Interesting list I found somewhere on line. I’ve done a few of the things on the list.

1. Started your own blog-I started my blog long before there were even blogs out there. It was a website to begin with.
2. Slept under the stars-on a houseboat on Lake Powell
3. Played in a band.-rather hard since I only play the piano badly but my son has a band.
4. Visited Hawaii-several times. I love it but it has become too crowded.
5. Watched a meteor shower-every summer I go outside to watch one.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland-I went to Disneyland in CA when it first opened.
8. Climbed a mountain-many times, but not something like Mt. Everest.
9. Held a praying mantis-yes, but I was a little girl.
10. Sang a solo-I have, even though I do not have a solo voice.
11. Bungee jumped-are you kidding?
12. Visited Paris-you might say that. I visited Paris years before I lived here.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea-from the beach
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch-tried to learn water color painting but failed.
15. Adopted a child-my daughter, Brooke
16. Had food poisoning-just this week. Hasn’t everyone?
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty-hard climb but did it.
18. Grown your own vegetables-yes. Nothing better than a home grown tomato.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France-many times
20. Slept on an overnight train-yes on a trip down into Mexico.
21. Had a pillow fight-with my sister
22. Hitch hiked-once, ran out of gas. Picked up by a nice family. Sounds like a good beginning to a horror movie.
23. Taken a sick day when youre not ill-sadly, yes.
24. Built a snow fort-yes
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon-watched my husband do several.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice-yes. It’s very expensive.
29. Seen a total eclipse-just a partial eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset-hasn’t everyone?
31. Hit a home run-in a very minor, in the school yard sort of way.
32. Been on a cruise-yes.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person-yes, a wonderful experience.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors-I visited the Pennington Castle in England and went to the small town in Kentucky where many of my relatives came from.
35. Seen an Amish community-yes, very interesting.
36. Taught yourself a new language-ha
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied-I don’t think you need enough money to be satisfied. It’s how you look and life and live it. I am truly satisfied in my life right now but we don’t really have enough money whatever that means.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person-yes, and climbed it too.
39. Gone rock climbing-yes.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David-yes, absolutely fabulous.
41. Sung karoke-yes, badly.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt-yes, as a child.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant .
44. Visited Africa-yes.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight-of course. Best time in many ways.
46. Been transported in an ambulance-no, thank God.
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing-yes. Boring and hot and I got sea sick.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person-yes. Fabulous.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris-yes
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling-yes. Snorkeling is safer and easier.
52. Kissed in the rain-I think so.
53. Played in the mud-as a child
54. Gone to a drive-in theater-sure. My Dad even owned one once.
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China-yes. Hard to believe they built that.
57. Started a business-yes.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia-yes. A sad place way back then.
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies
62. Gone whale watching-yes and saw some too.
63. Got flowers for no reason-just because I love to see them in my home.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma-yes.
65. Gone sky diving-no and never will.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp-no but visited the home of Anne Frank.
67. Bounced a check-yes.
68. Flown in a helicopter-yes
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial-yes. Love it.
71. Eaten Caviar-yes. Too fishy tasting for me.
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square-yes
74. Toured the Everglades-yes
75. Been fired from a job-yes
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London-yes
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person-yes. I lived in Arizona for many years.
80. Published a book-yes
81. Visited the Vatican-yes, the same time as the Sistine Chapel.
82. Bought a brand new car-yes.
83. Walked in Jerusalem-yes
84. Had your picture in the newspaper-yes
85. Read the entire Bible-yes, I actually did this in my early religious days when I was in junior high.
86. Visited the White House-yes
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someones life-helped some doctors do it as I’m a nurse.
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous-several times. Peter Mayle was my latest, until I ran into Paul McCartney in Paris.
92. Joined a book club-many
93. Lost a loved one-yes, my aunt.
94. Had a baby-two sons
95. Seen the Alamo in person-yes as I am a Texan.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake-never made it to Utah even though I’ve lived in the Southwest for years.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit-unfortunately, yes.
98. Owned a cell phone-doesn’t everyone?
99. Been stung by a bee-yes, and a wasp too.
100. Read an entire book in one day-many times. I’m a book lover.

We sold our large dining room table. It was hard to do. We’ve had a lot of fun times sitting at that table.

Here is the empty place after it was bought. You can see some of the many boxes there. We advertised on a French website to sell some things and the table was the first to go. I was hoping my couch would go quickly. It’s very large and makes into a bed and I’ve had it a long time. It’s an unfortunate shade of teal green-popular way back then-and no one seems to like it. I had it covered in an off white cover for a years, then topped it with cloth from India. We found a used furniture place and they aren’t too excited about it either. They say they have trouble selling couches. So we can pay them 50 Euros to come out and pick it up and if it doesn’t sell in a year it goes to some auction type place and they get the money. Maurice says the truck will come out but without men to move it. We will have to get it out to the truck. I assume the driver will help. It seems worth it to me as I don’t want to take it with us. We happen to have two couches and I think one will be enough.

It’s been zero degrees every morning and there is frost on everything. I went out for a walk the other day and tried to photograph it. Can you see the frost on this plant?

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As the frost melts in the sun, a mist rises. I tried to catch that too with this vineyard. The days get really nice as long as the sun shines and the mistral stays away. I will miss my home but I will not miss the mistral.

We spent a nice day in Aix having lunch with a blogging friend, Meredith. The weather was just perfect with blue skies and sunshine. It was such a pleasure to be outside.

Always taken with doors. I especially liked the color of the blue door again the yellow walls.

Aix is the home to many fountains, part of what makes it such a charming city.

Weathered shutters are charming too.

There are saints and angels to watch over you overhead.

We are in Provence and went for a walk the other day because the sun was out-such a pleasure to have blue skies and sunshine.

We went up past our local chateau and I took a photo of this pigeonnier, as I often do. As you can see, the sun is just about to go behind a hill and the building was left in the sun. As we were standing there looking, we heard the sound of a bell and we’ve been here long enough that we knew it was from a sheep and, sure enough, the sheep appeared. Just another day in the country.

Here they are, just coming out of the trees.

Moving along a narrow road that runs along the side of the chateau.

They have to cross the highway to get to the farm and they speed up to get across. I guess the berger is getting them ready for eating in fields as they will be moved up to the mountains in the Spring to an area around Sisteron, famous for the taste of lamb and mutton. The taking of sheep up to the mountains is called a transhumance and we’ve gone to see it a couple of times up north of here.

Etiquette. It can be a big deal in France apparently. Much is written about what to do or avoid doing when dealing with the French such as always saying “Bonjour” when entering a shop-if you don’t you are thought to be rude. I recently read on a blog somewhere that you should never take wine as a gift when invited to someone’s home for dinner as the recipients will think that you think they don’t know enough about wine and need your help for the correct choice. I asked Maurice about this and he said it wasn’t true. It would only be true for a very formal dinner but for a dinner with friends bringing wine is fine.

So, we went to dinner at a friend’s-and brought a bottle of wine which was happily accepted-and Maurice brought up what I had read as I told above. The guy, who is a pretty formal person, agreed and said that you also shouldn’t take flowers because the wife is busy cooking dinner and then has to dig up a vase and take care of the flowers and it can be a hassle. I did once get a bouquet of flowers from three different people and have to admit he has a point as I could only find two vases. He said the proper thing to do,especially for a more formal affair, is to have flowers delievered a couple of hours before dinner. That had never occured to me.

We all got to talking about etiquette and a young man who was there told me that America has all sorts of etiquette rules for dinners. This was news to me. I told him that, except for being late to someone’s home for dinner, I didn’t think there were that many rules in the States. He informed me that he took a course in college and that I was wrong. For instance, if I had a senator to dinner where would I seat him? To my right. If I had two senators the one on my right wouldn’t be the one I liked the best but the one belonging to the State that had entered the union first. I’m assuming that if I ever host a dinner in Washington, DC or in the White House, I will have to remember these rules but I doubt if I will ever have this problem. I left that night thinking that this arrogant young man should learn that you don’t tell someone from another country what the etiquette is their own country. You shouldn’t tell someone what’s wrong with the meal you just served them either which has happened to me here in France.

How was your Valentine’s Day? Maurice tells me that the French don’t usually celebrate it but I did notice some decorated bouquets in the small grocery store that we go to a lot and in Paris the windows are full of hearts and ruffles. You have to admit that Valentine themed windows can be really striking. So Maurice thought it would be easy to get into a restaurant on Valentine’s Day especially here in the depths of Provence but he was wrong. At 6PM I finally convinced him to call a place to reserve a table. He tried five places before he finally found one.

They had rose petals on the tables and the menu was rolled up and tied with a red ribbon.

We were served pink Champagne.

We had a bottle of rose.

They even put hearts on the bread. The service was really bad though and after Maurice complained it seemed to speed up. Maybe the fact that I was taking photos of the food made them think I was some sort of food journalist. In any case, they gave us a complimentary glass of champagne at the end of the meal. Just what I needed-oink. I don’t sleep well when I eat and drink late, especially if champagne is invovled and that proved to be the case that night.

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The restaurant, the Restaurant du Lac, is decorated fabulously. It is situated on a man-made lake and I saw a terrace outside that I bet is great to sit on in the summer. This was a huge painting on a gray wall. Maurice and I ate here many years ago when we first visited the area. It wasn't fancy at all, just a plain little place and it was where I first discovered that I like foie gras when a slice of it came out on a salad I had ordered. It's rather fitting that we are eating here again as it is just about our last meal here in the Luberon. You see, we have sold our house. I know. Can you believe it? I have loved every minute of our time here in beautiful Provence but it is time to move on. I love our home and I will miss it horribly but I'm really tired of the yard work not to mention those pesky snails. We felt pretty isolated here and although we loved it when we had company and family, that didn't happen very often. So, we are on to a new adventure. Maurice wants to get another place but we don't know where that will be. I love change and look forward to exploring and learning a new area but we are both racked with excitement along with sadness, a lot of it. Change can do that. So that's why we left our apartment in Paris before it was finished as we had to come here to Provence to pack. As I write this I am surrounded by a sea of boxes. How did we accumulate so much? We sign the final papers on March 8th. What's next? I look forward to finding out.