Where in the world

I have basically forgot about my blog.  Seems kind of sad but such is life. July was the busiest month ever.  We went to the Pyrenees to watch the tour de france, came home for a few days and then left again for Provence, came back for 1 week with friends and they left on the 1st of August and we left on the 2nd of August...left for where you ask...keep reading. 

Last time I updated we were staying in St. Antonin and our friends village house.  After that we drove over to Provence to ride Mt. Ventoux, see another stage of the Tour de France (up Ventoux) and meet up with our best friends K, E and K.  Provence was lovely but so touristy. Wouldn't want to live over there.   Bruce and I arrived 2 days earlier than our friends and road Mt. Ventoux.  The giant of Provence.  Hard hard climb. There are 3 different routes up Ventoux, we took the south route from Bédoin.  21.8 km.  This is the most famous and difficult ascent (and the one the tour will take).  The road to the summit has an average gradient of 7.43%.  The first 5km is pretty easy at 4% but the 16 remaining kilometres have an average gradient of 8.9%.  We parked about 30 minutes away from the base of Ventoux so we could do a nice warm-up before tackling the climb.  When we hit Bédoin it was busy but when we hit the start to Ventoux it was nuts!  We heard there were 400,000 people on the mountain and I would say there were over 1,000 people riding their bikes to the summit, or atleast trying.  It was very hard, the hardest climb yet, but I didn't stop or walk my bike (many people were doing that). The view from the summit was amazing and the ride down a bit sketchy as it is steep and there were many people, riders and cars.

it all starts here.

Ventoux...get it?

400,000 fans on the mountain

heading towards the summit

the summit

holy shit...

we did it!

The day we road Ventoux our friends arrived and we were so happy. We hadn't seen them in 10 months. We spoke every week, sometimes twice a week, but seeing them in person was great. We stayed just outside of Gordes in Provence.  We stayed in a lovely B&B calls Le Mas des Etoiles and had 4 days in Provence.

Then we  headed back to Les Costes for another week of relaxing and hanging with our friends.  It was wonderful.

Bruce is his new shirt, he wore it out of the store

at an amazing restaurant "un jour charlotte" in Gordes

Bruce and E 

E&K

Now I'm in Los Angeles.  Seriously, Los Angeles.  It was a fast decision, but we had such a huge demand for our summer camps that we decided to add 4 afternoon camps that we'd run.  We needed to come back and try and figure out how we can stay in france...forever.  We were very lucky because we are house-sitting for 3 of our friends.  Last week we took care of this lovely boy, Marley.  The most amazing dog!  

Marley

This week we are watching an adorable king charles spanial named Malomar and next week we are staying at our friends house at the ocean and taking care of their 2 dogs.  It's perfect, although a bit hard living out of a suitcase for a month.  Our camps have been wonderful, great kids and good to see everyone.  But we have realized, bascially 30 minutes after we arrived at LAX, that we don't want to come back in October/November, we want to stay in france, make it work and start a new life.  So, that's what we are doing here...trying to work it out.  We'll be back in france on the 29th, hopefully with a plan.   We miss the dogs and the cats and our life in France, but it has been great seeing our friends here in Los Angeles.  

I'm not going to continue to update very regularly, because well, just don't have much to talk about and share.  Pretty hum drum life.  But, when I know of our plan I will definitely update and then maybe start a new blog to go with our new life.

A change of plans

fresh fruit at the market

bruce dressed up Matheiu like a little french man!

me and my nephew

Yesterday morning I woke up feeling a bit anxious.  I didn't want to go back to Los Angeles. It was a 15 hour flight and well, it was interrupting my year sabbatical.  I checked-in online and printed out my boarding passes, said goodbye to the dogs, cat and chickens and got in the car to head the Toulouse Airport (1 1/2 hour drive).  About 5 minutes into the trip I looked at Bruce and said "I really don't want to go", I was completely serious.  Something inside me, in my gut told me not to go.

I have never had that feeling before and I used to fly 3-4 times a week for years when I was a "suit".  But something said "don't go"  I felt guilty,  it's not like me to make plans like this and then at the last minute change my mind. All the kids and parents knew I was coming,  E&K had their guestroom all set up for me and our staff was waiting for my return.   But I couldn't go. The studio is doing great, the kids are happy, the parents are happy, summer camps are almost full, we have a weekly conference call with Travis to talk about things so we can stay up to date and as hands-on as possible from France...it's OK if I don't go.  So we turned the car around and headed home.  I was so relieved.  I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful, understanding, non-judgemental husband, he's the best!

This morning I woke up in France and I was happy.  We have had a wonderful day today, it's 70 and sunny and warm and so peaceful here in our petite maison in the forest.  I actually laid in the sun and read a book for a few hours only hearing 1 car pass on the road below us in that time.  The only thing you here are busy bees and singing birds, very different from what I would have heard in Los Angeles.  

This is where I belong now.  Soon I will go back to LA, but not now.