Category: LIVING

Every day I try to make my way up these little tiny wooden stairs inside our apartment to our roof….

to see this…(hover your mouse over the picture)

and then I KNOW it’s all going to be OKAY!

We are all gearing up for the holiday stress / traffic / rush / pressure … if you can, try to make your way up your own [mental] stairs, just for a quick ‘view from the top down.’  It helps!

A quick view of the Clermont Ferrand Christmas Market – and planning to get to Lyon, France in a few weeks for the full version!  The hot spiced wine was divine!

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What does JOY mean to you?  Noël approche!

Love,

Mindy

and – can’t forget the fun facts! – speaking of French Christmas traditions….

Snow.  Cold. Beautiful.

Put on my snow boots and took the 30 minute tram ride to a specialty grocery store for ‘real cooks’ with Lucienne, a Canadian Michelin expat.  And a ‘real cook.’ Pulling our little ‘trollies’ to carry groceries, since you have to carry what you buy.

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The Good.  The Bad.  And the Ugly.

I’ll let you decide which adjective goes with which picture.

 Produce from Spain

 and France. Fried pork fat. Feet.  Head cheese (a loaf made from the head and flesh of the animal.  Really.) Continue reading “The Good. The Bad. And the Ugly.”

Ha ha, got your attention, didn’t I?  This post is actually about the 120 stairs between the street and our apartment…….which looks something like this when you are going up!  NEVER ENDING….

I’m determined to walk up AT LEAST least once a day…four floors of 25 winding stairs each….but you DO have alternatives!

To give you some perspective, here is the view from our apartment door on the 5th floor looking inside, and the view looking the other way, outside our apartment door, which is literally face to face with the elevator.  [We are mighty THANKFUL we have one, as most 100-year-old buildings do not! ]

INTRODUCING THE WORLD’S SMALLEST ELEVATOR!

Option A                                                     Option B (our actual staircase, with elevator squeezed in the middle)

I put my slippers into the elevator so that you can see exactly how much space we are talking about.  YEP!  About the width of two coffins…but there ARE two choices!  So pick your poison!

SO NOW – BACK TO THE BEER  Going up the stairs yesterday, I thought about the American folksong “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.” (The link may be a stretch for some of you, but that’s how my mind works)….Get it, get it?  99 Bottles…..99 steps…..silent singing helps to not focus on the muscles whining for mercy!

AND TO WIND UP  (Yes – pun intended this time.  Groaning allowed.) The following is a really catching country-style version to make you smile for the day…..

Have a great day!  Bonne journée!

Mindy

I’m so excited!  I figured out how to get the “weefee” working – two journeys to the store carrying all the equipment back and forth, and a one hour call to tech support – COMPLETELY IN FRENCH – I know he’s laughing his head off at the call from me!  BUT VICTORY IS MINE!  CUT THOSE ETHERNET WIRES, BABY!!!!!! WE HAVE WIFI !!!!!!!

The boulangeries are incredible.  I bought a baguette from the boulangerie down the street yesterday evening, straight out of their big ovens.  It was almost too hot to hold in the bag – and the smell was incredible.  I paid for it, left the shop, and two steps later ate the top right off of it, straight out of the bag!  As soon as I got home, I poured a little Bordeaux pour deux and gave Tanner the hot bread.  Forget dinner.  The baguette, with a little butter, was ‘parfait!’

The French wines are really, really magnificent.  And inexpensive!  The glass of wine at a brasserie or restaurant is probably less than buying a bottle of water.  [The tap water in Clermont Ferrand is drinkable, but very high in lime content. Most people buy bottled water.]  I’ve never been a fan of reds before, but the Bordeaux has won me over. Many apartments come with ‘caves,’ or wine cellars.  I’ve been told that French people buy caseloads at a time from vineyards or from expos or just from the local grocery.  We also have a ‘cave,’ but I’m not going down there…..it’s under the building with no lights and a dirt floor.  The perfect place to hide the bodies! Continue reading “THE BREAD.  THE WINE.  THE CHEESE.”

• YES, it’s been crazy busy!  But look at this view from my kitchen! 
• YES, we moved out of a temporary very teeny, dingy apartment into a beautiful, modern apartment very close to the main plaza of the city.
• YES, our container of household goods arrived, mostly in one piece (and dry!), across the ocean.
• YES, we still have a lot to unpack and boxes everywhere!
• YES, we bought a car from a French Michelin colleague – a 2011 sedan, beautiful blue, with reasonably low kilometers that’s been garaged.  (We don’t actually have it yet — maybe this weekend.) It’s a standard — and it’s been 30 years since I’ve driven a stick.  THIS is going to be fun!!! (eye roll here)
• YES, we’ll get a washer — and a DRYER (!!!!!)– this weekend, along with an oven.  More about the dryer next time.  Definitely blog-worthy.
• YES, we have hot water now, but I called Guy #1, who called Guy #2, who had Guy #3 come out today to see what wasn’t working in the apartment. Guy #3 came, not to actually FIX anything, but to write up a report for Guy #4. I HOPE to hear back from SOME GUY about when A GUY will come and actually fix something. Hopefully in 2017. Welcome to France!
• YES, Tanner has a cell phone number now!
• YES, it’s Thanksgiving week, an American holiday, and not a French holiday, so Tanner will be working.  We miss our kids!!!  So glad they are getting together as a family and doing the whole Norman Rockwell-thing.  Proud of them!
• YES, I’m getting the hang of everything – walking a zillion steps a day, buying only what I can carry in the grocery, getting lost, getting found, and drinking a small French coffee every now and then in little cafes with new acquaintances.
• YES, the expat community has been extremely kind and welcoming — and is much more diverse than I realized. I was expecting diversity like California and Idaho and Florida. Instead, it’s Brazil, Ireland, and Vietnam.  And not everyone is Michelin-related (which I thought they would be)….so it’s very, very far flung!
• YES, in the midst of all of this, I have gone to French classes at the University, a Bible Study, a Cafe Day, a reception, and helped volunteer with an English conversational class for retired French people that want to learn English!
• YES, I have trouble saying “NO.” 🙂
• YES, there is a five story Christmas tree in the Plaza and they are putting up a Ferris Wheel that is even taller….it’s absolutely beautiful. The lights come on this Friday.  PICTURES are definitely forthcoming!
• And yes, the windows in Galleries Lafayette all have cotton-candy heads!
• YES, I miss you all! It’s almost impossible to know what to begin to write about because there is so much….language school, the streets, shopping, food, the money, and the never-ending struggle with not knowing the language.

THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD — the SUPER SECRET STUFFING RECIPE has been passed down to the next gen! 🙂 Leslie played her cards perfectly; how could Tanner resist “his only daughter?” I hear there’s a great Thanksgiving dinner happening in Augusta this weekend……

I MISS YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUN FACTS ~ The French government gives medals to citizens who have “successfully raised several children with dignity.” Upwards child-raising! Where’s our medal????

In McDonalds, you order for yourself at an electronic tablet, then go to a line to pay, then another line to get your food.  And YES, the fries taste the same!   10% tax on the food.  BY THE WAY – if you look at the ticket closely, you’ll see that you can buy beer at McDonalds – and it’s taxed at 20%.

Happy and blessed Thanksgiving to everyone.  We are thankful for each one of you.

~~~~~Ephesians 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you…