Firsts

     I wasn't sure what to write about regarding last week.  No big bends or bumps or giant revelations of any kind.  So, I'm just going to start rambling (that's a journey word, right?!) and see where it takes us.  OK? 
     There were a few "firsts" last week so I thought I'd tell you about them - well, first :-)
     When I was at the zoo on Thursday I was disappointed that our big male lion, Abuto, was not in with any of the other lions.  Momma Lomela was with the 3 cubs in the indoor enclosure.   Eventually they let Abuto and Zwena (Lomela's sister) into the outside area where they promptly began "talking" to each other.  You could hear them all over the zoo.  When I saw one of the keepers I asked if they would be putting Abuto in with any of the cubs later in the day and she said they would be doing that tomorrow (Friday).  So guess where I went Friday afternoon! 
     I was rewarded with a wonderful time watching the entire pride all together inside.  The cubs are now seven months old and weigh 100 pounds!  But they are still pretty small and clutsy to be outside in the big area.  Abuto was on the highest perch (you can see that in the photo) with his sons nearby.   Aslan is next to him and Boma is on the next platform down.  Daughter Elsa was hanging out with mom and Auntie Zwena.  Everyone was calm and getting along and I loved seeing them together.  So that was a first for me!  I have seen Abuto introduced to one cub at a time but not all of them together!  That was so awesome.

Abuto and his boys

Aslan and his daddy

     Another first was taking CoCo to agility classes.  She is my little circus dog!  It's no surprise that poodles are often used as circus performers because they are quite athletic and just downright cute!  She had no trouble going over the little jumps and going on the teeter-totter.  She also did well on the ramp.  But she was not too keen on the tunnel.  At first our trainer, Patty, pushed the tunnel (looks like a giant dryer vent) into a small tunnel about 4 feet long and as long as CoCo could see me at the other end she was quite happy to come on through.  But then Patty stretched it out and put a little curve in there and that's when CoCo put the brakes on!  Otherwise she did fine and we're looking forward (I'm speaking for her!) to our next class a week from Friday.

My little circus girl

     I am writing this on my newest computer tryout.  It is the fourth one as I have continued to downsize and I really like this 13 inch HP.  I think it's a keeper!  It will take me a long time to figure out everything on it including Windows 10 so wish me luck. 
     I will not be writing a blog post next weekend as I will be in Ohio visiting my dad's family there, my Aunt Mary and cousin Sharon, her family, and cousin Monica.  It's probably been 15 years since I've been there and I'm really excited about spending time with them and also seeing my grandparents' old home place and the little cemetery at the country church where they are buried.  My cousin Sharon lives outside of Cincinnati and has everything arranged for my week there.  So I will write all about it when I get back.  The photo is an old one.  That's four generations taken in my grandparents' house about 30 years ago.  Grandma (Grandpa was already gone), my dad, me and Andy. 

Four generations in Ohio

     Oh yes!  And I finished the kitchen - walls, ceiling, trim, cabinets, counters, everything!  I'm still waiting for paint to dry so it's not picture worthy quite yet.  I'll include photos in the next post.  Until then, may your pathways be smooth and bump free.  Thanks for joining me on this journey!

Collect Moments, Not Things - Like Coats and Shoes and . . . .

     I know this is a topic I've written about a few times before, but it really resonates with me as I get closer to selling (just about) everything and moving to France.  I recently read yet another magazine article about "awe" and "wonder" in our lives and how important they are to our overall health, both physical and emotional.  "Moments of wonder do more than take your breath away.  They can reduce stress, enhance bonding and improve your health," says Jennifer King Lindley, the writer of the article.
     She describes awe as "the mind and body's reaction to being pushed outside of their normal way of looking at the world.  It takes you off autopilot and makes you feel you are in the presence of something bigger than you, but that you are also connected to this bigger thing."  Physically, awe seems to curb the fight-or-flight response.  Emotionally, awe brings us into the moment, you cease worrying about the future or stressing about events in the past.  Your brain focuses on the here and now.
     So, how do we find more awe in our lives?  The article gives seven ideas as to how we can do just that, no matter where we are.
1)  Chase what inspires you.  That could range from the beauties in nature to the astounding accomplishments of others, such as Olympic athletes or those who have overcome handicaps to do wonderful things.  Or beautiful works of art or music. 

Van Gogh's Starry Night - one of my favorites

 2)  Zero in on details.  Look with fresh eyes at ordinary things.  Slow down and examine a flower in detail, or the frost on your windows.  I have a blog friend named Kristin Espinasse.  She writes the blog called "French Word a Day."  I love the way she looks at the world.  She sees the details when I would have just walked on by.  Her photos and commentaries on her everyday life in France inspires me.

A close up of my rose and lavender - I love Spring!

3)  Do something new.  Most of us are so into our daily routine that we just go through the motions most of the time without considering that we could do things a little differently.  Take a different route to work, or home.  Pick up something different for lunch or dinner.  Just a couple of ideas.
4)  Take mini awe breaks.  Use breath-taking scenery as a screensaver.  Or sign up for daily inspirational quotes or images.  Last year I had photos of France and Italy delivered to me every day!

Like this one!  Those colors are amazing!

5)  Try big stuff, too.  The types of experiences that tend to elicit the greatest awe are often dismissed as being frivolous:  traveling, going to museums, gazing through a telescope, sitting on your porch during a thunderstorm.  Such experiences are essential to well-being - so make them a priority!
6)  Spend time with kids.  As a former teacher of adolescents I must admit that this one has me rather apprehensive as I spent 31 years around kids.  But I understand the premise.  Especially being around little kids who find awe in everything.  Playing in the dirt gives them great pleasure.  Remember that feeling as a kid?  Or being out after dark in  the summer playing freeze tag?  Just watching them play can help us remember those feelings of freedom before we started worrying about life.  Maybe that's why I love going to the zoo every week!

Being kids again at the North Pole

I'm in awe of lion family dynamics!

7)  Reflect on past moments of awe.  For me, this is looking through photos of past trips and remembering how joyful I was at seeing that castle, or that cathedral, or eating at that restaurant, or seeing those mountains.  For some it may be remembering the awe of seeing your newborn baby, or having seen a comet streak across the night sky.  When stressed, recall your own personal moments of amazement and enjoy the bliss
     I am at a place in my life where I want to be surrounded by awe every day.  To have new adventures in little French villages.  I am quite happy to get rid of most of my "stuff" and to live out of two suitcases with my little white fluffy dog.  I am still getting rid of things, mostly clothes and shoes, but also some kitchen things and odds and ends of things that have somehow multiplied over the 40 years that I have lived in this house.
     And speaking of the house, the kitchen is almost finished!  I leave for Ohio next week and will be gone for about a week.  So my hope is to have everything in the kitchen done before I leave.  I'm right on track for that.  Yay for me!
     So, my wish and challenge for all of you this week is to find moments of awe.  I'm not saying you all need to sell all your belongings and move to another country!  That's my bliss, not yours.  So, go find your own bliss and follow it and find awe and wonder.  Collect moments, not things.  Thank you for joining me on my journey of following my bliss.  Merci!!!

Computers, Coats, Kitchen, and Cubs

     I did not make it to the zoo this week!  I don't know how they managed without me!  :-)  It is always amazing to me when I see the cubs, even if it's only been a week.  They seem to be growing so quickly now that they are eating solid food.  When they were just a few months old they really looked like overgrown kittens.  Now that they are just past 6 months old you can tell they are the royalty of felines.  There is no doubt that they are lions.  Majestic is the only word that does them justice.

My babies!  With Mom in the background

     I was privileged to witness the ongoing attempt at uniting the pride last Saturday.  They decided to put both the lionesses (mother and aunt to the cubs) in the large inside enclosure and bring in one cub at a time to meet their dad, the handsome Abuto.  The first cub in was Aslan who has a rather laid back personality.  He was very reluctant to get too close to Abuto even though dad showed a lot more interest in the upside down pine tree hanging from the ceiling than he did to his baby.  After about 10 minutes everyone seemed bored so they sent Abuto into one shoot and Aslan into another and then out came Elsa before they let Abuto back into the enclosure.
     It was a much different story with her!  From the beginning I had nicknamed her "Party Girl" because all she ever wanted to do (even as a little bitty thing) was play and eat!  As soon as she saw "Daddy" she was all over him wanting to play.  So very different from her reticent brother.  Abuto wasn't sure what to do.  He let her try to climb on him and jump up in his face and all was fine until she bit into his leg.  They he swatted her.  Not hard and not in an aggressive way, but she must have let out a whimper.  Because both the lionesses were up, snarling and baring their teeth.  Poor Abuto backed up and looked so confused and headed for his shoot which the keepers opened for him.  He may be "King of the Jungle", but the lionesses rule the pride!  I was so glad that I got to see this.  It takes time, I'm sure, for all of them to figure out how to be a pride.  They are so wonderful and I'm so proud of our zoo.
     I felt like Goldilocks this week trying out new computers.  One was too small, one was too big and now I'm waiting on the arrival of one that's in between those sizes and am hoping that it will be "just right".  My Sony Viao, which I love, is now 10 years old and has some geriatrics problems!  It's definitely time for a new computer.  I tried a Microsoft Surface Pro 10" thinking it could take the place of both my Kindle and my laptop.  But it was too big for a tablet and too small for a laptop so I sent it back.  Then I tried a 15" Acer laptop and really liked it, but it's even bigger than my Sony and not very good for all the traveling I plan to do.  So now I've ordered a Dell 14" laptop and hope that it will be just the right size for me.  Keep your fingers crossed!  And I will order an updated Kindle Fire as they are selling for $49.99 right now!!  Amazing buy.  I love my Kindles.
     You're probably wondering about the "Coats" in the title today.  As I was cleaning out my closet, yet again, to take donations to Good Will for the end of the year, I realized I seem to collect coats!  Some women collect shoes or handbags.  I had no idea I had that many coats.  Who in the world needs 15 coats?  And I had a really hard time getting rid of some of them because I really liked them!  So I got rid of 5 :-)  I know I'll have to pare down even more before I head to France.  10 coats will take up way too much room in my suitcases!  Oh dear!
     I started on the kitchen this week.  I had bought a counter top resurfacing kit many months ago when it was on sale at Home Depot.  It is supposed to give your existing counter the look of granite.  I watched 5 or 6 you tube videos on how best to apply the different surfacing liquids and I'm actually pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I have only done the one corner that I took pictures of.  But I did everything in that corner so I could get an idea of what the entire kitchen will look like.  Also, I wanted to practice on a small area before doing all the counter tops.  I think I like the wall paint.  I was trying to get something that would "harmonize" with the new counter top and also bring the look of Tuscany.  But I'm wondering if it is too dark.  I had a lighter shade but it looked pink and not coral.  So I'm still deliberating on the wall color.  I also repainted the cabinets and the existing hardward.

Counter before

Counter after

Corner before

Corner after

     I will do the rest of the counter tops this week and continue painting the cabinets.  I need to make a trip to Home Depot and have them come out and measure for the new flooring.  I will NOT attempt to do that myself!
     So, that's my week in review - oh yeah, and the Broncos won!!!!
     I'm still aiming for March 1 to have my house all finished and on the market.  Of course, I will let you know how the updates are coming and if I've hit any bumps or bends along the way.  Thank you so much for joining me on this journey.  I appreciate all your comments and encouragement.  Merci!!

"Into a Larger Freedom"

     Happy New Year!  I began this blog exactly one year ago having high hopes that I would be headed to France by this time.  So, the title of my blog is quite appropriate!  I still have some more bends to maneuver.  I am determined to start on the kitchen this week.  The ceiling has been scraped (and washed) for months and the room is small enough that I should be able to finish it in a week - or so . . .  I bought a kit for refinishing the counter tops and hope that it is as easy to use and as great with its result as the kit I used on my wood floors.    I also plan to paint everything - the ceiling, the walls, the cabinets, the door and window frames.  I'll get new hardware for the cabinets and drawers.  I promise to do before and after pics.
     My inspiration this week came from my favorite book by Frances Mayes.  She recounts a time when a total stranger called her to ask for her opinion about buying a cottage on the other side of the US. 
     "What's the down side?" she asks.
      "What are you thinking of doing?" asks Frances. 
     "The islands off the coast of Washington.  I've always loved them.  There's this place for sale, my friends think I'm crazy because it's all the way across the country . . . "
     "There's no downside" she answers.  Then she asks the woman if she ever heard the old motto: "Follow your bliss."
      "Yes," she answers, but then adds "I'm not sure this makes sense."
      I love Frances' reply:  "Well, does it seem that you'd be moving into a larger freedom?  I've had an incredible amount of fun here."  She says this even though the entire book has been about all the efforts made to restore their old farmhouse.  But she always thinks about the sun, the wonderful Tuscan sun that warms everything it touches, including her!

The Tuscan Sun

The Gascon (SW France) Sun

     And that, dear friends, is what I want to achieve - a larger freedom.  Freedom from debt, freedom from a mortgage and home owners insurance and property taxes.  Freedom to explore someplace new every day.  Freedom to see who I am in another culture and to speak another language and to expand my knowledge of the world, and to look at things from a different perspective, to feel that I am in the presence of something larger than myself.  Freedom to eat healthy natural food and not feel like I'm on a diet.  Freedom to walk everywhere and not feel like I'm exercising.
    So I think that is my motto for this new year.  I will weigh every decision by asking if it leads me into a larger freedom.  I want to collect moments and not things as I go around the bends and along the path.  Thank you for joining me on this journey as I continue to follow my "Eastward Pointing Compass."
     

    

On to Plan C . . . or is it D or . . .

     "The best laid schemes of mice and men do often go awry", wrote the Scottish poet Robert Burns.  It seems that is just as true today as it was over 200 years ago when he wrote the lovely poem called "To a Mouse".  I am certainly closer to my goal of moving to France, but I have had to change the move date a couple of times as I have changed my thoughts about the move.
     The idea of living in France came to me about 20 years ago.  After many years of touring France with students, I was ready to see the "other" France, the areas outside of the usual tour companies' itineraries.  So, that summer of 1996 after the tour ended and the students and adults were on their way back to the States, I rented a car and Andy and I took off on our own.  I had made a rough itinerary with towns designated as overnights, but I made no hotel reservations and had no GPS or any of today's necessities for travel.   For the most part it all worked out just as I had planned.
     What I had not planned on was falling completely in love with the southwest area of France.  I had always thought I wanted to spend time in the northwest region of Brittany.  That area appealed to me in a somewhat romantic sense in that the Bretons have their own language and roots to the ancient Celts who have always fascinated me.  Their land is almost a separate country being a peninsula jutting into the English Channel.  Andy and I did visit Brittany and were enchanted with the standing stones and the rugged coastline and, of course, the mystical island monastery of Mont Saint Michel on the English Channel.

Mont St Michel

     But it was the Dordogne region of ancient Aquitaine that grabbed my attention and didn't let go.  I have never seen so many shades of green - the forests, the fields, the land.  And then there's all those caves like Lascaux and Peche Merle which were used by prehistoric man as art galleries.  It's the land of the Hundred Years War with castles on either side of the rivers - one side English and the other side French.  It's the land of Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the most famous, powerful, and influential women of medieval history (or perhaps ever!)  The land of knights and poetry of courtly love, of jousting tournaments and music.  The land of foie gras and Bordeaux wines, of walnut cakes and macarons.

In the Dordogne area of SW France

The cliff houses near the Dordogne river

A tapestry of the "Spotted Ponies" painting in the Peche Merle cave

  
   So that was Plan A, I guess, all those years back.  I wanted to buy a house in the Dordogne region - not Provence, as Peter Mayle did which was beginning to be overrun by Brits and Americans.  But, unfortunately, that is now true of the Dordogne.  However, that is not why I decided on the region further south from there.
     Five years ago, I left Colorado Springs and moved to Liberal, Kansas to help care for my mom.  I was there for two years before she offered to move in with me here in the Springs (I never stopped thanking her for that!!!)  It was while I was in Kansas that I realized I NEED the mountains, almost like needing to breath or eat.  I grew up with Pikes Peak in my backyard and I love everything about  the mountains - the clear air the clean water, the trees, and rocks - the "purple mountains' majesty", a sky so blue that it's indescribable.  And so, I decided to look further south towards the Pyrenees Mountains and Spain.

My "backyard" in Colorado Springs

     Now, I was on to Plan B.  A year ago Andy and I went on an exploration of the area close to the Pyrenees in ancient Gascony (that's where D'Artagnan, the Musketeer, came from) - a region of tiny villages and lots of streams and valleys and more caves and great food and wine  - and mountains!!!  I fell in love with a little valley where the Neste river runs.  We had such a grand time seeing so much alpine beauty.  Yes, here is where I could live!   I came home and started looking online at houses in this area.

The Neste valley

A view of the Pyrenees

     Then, I read an article in my "International Living" publication about house sitting.  That changed my perspective on moving to France.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to not pay a cent (or centime) for rent or mortgage?  Wouldn't it be wonderful to experience living in France without the stress of finding and buying a property?  Wouldn't it be wonderful to live in different villages all around the area where I think I want to buy?  Like test driving a car for a month or so before you decide if that's really the one you want!  So, with that in mind I began some serious plans for moving myself to France.
     When I began this blog in January of this year (can't believe this is blog post #50!), my plan was to have all my renovations finished, house sold, and everything in place to be moved to France by January of 2016.  Well, as we all know, that happens this week!  But, that's how it goes when your journey has bumps and bends, and whose doesn't, right?
     And thus I am now on Plan C or perhaps beyond that, but I'm going with "Plan C."  Realizing that houses do not sell quickly in the winter months and that I still have painting inside and cleaning up outside to do, I now plan to put the house on the market the first part of March.  That gives me two months to finish the renovations and do all the other things that need to be done before I'm actually ready to start looking for house sitting jobs in France.  I will be in Delaware the weekend of April 23 for the wedding of two very dear friends.  That may be my last stopover in the States before I head overseas.  Hopefully, CoCo's training will prove to be helpful for her to make the ten hour plane ride in her little carrier.  We're playing the "in crate" game and also going to unfamiliar places to help her get over her anxiety issues.  There's still much to be done before now and April - for both CoCo and me!  Wish us luck!

CoCo, my travel companion

     So that, my dearest friends and family, is my newest Plan for moving, barring any further bumps and bends along the way!  But I won't rule those out as I am now quite used to them cropping up in front of me.  And every time they do, I think of my dad and all those unexpected, and usually quite memorable, bends on our family vacations of long ago.  And that makes me smile.
    

Christmas, Noël, Navidad . . . Celebrations!

As we are at that time of year when everything points towards the celebration of Christmas, I thought it might be fun to share with you some information about how and why we celebrate this holiday the way we do.  I think it's very interesting that so many of our traditions actually had their beginnings in pagan cultures.  But I can't imagine Christmas time without them.  I hope you enjoy this little history lesson and the significance of the practices which we think of as purely Christmas!

Why December 25th?  December was likely chosen as the day of Christ's birth so the Catholic Church could compete with rival pagan rituals held at that time of year and because of its closeness with the winter solstice in the Northern hemisphere, a traditional time of celebration among many ancient cultures.  It seems pretty evident from scriptures that it must have been springtime since the shepherds were all out in the fields with the sheep and lambs.  This holiday (or "holy day"), along with Easter, were chosen specifically to offset the Roman celebrations happening in winter and in spring and some of the ancient Roman traditions stayed.

The evergreen fir tree has traditionally been used to celebrate winter festivals (pagan and Christian) for thousands of years. Pagans used branches of it to decorate their homes during the winter solstice, as it made them think of the spring to come. The Romans used Fir Trees to decorate their temples at the festival of Saturnalia held during the last 10 days of December.  Christians use it as a sign of everlasting life.  In 16th-century Germany fir trees were decorated, both indoors and out, with apples, roses, gilded candies, and colored paper.
It is held that Protestant reformer Martin Luther first adorned trees with light. While coming home one December evening, the beauty of the stars shining through the branches of a fir inspired him to recreate the effect by placing candles on the branches of a small fir tree inside his home.

Mistletoe was used by Druid priests 200 years before the birth of Christ in their winter celebrations. They revered the plant since it had no roots yet remained green during the cold months of winter.  The ancient Celts believed mistletoe to have magical healing powers and used it as an antidote for poison, infertility, and to ward off evil spirits. The plant was also seen as a symbol of peace, and it is said that among Romans, enemies who met under mistletoe would lay down their weapons and embrace.
Scandanavians associated the plant with Frigga, their goddess of love, and it may be from this that we derive the custom of kissing under the mistletoe. Those who kissed under the mistletoe had the promise of happiness and good luck in the following year.

 Boughs of holly, believed to have magical powers since they remained green through the harsh winter, were often placed over the doors of homes to drive evil away. In Northern Europe Christmas occurred during the middle of winter, when ghosts and demons could be heard howling in the winter winds.  Greenery was also brought indoors to freshen the air and brighten the mood during the long, dreary winter.
Legend also has it that holly sprang from the footsteps of Christ as he walked the earth. The pointed leaves were said to represent the crown of thorns Christ wore while on the cross and the red berries symbolized the blood he shed.

Saint Nicholas Feast Day is an important celebration in some European countries.  The children emulate the life of Saint Nicholas as the bringer of the gifts for children. On the night of December 5, the children wearing angel and devil costumes carol from house to house and receive presents. In some countries, Santa Claus (also called "Father Christmas") visits the children on the morning of December 6.  The children place their shoes near the fireplace or the door so that Santa will leave them candies and fruit.  In many countries the traditional gift giving day is January 6 which is the final day of the Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Twelfth Night or Epiphany which marks the day the Wise Men brought gifts to Baby Jesus.  Also on this day in France, the Galette des Rois, or Kings' Cake, is eaten.  It is baked with a small charm inside and whoever gets the piece with the charm gets to be King or Queen for the day.

The custom of burning the Yule Log goes back to, and before, medieval times. It was originally a Nordic tradition. Yule is the name of the old Winter Solstice festivals in Scandinavia and other parts of northern Europe.  The Yule Log was originally an entire tree, that was carefully chosen and brought into the house with great ceremony. The largest end of the log would be placed into the fire hearth while the rest of the tree stuck out into the room! The log would be lit from the remains of the previous year's log which had been carefully stored away and slowly fed into the fire through the Twelve Days of Christmas. It was believed to be important to rid the house of the "old" and bring prosperity for the "new".
Today many emulate this tradition by baking a special "yule log" cake - the French call it a "Buche de Noël", made and decorated to look like a log, but made out of yummy creams and chocolate and sometimes some dried fruit.

I'm hoping to spend Christmas in France next year.  I look forward to learning about new traditions and seeing all the French decorations and food and celebrations.  Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.  I hope you enjoyed this "lesson" in Christmas celebrations.  It is true: "once a teacher, always a teacher!"  And I do wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël, and Feliz Navidad!  

Taking the Leap

     "What if one of us is hit by a potato chip truck and can't work?  I run through a litany of diseases we could get.  An aunt died of a heart attack at forty-two, my grandmother went blind, all the ugly illnesses . . .What if an earthquake shakes down the universities where we teach?  The Humanities Building is on a list of state structures most likely to fall in a moderately sever quake.  What if the stock market spirals down? . . . What if you did not feel uncertainty?  Why not call it excitement? . . . Think: What if the sky doesn't fall?  What if it is glorious?"

     This is one of my favorite passages in Francis Mayes wonderfully written memoir, "Under the Tuscan Sun."  It is human nature to feel concern about the future.  Am I absolutely positive that everything will work out the way I hope it will?  Can anyone be absolutely positive about their plans for even next week, let alone the rest of your life?  When I read Mayes' books and Peter Mayles' books about Provence (and many others), I feel a huge reassurance that following my dream is more than just a whimsical wish.  If others have achieved it, why not I?

     This past week, an article in my "International Living" publication caught my eye.  Its title is "The Huge Rewards of Taking the Leap", by Glynna Prentice.  She left her life, apartment, job, friends, family in New York City and moved to Mexico.  Talk about a leap!  I would like to share some of that article with you in this blog post as she says so many things that I want to tell you all.

     "Maybe fate favors the bold?  Maybe we plan better when more is at stake.  Or maybe, in taking that bold leap, we leave ourselves open to all the many opportunities out there.  The world is a big place, and it's filled with promise and opportunities, if we're just willing to look."

     I must admit that I also run through all those lists of "what ifs" just like Francis Mayes.  But what's the point in that?  Instead of all the "what ifs" that are followed by something bad, I try to do all the "what ifs" followed by something wonderful.  What if I get to house sit in a medieval village with a 13th century church?  What if the village has the most wonderful market?  What if I get to spend Christmas in Paris?  What if I can find a lovely house on the Mediterranean or a farmhouse in the Pyrenees?  What if I can visit Italy as often as I like?  Those are the "What ifs" that I want to focus on.

The town of Rocamadour, France

Christmas in Paris

Farmhouse in the Pyrenees

     "Moving abroad is not a snap decision, especially as we get older.  It requires planning, organizing, and often saving up money to pull off well.  It requires doing all the evaluating of later life concerns, like healthcare and pensions, which we all do at home . . . but for another country instead.  And while some of the planning is fun, overall it's definitely more work than simply hopping on a plane."

      My list of things to do before I can even buy my plane ticket over there is growing.  It includes a visit to the French Consul in Denver to see what I need to do to get an extension on my passport, setting up a post office box here, getting a storage unit, getting Coco microchipped with the international code, getting Coco used to travel in a carrier (she is presently in training . . .me, too!), checking on how my healthcare works overseas, and the list is ever growing.  But the writer of the article goes on to say:

     "But all too often, people's biggest hurdle to making the move isn't planning and preparation.  It's simple fear - of taking a risk, of leaving the familiar, of facing the new and strange.  Fear . . . inertia . . . Too often they keep folks settling for less."

     But, as you know if you've been reading this blog from the beginning of the year, or if you knew my dad, you know that I was born with that adventure gene.  I have always looked forward to the next step on the path with excitement and anticipation, whether it was going off to college, studying in France, taking students to Europe, taking lots of people to Europe.  I love that my dad gave me that sense of adventure and longing to see what's around that bend up there.  And certainly my mom lived with that sense of future happiness.

Thank you Mom and Dad for my sense of adventure

     I look forward to the fun and challenges of living in another country.  Of seeing the medieval villages, the ancient ruins, the unfamiliar culture quirks, the wonderful cuisine, the breathtaking landscapes.  And all of that will become a part of my everyday life.  I'm quite willing to take that leap!   Here's Prentice's last paragraph in the article.  And I will leave you with this:

     "Taking a risk can bring huge rewards.  Most expats I speak to feel the same way.  Not one has said they wished they made the move later.  With the benefit of hindsight, almost all wish they'd done it sooner.  So, just do it."

     Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.  I really do appreciate it.  I feel like I need to thank you every time I write because I am so amazed that people actually want to read my thoughts!  Next week I'll write about "Plan C"!  So I hope you'll "tune in" next week as you follow around all those bends.  Merci!