Packed and On Our Way to France

Neighbors Cris and Al, picked us up this morning at 8, and took us to the Tucson airport.  We are on our way to Paris!  Our checked bags are 51 and 48 pounds, chocked full of everything from clothes to pots and pans to exercise equipment and tools.  We’ll fly to Chicago and then on to Paris, arriving at 9:30 tomorrow morning.  We’ll have one more flight from CDG to Toulouse, then pick up our leased car, and drive to Lectoure.  We are quite excited!  

Just before leaving home, we reminded ourselves of our first arrival on Winchester Ranch 19 years ago.  We were completely overwhelmed!  After a few days, we settled in and got to work, making it our home for the next 13 years.  Our six months/year move to France will be a big adventure too!

Getting Ready

Papa and I have spent the past two months getting ready to return to France, to work on our house renovation and stay for the summer.  We closed on the French house on January 6.  We hired a paint contractor soon after.  I put together paperwork for our French visa application.  We flew to Los Angeles on February 2, for visa interviews.  Within two weeks, we received our passports in the mail, with our French visas attached.  Since then, we’ve planned, packed, and prepared our Tucson house for an extended time away.  

Our painter removed the exterior shutters in early February, and put them back up the first week of March.  He soon started interior work, and has been at work the past three weeks, moving from the 4th floor down.  He sends text messages in the middle of the night - daytime in France, along with photos of progress made.  We leave in two days.  We are very excited!

Whitney’s Family Visit

We hiked in Pima Canyon in the morning and Toby and Greta did leather work with Papa in the afternoon. A good day!

Bridal Shower

I hosted a bridal shower for Annelise, the daughter-in-law to be, of my friend, Ornella.  Ornella and I have had fun planning the shower for weeks.  The weather was perfect, and lunch was served on the patio, with 17 guests.  Dessert was amazing!  Ornella’s friend, Siw, brought a heart shaped raspberry cream marzipan cake and a tower of meringues, and Ornella brought her tiramisu, served with fresh berries.  

Day with Family

Last Sunday, Papa and I got up early and drove to Phoenix for the day with Claire’s family.  We played games with Emerson and Colby - they beat us every time!  We went to Colby’s flag football game.  We had lunch together.  Claire and I went on a walk.  It was a very good day!

Dinner with Friends

We invited our friends, Ornella and Donato for dinner a few nights ago.  We had a table full of appetizers that we enjoyed for a couple of hours, with glasses of Prosecco.  Ornella and Donato recently purchased a home in northern Italy, so we trade stories and ideas of getting things to our new homes, insurance for cars and health, etc.  Always fun!

Snowy Morning in NYC

We woke up Sunday morning to snow!  We had a quick breakfast of Dunkin Donuts, then walked to Central Park.  The sidewalks were slippery and the falling snow was magical.  The trees in Central Park were beautiful, heavy with snow.  Emerson played, threw snowballs and made snow angels.  We walked down Fifth Avenue, stopping for souvenirs, and then to Grand Central Station.  We got glimpses of the Empire State Building just a few blocks south.  We walked around the New York Public Library to get a taxi back to the hotel.  Check out was at 11:30.  We stopped for a lunch of pizza, then took a taxi to JFK.  What a weekend in New York City!  We had a great time with Emerson!