No telecommunication, but still communication, good old fashioned family Sunday.

It seems that this world’s satellites or broadbands or whatever the heck connects us all so wirelessly, are not pointed at France. Or, is it the various corporations and regulatory agencies that are keeping us cut off? All I know is that it’s Sunday morning, and on Wednesday, we paid 100 Euro, plus 20 Euro tax for phone and internet service, and now we have neither. I have made one phone call and used the internet for 2 hours, and now we can neither use our phone, nor our internet. If that’s not bad enough, several of the emails I’ve sent from my Verizon.net account have been returned probably because of this internet “service” here.

“Credit Epuisee” says the recording, “please come into one of our locations to recharge your account”. It should say, “You have been ripped off, and please give us more money as well”.

Okay, all griping aside, we are enjoying ourselves immensely. We’ll sort all that out on Monday, or maybe Tuesday. (Also, nothing is open Sundays, and many stores are also closed Mondays, so the proprietors can have a proper two day weekend. Oh, and everything, but restaurants, is closed for about 2 hours everyday for lunch.)

I guess we have nothing to do today, but be together and enjoy each other’s company! (everyone else is still sleeping right now)

Here are some photos:

This is the bridge that we came over when we first arrived in town.

Just to the right of this bridge is the port, where we live:

The expression on the model’s face is hit and miss, but right behind her head is where we live. My mom asked me, “which boat is yours?”. Well, there is one there from Victoria, B.C. (very close to my mom’s childhood home).

The girls are really enjoying each other’s company. They love sharing a room, and it’s so cute how they consult each other on things. I think they realize it’s good to have an ally in such a new and also they just are learning to really appreciate each other’s unique personality. Annika has appointed herself, the dishwasher. I am, of course, very pleased with that development. I hope it lasts. : )

Here are some photos of our walk on the trail leading to Lehon:

Yesterday, we went for a beautiful walk along the Rance River valley. The forested part of the trail starts a block or two from our house (our house is on the river trail). If this were Seattle or Vancouver (thinking Greenlake or the sea wall), this place would be packed with people. But there are very few people on the trail. It’s so peaceful. It seems the French prefer the high energy of the town which is a five minute walk from here. There are ducks in the river and many birds and butterflies on the trail. Actually, they looked the size of moths, but they varied in color, so they got a promotion to the term “butterfly” in my eyes (obviously I know nothing about the botany). But I do know some were baby blue, others white with bright orange tips, others purple and others looked like small monarchs, orange and black.

Kevin is spoiling Annika. There won’t be any shoulder rides when Daddy is gone. Oh well, I guess she should enjoy it now, then.

Lauren and I were jogging, and since we were on the way to the pool, she had her triathalon outfit on underneath. It was warm yesterday.

Nature girl finds a way make shade.

Well, I think that’s it for my blog today. Everyone is up now, and we should get ready for our day at the Granite Coast. Wait till you see the photos from today of Annika’s cute French hair cut that we got yesterday. But, until then, here’s Annika when she still had long hair, saying au revoir for now: