Lists and More Lists

(If I were to list all the things I love about living in Colorado this blue blue sky would be at the top!)

I have a confession to make. I am obsessed with making lists.  My lists are made by putting pen or pencil to paper and writing down what I need to remember. I need that kinesthetic action of brain to hand to pen to paper. It's just not the same if I try to type it into my phone.  

I have always been a visual kinesthetic learner and nothing works better than writing things down. I still use a physical day planner (this year's planner has Impressionist paintings) that sits on the desk (that my dad made when he was in high school!) where I can see it every time I pass by and can be reminded of what I need to do today and in the days to come.  

When I'm preparing for a trip I have numerous lists going - in the living room, the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen - so that when I think of something I can immediately add it to the closest list.

I do have packing lists that stay in my luggage and in my carry-on. But there are lots of things that need to happen for me to be ready to leave my house and my dogs for any amount of time. 

As you can imagine I had looonnnggg lists leading up to my move to France. So much that had to be done! You can read about the beginning of those lists in my original post. (Click on the Web version icon at the end of this post. Find 2015. Then January)

But all the lists in the world can't prepare you for an emergency like the one that hit me in July. That was so much more than a bend in the road! That was a major detour!!  As the poet Robert Burns wrote, "the best laid plans of mice and men do often go awry." But I'm happy to say I'm back to making lists again as I plan for the future. (I do look forward to the day that there are no more doctors appointments for the week ahead!)

And I am proud to say that I keep the pen, pencil and paper manufacturers in business 😊

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!  A bientôt, mes amis!

My Eastward Pointing Compass

I have an important question for you to start off the new year. Do you own a compass? An actual tangible compass with the rotating needle that always points true north? I do! The week before I moved to France eight years ago my good friends, Ken and Beth, gifted me one. "If you get lost you can find your way home." I actually used it a few times before I got the GPS unit for my car. It's easy to get turned around in the Pyrenées. Every bend in the road looks very much like the one before it. I remember pulling over to the side of the road (which is difficult in rural France because there are no shoulders), getting out my trusty compass, comparing it to the map I always had with me, and figuring out where I needed to go to get me to my destination.

A few years before my new compass, I spent a few days in Venice with Ken and Beth along with my cousin Cindy and good friend Dave. One gets lost in Venice even with a map! There are no through streets (all pedestrian, of course) and no street signs. Just a labyrinth of walkways and paths that only the residents can easily maneuver. Ken's compass was very handy! I would check my map for where we wanted to end up and give Ken the direction that we needed to go. He would then get out his compass and turn me to face in the right direction and off we would go until we ran into yet another brick wall - literally! Then the process would start again! Not sure what the locals thought but we certainly enjoyed ourselves!

In our modern life of convenience and technology we always have a GPS nearby - either in our car or on our phone. So, unless you're a scout, you probably don't have an actual compass.

Did you know that the compass was first used in ancient China? It was a lodestone, which is naturally magnetic, placed in a basin of water so it could swivel easily. It wasn't until the 11th century that someone experimented with magnetizing a metal needle and placing it in a small non-water instrument. Amazing that it would always point  North! Imagine how that changed the ability to travel and explore.  Not only could people travel but they could find their way back home! It was magical!

The first blog that I posted in January of 2015 attempted to explain the pull that SW France had on me. The passion I felt for wanting to live in the country that I love so much.  I was in love with France the way someone falls in love with a person. It was an all-consuming desire! You can read that first blog post by clicking on the "View website" icon at the end of this post. That will take you to the blog home page. Then you can find the year - 2015 and find the list of posts I wrote in January. (Wish I knew of an easier way for you to get there!)

We may not all have a tangible compass but we all have a moral compass. I've thought a lot about that since hearing of the death of Jimmy Carter. Now there was a human who not only had a moral compass but who honored that compass in every decision that he made. What a wonderful example of a life that meant something and touched so many lives in many positive ways every day of his life.

In this new year of 2025, may we all ascribe to be like Jimmy Carter and live a life of service. Make something of every day and celebrate being alive. Follow your compass and follow your heart.

HAPPY NEW YEAR and BONNE ANNÉE

The Road Goes Ever On (Tolkein) The Long and Winding Road (The Beatles)

in 2015 I began writing a blog called "Just Around the Next Bend".  It was a way to chronical the changes that were happening in my life as I prepared to sell everything I owned (except for what would fit in a 10x10 foot storage unit, two suitcases and a backpack) and eventually move to France with my miniature poodle, CoCo. I was following my dream of living in SW France.

I continued writing every Sunday for the next two and a half years, sharing the ups and downs, the successes and mishaps of a new life.  I'm not a diarist, but this was a way to tell my stories and to share my life with my friends.

My plan for this new series of blog posts is to use the titles of the original blog posts, which I will reference, as inspiration for the present. How did I get from here to there and back again to Colorado? "The Long and Winding Road".

I will provide a link to the previous blog post in case you would like to read it as I make references of the old to bring me to the new. "The Road Goes Ever On."

This will begin the first Sunday in January - exactly 10 years from the first blog post I ever wrote! How could that have been 10 years ago? I hope you will find it entertaining and consider it worth your time to read.  I have missed writing and am looking forward to the challenge! Happy New Year!