Top Ten Photographs!?!

7/24/2014

Bonjour mes amis!

I have a huge Decorating Goal ahead of me.  I want to make a wall of photographs in our Gameroom from our awesome year spent in France, and other parts of Europe.  But how do I choose?  We have thousands of photos!  There are definitely some that stand out, so those will be easy.  I still haven't decided how many photos I will use, but I know I want the BEST OF THE BEST!!!

So, I'm carefully looking through ALL the thousands of pictures and trying to narrow it down.  Today, I want to share a beginning TOP TEN EIGHTEEN (you must know by now that I can't actually stick to TEN on a Top Ten)!  These will MOST DEFINITELY make the Wall...I think!

Unbelievably, the photos I'm sharing today are only from the first three months we lived in France!

I'm in trouble!

How will I ever narrow these down?

I guess there will be another Post of the 2nd three months, the 3rd three months, etc., etc.!

Can you see why this is so difficult?

We had an extraordinary Year!

I could probably do a Post on Top Ten Stained Glass Windows...
And even that would be hard to pare down!

I guess it's time to shut the door on this Post for now...

Thank goodness I have some awesome photos of fabulous doors!

I do wish you a "Jewel" of a Day!
Jan

My Last Night in France and my Best Story!

7/22/2014

Bonjour mes amis!

I have a dear friend in France.  Let's call her E!  She's not French, but she speaks French, can teach in French (she's a Professor), and she speaks several other languages as well.  She's amazing.  She's smart and fun, and she's a redhead!



She lives in a "man's world" with the kind of work she does, so when I am in France, we get together, and she always tells me that this helps her "develop her soft side" since she doesn't get much one-on-one time with other women.  Trust me, she doesn't really need help.  She's very kind and engaging, and I enjoy being with her.

When we're together, we speak English.  E is married to J!  They are a very loving couple, and I enjoy observing them together.

E and J have become dear friends to us.  Last year, we took a vacation together for several days, and this year's visit brought us together for numerous meals and coffee times.  E and J love to go to one of the busy market areas in Orléans, and get a table outside, and just enjoy a cup of coffee and do some "people watching".  We now call that place our meeting spot.

On my last day in France, E and I had made a plan to meet for lunch...at our meeting spot, naturally.  It was a Monday, so this meant there would be a limited number of Restaurants to choose from, since many businesses in France are closed on Mondays.  But...E and J work closely together and they were expecting a visitor from the Netherlands, so our lunch plan changed a little, to include J for lunch.  That was perfectly fine with me as I enjoy J's company as well.  We had a lovely full three-course French lunch, and then popped over to their favorite Café for coffee, so they could meet their Dutch visitor.

When the Dutch visitor arrived, E and I knew it would be time to say good-bye for atleast another year.

Big American Hugs!

And we parted...

Later that day, however, I was checking my emails , and suddenly, I started getting Instant Messages from E, asking what I was doing for the evening, and could we get together again?  Well, at 8:00 PM, I had a friend from the Church dropping by to drop something off, but then I would be free...

Wouldn't you know it, E and J showed up at "my" Château just before 8:00 PM!  They were determined to see me again.

E and J had just spent the week in Bulgaria, however, and they really needed to get groceries.  Would I consider going to Auchan with them? (Auchan, if you will recall, is the large grocery store I shopped in while I lived in Orléans last year).

Did I really want to go to the Grocery Store on my last night in Orléans?

If it meant I got to spend more time with E and J?  YOU BET!


Shortly after we got to Auchan and realized we had different things to shop for, E made an attempt to have some "girl time" with me, and she looked at J and exclaimed...

"Why don't you go ahead on your own and pick up whatever you like in the store?"

J looked over at us, and then proceeded to head to E...

and then he bent down...

and he picked up his wife!

Awwww....

I stood there smiling and clapping, and just overjoyed at the sweet love between those two...

And then I teased J the rest of our excursion about "picking up a girl" in the grocery store!

Have yourself a "Jewel" of a Day!
Jan

P.S.  All photos today are Scenes from around the beautiful City of Orléans, France!

Be careful where you Stand!

7/20/2014

Bonjour mes amis!

I can't even believe I'm going to share this with you today, especially amidst some of the beautiful photos I have to share.  This goes against my better judgment...

But I'm going to go ahead and tell you a funny, but embarrassing Story that happened to me while I was in France.

After visiting the "work in progress" Château Guédelon, Dr. J and I also visited a beautiful Water Garden, so come along with me while I tell you the Story!

Dr. J had to make a trip for a Conference to Korea, while I was still in France, and while we still had our Rental Car...so...he asked me to take him to the Train Station (because it was raining)...so he could travel to Paris to catch his flight to Korea.

So, off we went, parked the car, and wandered into the Train Station to purchase train tickets.  One of Dr. J's Colleagues was to meet us also at the Train Station so the guys could travel together.

Dr. J's Colleague arrived with his Wife and Daughter, and we greeted one another and stood to talk for a minute.

The announcement was made to board the train, so Dr. J and his Colleague said their Good-byes to us, and started to make their way along the train to find a car to ride in.

But, the Colleague's daughter really wanted to go with her Daddy and be able to wave him off.  So, off we went behind them.

The guys loaded their suitcases, and looked for seats, and then looked out the Train window and waved to us.  Little Apolline was all smiles, waving to her Daddy.

And then, Apolline's Daddy lifted his Camera and took our picture as we waved them off.

But it wasn't quite time for the train to leave yet, and suddenly Dr. J and his Colleague came out of the Train, laughing hysterically.  What?  What were they laughing at?  At us?

And that's when they told us to look behind us...

How embarrassing!!!

We were standing right in front of an Advertisement for Diarrhea medicine!

From now on, I'm going to be more careful where I stand!

Hope you enjoyed this embarrassing funny Story!

Have a "Jewel" of a Day!
Jan