We're back! After a fun 5 days of family & friends in Chicago, Les & I took off for Paris, on May 31, arriving June 1. We are very happy to be back in our second country, & to be out of the ugly US election cycle. But if we thought we were going to the idyllic land of liberty, equality & fraternity, we found out quickly that France has its own issues, & they are big ones.

France is experiencing the same social unrest that seems to be happening everywhere, evidenced here by a huge general strike to protest the "Loi du Travail" revisions proposed by President Francois Hollande & his prime minister Manuel Valls. These revisions would allow French employers to ask their employees to work a 40 hour week with commensurate pay (instead of the 35 hour week voted in several years ago as an attempt to jumpstart the economy). The 35 hour week didn't work as planned, & the 40 hour proposal is an effort to give employers incentives to grow their businesses. But these workers/strikers (really a small percentage of the French work force) are determined that the law should not be changed, & have created havoc everywhere: trains, planes, nuclear sites, gasoline deliveries, the major ports, etc. Every day there is a new place that gets "hit" with some kind of shut down or riot. To the two of us, both Type A personalities who really enjoy working, it seems very bizarre. But, chacun a son gout (to each his own)....& France has a very long (since 1906) & entrenched union identity. Everybody hopes that this mess will be settled one way or the other so we can all get on with enjoying "la vie francaise".

And all this is happening as the "Euro Foot" started Friday night, June 10. All over France, teams from all over Europe are competing for the title of soccer champions of Europe. And the "amateurs" (fans) can get pretty pumped up about their teams. There are 10 cities hosting this event. Each city has "fan areas" with 9' fences around them, & you need IDs & tickets to enter. (Unfortunately, France has discovered how terrorism works.) Friday night, France played Roumania, & won. Over the weekend, we found 3 cars in the ditches at the side of the road. Was it the rain or was it the drink that pushed these fans "over the edge"?

Well, about this strike & terrorsim, we can do nothing, so we've decided to sit back & enjoy the VIEW from our TERRACE! It's still there, & it's still beautiful.

It takes us a good week or two to get the house totally in order. The gardens were overgrown, but better than last year, due to the work of our handyman, David, who tore out & replaced our woody rosemary & planted lavendar on each side of the terrace. He also took on the ivy that had started to compromise our stone fences, two different levels of them, one between our two-tiered garden, the other that keeps the house on the top of the hill overlooking the olive plantation. But even so, with a rainy spring, the weeds took over again very quickly. Between the weeding & the wonderful "job" (it's really a JOY!) of planting summer flowers & the lawn mowing, the first week sped by.

The house did very well over the winter, thanks to our care taker Claire. Just a few spiders here & there, but NO DUST! But of course, if you are going to have multiple guests, you need a painted guest room, & enough beds! So that took care of week two.

And of course, Les continues to work from his "office" here. Thank goodness for SKYPE & WEBEX, & our efficient & low cost French internet system. Generally we go out (shopping, the gym, the hardware store, etc) in the morning, & Les starts working after lunch (about 1:30) to communicate with clients in the US.

Our little village, Villevieille, perched above the small city of Sommieres, is still quiet & calm. We look down on the beautiful Vidourle River, as well as a main highway. On July 14, the Tour de France will be on that highway, & we will watch it, with friends, from our terrace. Now that's a great way to celebrate France's heritage!

Because we use our blog as a sort of travel journal/picture diary, our blog is really a random recording of things we do, places we go, a bit of history, & random pictures of food, pets, & whatever strikes us as worth remembering. If you are interested, please take a look at our three new picture albums (5 days in Chicago, Summer Theme Villages, & the Roman Road Rediscovered) to get a visual idea of our first 2 weeks here in France.

Wherever you are this summer, we hope you are enjoying life. It's too short! You have to make the most of it.

Love,

Elise & Les