experiences, and our dreams.  Nice!  Everyone shares!
Here is a great picture of Regina at her birthday party...and one of Larry at our friend Jacque's home!

Regina and Larry had introduced us to their lovely friends Jacque and Annie several years ago, and, as I have already written in a blog, Jacque is a retired French chef.  Jacque and Annie had them over to their home...and here are lovely pictures of them.  They just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary!

Louis, Bruce's Alsacian business friend for 20 years

Bruce has a lovely friend, Louis, who has been a business buddy for 20 years!  Louis was a very successful dealer in Alsace, France who sold many letter opening machines.  Always true, and a good partner in business, Bruce came to like Louis, and admire his sense of style.

We attended Louis' 75th birthday party, 3 years ago while we were here in France.  I am still embarrassed to say that we considered not attending, because we were in the south of France, and Louis lives in Alsace, in a little town called Boofzheim.  We had a ball!  It was a 7 hour lunch, with people from all over Europe.  We also met his lovely wife, Lillian, his lovely daughter and son-in-law, Clarise and Gilbert, and two friends of his from Denmark, Elsabeth and Martin.

Louis helped us to locate our nice apartment where we are staying in Schaffersheim.  And, we have been fortunate enough to meet up with Louis again!  Louis invited us to his home for dinner last week.  His home is about 15 to 20 minutes from our town.

It was lovely!  Their home is a newer home, and has all the amenities!  There is a lovely home in a garden with a massive Blue weeping cedar tree, a beautiful pool, and a boules court.  Elsabeth and Martin were there, as well, and Louis and Lillian's daughter, son-in-law, and Louis and Lillian's 16 year old grandson, came a bit later.  When we arrived, we had a coffee, and began a boules tournament.  (Like Bocci ball.)  Bruce and Martin played against Louis, Elsabeth and me.  What fun!  The game is played with metal balls, about the size of your hand.  Everyone gets to see how close they can get their ball to a smaller ball, about the size of a Jax ball.  The game turns on a dime, and everyone can play!  It is called Patanque in France, and is basically played by almost everyone in France, from what we can determine!  Bruce and Martin won the tournament!

After our boules tournament, we had sparkling Alsatian wine with Creme de Cassis, and hors devours, outside next to the pool.  From there, we moved over, under cover of a separate building where there was a huge fire place.  And, amazingly, their 16 years old grandson, Benjamin,  made us dinner in the outdoor, wood-fired oven!  

Benjamin made us about 8 to 10 Wood-fired, Alsacian Tarts (similar to Pizza, but NOT pizza!).  They are made with a very thin (almost crepe thin) crust, on which is spread a thin, very creamy white cheese, with thinly sliced onions, and lardon (little chunks of what we call Canadian Bacon.)  They were delicious, and a real treat!!!  Ahh...and I mustn't forget the beautiful Alsacian wine!  Tres bon!  For dessert, we had another tart....a tart with sliced apples, a hint of cinnamon, baked in the outdoor wood-fired oven, and a flambé of rum!  Just fantastic!  

Clarise had prepared everything, in advance, for Benjamin.  Everyone helped!

Louis, Lillian, Clarise and Benjamin were fabulous hosts!  We enjoyed every minute of their hospitality, friendship and camaraderie!  We look forward to spending more time with them, and our friends Elsabeth and Martin, as well!  PS...the farm tools on the wall, are Louis' grandfather's tools!

My Friend Lynn, and the Carrier Luminaires

My friend Lynn and I have been friends for over 35 years!  We met at work at the company that is now, CIGNA.  We have seen each other thru marriages, divorces, and children!  And, as in long term friendships we know and love each others children and friends.....Still friends, after all these years!  We are family!  Lynn lives in the Hartford area, and she and I have always made an effort to keep up with each other, even though I moved to Phila., California, and at the Cape.  We have done many things together, and made several trips together including Bermuda.  And, Lynn has traveled all over the world on her own, and with other friends!  So when I told her that we were going to be in France for a year, ...well, she's not the sort of girl to miss a good time, and fun, anywhere in the world, so her response was, I'll be there!

She arrived here in France, the day that Bruce flew home to the States for Todd's graduation.  We had a week to get out and have fun, and we DID!  We put over a thousand kilometers on the car!  We went to many places across the south of France, that tourists often don't see (like our ancient path) and many places they do!  The day after she arrived, we went to the big Marche in Uzes.  We visited the lavender fields north of Aix, Ile sur la Sorgue - the town known for antiques, Chateauneuf-du-Pape for wine tasting, St. Remy for the Marche, Montpellier, and the (quarry) Carriere du Luminere.

In that the quarry was Lynn's favorite, I would like to share it with all of you!  The carrier du Luminere is an old quarry, that now the backdrop for a fabulous multi-media art display.The theme is the (artist) Giants of the Renaissance"  including DaVinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael.  To try to explain it to you is almost futile, in that it is so different!  The quarry is dug into the large side of a mountain.  It is about 3 stories high, inside, with large, 25 x 25 foot square, supporting blocks of bauxite.  The show displays paintings and murals from the Renaissance on the walls, floors and ceiling with many cameras, and have set the display to fabulous classical music.  The quarry goes back, into the mountain, and out to the sides, taking up at least 6 football fields, inside.

Here is a link to a video that Lynn's took.  Be sure to turn up your sound.  Click on this link, and the subsequent link that shows up.  Enjoy!

Carriers du Limineres 2015

The Bas Rhine valley

We are in the lower Rhine valley...south of Strasbourg by about 12 miles!...The valley is very fertile, and is rimmed by two mountain ranges.  One mountain range is in Germany, just past the Rhine river, and the mountains on the other side of the valley lead to the Alps.   The land, and what grows here reminds me of the Pennsylvania Dutch country near Lebanon, Pa.  The Amish farmers call it "the bread basket of Pennsylvania".  Here, most of the fields are covered with corn and hay.  I have also seen apple orchards.  The golden hay fields look like fields with golden raised polka dots, when the rolls of hay are harvested and await shipping to market.  The steep slope to the roofs of the houses led me to believe that they get snow here.  So, I looked it up....they get about 30 days of snow here, each year!

It feels much more German than French.  Our town is Schaffersheim.  Most the village names seem to end in "heim".  I think Obernai and Strasbourg, Mulhouse and Colmar, are some of the few towns nearby that don't!  But MANY of the towns nearby end in "heim"...for Example, other towns nearby are Entzheim, Ratzenheim, Buffsheim, Huttenheim, Bourgheim, Molsheim, etc.  Curious!

Many of the houses are deceptively large...huge even!  They seem to be compounds!  The original houses are surrounded by a barn, and often have additions that are apartments.  The buildings are arranged around a large courtyard that is, of course, a garden!  All have outside terraces, on which there is a table and chairs.  Our house is a compound like this!  I believe they have about 3 apartments, the original house (from 1830) and an old tobacco barn.

There are flowers at every home...in window boxes, and in their gardens.  Each house has a flower garden, and most have a vegetable garden too!  There are flower baskets on most of the light posts, and many of the towns have flower boxes in the middle of the dividers in the street.  The half-timber houses are EVERY color!,,,yellow, sky blue, geranium, green, periwinkle, pink...EVERY color!  Shutters, are every color too!  But many of the shutters have carved hearts in them.  From the inside, the light and shadows that the hearts throw are lovely! ...and there are lace curtains in every window!...some are up higher, and some are lower, but they are all lace, of different kinds.  I believe the curtains in our bedroom window are hand made, crocheted lace.

The people here look more Germanic, and are heavier, in general, than the people in the south of France.  We noticed MANY more blonds here, than in the south.  We hear French spoken, from time to time, but we hear a tremendous amount of German....and even the French we hear, seems to be infused with German...perhaps that is the Alsatian language?  If I had to bet!

The food here is not as Mediterranean as the food in the South....many more sausages, sauerkraut, and potatoes.  The favorite seems to the "tarts" or, as we call them, thin crust Pizza!  The Alsatian pizza has a creamy white cheese sauce, very thinly spread, and onions with Canadian bacon chunks called lardons.  It is delicious.  I will do a blog about our friend Louis dinner!  We had the tarts there!

Here is a view of some of the houses nearby, and in some of the small towns close by.

Sky blue house above left, , and a Pink house above! 

Our house/compound!

We took these last two photos in Obernai, a quaint town about 15 minutes drive away.

Ouch! What a move!

Well, it wasn't exactly like the Beverly Hillbillies, but it was close....a Newport Beach version!  We were driving a new Peugot, and only the bike and the cat carrier,  NOT with the cats in it!...were on the outside of the car!  Bruce did his magic to get it all in the car!  Kitties had very little space, but a potty box was present!   Thank God, they didn't need to use it!  Not ten more inches of space for anything.  I can't move around much, so I just sat there anyway!  One kitty sat between us, over the emergency break, and one sat in a space behind my headrest, that was no bigger than a 12 inch long shoebox!

For those of you who do not know, just before we were due to leave Provence, I fell off my bike, and fractured a rib!  Very difficult!  There was blood in my chest cavity, so we put off our move to Alsace for 5 days!  We went for a second Xray, and well, all good news!  The Dr. Was pleased with my progress!  No new blood in lungs!  Old blood is dissipating.  I Still need rest.  The ride wasn't as long as we thought...8 1/2 hrs. vs. 10 hours.  I'll take any little blessing!  I'm trying not to use pain meds much!

 Anyway, we are here in the little town of Schaffersheim.  The apartment and town are charming!  It feels much more like Germany than France!We are in another small town, but a bit more spread out than Saint Quentin, and fewer people!  The population is only 850 people.  Buildings are newer, (not 16th and 17th century). and there is no town center.  Very colorful, half-timber houses; whereas, in Saint Quentin the houses were all stone!  And, we are surrounded by corn fields!  There are good deal of light industrial business nearby, but closer to the interstate highway, not next door!

The apartment we are staying in is owned by a charming older couple, (anyone older than us is "older")!  He looks like the big beautiful German decent ( Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch) farmers from Bucks County, Pennsylvania!  There are many antiques in the apartment.  So far, my impression is of a beautiful area set in rolling hills of wheat and corn, where most houses are half-timber, and every house has a garden.  There are gorgeous flowers EVERYWHERE, and hearts carved into the shutters!  The house we are staying in was built by the owner's great, great grandfather, in 1830.  It is their home, and has several apartments, and an old Tobacco barn for drying tobacco!  

When we got here, and it was so hot, the poor kitties look like a Salvador Dali painting, the were so melted!  Thank goodness, the heat broke two days later!  Kitties can go out in a fenced garden, so that makes them happy!  Right now, they are getting acclimated, and still smelling everything....sleeping in each spot in the house to see which is cooler, and more secure!

The second day, we went to the larger town of Erstein, about 3 miles away.  We had lunch and headed off to the grocery store.  We are still unpacking.  We stick close to home the first day too, because of the kitties.  They need some extra tender loving care until they get comfortable and secure.

When we left, the weather in Saint Quentin, and here in Alsace, was unbearably HOT!  It was over 100 degrees the day we got here, and the day after it!  The second night, we stayed up until 2:00 am, just to keep the windows open due to a storm that was approaching....it brought cooler temperatures!

The weather has continued to be a bit cooler!  The crops need rain here....not critical yet, but it is
clearly a place that gets more rain than the South of France, and is a bit parched right now.  The nighttime weather has been cool enough to sleep, and last night we even turned off the fan!

It is very Charming and there are many antiques, but they have allot of stuff sitting out!  We like it bit less cluttered, so we are putting things away.  
Here are a few photos of the ride, and our new apartment!

What is that SMELL?

In the middle of the night, about a month ago, I awakened to a luscious smell.  I couldn't place it...it was earthy, and grainy, but I couldn't quite place it!  Suddenly, I realized, it was wheat!  The wheat fields are being harvested, and our little village sits in the middle of wheat fields and vineyards!

I have never really spent any time in a place where there are wheat fields.  I think the first time I noticed their beauty was in the movie Gladiator, where you see  Russell Crowe's memories of home, and, most notably, the golden wheat fields blowing in the wind.

Well, they are really just like that!  Our ancient path has taken us thru a field of wheat.  In the spring it was the first field planted.  We took pictures of ourselves in the field...reveling in the green sprouts that were shooting up.  It seemed to grow about an inch a day.

But, the growth of the wheat was overshadowed by the poppies!  Poppies grown in the wheat fields, and bloom for about a month, until the wheat overtakes them, and grows so tall that it takes their light.

Each day when we walked we could detect that it was growing taller.  When it got to about knee high, the wheat stopped growing; but it wasn't until it turned golden in color and the heads dropped that they harvested it!  There is true beauty as the golden shafts of wheat bow their heads as the wind gently blows across the field.

At harvest, some bales are the huge round rolls, the stuff of the paintings by Van Gogh.  Some are the oblong bales .All are beautiful in their patterns and their fragrance!