Distractions - I mean, Balance!

     I like to think that I've always been good at balancing my life, trying to nurture my intellectual, physical, spiritual and emotional selves.  For me it isn't work vs play, but how to do both.  In my teaching days (when it was not unusual for me to be at school for 10 hours a day) it seemed that work took most of my time, but I made sure I had special things planned (or nothing planned!) for weekends and vacations.
     As soon as I return from a vacation I am planning my next one.  I recently read that the planning of a trip brings down stress levels and increases joy almost as much as the actual vacation.  I even enjoy helping others plan their own trips.  But I digress (or got distracted? :-) )
     Anyway, I like planning distractions and actually include them in my weekly/monthly planner.  And yes, I check them off as well!  I love having monthly lunches and dinners with old friends, some I've known since childhood.  My friend, Beth, and I have tickets for the 6 classic movies being shown at Tinseltown every Wednesday afternoon.  I love that I have a membership to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (one of the top rated zoos in the nation!) and can go anytime I want.  I get monthly massages and enjoy weekly phone calls with Cindy.
     I love getting my spiritual battery recharged at weekly church services.  Singing has always been a wonderful distraction and good for my overall well-being.  I miss performing in musicals - until I remember the interminable rehearsals!  My biggest distraction since retiring is reading!  I often read three or four books (on my Kindle) at a time.  To me that's no different than having multiple TV series that I watch.  I love murder mysteries and am a huge fan of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series set in 12th century England and Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti series set in modern Venice.  I love books that take me away!  Even to a fictional place like in the Harry Potter books or the Hunger Games trilogy or the writings of Tolkein.
     And then, of course, I love the true chronicles of the adventures of life in another country with authors like Francis Mayes (Italy), Peter Mayle (France) and Victoria Twead (Spain).
    And now you're probably wondering if I did anything with my house this past week!  Yes!  I scraped the popcorn ceiling in one bedroom and then washed it down, and washed the walls and the baseboards in that  room so that I can start painting this week.  One room at a time!  I also have made trips to Home Depot to pick up materials for renewing the wood floors and and kitchen counters and a new bathroom vanity.  So, I have accomplished tasks.
     But, distractions are an important part of my life and I have no doubt that living in France will be filled with endless distractions!
     By the way, the photo at the top is of the Neste Valley in SW France near the Pyrenees.  When I visited that area in September I immediately fell in love with this valley and hope to be able to find a place to live near this beautifully lush region at the foot of the mountains.
     Thanks for joining me on my journey.  Merci!

But why, you may ask? (Part 1)

     I know there are those who cannot understand my compass pull, my desire to live outside the US.  There are many reasons I could give for wanting to live in France.  It is not so much that I want to get out of this great country (although there are aspects of life in the US that I find uncomfortable, even disturbing at times), but it is more about the desire to, as Francis Mayes says, "examine my life in another culture and to move beyond what I know."
     It goes back to those camping trips!  I remember one where one of my dad's friends told him about a cabin that his family had owned

for generations and showed Daddy how to get there using one of his forestry maps.  We got to our campsite and the next morning set off on a hike to find the cabin.  Did the guy say how many generations ago??!!  Oh my!!  There were rusted bed springs but no mattress, cabinets with doors off the hinges, a wasps nest in one corner and spider webs everywhere, old cans and tins which once held coffee, salt and other food items.  The windows were missing panes and there was dust and dirt everywhere.
     But instead of being disappointed after a hike of at least one hour (according to the memory of my ten year old self) my dad was fascinated by it all.  And as he slowly turned

and took it all in, I began to see it through his eyes.  The eyes of someone who could very easily be another Jeremiah Johnson, Mountain Man.
     I could see him imagining this dilapidated old cabin back when it was newly built and considered someone's "castle."  He explored every corner, blew dust and dirt off of the table and chairs and counters so he could examine the wood.  He opened each cabinet carefully and looked at it all with a sense of awe.  And so did I.  While it was not at all what we expected, it was a wonderful find, one we talked about for years.
     So you see, I come by this yearning naturally (perhaps genetically!): the yearning to see what's around that next bend or over that hill.  It may not be what I expect, but it will always be an adventure.  And France seems to me like an endlessly alluring adventure.  (More to come at a later date regarding life in France)
Thank you for joining me on this journey!  Merci!

Lists and More Lists!

     I am a master list-maker.  As I plan my house updates, that list begins with "January - steam clean large recliner and sofa, place ads to sell recliner, sofa, treadmill, shower chair, chest of drawers, bookshelves, wheel chair, talking clocks (I expect this list to grow), clean out basement storage, take "stuff" to Good Will."
     These are the first steps in my journey eastward.  I expect bends to appear all along the way.  I find that if you expect them then you are not so distressed if the bend takes you somewhere unexpected, even unpleasant.  I have done previous work on my house and know that there are always bumps and bends and delays.

     But lists always help!  I take great pride and pleasure in being able to

put check marks next to the items on my lists.  When I travel I start making lists months before my departure date and often in different rooms of the house so that I can add to them as I think of things, whether in the bedroom, kitchen, living room or bathroom.
     I was talking to Cindy last week (Cindy is biologically my first cousin, but in every way that counts, she is my sister!) about lists and we laughed about how we'll realize that we accomplished something that day or week that wasn't originally on the list.  So we make sure to add it just so we can take pride in checking it off!!

     The next few months will be filled with more lists:  "scrape ceilings, paint walls, update bathrooms and kitchen, clean carpets, refinish wood floors, replace linoleum, landscape, contact French Consulate, check out house-sitting websites, decide what to sell, what to get rid of, what to store, what to take east with me . . . "
     I'll give you updates on what I'm getting accomplished and checked off my lists, each month.  And how much closer I'm getting to a new home, and new life, a new me!

     And as I write this I am thinking about freedom:  all the freedoms that we in democracies enjoy and perhaps take for granted until something so horrendous as happened in Paris this past week (and 9/11 and the Boston marathon, and many other times throughout history) brings it to the foreground.  How else would writings be available to the masses, even my feeble attempt at this blog? 

     Next week's post will answer the question, "Why would you ever want to live anywhere but the US?!"  Please join me as I "wax philosophical!"  And, thank you for joining me on this journey.  Merci!

My Eastward Pointing Compass

What is this inner compass that I have?  Do others have one, I wonder?  Like the arrow which shows you which way is North, my arrow perpetually points East, towards the ancient kingdom of Gascony at the edge of the Pyrenées in southwest France. 
There is something in me that has always pointed to a place beyond my visual or physical limits.  I credit my dad for that!


As a child, we went on many camping trips.  Growing up at the foot of Pike's Peak, there was no end to the
adventures we could have in the wonderful Colorado Rocky Mountains.
My dad had numerous geological maps from the forestry service and he would spend hours plotting out our next trip.  But even with a map and plans, my dad's inner compass took us to unexpected places.
Our travel motto quickly became, "It's just around the next bend!"  Of course we didn't actually know what was around the bend, but we knew that the discovery of whatever we would see there would be a treat.  And so I came to look forward to our camping trips (and trips to Ohio to visit grandparents) with great joy and anticipation.  What new and fun adventure lay around that next bend?!

As this new year of 2015 begins, I feel that pull getting stronger, the compass point becoming more emphatic.  I am so looking forward to following that eastward pull and peeking around each bend in the road of my journey to live in France.
But first I must get my house ready to sell.  And while I'm not so anxious to go around those bends, I know it is necessary as my first steps towards life in La Belle France.  I invite you to join me on this journey of uncharted territory.  I would love your words of encouragement, advice, caution, suggestions as I follow these bends on my way to France.