Pat in Toulouse, 2004

Photos from Cheryl


Cheryl has made up a web page with her photos. If you want to see it, go to

http://www.cherylmcclure.com/france2004.htm

They are a good record of our trip in short. I expect to put some up on Ofoto sooner or later...I'll record it when I do...

Pat
pat on 09.22.04 @ 04:05 PM PST [link] [Karma: 6 (+/-)]
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The First Two Days

What a wonderful start to our trip to France.......Ellie C and John's smiling faces when we finally got off the plane at Toulouse. We'd been late on a few flight segments and they had to stay around awhile. Since we got there a little late, we all sat down, talked and waited for Suzanne's flight due in around 6pm.

John helped us get to the rental car and we discussed following them out from the airport. Pat and I were going to Mirepoix for one night and then on up to Albi for another before going to Couiza/Esperaza.

As we neared the exit for Mirepoix by way of the Foix exit .......AND exited, it suddenly occurred to us that we had NOT discussed where we were going to exit or how we would let them know .....so off to rural southern France we went.

Pat spotted the hotel as we passed by the center of the town down what almost looked like a pedestrian alley way..........the Relais Royal Hotel Mirepoix. This place is remarkable. I went in to check-in with Pat waiting outside. The person checking us in didn't see our reservation but honored the paperwork I had with me.....and offered to help us get our luggage in......turned out he was one of the owners. They only have 5 rooms and 3 suites and we'd gotten a great deal on the room as this is the only 4 Star hotel between Carcassonne and the Spanish border. The two young Dutchmen ( in their 3o's)were so proud of their new establishment....an old home/estate that has been converted with all the modern amenities and yet retained all it's old world charm at the same time. ...and it had only been opened about six weeks.The restaurant was booked up but they served us a splendid meal out in the front courtyard.

We both had the Filets de Rougets Barbets a la Plancha, Vinaigrette aux Aromates, I also had Legumes Grilles, and Pat the Legumes du moment au naturel, craquant de Jambon d'Ariege, Vinaigrette aux Piquillos and we both about fell over in a swoon when we saw dessert....the Le Cremeux Chocolate Bergamote, Glace a la fleur de Thym, Caramel au Beurre Sale
We had been recommended the bottle of Viognier Domanine de Ribonnet made in the region........it occurred to me toward the end of the meal that bottle sure was serving a lot of glasses.......no wonder, they'd brought out the second one. Oh well.......after this long trip and this fantastic place, we deserved it. (It seemed we kept deserving it a lot on this trip.) This place has out of this world service right down to the chef coming out at the end of the evening to see how we liked our meal.
We wandered around the old medieval town the next morning before leaving for Albi north east of Toulouse.........and so many sunflowers in this area.

The drive to Albi the next morning was lovely..........a long, picturesque drive through a wonderful countryside but very different than the one around Esperaza. When we got there after lunchtime we spent a LONG time trying to find the hotel Mercure Albi Bastides 3M......right on the Tarn river but difficult to find any entrance once it was spotted. At one point we turned into a narrow, crowded street only to find another car ahead and as we tried to back out another car appeared with a young man and woman......I got out of the car and we all motioned and gestured a lot with him deciding that we COULD make it around the other car. As we tried to turn the corner a small scratch/dent appeared all on it's own :>/ in the auto side panel.

After finally making it into the hotel parking lot and checking out our room we found that it was not air conditioned and it was much warmer than the last time I was here in France. Our French a/c was the three windows on one side and one on the other with almost what you'd call a window seat in each one........this afforded us the most wonderful view of the river spillway , bridges and buildings around the river...........and thankfully a wonderful breeze.

After we were situated in the room we decided to go out for something to eat and found you can't find any place open at that time of day to eat. That evening we had another good meal at the hotel but nothing compared to the first night at Mirepoix.........we were tired and still recovering somewhat from jet-lag.

As I'd already toured St Cecile Cathedral and the Toulouse Lautrec museum ( both worthwhile attractions), we headed out from Albi for Esperaza .....albeit through a few extra circles of a few streets. We enjoyed taking the smaller roads and seeing the countryside rather than the large highways. We stopped this time at noon for lunch after learning our lesson from the day in Albi. As usual, the French lunch turned into a couple of hours. While in the restaurant, it was interesting to observe how another culture lives. There was a surprise birthday party being planned for a young man by his family and friends., a middle aged woman sitting all alone for the whole two hours, two couples sharing lunch with one of them reminding me of pictures I've seen of Picasso.....and a couple who came in with the little dog who politely stayed under the table. (amazingly we ran into them several times throughout the trip).

We finally got to Couiza and checked into our gite right near the main highway and overlooking the Saltz River ( a tributary of the Aude).....and we met Martin and Allie Woods, our landlords. We have a really nice space here to use as a base for exploration of the area. Then we headed over to Esperaza about 2 ½ miles away to find the rest of the Paint-l crew. We found John painting shutters blue in the courtyard and he told us where to find Suzanne, Kaye and Ellie C.
After visiting awhile at their B & B and looking around the gallery, we headed back to Couiza and planned on a early dinner......no such luck so we went to the grocery and patisserie just round the corned and got what we needed.

We spent a long time on the blog ( of which this is the information entered ...only not as wittily as the first time) and then it went off into the netherworld never to be found again.......and me just now trying to recover some portion of it.

The next morning.........off to the painting hill above Esperaza for our first day of painting ( mine and Pat's)..........and our first vernissage at the gallery that evening.



Cheryl McClure on 09.21.04 @ 04:43 PM PST [link] [Karma: 4 (+/-)]
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From Esperaza thru Hell to Toulouse...

The only bad memory from the trip is the trip from hell to Toulouse
airport..........first off, we didn't realize that the gas stations aren't
open on Sunday....we only had a quarter of a tank of gas and finally found one
that took credit cards.....oops, only FRENCH banc cards. Luckily we talked a
young woman into using hers for us and we paid her in Euro..........so on to
Toulouse to scout out the hotel and the airport.  We had to know where to
take the car and turn it in as Europe Car is closed until 7am and our flight
was at 6:40.....Pat was a jewel driving all the time but she just about lost
it on our rounds around that airport and the finding of the hotel. By the
way, Ellie, we don't recommend that hotel........look for another when you
want to stay for early flights. They didn't honor the amount for the rooms
and the restaurant/bar wasn't open..........and boy did we need one about
that time.
We finally decided that Suzanne and I would stay with our bags at the
airport that morning at 4:30am while Kay and Pat checked in with theirs (let me tell you
we were worried when it seemed like the airport swallowed them up and there
we were waiting out front and couldn't leave the car unattended near the
door)......then Kaye and Pat took the car over to leave it in it's slot and
drop the keys........while Suzanne and I went to check in........we barely
made in and Pat had to leave the papers and key on the desk as there was no
SLOT to leave it in. So that's a little unfinished business to check on as
we didn't get to fill the gas tank again and drop the key off
properly......not mentioning the unmentionable scratch........
We had an absolutely fabulous time and I'm so glad we went.........glad to
be home, too though........

Cheryl

pat on 09.21.04 @ 10:44 AM PST [link] [Karma: -5 (+/-)]
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Leaving, Part 2

By now, I was ready to sit on the roadside and cry, but finally we did make our way back and get the name of a nearby hotel that DID serve meals on Sunday night! AND WINE with meals only. Dear Suzanne bought me my own small bottle, much to my eternal gratitude. The 'air-conditioning' advertised was of course a fan and it took a bit for our rooms to cool off. We were so tired that Kaye got locked in her room and couldn't figure out how to get out, but fortunately did work it out before morning. We were totally 'zombied' by then. Cheryl and I had not slept well the night before, and each got a couple of hours sleep before the alarm went off at 3:45, and we all got the car repacked and off to the airport by our 4:15 deadline. We pulled up and Kaye and I went in to wait for KLM's desk to open and get our seats assigned as they told us. The employees who told us to be there 2 hours in advance finally showed up at about 5 and then we went out and relieved Suzanne and Cheryl to go in and we took the rental car to where Cheryl had been told to put it. There was no key drop slot, so I went inside and ended up leaving the documentation and key on their desk with no attendant present, so that may yet have some sort of ramification. Finally, 4 zombies began their way homeward...and, I believe all are home. I ended up 'smuggling' some illegal food (a very dry, but tasty croussant home with a bit of cheese from the plane), and had it this morning. When we landed in Memphis, we were all told to leave all food bought in Europe on the plane...it was not allowed in to the United States. I'd planned to buy cheese in Amsterdam, but didn't because of having to 'lug' it home, and was awfully glad I didn't! Sure enough, Customs asked if we had any food products with us and I don't consider my homecoming b'fast or the chocolate in my suitcase 'food'...in fact, I consider chocolate 'medicine'! All in all, tired as we were, we'd do it again in a heartbeat, I'm sure. Ellie and John were perfect hosts and couldn't have made our time more pleasant, but I'll bet anything they went home and napped. I think we wore them out.

Uploading pics to the blog was more trouble than it was worth, so Ellie made some web pages for them and if you want to see a bit of what we saw and did, go to http://www.ellieclemens.com/PaintOutFriday.html and then at the bottom, hit the 'next' button and you'll see what she had or took the time to post for us. Thanks, Ellie!

I'll post some observations later and also arrange the pages better on this blog, but again, thanks, Jerry for making it all possible. Please leave comments for us...we loved the few who did and would love more feedback.

Pat

pat on 09.21.04 @ 10:12 AM PST [link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)]
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Return from France

On Sunday Cheryl and I had to be out of the gite by 11, and the market in Esperza would be in full swing, so I pulled the car up close to the gite and aided by Michael, tossed out gear into the trunk of the car and headed down the road to find some way to park in Esperza and 'do' the market and then after the market packed out and left, pick up Suzanne and Kaye. We enjoyed a stroll thru the market and found a couple of keepsakes and ran into Suzanne and Kaye at a 'high fashion' emporium. Suzanne was trying on some wrap-around pants in the back of a van with the 'sales manager' holding up a mirror for her to see how to they fit. She ended up buying them and a 'few' other last minute things. Cheryl and I went on down to the bar and joined shortly by Ellie and John and had coffee and Orangina while enjoying the ambience of the market. Sunday is the main market day, but there is another, smaller one on Thurs. Everything you can imagine is sold there from tools, food, clothing of all sorts and household goods. Ellie and John bought themselves some deep fried thistles or some such and headed home to eat lunch and feed Daffy, their Dalmatian, planning to meet us again to TRY to pack all the luggage in our car so they could avoid a trip to Toulouse. Suzanne apparently took a nap while the other 3 wandered down to the small Cafe where the Artistes Breakfast meets to have lunch. Again, it was a wonderful, simple meal!

At 2, we were finally able to pull the car out front of Sasha's B&B, despite the sculpture in the street and began trying to fit all the bags in the car. Ellie's the genius John had told us she was, so it finally all went into the car and off we dashed to Toulouse and even more adventure! We got there and altho' having a map to the hotel Ellie had recommended that was near the airport, we just couldn't find it! So, around and around we wandered...for probably 30 minutes (seemed more like 2 hours to the driver). When we found it, we found that the prices we'd been quoted were considerably higher and Suzanne's room had not been cleaned, so just simply checking in was a real effort. Then planning how to arrange to get the rented car to the airport and all of us and our many cases was another problem. So, we asked directions of the manager and using them and ignoring Cheryl's very well printed out map...his were left, right, left...much easier to follow than a computer generated map for weary painters as we were, we got to the airport and while two went in to see if we could check our larger bags for the next day (no, we couldn't) Kaye and I found how to get to the Auto Europe Rental Drop off spot from the terminal...and did a couple of 'dry runs' so that I'd know the way at 4 am (not my best time of day).

We then got lost going back to the Hotel only to find that they didn't serve supper on Sunday night!

Cont'd Part 2...

pat on 09.21.04 @ 09:20 AM PST [link] [Karma: -4 (+/-)]
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Friday@Collieure

Today we were to meet at 9:30-ish and so at 8:30, I thought I'd wash a load of towels...consisting of all (4) of those I'd used to mop the floor after each 'water episode'. I gathered them up, put them in, added the soap and closed the door, choosing the shortest cycle I could find. An hour later, the cycle had not finished, so at a quarter to 10, I moved it to the spin cycle and finally, at a bit after 10 we hurried to Esperaza. John was at the curb waiting for us. He had made 12:30 reservations for us at a 1 star Michelin restaurant and it is a long drive to Collieur. We rushed off with me on Ellie's bumper (almost literally)...Kaye said I should put a towing sign on the car. Anyway, with great effort we got there only to find that all parking was reserved for hotel customers only...not people like us with lunch reservations. We searched and searched to no avail, the big green Ford right behind the small bright blue Renault Twingo, and finally on the third trip, pulled into the restaurant Le Neptune, right before the 'unfriendly' place with no parking, but no STAR. We unloaded and had a lovely, 2 hour lunch and took a number of pictures and then full and happy, moved on to a Le Mer resort beach where all but Cheryl put our feet into the water and felt the coarse Med. sand on our toes and feet. The waves were compelling, but not for us...then the drive home! Again, I stuck to Ellie like a snail on a bottle and didn't get separated but once, and then found her. Ellie had a clever way to 'find' us...she'd enter a roundabout and go round 'til all were off but us and then lead off. We had a map, of course and could have gotten there, but this was more fun! At times I felt like Mario Andretti as I sped along hugging her bumper! The Ford we have is Waaaay too wide and eats far too much gas, so it took a half a tank of gas (24 Euros) to make the trip, but they were so kind to be willing to take us there. Ellie's car only holds 1 back seat passenger comfortably. John is a tall man needing a bit more leg room. It can be done, but not easily. Not sure how they got home from the airport...and we'll see if we can fit everything in going there on Sunday. We hope we can since if we can, we can spare them the extra trip and expense of time and money. We'll see.

On the way home, we stopped at Quillan to see her 'studio/storage' place and take a few pictures so that we will know what she is talking about as they 'fix' it up...and then on the the nearest Champion store (translate French small Wal-Mart) to buy John some CD's to burn our images on for our culmulative pics...and then on to Esperaza to drop Kaye off and run home to buy dinner for us at the local bakery for our simple dinner of cheese and quiche to go with our fruit, wine, and DESSERT!

We then realized that we'd forgotten Suzanne's gear which was in the back seat, so we dashed back to Esperza to deliver it to her.

It's been a good day, a fun filled day and I've learned that all the money spent on re-hab for my torn Achilles' could have been better spent on a 5 manual transmission car and would have done a lot more. The 'clutching' required has certainly given the front of my foot more exercise than any re-hab. Cheryl doesn't want to drive a manual transmission, so thus far, I'm the sole driver. Thank God we were too poor and I too stingy to buy automatics for years. And thank you, Daddy for making me learn on one! Anyway, this driver is tired and will be asleep soon.

The views and gorges around Quillan are reputedly gorgeous. Couldn't prove it by me. I was ordered to look at the road and not look as the passengers commented about them. They really are spectacular, even tho' I had hardly a glance as the turns are challenging...they aren't hairpins, but very close and a large camper could and did give me chillbumps!

pat on 09.17.04 @ 01:58 PM PST [link] [Karma: 1 (+/-)]
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More Hi-Lo Tech Issues :)

Thursday started off as a blur! Cheryl decided to use the toaster before I could make coffee. She put her half brioche in and pushed it down. Then, deciding that it might get too brown, she lifted the toaster to peek into it and we suddenly were totally in the dark. We'd somehow blown the breaker...
I found the fuse box and flipped the two main breakers after checking that none were seemingly out of line, but to no avail. So, we dressed in the dark and tried to find the landlord who was gone with his wife and boys, and we ended up leaving them a note asking that they somehow reset whatever so we would not find ourselves powerless when we returned!

Boy, did that group with coffee look good when we pulled over the little bridge in Esperaza!

We came home to find our power restored and after checking email and an Ivan check, we wandered down the street to a restaurant that we'd tried twice before to eat in and found both times it was not open...and this time it was and we had a lovely meal.

Kaye has commented that we seem to spend about 6 hours a day eating! The French tarry over a meal and are very relaxed about bringing you your check...which to compulsive Americans seems too long...but, weight gain doesn't seem to be a problem. The food is really good and the company at meals is delightful...I could stay here for a much longer time than we have. Suzanne is in love with the place. Sasha, the artist running the gite in Esperaza has her lovely gite for sale for a measly $300,000 if anyone is interested, by the way. More details can be obtained. It truly is lovely!

pat on 09.17.04 @ 12:37 AM PST [link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)]
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Wednesday/Thursday

Wednesday we went to meet up with the rest of the crew in Esperaza. There they were sitting at an outside table as we crossed the bridge....morning coffee. We joined them for a short time and then loaded up in two cars for a trip to Carcassonne. It's the largest medeival (sp) walled city in Europe. About a thousand people actually still live, work and go to school there today. It's also a tourist trap but we loved walking around, sitting in the cafes (Suzanne actually used a little watercolor set) and our visit to the old church.



We met up again Thursday and went up past Carcassone to Trebes to look at the midi canal locks and watch the boats and barges going up and down the 200 mile long canal. We also set up to paint and sketch there before heading back to Esperaza. Before we left, we met at the Creperie for one of Ellie's artist breakfasts....must have been a dozen artists there.We had a fine time getting acquainted with more of the artists around the area. The owner is also a wonderful potter......we loved all the work and it's too bad pottery is such a hard thing to buy and take home when you travel by plane.

ooops......Pat just told me I mixed up the days for finding the Painler's at the outside table near the bridge but I don't have time to change it all around....you get the gist of it.....

Now we're off to Esperaza again to load up and go to Collieure....down the coast where so many of the impressionists/expressionist painters loved to go. John said he made reservations at a one star Michelin restaurant for lunch......overlooking the harbour.




Cheryl McClure on 09.17.04 @ 12:15 AM PST [link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)]
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High-Low Tech Issues :0

I'm having a hard time with water! First, our shower has a very strong pressure and the first time I took a shower, I tucked the shower curtain in and got the water to the proper temperature, pulled the shower knob up and nearly was knocked over by the stream of water. I shut it off, readjusted the pressure, and tried again. Without my knowledge, the shower curtain had 'jumped' out of the tub edge...and when I got out of the shower, I found that the floor was inches deep in water. Now, we were given 3 towels to use, and I used them all to mop up the water, but the floor was still damp and even a bit of moisture on a slick tile floor is a hazard! It was hysterical...slippin' and a-slidin' was the game of the morning. Then, yesterday, while Cheryl 'blogged', I thought I'd do a load of clothes in the washing machine. When it quit and the light went out, I made the assumption that it wax finished and opened the door (it's a front loader). Gallons of water poured out and again, the tile was toweled up and it took us another few minutes to dry things up and figure out how to make it spin the water out. Somehow, learning to handle French water is a problem for me.

Then, there was the scene of Suzanne and kaye trying to get their front door unlocked and after about 20 minutes of trying, I thought to ask one of the men in the bar next door to assist them. Again, after much effort, he did manage to get them entry. Somehow, the door lock had been turned too many times and was solidly opposed to releasing. Even his pals in the bar joined in the applause when it suddenly allowed entry!

We are having a wonderful time, despite the learning curve being a bit difficult for us. This Gite is beautiful and a wonderful place to stay. It does have all the modern conveniences and is very comfortable.

One thing that has completely amazed me is that we've had no problem at all having no French language beyond the little phrase books we carry. Everyone seems to speak some English and hand signals are all it takes. That's very different than prior trips for me.

pat on 09.14.04 @ 08:54 PM PST [link] [Karma: 3 (+/-)]
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Saturday

After makng a few more circuits than usually necessary, we finally made our way out of Albi and headed toward Carcassonne and environs. We continued to be amazed at the variety of the landscape here in what is called 'the south of France'. We took the smaller D118 roads for this very reason.

At noon we stopped at a auberge for lunch. We'd learned our lesson from Albi about waiting too late. As usual this is a pastime for the French and our lunch turned into a couple of hours.While in the restaurant we observed a young man's family preparing for his surprise birthday party, a middle aged woman eating alone ( for two hours), a couple who came in with their dog ( we later saw them again at Rennes Chateau eating lunch, and two couples sharing lunch together...one of the men reminded me of pictures I've seen of Picasso ( I know...he's Spanish but I've seen several around this area as this is near Spain).

Finally getting to our gite in Couiza, we met our hosts, Alli and Martin Woods. They've fixed the place up to be so nice for our home base here in France......so nice and friendly, too and with two samll children they home school.

Next we headed to Esperaza and found John out in the courtyard painting shutters with French blue paint. He told us where we could find the rest of our painting crew and we set out. we visited a while and had a glass of wine at tables outside a local establishment downstairs near the gite.

We planned to eat dinner (notice we eat a lot) in Couiza near our gite but it didn't even open for another half hour so we walked over to the nearest grocery and patisserie and bought fruit, bread, and pastery :>) for breakfast.......and wine.

We spent a LONG time on the blog and then it disappeared into the netherworld of the Internet never to be seen in that particular form again.....perhaps there will be an entry later for those first few days but it will never be the same at that time when we had our first impressions.

Cheryl McClure on 09.14.04 @ 02:29 AM PST [link] [Karma: 1 (+/-)]
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Sunday

This morning Pat and I went to paint out for the first time on this trip. We followed a small, winding road leading back behind a cemetary in Esperaza....up and up we went until we found Ellie and Suzanne sitting beside the other small roads....they had just set up to paint. The view was absolutely stunning from this vantage point.......mountains/hills, terraces with grapevines, stone walls, shepherd huts...

Gray haze may not sound great to some but this lent lots of atmosphere to the paintings..so peaceful and cool. Before noon the sun and light suddenly changed and there was a whole new feeling about the place. In that length of time I'd played around with a couple of gouache paintings.....one looked okay considering I had no idea what I was doing (hopefully not a happy accident)....at least Ellie C liked it. Pat painted two small watercolors and Suzanne completed a couple of oils....Ellie painted one watercolor and one oil.....Kaye stayed at the gite that morning and painted a few small pieces from the balcony.

We headed in to Esperaza a little after noon......time for lunch break again. John and Ellie had to prepare for the vernissage that afternoon.....

Altogether a happy day with one of my paintings in the collection of Ellie and Suzanne and Kaye selling work at the vernissage that afternoon.

Cheryl McClure on 09.14.04 @ 02:04 AM PST [link] [Karma: 3 (+/-)]
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Monday

It's too bad we lost the other long blog for the first few days.....this morning Pat and I will be heading to Esperaza to pick up Kaye and Suzanne. We plan to go to Rennes Chateau to paint and look around. We're waiting for some of the fog to burn off so we can drive up the 'hill'. Ellie is off to ride horses this morning as is her usual activity for Monday morning.

We had a fun time yesterday afternoon at the vernissage meeting with locals and other artists from around the area. It made me think later that maybe this is what all those painters meeting at the Guerbois did all those years ago......people with so many different political persuasions meeting, having a glass (or more) of wine and arguing politics or what ever comes to mind.

My second painting of the day yesterday is now in Ellie C's collection .......and we are so proud of Suzanne and Kaye...they both sold paintings ....both of Suzanne's. What a great time we had. Then we went to Quillan for dinner and more talk.

Cheryl McClure on 09.13.04 @ 12:23 AM PST [link] [Karma: 1 (+/-)]
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Getting Off

Well, in about 30 minutes, I leave for the airport and I'm wondering just what I've left undone. It hit me a few minutes ago that I had not packed my hairbrush! Now, that woulda been a mess! My suitcase is full enough. I've always taken enough clothes, but never not enough and this no doubt will be the same this time. I had second thoughts at the last minute and stuck in my tiny little W/N kit in case I want to take them and turn Cheryl lose to take pictures somewhere while I dash off a sketch. My feet aren't as good as hers, so who knows? Amanda called and told me she wanted a postcard, as all those Bert and I had sent all the kids thru the years had all been ruined in the Richmond flood. I'm glad the others had framed theirs and not had to store them.

Kaye is coming despite the storm...wild horses couldn't keep her at home. I guess we all feel that way. I've got to go get my ISP to forward my mail and stop a list, so I'm off. Gotta stop and buy gas too.

Just think tomorrow we'll be there!

Pat

pat on 09.08.04 @ 11:53 AM PST [link] [Karma: 1 (+/-)]
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Cheryl's Thoughts



I visited the area before in the autumn of 2000 and I'm looking forward to going back.It'll also be a lot of fun to meet another Paint-ler (Suzanne).
My bags are 3/4 packed and waiting for Wednesday afternoon.

pat on 09.06.04 @ 03:27 PM PST [link] [Karma: 2 (+/-)]
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Rousillon

Rousillon (160k image)A

A view I painted ten years ago in the area....

pat on 09.05.04 @ 08:20 PM PST [link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)]
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Getting ready to GO!

Today I'm trying out my new blog which my cousin Jerry set up for me to use on my trip to Esperaza, France to visit Ellie Clemens with Suzanne (whom I've never met), Cheryl, whom I've known now for many years, and Kaye Smith who, bless her heart is in Jacksonville, FL right now and I just hope she's able to get out despite hurricane Frances bearing down on her. We're leaving Wed. afternoon and will get there Thursday afternoon. I'm partially packed and am trying to get those last minute things tended...and not forget anything important!

pat on 09.05.04 @ 01:17 PM PST [link] [Karma: 1 (+/-)]
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