Out of the hospital and out on the town

I haven't had those quiet moments (well, not simultaneously while having internet connection) so I haven't written a blog in ages. I have notes though, so more is coming for sure. We stayed at Berengere's dad's place before going on to Paris to get Kevin, but then the seizure happened, and two days in the hospital threw a wrench into our plans. But for now, here's some photos of Annika that you were anxious to see, mom.



She's out of the hospital, and out on the town.


A fountain...all moms know right away how difficult it was to keep them out of there after this angelic photo was taken.


That's the American Church behind us (we went yesterday and it was fabulous). Also there's some other monument beside it which looks familiar but not sure.


Place Trocadero



I didn't want to put any photos of her with the electrodes on her head...too weird science...but here's one of Annika and her roommate at the hospital, a sweet little guy named Loic. His parents (dad shown here) are from Madagascar. It was great to have such a wonderful family in the room with us, and we're going to stay in touch.

More to come of the Lardy-Liger family and our wonderful time with them.

Photos of the last two weeks of visitors and fun...the Wheelers and the Kings

I couldn't get a bunch of Don's photos...especially the ones he photoshopped into panoramas...Windows just rejects them, but hopefully I can work that out later. We had such a great time. For now, here are a few photos:


Un ballad au bord de la Rance; I am showing Beau and Julianne one of my favorite walks...so happy to be taking it with my dearest friend. Later, she and Don and the boys found another glorious bike path that I took yesterday.


Storybook port and a rainbow.


Dinard at dusk.



The Kings in a castle.


Les enfants dans la ville.


That's our little temporary home in the middle.


Beau navigating.


The sanctuary at Mt. St. Michel.


Hot mamas in cold Dinan. We had a couple of so so weather days during their stay. It's hot again today though. Well, that's the typical Brittany vacation experience. You just don't know what you'll get no matter the time of year...it's been compared to Oregon...at least for its unpredictable weather and its spectacular beaches, but I think that's where the comparison ends.


Our little port through Don's lense


One of our favorite places


Lauren trying to keep up to Dane...undeterred by the fact that he's on a bike and she's not.


It looks like they're the only ones there.


Really, they're joined by thousands including the Wheelers, Garth and Roberta



Laurie...not a good photo of her, but the only one I have.

The Kings and the Wheelers

Chronologically, I should say the Wheelers first, but they were here for one wonderful night, and a day at Mont St. Michel. It was great to meet Roberta outside her role as preschool teacher and inside her role and super fun and exciting travel enthusiast.

The Kings came for 5 nights and what a fabulous time as well. So good to reconnect with that amazing family and my dear friend Julianne. I have no time as I'm soon off to meet the whole Yamamoto clan, but for now, here's a photo because I know you're keen to get an update (Kevin and mom, and Amy!)ps...thanks for commenting too Holly and Rachel and Kate.

These are some of the randomly selected photos I have on my thumb drive. The professional panoramas are taking forever and these downgraded files won't let me see a thumbnail, so, in the interest of time, I randomly selected a few. Much more later. Don is such an amazing photographer and, as a gift to us, he documented the days they were here including video.

It's not liking my files. More later. Promise

Michael Palin

One time when I was about 10 or 12 years old, my brother had a few friends over. The boys were trying to tease me to make me leave the family room, but I stubbornly refused to go. They were 12 to14, and they thought they were so cool, and quite honestly, I thought they were a bunch of mean jerks. Then suddenly, a comedy show came on t.v., a sketch, in fact, called "Bicycle Repairman" featuring Michael Palin. I was absolutely in tears, I was laughing so hard (thus further confirming how ridiculous I was to the boys), but I LOVED this show, and I loved Michael Palin and I think it gave me hope that there were "nice boys" in this world too, boys who could make me laugh. This began a long fan-ship, if you will, between me and Monty Python, but Michael Palin has always been my favorite.

In fact, I secretly wanted to marry him.

So, when I found out that he would be at a Literature Conference in St. Malo a few km away from here, I was so excited. I couldn't tell by the schedule description whether he would be there in person or if it was just his recently redone travel movie they were showing. He was there. The venue was a tiny room, and as circumstances had it, I got a front row seat. Did he look me in the eye? Yes, several times, YES. And was he funny and charming and sweet. Oh, YES, yes, yes!!! I kept having to check myself to make sure that I didn't have a silly grin plastered on my face the whole time because inside I was grinning all over. How could fortune have put me right here in front of this amazing person who was part of the one of the most genius comedy teams ever? If he had shown up in the U.S. or England, surely there would have been hundreds of people there to see him. He was here to talk about the book made into a movie starring him, Around the World in Eighty Days, but when he opened the discussion to questions, nobody asked anything that wasn't Monty Python related.


The photo didn't work because of the backlight. But I didn't want to flash his face, so this was what I could get on my iso setting. That's his interpreter on the left. He had to stop every few sentences to have her translate to French. But most people laughed at his jokes in English, so it must have been a crowd with a high level of English.



The girls played on the beach while I "conferred" at the Michael Palin seminar, and, when I came to get the girls, we even saw him walking the beach. I was picking seaweed out of Lauren's hair when I looked up and saw him smiling at me as he walked by. I sort of mouthed "hello" and he waved. I wanted to chase him to talk to him, but I was too nervous to talk to him both after the seminar and again on the beach. I mean, what would I have said? I wanted to marry you when I was 12? Actually, my crush on him lasted for quite a long time, but, now he probably will never know. Anyway, I'm sure he's heard it before many times.

Well, seeing him really felt like another thing I can check off my list (that doesn't exist) of things to do before I die. It seems especially fun when stuff on the list happens before I even think of it. What can I say. That's France for you.