Les & I are happy to say that we are once again "bien installés" in our French house, & enjoying life here, as usual, in southern France.

I chose the picture for this album deliberately: it shows Les modeling a sculpture we saw at a museum we visited in Marseille on Saturday, June 8.It goes so well with our 2019 summer theme: Creativity DEMANDS Purging. To get creative, it may help to kick out the old stuff that's been bugging you.

We came this year without having a pre-planned summer theme, but it came to us gradually, starting with Les' brainstorm of installing a home gym in our third (& tiny) garage. On our second day here, he drove to Nimes to purchase The Monster, & brought it back in 6 boxes. Next step: PURGE the garage of all the junk that was in it. Part of it was ours (some resale shop furniture we'd abandoned & hadn't dealt with) & part of it was left by the previous owners (rusty tools, oil & weed killer cans, old string, etc). It took 3 trips to the déchetterie (the dump), but in about 2 hours, the little garage was clean! Off we went to a charity thriftshop with the stuff somebody might want, & wow, did it feel WONDERFUL to be rid of all that STUFF. Then we went to Ikea to purchase 4 small rugs which we put together to cushion the Monster. And now, thanks to our "summer guy" Eduardo, we have a brand new, very impressive home gym. And that's when we came up with our summer theme, Creativity DEMANDS Purging.

The same thing happened with a huge bush that has been bugging me for the last 4 summers. After the garage experience, & our new theme, I attacked it with vigor. Trimming back that bush (it was actually 2 bushes!) gave me some new space to put in some pretty grass (it waves in the wind) & a few new Mediterranean plants. It also, alas, created an enormous pile of yard debris that required, once again, 3 trips to the déchetterie!

But my BIG PURGE is happening right now. We bought this house 5 summers ago & moved in 4 years ago, after a very minor kitchen renovaton (new dishwasher & new oven). That summere, we hired Eduardo to redo the kitchen counters & install a new sink. But the upper cabinets are ugly, are starting to fall off the hinges, & are hung way too high for me. (My neighbor tells me the people who lived here were very tall.) So...my new idea was to take them out, & replace them with shelves, that are easily accessible & reachable. So, at Ikea, we bought one freestanding cabinet that will accomodate all the food stuff (vinegar & olive oil, spices, cereal, etc). Eduardo is putting it together this very moment.

(I am just now realizing that another related summer sub theme could be "Creativity Begins With Ikea".)

To see pictures of our new gym, our goofy kitchen project, & our first 2 weeks here at home in Villevieille, check out our picture album named "Settling In".

We've already done 2 rounds of museums: the first was in Nimes, Le Musée de la Romanité, a year old interactive museum about the Roman culture here in southern France. Their summer exhibition features the final days of Pompeii, & the power of Rome that made it the paradise it was until Vesuvius decided to purge, & covered Pompeii with volcanic ash in 79 CE. We've been to Pompeii, but it's been awhile, & we enjoyed learning a bit more about it through the voice of Pliny the Elder, who was witness to it, & tried to save people from it. See our album called "Pompeii '19 for pictures & explanations.

The second round of museums took us to Marseille, France's second city, & a diverse & energetic city with a huge port that has been active since the Phoneceans & thrived during Roman times. For pictures of Marseille's port, an ancient dock museum that stored wine in huge vats, & the new muCEUM, see our album "Marseille '19". We have also included pictures from a favorite art museum, "Les Regards de Provence", whose exhibition deals with FOOD & ART & how related they are.

We have not abandoned last summer's "Roots" theme. We have 3 trips planned, one to northern Italy (to check out where Les' grandfather's people came from), one to Finland (for Les' grandma's people), & one to Corsica, where we'll be meeting our kids & grandkids for a week, in celebration of our 50th wedding anniversary on March 29. Good thing we decided not to purge partners!

We wish all our readers a new clean start this summer! Hopefully, wherever you are & whatever your plans, you will enjoy summer sunshine & breezes, & a renewed energy to create & enjoy!

All the best, Elise & Les