Being “Present” without Being “There”

June 25, 2015 | Tracy

Life as an expat has many challenges, thankfully staying in touch with family and friends is not one of them.

I cannot imagine what our expat lifestyle would have looked like just 20 years ago. Before social media, the Internet and smart phones. Staying in touch must have involved a lot more postcards and hand-written letters that would take weeks to arrive. All news from home would have been weeks or months old and photos rare. Long distance calls home few and quite expensive. Family events missed.

We learned the advantages of using a smartphone to be “present” at an event several years ago. Our daughter, Dallas, was returning from a years deployment in Afghanistan to Colorado Springs. We were there in person to welcome her home. Her sister, Danielle, was in the hospital with Princess Lily, and her new iPad. Alan contacted Danielle via FaceTime on his phone and through the magic of Apple, Danielle was able to sit in a hospital room in southern California and watch her sister arrive safely back home in Colorado. We recognized the advantage right away.

We have been in France for over 2 years and have not missed college graduations, holidays with family, or one-on-one chats with children or siblings. With our computers, phones, iPods, and a wifi connection we are able to visit family at the holidays, have a chat one-on-one with a sister, a daughter, or a friend. We watched via streaming video the graduations of four of the kids (Casey, his fiancee Megan, Adam, and his wife, Liz) from the University of Nevada, Reno over the last two years. At the holidays we FaceTime a family member and visit with everyone as they pass us around the room.

We haven’t missed a Superbowl. One of the BBC channels has aired the Superbowl live and we’ve been able to stay up late, very late, drink beer and cheer on our favorite team. It was always a big family event. We are thrilled to watch, even really early in the morning. With our laptops handy to keep up with chatter on Facebook, it’s almost like having a Superbowl party like we did before we moved.

Our son, Casey is getting married today. Though we will not be sitting in the audience, we will be able to witness this major life event. It’s a matter of learning to be “present” without being “there.” For today’s event it will be a Skype call through a smartphone.

It’s the little things like this that make life as an expat survivable for us. Our family is precious to us and being able to be present in the moment via social media, video chat or text messaging makes us feel like we are not so far from home. Events occur in real time and we are always available for family, friends, and assorted loved ones. Life is about not missing out on the moments that matter. Whether its a wedding, a graduation, a kid who misses us, or a sister who is having a bad day, we don’t miss out on too much. Hugs are tougher though . . . we miss those quite a bit.

We are so pleased to welcome our new daughter Megan, and new grand-daughter Izzy to the family!

Casey and Megan’s engagement photo shoot.

Megan as "Alice" with the Cheshire Cat — Alice spots the Cheshire Cat

Casey (The Mad Hatter) awaits Megan (Alice) at the "tea party" — The Mad Hatter awaits Alice at the tea party

Casey "The Mad Hatter" proposes to Megan "Alice" — The Mad Hatter proposes to Alice

Casey and Megan as The Mad Hatter and Alice; a unique proposal. — Casey and Megan

New Friends

June 23, 2015 | Tracy

Over the last 2 1/2 years Alan and I have made some great friends. Starting with Jason and his wife, Annette. Their hospitality our first year in Carcassonne was invaluable. From the moment our plane touched down in Toulouse, they have been the nicest people, helping with our luggage, driving us from Toulouse to Carcassonne and getting us settled into our first apartment in France. They are a wonderful couple and we have appreciated getting to know them and their family.

Our neighbors in Carcassonne, Sofie, Charlotte, and “Coucou” a lady whose name we never knew, who spoke no English but who would greet us whenever she saw us with the colloquial French greeting. These people made our time in Carcassonne very enjoyable. I miss Sofie, we used to spend quite a bit of time chatting and it was nice to have a gal pal close by. The husband is a fantastic conversationalist, but sometimes girls just want to chat with other girls.

Then there is “Melon Man.” This elderly gentleman who worked at one of the stalls at the Saturday market in Carcassonne. Whenever cantaloupe was in season he was at his best. I never had to select our melons, I need only tell him how many I would like. His face would light up and he would speak in rapid French while handing me my requested melons. They were always delicious and each week when he spotted us, he would start waving us over to ask how many we would like. What a shame that the cantaloupe wasn’t available year round!

Anne and Marie owned a small store at the end of the block. They were always smiling and always happy and would always correct our mispronounced French for us! When either of these ladies would say “Bonjour!” it was the most lyrical, happy sound! We miss them waving at us when we walk by and chatting with them when we would stop in the store.

The family who own La Casa in Carcassonne, a Catalan restaurant that serves the best meatballs I have ever had. Theirs was the first restaurant we ate at and visited often. Momma had a special liking for Kiara and would snatch her away whenever we stopped in. Son greeted us with our first “Ça va” and always made a point to wave if he noticed us walking by. Father always made a point of bringing Sami a plate of charcuterie whenever we stopped in for lunch, she always loved going to their restaurant and visiting with him.

Jeffrey and Michele from Canada and Jennifer from South Carolina, are friends we met while walking the Camino in 2013. We keep in touch through Facebook and really enjoy reading about their daily lives and new adventures. Jeffrey is an amazing photographer, Michele has the coolest job in the world and Jen is an amazing gal with a flair for fashion. We value their friendship and our shared experiences in Spain on the Camino de Santiago.

We met Carol when she came to see our apartment in Carcassonne. Jason brought her by as she was looking to rent the place when we left. We hit it off right away and enjoy reading about her travels through her business. She speaks excellent French and is a natural storyteller. We only regret that we were not in Carcassonne a little longer to spend a bit more time with her!

Since moving to Argeles-sur-Mer we have met two incredible couples through our blog. People who managed to find our little blog in the whole of the Internet (which still amazes us daily) and sent an email through our contact us link.

The first are Greg and Joan who actually live close by in Collioure. We enjoy their company very much and though they are currently traveling, have been keeping up with their adventure through text messages. Joan is an excellent cook and when we got together for lunch, made us the best meal we’ve had since arriving in France.

More recently we have made friends with a couple, Bob and Bill, who are looking to move to France. What started as a few questions about managing the different steps in making such a move has lead to a wonderful friendship. We are both looking forward to meeting these two when they arrive. But in the meantime we are enjoying our conversations with our new “pen-pals.”

A few days ago, I made a rather unusual friend. He has been keeping me company whenever I am on the terrace. I’ve named him Francois and do my best not to let him frighten me. This little bee comes every time I am sitting on the terrace. If I wave my hand at him, he backs off about a foot and hovers at eye level. I checked the patio furniture and haven’t found anywhere that he might be building a nest, but for some reason he comes every single time I go outdoors. I don’t know how long bees live, but I will enjoy his visits while they last.

There are many more people that we have met, chatted with for a while, but these are the friendships we have been enjoying while in this new country. We often say that this life is possible because of the support of our friends and family back home, and Facebook for letting us keep in touch with those we care about. These are people that we would not know if we hadn’t decided to do something adventurous. And just like our dear friends back home, these new friends feel like gifts from the universe. Well, maybe not Francois the bee, that depends on how well he behaves himself!

Here is a photo of a bee similar to Francois. Love his white furry neck.

photo credit: “Andrena vaga” by Stanzilla – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andrena_vaga.jpg#/media/File:Andrena_vaga.jpg

Knitting a Few Baby Gifts

June 5, 2015 | Tracy

Within the last six months four of my nieces have given birth to new babies. So to challenge myself with my newly acquired knitting skills I decided to make each of them a baby sweater.

I finished them last week and now they are ready to be mailed to my sister in Reno who has graciously offered to get them to my nieces for me.

For Zedekiah, the only boy in this recent batch of greats, I knitted a hooded sweater with a cute yarn I found at the Saturday open-air market where we do our vegetable shopping.

For Natalie, a cute little pattern that was quite a challenge to my beginner skills. It used two colors at the same time for the top. The yarn for this sweater was purchased from the same vendor at the open-air market.

For Devorah, a vintage pattern from the 1940s. Less of a challenge to my skills, but definitely a challenge to my memory. The lacy bottom part was on a five row alternating pattern, with each of the rows having its own unique series of stitches. The yarn for this pattern came from a quaint little shop in the historic district of town.

For Kae’yona, a multicolored yarn that I purchased while we were still in Carcassonne. I fell in love with the colors and purchased it before she was born, hoping that my niece would have a little girl so that I could use this particular yarn. My niece was kind enough to comply with my wish!

For my granddaughter, Lily, a pair of leg warmers in her favorite color. These will be helpful whenever she’s in the hospital to add a splash of color while still giving everyone access to the rest of her! I found this yarn in Collioure at their open-air market.

For my granddaughter, Lorelei, an adorable sweater pattern from Drops Designs. This was a particularly challenging piece as I haven’t done a lot of two color work where the colors are used together in the same row. The yarn came from the same vendor in Collioure, hoping to visit him again soon. I love the way it turned out, I even crocheted the buttons for this one!

Now all that’s left is to get these in the mail and start looking for more adorable little girl and boy sweater patterns as I still have three more grandkids to knit for! Avery, Izzy, and Carter will be getting theirs over the summer, just in time for cooler weather!

A Matter of Perspective

June 4, 2015June 5, 2015 | Tracy

Recently Alan and I took our first bike ride together and it got me thinking about the last time I was on a bicycle. I was 16 years old, 35 years ago. While cruising the promenade from our apartment to the harbor I started thinking what a major change of perspective our life in France has created, especially when it comes to transportation.

These days our primary mode of transportation is either walking or using public transportation.

Prior to retirement, the most walking we did was around the Sparks Marina while taking Kiara out to the dog park or for a walk around the marina to see her “peeps.” Afterwards we would usually stop at Anchors, a bar/restaurant with a large patio and a nice view of the water, to have lunch before we drove home.

The only time we used the bus was for football games at Mackay Stadium so that we didn’t have to deal with the parking lots nearer the University of Nevada, Reno campus which could take up to an hour to get out of after the game, or longer if we won.

Our retirement and subsequent move to France has forced us both to a new perspective when it comes to modes of transportation. Probably the best thing that happened to force a change of perspective was walking the Camino de Santiago in 2013. After hiking 800 kilometers over the course of six weeks, a 3 kilometer round trip to the grocery store doesn’t seem so bad at all. And taking a bus to the grocery store was a pleasure after finishing the Camino where we would sometimes hike 8 kilometers before stopping for breakfast.

In Carcassonne, it was easy to catch the bus to get around town, it was inexpensive and the system reached all corners of the city. In Argeles-sur-Mer, there isn’t a local bus, we have a petit train. It doesn’t run as regularly as the buses did in Carcassonne and often we find ourselves preferring to just walk home from the Saturday open-air market rather than waiting 2 hours for the next petit train.

We can walk home in less than an hour, unless we stop for cold drink near the beach. With a bicycle we can make the trip in 20 minutes and there are designated bike lanes on nearly every road in Argeles-sur-Mer. So, even though our apartment came with a couple of used bicycles, we’ve decided to purchase a couple of city bikes for our stay in this beautiful sea-side resort city.

The bikes will offer us the ability to see more of the surrounding area, provide opportunities for day trips and some hiking in the nearby foothills of the Pyrenees, allow us to do our shopping during the winter when the petit train isn’t running, and most importantly, pick up shawarma from our favorite kebab place that’s about 3 kilometers from the apartment and get it home before it gets cold!

For us this is a huge shift in perspective from where we were just two and a half years ago when each of us owned a new car and even though we worked at the same place, most often drove to work separately.

Just arriving back in Argeles-sur-Mer via train with a new bike.

The bikes in racks on the train from Perpignan to Argeles-sur-Mer.

Celebrating Two Years and a Recent Move

April 3, 2015April 3, 2015 | Tracy

Yesterday, April 2, 2015, we celebrated our move to Argeles-sur-Mer and two years in France with a lovely lunch at a local restaurant near our new place.

Le Papayo is one of the few restaurants open year-round in this beautiful sea-side resort town and made for an excellent place to sit on the terrace and enjoy our celebratory lunch.

The food was excellent and the owner spoke English, which is a rarity to be sure! We started off with a demi-litre of chilled rose, a speciality we’ve noticed in this part of France, one we enjoyed often in Carcassonne at our favorite restaurant, La Casa.

Alan and I both ordered the Duo de Quiche entree (or appetizer), which was a light salad with small wedges of quiche, one was leek and artichoke the other bacon and cheese. We enjoyed both immensely, especially considering that 90% of the time we eat vegetarian or vegan these days!

For the main plat (or entree in the US) Alan had the Viande plat, two meats — chicken and lamb — and two sausages over a bed of frites. I had the Escallope et Milanese, a thin chicken breast over a bed of spiral pasta with a light marinara sauce.

For dessert we both had the Dame Blanche, a real treat since we rarely eat anything with sugar anymore. This was by far the biggest indulgence and so very tasty. The Dame Blanch is three scoops of hand-made gelato-style almond ice cream with a dark fudge sauce, topped with freshly made whipped cream.

Those who know me well will attest to the fact that I never eat whipped cream, but I had no problem enjoying this dessert!

Afterwards we took a stroll along the promenade and then out onto the beach to sit in the sand and enjoy the view.

All in all it was an excellent way to celebrate!

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Grading our Spam Comments

July 26, 2014July 26, 2014 | Tracy

I have been wanting to write this article for a while. It’s silly really. Our blog gets a lot of spam. I usually browse through it once a week or so, just in case someone we actually know has been flagged as spam. It happened only once, but now I look just in case.

The different trends for spam comments amuse me. I decided to save up 100 spam comments and evaluate them based on type and decide who I believe has the best overall spam comments. I based this on how well they are written, not just on frequency.

I find that I am developing a palette for what I believe is a good spam comment. It should be short, politely vague and slightly complimentary. It should take into account the title of the post it is spamming, or what I call “content matching.” Two months ago I had several that copied the title of the post back into the spam comment. I thought that took a little extra effort and decided that I liked that in my spam comments. I believe that if I’m to receive a falsely complimentary spam comment, that it should be based on at least one tangible quality, i.e. well written, helpful, etc. I also believe that quality spam comments should be original or unique, not just the same copied and pasted content from last month. Good spam comments should also be proofread before the submit button is clicked. But above all, quality spam comments should use proper grammar, punctuation and spelling. No “text talk” types of spelling such UR (you are) or IDK (I don’t know). So with my new style guide firmly in mind, I began reviewing my most recent 100 spam comments.

The winner was ClubTickets. They write the most literate comments, each one is different and they are short, vague comments. I appreciate that they are not multiple paragraphs of links to other sites. Here are some of the better comments received from ClubTickets and a couple notables of the 100 reviewed. I graded them . . . because I could.

From Liz: “Hello, just wanted to mention, I loved this blog post. It was helpful. Keep on posting.” [posted to Carcassonne: Oenovideo Film Festival and Terroirs d’Images Photo Exhibition]

Helpful for what Liz? Your comment is a little too vague. You get an A- for your spam comment. Just a few points off for punctuation and content. “Hello, just wanted to mention, I loved this blog post,” is not one sentence.

From Jordan: “Let me know if you are looking for a writer for your blog. I think I have much to offer. Spark off an e-mail if you’re interested.” [posted to: Carcassonne: Oenovideo Film Festival and Terroirs d’Images Photo Exhibition]

Sure thing Jordan, we definitely need a guest writer for posts about events we attend personally. You get a B, didn’t quite nail the content for that comment, dude. An e-mail is sent off, not sparked off. Colloquially you can also “shoot” someone an e-mail, if you must. Congrats on using “you are” instead of making the common you’re/your mistake. I gave extra credit for using it properly.

From Bridgett: “I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later on. Cheers” [posted to Carcassonne: Oenovideo Film Festival and Terroirs d’Images Photo Exhibition]

Oh, please do, Bridgett we so look forward to your spam comments. You get an A-. Your first sentence is clunky but you made a nice effort. “. . . online reader to be honest, but your “blog is” really nice. Keep it up!” Well done though, politely vague and not filled with loads of unwanted spam links. A real pleasure to read. Be sure to watch your punctuation. Remember, commas are our friends.

From Alberto: “Hi, i think that i noticed you visited my site so i came to go back the want?. I’m attempting to find things to improve my web site! I assume its adequate to make use of a few of your concepts!! [posted to Carcassonne: Oenovideo Film Festival and Terroirs d’Images Photo Exhibition]

Sorry Alberto, you get a D. “… go back the want?” is not a question and “I” should always be capitalized. Nice try but you and I both know that I didn’t visit your site. You cannot fool me into thinking that I’m wrong. Remember the name of the game is to get me to “approve” your comment so that you can spam all of our subscribers. You are trying to hard. Relax and try a different approach.

From tickets: “Heya! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the outstanding work!” [posted to: Carcassonne: La Fête Nationale Fireworks (Bastille Day)]

Nameless ticket dude, thank you very much. We work hard to impress spammers like you. However, you get an F. While I appreciate the comment, you didn’t include your name on your spam comment. You must include a name to be taken seriously as a spam commenter. You have forgotten that capitalization is important, just check out Alberto’s grade. And, worst of all, you are playing with your phone and spamming people while at work, shame on you.

From Kathleen: “This is the right webpage for anybody who would like to find out about this topic. You understand so much its almost tough to argue with you (not that I actually will need to…HaHa). You definitely put a brand new spin on a topic which has been written about for a long time. Wonderful stuff, just wonderful!” [posted to: Carcassonne: Adam and Liz Exploring la Cité de Carcassonne and Canal du Midi]

Thank you Kathleen, we appreciate your vote of confidence on how much we understand. However, you still get a D. Content is key Kathleen, there wasn’t an argument to be made in our post. The post was about Adam and Liz exploring town, just some photos of the four of us having a good time. Not a topic that has been written about for a long time. Content matching is high on my list for quality spam commenters. Better luck next time.

From Blair: “I’m extremely impressed with your writing skills as well as with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Either way keep up the excellent quality writing, it is rare to see a nice blog like this one today.” [posted to: Carcassonne: Adam and Liz Exploring la Cité de Carcassonne and Canal du Midi]

Thank you, Blair. I don’t believe our writing skills are all that impressive, but I appreciate the sentiment. You get an B+. “… writing skills, as well as, the layout” don’t forget about punctuation. “. . . excellent, quality writing” make sure to separate your adverbs with commas!

By the way, the blog’s theme is noted at the bottom of the web page. The theme is Delicious, and it is both a paid theme and modified.

From Gertie: “I believe that is among the such a lot significant information for me. And i am satisfied studying your article. However want to statement on some common things, The web site style is great, the articles is actually excellent :D. Excellent process, cheers” [posted to: Carcassonne: Oenovideo Film Festival and Terroirs d’Images Photo Exhibition]

Thank you so much, Gertie. We work very hard to post significant information, though I doubt it was necessary to study a post about an annual film festival. Nice use of the capital D smiley face. Happy to read that you find our process and articles excellent. However, you get a D. “I believe that is among the such a lot significant information for me” is not a real sentence. Articles (plural) “are” excellent. “I” should always be capitalized. A person can comment on something or can make a statement. Someone does not statement on something. A little focus is needed Gertie. I’m sure you’ll do better next time. Cheers.

From Bradford: “Good blog you have here.. It’s difficult to find quality writing like yours these days. I seriously appreciate people like you! Take care!!” [posted to: Carcassonne: La Fête Nationale Fireworks (Bastille Day)]

I believe that there is plenty of quality writing available online but we appreciate the thought. You get an A-. A slight punctuation issue: only one period necessary at the end of a sentence. Overall, your comment was nicely written. Polite, but vague as one would expect of a good spam comment. In the future, however, a little proof reading will earn you a better grade.

From Leta: “I’ve learn some excellent stuff here. Definitely price bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how so much attempt you put to create any such magnificent informative site.” [posted to: Carcassonne: La Fête Nationale Fireworks (Bastille Day)]

Leta, Leta, Leta. You “learned” excellent stuff. There is no such thing as “price bookmarking.” And your last sentence makes no sense at all dear. You get an F. I think you should ask Bradford to tutor you.

From Todd Fields: “Fastidious answers in return of this matter with solid arguments and telling everything regarding that.” Todd’s e-mail: nanowrimo.org/participants/toddfieldlosangeles4570 [posted to: Finding our Rhythm | Days 20 to 26]

Todd, epic fail my friend. The blog post you commented on was about our sojourn into Spain for six weeks on the Camino de Santiago de Compostella. There were no fastidious answers or solid arguments. We did tell “everything” regarding our journey; long and drawn-out as it was. I am surprised that you were so off-base with your spam comment considering that your e-mail address suggests that you are an aspiring writer. You get a D. Vague and polite but completely off-topic.

The following two spam commenters received special awards.

Most AP Style Guide aligned: SEO Spam Commenter, Otis From Otis: “Nice blog right here! Additionally your site lots up fast! What web host are you the use of? Can I get your affiliate hyperlink on your host? I wish my website loaded up as quickly as yours lol” [posted to: Camino de Santiago Preparations – Equipment Lists]

Polite, vague and short – the three things I appreciate in good spam comments. It was a solid effort, Otis, but there are still a few issues. A website “loads” up. Someone “uses a web host.” Asking for someone’s affiliate hyperlink is just a bit too personal for a first spam comment.

In addition, you happened to spam comment one of our highest spammed blog posts. I deducted a few points because you are not being innovative with your search technique.

However, I would also like to congratulate you on proper use of “website.” For many years the Associated Press Style Guide gave the option to use “website” as either one word or two, but in 2010 they made a definitive ruling that it is one word. You did receive extra credit for this as none of the others who used the word had used it correctly. And because I have a strong affinity for the AP Style Guide. It was my style guide of choice for 18 years while working in a college marketing and public relations office.

Though not as well written as some of the others, you get a B+ for being the first to use “website” correctly. Good job, Otis!

Most Incredibly Vague: Mary Ellen Flemming From Mary Ellen Flemming: “This piece of writing gives clear idea designed for the new people of blogging, that really how to do running a blog.” [posted to: Camino de Santiago Preparations – Equipment Lists]

Thank you for the feedback, Mary Ellen. I am giving you a nice, solid D. Polite and vague are appreciated in spam comments, but I’m afraid I can’t just let you off on some problematic language issues. A piece of writing doesn’t “give,” the writer “gives,” a clear idea.

Additionally, your comment was completely off-topic, the post was about our preparation and equipment for the Camino de Santiago. It was not designed for “the new people of blogging.” Nor was it “intended” for “people new to blogging,” which would have been a better way to make that statement.

I also need to add here, Mary Ellen, that the product with which you were trying to spam me was completely vague. I could not discern what you were trying to sell me, not even in general terms. The idea is to bait me into approving your comment so that you can spam all of our subscribers.

I fear that you will not do well as a spam commenter if you are not a little more focused on selling the product. Perhaps you are too nice to be a spam commenter. Whatever future career choice you make, I’ll be cheering for you!

Spam Breakdown

Top commenter: ClubTickets 12 spam comments in a three-week period. ClubTickets’ spam comments are also the most well written of all those received. They are short, vague and easy to delete, no scrolling for long minutes to find the bottom where the Delete Permanently button lives. I appreciate that there is some minimal effort put into making their spam comments the least annoying.

The following comments are listed by volume and category.

SEO – 10, one of which was obviously typed on a Cyrillic keyboard (SEO stands for Search Engine Optimizer, key words that a search engine uses to find your site)

Shoes – 9, Christian Louboutin spammers were first with 5 spam comments

Women’s Clothing – 8, Karen Millen spammers were first with 4 spam comments

Vegas Show Tickets – 6

Purses – 5, Louis Vuitton spammers were first with 2 spam comments

Cosmetics – 4, Mac and Sephora spammes were tied with 2 spam comments each

Sunglasses – 3, Oakley spammers were first with 2 spam comments

Payday loans – 2

Jewelry – 2, both spam comments from Tiffany

Weight Loss – 2

We received only one spam comment for each of the following (in no particular order)

Woodworking Plans – at least it’s a new idea

Carpet Cleaning in the LA/Santa Monica area – guess they didn’t read the post they were spamming!

Clarisonic Ideals – don’t even know what this is really

Reverse Phone Lookup – blah, blah, blah

Payday Loans/Pizza – yep actually received this mash up spam comment. My personal favorite and Winner of the Best Mash-Up Award!

Multiple links – 19 paragraphs of text that barely resembled the English language; a total of 28 different links. Winner of the Multitasking Award!

Escorts – old school, was surprised they weren’t selling viagra with it as a mash-up marketing ploy

French Porn – thanks to my new neighbors, you’re getting to know me so well . . . not!

Chocolate – has potential, was even French chocolate

Cellulite – been done before

Detroit Lions Jerseys – didn’t realize the Lions were so hard up for fans

Cosmopolitan Magazine – tacky, especially for a fashion magazine

Body Power Express – never heard of it

Maps – yes, just generic paper maps, interesting marketing idea but doesn’t everyone have Google Maps on their smartphones?

Internet Marketing – Really! A vague, broad spectrum spam comment with a link to an even more vague website. And they want to sell marketing to me . . . hehehe! Winner of the Most Ironic Award!

Online Gaming – lovely idea, selling online gaming to a former Nevadan. Brilliant marketing ploy! Winner of the Mapes Award! For those who are not from the Reno area, the Mapes was the Grand Dame of Virginia Street Casinos. She closed in the 90s and was demolished to clear the way for development in the downtown corridor.

In the too vague to realize what they were selling category – 5 I was unable to decipher 12 comments as they were not in English nor did the e-mail address give me any identifying information for their content.

We received 4 in German, 4 in French and 2 in a logographic (i.e. pictographic/ideographic) language – 2

Hope you enjoyed reading my review of the last 100 spam comments we’ve received. Cheers!

Meatless May Recap

June 7, 2014July 24, 2014 | Tracy

We celebrated the end of our Meatless May experiment with cheeseburgers and fries! But in all honesty, it wasn’t totally meatless either, we also had a mid-month secret shawarma night.

I have to say that I did not miss meat all that much. We normally have a few meatless meals during any given week anyway, so it wasn’t a huge drastic change. And, with just a few adaptations — most of which involved substituting mushrooms for meat — my standard “go-to” recipes didn’t change.

I did have the chance to create a few new dishes from scratch that turned out to be rather good.

The first was a homemade falafel. I had an idea of the basic ingredient list and just winged it. That happens a lot in my kitchen, ingredients get tossed together in amounts that “look good” and we basically go from there. This time I lucked out and came up with something very yummy. I don’t have a food processor but found that the pestle from my countertop mortar/pestle set and the colander with the narrow slits worked great for mashing chickpeas. So I used about 5 oz of chickpeas (half a can rinsed in the colander before I mashed them), a handful of homemade breadcrumbs that are pre-seasoned (garlic salt, parsley and grated parmesan cheese), about 1/2 a handful of diced hot green chili peppers and an egg. When it’s all squished together and shaped into small patties (roughly the size of a dollar coin) and quickly pan-fried (about a minute on each side) make a very tasty falafel-ish patty. Then I warmed tortillas, added a bed of chopped lettuce, topped that with four falafel patties and then drizzled on a spicy mayo (a tablespoon of mayo and a teaspoon of that red rooster hot chili sauce). Turned out pretty yummy.

The second recipe that came out was actually a salad dressing, an orange-ginger-sesame tasting one. I used about 1/2 cup of brown sugar (here in France it’s crystalized like white sugar, but tastes very similar to the brown cane sugar in the US), the juice from 1/2 an orange, a tsp of grated ginger, a tablespoon of soy sauce and a tablespoon of sweet Thai chili sauce and boiled it all together until the sugar was melted and it because syrupy. Then as it cooled I added about 3 Tbsp of toasted sesame seeds. Worked great as a salad dressing, but I can’t wait to try it as a marinade for shrimp!

I also came up with a strawberry balsamic dressing that turned out pretty good. I used 2 tsp balsamic vinegar with 2 tablespoons-ish of strawberry jam, threw in a clove of chopped garlic and roughly 1/2 cup of olive oil put everything in a jar and shook it to mix. Turned out pretty good as well.

I think my favorite dish was the peanut butter sauce for pasta. It was so simple to make and tasted so good that we had it quite a few times while I perfected the flavor a bit. I used about 1/2 cup of peanut butter, 1/3 cup of soy sauce, 1/3 cup sweet Thai chili sauce, 1 Tbsp of that red rooster hot chili sauce and a ladle full of the pasta water when the pasta was done cooking. I tossed the cooked spaghetti with the peanut sauce and added in some sauteed mushrooms, raw green hot chili pepper that I diced super fine and some raw carrots that were julienned. Turned out to be a new family favorite. Even the dog likes this sauce.

So basically, we didn’t starve or eat just salads for a month. Early in the month I messed up and didn’t balance proteins at a couple of meals. I got pretty shaky and was kinda wobbly. But once I started adding nuts or beans to nearly every dish that problem was self-correcting.

Overall I felt better than I had for the first few months of the year. I really enjoyed the challenge of coming up with new things to make. We got rather adventurous with the vendors at the Saturday market and picked up things we had never seen before to try in different meals. Some were okay, some were disgusting, a few were things we’d heard of but had never cooked with before and have become new favorites, like the bettes which I think is a type of chard. It tastes like kale but is even easier to cook and tastes good raw as well. The spinach from Spain is a current favorite. It’s so good I just love it in everything — even tried it in falafel the other night, turned out pretty good!

Alan dropped even more weight, I think I actually gained weight — go figure! Probably the most interesting side effect was the fact that I lost all cravings for my carb-y snacks was able to leave the soda behind as well.

We talked about it one night and the thing I missed most was my grilled goat cheese and tuna sandwiches. Alan really missed the duck pizza from the pizza kiosk guy around the corner — that guy makes wickedly delicious pizza. Alan prefers the duck, I like the smoked salmon and goat cheese.

I doubt either of us would switch to a completely vegetarian diet, but I think both of us can cut back on the animal proteins and not feel deprived. This year is dedicated to healthy changes and I think that switching to a primarily vegetarian or pescetarian diet would definitely be a healthy change.

Argeles-sur-Mer in 2015

May 14, 2014May 14, 2014 | Tracy

Originally when we made the move to France it was with the understanding that we would move at the end of every year to a new city or region. Our intention was to see as much of this beautiful country and absorb as much of the culture as possible.

However, when the time came we decided to make our stay in Carcassonne a bit longer. The reason was simple, we love it here. It certainly didn’t hurt that three months in a row our landlord, Jason, asked if we wanted to stay on. We have been good tenants and felt that he might have thought so as well.

Recently, we were discussing our decision to stay another year and decided that we had better start making plans to move at the end of this year or it might become all too easy to agree to a third year here. We have become locals and like that many of the people we see frequently think of us as such.

After returning from our six week sojourn to Spain, several of the locals we see frequently were happy to see us return. We assimilated quite easily into the laid back lifestyle here in the Languedoc region and enjoy everything from the locals to the weather.

But we didn’t want to bail on our original goals. We love to travel and visit new places. Part of the attraction to living abroad was to be able to do more than just see a few tourist sites and leave. So the idea of settling into a comfy situation has left us feeling like we might be betraying the original plan.

To that end, we have been looking for another location that offers everything we love about Carcassonne. It needs to have a good mix of things to do, festivals, market days, museums, parks. Access to transportation by train or bus is a necessity as we don’t own a car. Access to “regular” life stuff such as a super market, sporting goods store, pharmacy, veterinarian, etc.

This time we also have to consider Sami’s needs. Kiara was small enough that she didn’t mind being an apartment dog. A trip each day to the park was more than enough for her, and due to her illness sometimes it was too much. However, Sami is a healthy girl with tons of energy. So, for her a place to run and play is a luxury that we added to our list of wants.

After creating a list of things that were necessities and those that are complete deal breakers (such as no train and 5 km or more to the local market) we went in search of a new residence in a new location.

We believe we have found exactly the right spot in Argeles-sur-Mer. Argeles-sur-Mer is on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It has the longest un-obstructed sand beach in the south of France, just over 7 km. The town has history going back to the 8th century and is close to a noted artist colony, for Fauvists such as Picasso and Matisse, in Collioure just 7 km up the road.

Though Argeles-sur-Mer has a smaller population than we prefer at just over 10,000 residents, it seems to have more than enough access to open-air markets, supermarkets, pharmacies and such. Anything that may be lacking we’ll be able to find in Perpignan, with over 118,000 residents, which is only 17 km away and accessible by train in 15 minutes. We have purposely tried to avoid towns that are too small as a comfort measure, but Argeles-sur-Mer has one more added bonus that makes it worth trying . . . a two-bedroom apartment with a yard just three short blocks from the Mediterranean Sea.

We are in negotiations now with the owner and she seems happy to have us come stay beginning in April of 2015. It has long been a dream for both of us to live close enough to a beach that we could enjoy year round. Though Argeles-sur-Mer is a tourist town the busy part of the high season lasts only a few short weeks in August. During the high season, June 1 to September 15, dogs are not allowed on the beaches but come September 16 Sami will be able to spend as much time as she likes running in the sand and surf. Between June 1 and September 15 she’ll have to get by with the 6 acre park two blocks from our apartment or walking along the promenade that stretches the length of the beach, all 7 kilometers!

We have spent more than a few hours with Google Earth getting familiar with what will hopefully be our home for 12 months come April 2015, but we are excited at the prospect of living close to the sea and spending time seeing all the sites available in and around the area. And, of course, long walks on the beach!

Google Earth image showing possible new location

Historic district with Mediterranean in distance

Photo credits to Wikipedia and Google Earth.

Reducing Our Footprint and Maintaining Minimalism

May 14, 2014 | Tracy

For the last few years Alan and I have been trying to reduce our footprint. We decided to adopt a minimalist lifestyle that would work well with our retirement plan of living abroad. Our apartment here is furnished and we only needed few “essential” items, some of which we can leave here when we go. Essential like a corkscrew, which is totally essential in France!

We started in August of 2011 while in our 1500 sq. ft., 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with a 2 car garage and sizable backyard while getting it ready to sell. In November of 2011 we moved to a 735 sq. ft. apartment in Sparks where we stayed until March 31 of 2013 when we moved into our current apartment in Carcassonne, France which is approximately 550 sq. ft.

The first step when we began minimizing the house in Sparks was to identify the items we would bring with us to the apartment after the house sold. They included the dining room set, the wine cabinets, a small bookcase, our clothing, computers, cameras, a few dozen travel books, about six language books and a few books on crochet and knitting, and a sizable library of DVDs (about 150) and CDs (about 90), some of the paintings, a flat screen tv, and five Rubbermaid tubs full of photos. We kept some of the kitchen items, the newest set of dishes, a couple of favorite coffee mugs and soup bowls. Our living room furniture wouldn’t fit through the door of the apartment, so that was gifted to my sister. Along with nearly all our serving ware and kitchen appliances. Some of the other furniture and wall decor were re-homed with kids and other family.

In all, it took two 6 cubic yard dumpsters, a 14 cubic yard dumpster and a 10′ U-haul to rid ourselves of the rest of the “stuff” we had stockpiled.

For the apartment in Sparks we ended up purchasing a full-sized bed, mattress, and bedding, a couch and entertainment center, two end tables and two coffee tables, a second flat screen tv, tv stand, two night stands, a cane/umbrella stand, new cookware, flatware, water and wine glasses, toaster, blender, and two cutting boards . . . all of which we purchased at IKEA with the exception of the couch which we bought in Reno at a furniture discounter. All of this to make the apartment livable for the 17 months we would be in it.

The last three months in the Sparks apartment were used to minimize for our relocation to France. We took a hard look at what we felt was essential for our move to France. Camera and computer equipment, definitely a must. We both have cameras, I prefer Nikon while Alan favors Olympus. We upgraded Alan’s camera, both picked up a second camera, smaller and waterproof, and selected camera bags that fit our individual preferences. Extra batteries and larger SD cards were purchased for both of us as well.

We both have Macbooks, I also have a basic Kindle reader, iPad, iPod Touch, and iPod shuffle, Alan, in addition to his Macbook, has a netbook, Kindle Fire, iTouch, and iPhone. Essential for me as well was a small graphic tablet. We both purchased cable cases to handle the overflow of cabling that comes with having so many devices. In addition, each of us has a 500 GB backup for personal files and a 1 TB backup for our individual photos and design stuff. These also have cases and cables.

All books were scanned to PDF using our Doxie Go. All 12,000 hard copy family photos were scanned and saved. The photos were then separated and distributed to the kids. The PDF books work great on our Kindles and the digital copies of the photos are now stored on a 500 GB backup drive. Our CD collection was integrated into our personal iTunes libraries. The DVD collection was run through a DVD Ripper software and is now housed on a second 500 GB backup drive. There is room on both the Photo and Movie/Music backups to add more if it is needed.

For clothing we decided on eight outfits each, tennis shoes, socks and stuff, and a jacket, Alan brought a rain coat, lightweight jacket and a pair of dress shoes as things that fit someone who is 6’4″ tall are not always as easy to find. I brought a few pieces of jewelry, a small framed wallet-sized photo of my Mom and Dad and one of our dog, Max.

By the time we stepped onto the plane for France we had gone from a 3 bedroom house full of “stuff” to one 29″ upright, one 28″ upright, two wheeled carry-ons, and two personal carry-on items – under 200 lbs. of “stuff.”

We’ve been in France over a year now and have not missed any of our old “stuff.” Our furnished apartment has nearly everything we need, including a hair dryer. We have picked up a few things –like the corkscrew — a small printer, a couple of drawer organizers, a few hangers, three fleece blankets, a French press and mortar and pestle. Well, and the gear we purchased for our Camino trip. The backpacks have become in very handy for other travels as well as shopping day.

We now recycle as much as possible, France is a very green country and everyone here recycles. You bring your own bags to the store, market, bread store and we have a few of those now as well. There are 3 trash bins at the end of our block, one for glass, one for plastic and one for other trash. They empty into large underground bins which are emptied twice a week. The bins are free to use, unlike recycling in our old neighborhood, and we often see people walking the extra distance to use them. Even folks from our neighborhood restaurants can be seen carrying boxes full of empty wine bottles to the recycle bin.

In Sparks we used to fill up a 30 gallon trash bag three times a week – mostly take-out containers. Here in France we will fill a 20 liter bag once a week, mostly vegetable waste from cooking and newspaper from housebreaking the dog.

As you can see, it’s a work in progress. With each move we strive to “need” less things and these days seriously discuss our need vs. want tendencies before making a purchase. We don’t miss the “stuff” of our pre-retirement life. It’s been an eye-opening realization that we can live without the things we used to think were essential to happiness and just concentrate on being happy instead.