Memories of Januaries past. If somebody had told me 20 years ago that I'd spend the rest of my life living in a vineyard, I probably would have laughed out loud. At that point, we still owned our house in San Francisco. It had to be sold before we could move to France. We put in on the market in February 2003, and it was sold in four days' time. We moved out in March after handing over the keys to the new owners.
We became the owners of our house in the vineyard in France in late April, and moved to Saint-Aignan in June, having shipped about half of our belongings over here in a container on a ship and sold or gave away the rest. I'm so glad we did all that back then, because, at age 74, I probably wouldn't attempt it today. I don't even go out on long walks in the vineyard any more, in all kinds of weather, though I still take walks — shorter walks — with the dog every day.
I came to France for three reasons. (1) To live the good life (food, peace and quiet, and no commuting) out in the country. (2) For opportunities to travel to parts of France that I had always heard about, but had never seen. And (3) to finish my life over here. And no, it's not over yet. It's just slowing down slightly.
These photos are simply gorgeous. These years are the best years of your life.
ReplyDeleteBettyAnn
They are I think, even though the Illinois, Paris, Washington, and California adventures were interesting and fun too, overall. I'm just happy to be in France.
DeletePeace means so much. I should have appreciated the energy I had in my sixties more lol.
ReplyDeleteIn DC and SF, we had to deal with terrible neighbor noise. In SF, we also had to deal with traffic and commuting. Here, no noise and no commuting. No noise, no daily grind. Just quiet.
DeleteLike you, I am a fan of quiet! If you were to do that move again today, you could probably skip shipping the furniture and get a lot of things at the brocante! ;-)
DeleteOh, I especially love that last photo with the icy frosty covering on the branches.
ReplyDeleteMe too.
DeleteI really enjoy your pictures and I can identify with peace and quiet in one's 70's (72) .
ReplyDeleteLinda from Alabama
I will say it again, wonderful photos. They would make incredible greeting cards.
ReplyDelete