Enjoying the Open Air Market

May 7, 2013July 28, 2013 | Alan

One of our goals with our new retired life is to eat healthier.

In the past it was always faster and often more convenient to swing by a “drive-up window” and pick up a quick meal. Even though I knew better about nutrition, it was quick and satisfying to grab Quarter Pounder with Cheese, a Baconator, or Extreme Sausage Sandwich. I love a good cheeseburger, et. al, but “everything in moderation” and sometimes I wasn’t moderate in my dining habits. (You would think that after documentaries like “Super Size Me” I would have long ago been avoiding fast foods.) Please don’t think Tracy and I raised the kids on fast food and that we didn’t use healthy foods to prepare meals, but we also took our fair share of “short-cuts” to the “drive-up.”

With a major change in environment and limited access to fast food, Tracy and I wanted to create new eating habits that actually follow the USDA Food Pyramid recommendations we previous ignored if it wasn’t convenient. (But still enjoy an occasional, emphasis on “occasional,” indulgence.)

Tracy and I both love to cook and try new recipes. Now we have a lot of brand new ingredients to explore with our cooking. We want to minimize meat and emphasize vegetables, fruits, and grains. We also wanted to use farm fresh, local foods as much as possible and avoid frozen, canned, and pre-packaged foods. There are no excuses as we now have the time with retirement to enjoy making our meals completely from scratch.

One pleasure has been shopping at the open air market in Place Carnot. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday is market day in Carcassonne. The town square in Place Carnot is full of tables with vegetables, fruits, honey, breads, meats, and flowers. We are now shopping for seasonal and fresh foods, usually directly from and sold by the farmers themselves. (There are also some imports from Spain, Italy, and North Africa also available. The country of origins on all foods are clearly identified.) Colors are often vivid with some shocking differences in foods’ colors that we only used to see in heirloom and heritage produce in the U.S.

I realize I am stating the obvious regarding the local food being is raised for its taste, rather than its ability to be trucked long distances and to last longer on store shelves. There are many new and different flavors to experience. (And new names for old favorites: mushroom are des champignons, potatoes are des pommes de terre, and strawberries as des fraises.) Yes, I already knew about the improved quality of local foods but it’s an evolution for me to experience it on a continuous basis. I never had or took the time to shop farmer’s markets or to garden at home. (I have a “black thumb” when plants are involved. There were only silk plants in my old office.) Previously tt was always a matter of running by the supermarket’s vegetable section or stocking frozen vegetables in the freezer.

The experience of shopping at the open air market is a theater upon itself: all different kinds of people coming and going, the various interactions between buyers and sellers, people looking for the best quality at the best value, friendly “bonjours” and “au revoirs,” and us standing in the middle of it. We are already choosing our favorite vendors. We have our farmer with the freshest and best tasting tomatoes. There is our “Melon Man” who insists we taste a slice of his cantaloupes first before he hand-picks the ripest melons for us. There are the vendors who are exceedingly patient with my limited French when they ask for, “Trois euros cinquante-cinq centimes” (3 euros 55 cents) and make a point to write the amount out on a pad of paper or show me the amount on the calculator.

And the best part is, of course, cooking and eating our bounty then returning to the market do it all again.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Kiara Update

April 23, 2013February 10, 2014 | Tracy

These first few weeks have been rough on our little girl. Although it is never easy to determine what emotional or physical stressors your pet may feel, we do have a couple of indicators with Kiara.

Tail up, life is good. Tail down, not happy with you. Ears to the side, life is good. Ears behind me, not happy with you. Ears wiggling, I’m nervous. Ears straight forward, I’m on alert. Eyes soft and mildly sleepy, life is good. Eyes wide open, something’s up. Holding eye contact, life is good. Giving you the “side eye” stare, I’m pissed at you. And regardless of who gives the daily medication, the half-lidded, side-eye stare afterwards means Daddy is a jerk. Not sure why Daddy gets the brunt of the anger over medication, but it’s true all the same.

There are a lot more “tells” with our little dog. We pay very close attention to her and spend a lot of time watching her and trying to interpret what she wants when she stands in front of you looking with her big, soft, dark, dark eyes willing you to understand her. Drink, Hungry, Walk, Bedtime . . . she knows these words. If she stands in front of you and you say the thing she wants, she dances around and her ears wobble. Her way of saying, “good girl you got it!” She hasn’t lived with many other dogs and really doesn’t have much use for them anyway. Kiara is a “people,” she is not a dog and believes that she should not have to interact with some of those hairy, wet-nosed animals that try to flip her over from behind. She will walk around a potential canine friend to “introduce” herself to the person holding it’s leash. She doesn’t even know that dogs don’t usually hold a person’s gaze, she’ll look us straight in the eye and will us to understand what she wants. She’s not a barker either, odd for a little dog, but she rarely barks except to get our attention or to tell us someone is at the door. She’s quirky and funny and quiet . . . and for a week, she was blind. On Friday, April 12, Kiara had 8 seizures throughout the day that left her blind and with a loss of her gross motor skills.

Thankfully, her new French doctor, Dr. Broy, believed it to be a temporary situation. We have known since her first seizure at less than a year old that these symptoms may someday occur. To add to the complication of not being able to see, her gross motor skills were also affected in the seizure event. She was wobbly and toppled over if left standing on her own without support. But Dr. Broy seemed very assured that within 5 to 8 days our girl would be back to normal, or at least her version of normal.

We knew from the first seizure that Kiara’s lifespan would not be as long as other dogs in her weight class. We knew that having to put her on phenobarbital would eventually damage her liver. We knew that our baby required some fairly high maintenance care, medication twice a day for life, blood work twice a year for life, the need for better nutrition to keep her fit so that her medication is always at optimal range. Monitoring her behavior for signs of an approaching event. Making sure that she doesn’t suffer from undue stress. We even made sure to never leave her with strangers but hired sons, daughters, nieces and nephews to care for her when we had to be gone. Traveling meant having to remember to check that there would be enough medication for the trip and travel cases to keep it cold. But we’ve been happy to do it as she is ours to care for and we take that responsibility seriously.

So even though none of the current symptoms is a surprise, it still came as quite a shock to be told “She does not see.”

But let me back up to the stress issue. Her new doctor, a neurologist veterinarian (a dream for parents of a seizure dog) believes that stress played a part in the initial seizure event that got us where we were last week. We thought we took all the right precautions. We got the travel carrier months prior to our departure and put her in it often so that it wasn’t a shock. We opened the side panel and left her to wander in and out on her own. The day we left for France, we added her favorite blanket, her stuffed friend, her travel food dishes that she’s used for 3 years, and her hand-made halter so she wouldn’t beep going through the scanner with Mommy and be scared. We even selected an airline based on their in-flight animal policies so that she could travel on the plane with us.

Once we arrived, we put out her potty grass system that she’s used for 18 months successfully, her special pillow and other favorite blanket. A few of her toys and her food dishes with the food we brought with us. She didn’t have access to the bed like in our old place (it was a low platform bed she could get on by herself), but we tried to make sure that she had access to as many familiar things as possible.

And I think we got it right, for the most part, except for the tile floors (which she hates) and the lack of carpeting (which she loves). We no longer own a car, so we go everywhere on foot. We did prepare for her stamina being different than ours and bought a chest carrier, even used it a couple of times with her before we left until the cold weather drove us indoors. But the mistake that may have been made was in not preparing her for the physical changes we would ask of her in addition to all the new smells of a new home. We now take her for walks three times a day. Not long walks, but in the morning to Gambetta Square, in the afternoon to the river walk, and in the evening to the park on the far side of the river. It’s a lot more physical activity than she is used to and coupled with the cold, cold weather and cold, cold apartment interior upon our arrival I believe that our darling, little girl may have thought she was in the frozen version of hell.

And, although we took her out often, we also left her alone for an hour or two at a time. I believe it was a blend of new surroundings, being alone, jet lag and lack of access to the bed (her favorite place to curl up and sleep), that lead to the stress that caused the seizure event. Although we thought we had covered all the bases our little girl has once again shown us that life has a way of side-stepping all your well thought out plans.

We moved last Saturday, to our permanent apartment here in Carcassonne. We had a couple of surprises for the little one, like a rug in the living room that is closer to carpet and morning sun (one of her favorite things in the whole world). We were just beginning to formulate a plan for how to proceed if these symptoms ended up to be permanent (like how to reintroduce her world to her). But the doctor was correct and tthe symptoms were temporary, and life returned to normal for this precious girl of ours, on day eight just as the doctor predicted. But we are certainly wiser for the experience and hopeful that we can prevent it from happening again by being aware that our little one does not think she is a dog and needs a little extra assistance in accepting a new situation and owning the experience, just as we do.

Kiara’s “hospital” bed while she was sick. Surrounded by pillows in case she tried to stand, so she wouldn’t hurt herself on the tile floor.

Kiara, fully recovered.

Kiara and Daddy at the park (Mommy took the photo).

Faux Amis – False Friends: False Cognates With English and French Words

April 22, 2013April 24, 2013 | Alan

What’s a “false friend?”

“False friends” are pairs of words in different languages which have similar spelling, so you assume they must have similar roots and meanings. Well that assumption can sometimes be embarrassingly wrong.

Our total immersion into French culture and language has presented many opportunities to embarrass myself, thankfully not all of my assumptions made it past my lips in front of Tracy or folks on the street. I am still inching my way toward a basic working knowledge and fear there will be many more of these opportunities to embarrass myself with a “false friend.”

While many of these words may be well understood by anyone with a couple of years of high school French, I’ve posted below some of my more embarrassing/funny misunderstandings:

1. La Mie de Pain

I assumed with the popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey that this might be a S&M dungeon. It’s actually a bakery whose name is “The Breadcrumbs.” Pain is the French word for bread.

2. Hôtel de Police

A travel hotel exclusively for visiting police officers? No, the local offices of the police department.

3. Librairie

Rather than being a public library with books to lend to the pubic, this is a very comprehensive bookstore and stationery business.

4. Menu

Where as in the US the menu is the brochure with a listing of meal offerings, menu in France is often posted on a notice board with a fixed-price meal of three or four courses: “Menu = Plat du jour (the plate of the day, the day’s special with meat and vegetable) + 1/4 vin (1/4 liter of the house wine) + desserte (dessert) + café (after meal espresso).” Asking for a menu may result in the arrival of an unexpected meal. The menu is also known as the formula.

5. Entrée

This has got to mean the same thing, right? We use the French word in the U.S. However, entrée is France is not the main course, it is the starter course or appetizer. The main course is the “plats principaux.”

6. Immobilier

I kept walking around and seeing Immobilier offices on every block of the business district. My mind went to a “wheel boot,” a wheel clamp used to immobilize a car with excessive parking violations, but I couldn’t understand the need for so many offices. A closer look revealed that these were real estate agencies (real estate = immobile property.)

7. Lycées

Lycées in large buildings in residential areas are obviously not Asian lychee fruits. Lycées are senior high schools for pupil 15 to 18 years old. Lycée général and lycée technologiques normally lead to university study. Lycée Professionnel leads to different kinds of vocational diplomas.

8. Collège

Collège in France is not post-secondary education. It is junior high school for pupils from the ages of 11 to 14 years old. These collégien and collégienne (boys and girls) are taught by a professeur. Institutions of higher education in France are referred to as université and taught by professeurs des universités or a professeurs titulaire d’une chaire.

9. Defense

Rather than defense meaning “personal protection,” défense d’entrer means “no admittance!”

10. Cabinet

A cabinet is not a piece of furniture, but a business or professional practice like attorneys’ or doctors’ offices. Think about the term like the President’s cabinet.

In addition to the language faux paus I have also had the joy of trying to translate the operator’s manual for our clothes washer/dryer from French into English to sort out the directions on how to safely wash a load of laundry without ruining our minimized wardrobe. I am fairly certain that I didn’t study that hard for my Ph.D. comprehensive exams.

Ten Early Observations

April 11, 2013April 24, 2013 | Alan

With a little more than a week in residence, there are a few observations I have made. It will be interesting to see if those observations remain true over time.

1. I can’t tell you how often I’ve been asked about French men wearing berets. Here in 2013 France I have only seen one older man, in Charles De Gaulle Airport, wearing a beret and I don’t know whether or not if he was actually French. The only other berets I have seen are the red military berets worn by members of the French 11th Parachute Brigade, 3rd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment ( 3e Régiment de Parachutistes d’Infanterie de Marine, 3e RPIMa), a French Army paratrooper unit stationed here in Carcassonne. I did see two young French men in uniformed service with Kepi caps and train conductors wearing service caps. As a whole I would say most French men seldom wear hats at all during this time of year. If there was currently an iconic piece of French menswear during this time of year I woud say it is short scarfs tied with a Parisian knot.

2. Seldom do you see coffee in a “take-away” cup. Coffee culture here is such that you get your coffee in a ceramic or glass cup with the intent that you will savor it either sitting at a table or standing at the bar. Here coffee is a little harder to locate than in Italy were there were at least two coffee bars on every block.

3. However, in France it seems that there is at least two bakeries, boulangeries, on every block. The smell of fresh baked bread will make you detour to get a better whiff of the aroma. Bread appears to be king and you really do see people carrying their loaves of baguettes home. Bread is made without preservatives so it seldom lasts more than a couple days. And yes! The French pantries from the local pâtisserie really are as delicious as their reputation.

4. The local table wine by the carafe, un pichet de vin de maison, is always a good choice. Inexpensive and available by the quarter, half, or full liter carafe it can make a meal or just a break in the day more enjoyable. Blanc, rouge, rosé, surprisingly rose’ wine is a respected wine choice here.

5. It is true that French people are more reserved and formal. One will get an odd look if you wish a stranger a bonjour while walking down the street. But it is expected and polite to say bonjour and au revoir when entering or leaving a shop or restaurant. Please and thank you, s’il vous plaît and merci, are a necessary part of our vocabulary. But we have also found French people to be extremely friendly and helpful. Not as many people here speak English as we found in Italy, but all are patient with our broken French, pantomime, hand signals, and pre-translated notes. Attempting to speak French is normally greeted with a smile and an attempt to speak some words of English back.

6. The “reserved and formal” aspect of French behavior will often melt in the face of a two pound Chihuahua. Kiara is often greeted with smiles, praises, and even kisses. She is an amazing icebreaker in a sea of formality.

7. At least in this time and place we are frequently seen by French people as “generic English speakers” and most often mistaken as being from the United Kingdom. We assume the majority of English speaking visitors here are from the UK. We haven’t met any one that can differentiate a British from an American accent yet.

8. French people take great pride in their work. Baristas, wait staff, ticket agents, sales people, conductors, information desk staff all have a great work ethic and try to completely satisfy you. They often add personal touches above their basic job tasks. I was watching a window washer clean windows with a perfectionist’s attention. It seems the attitude was a job is required to be dome completely and right the first time. The éclairs that I picked up on the run today were exquisitely wrapped and in a precisely sized box, like a gift from Nordstrom’s at Christmas time.

9. Amazing the conventions you take for granted. Keyboards here are not the “QWERTY” style and surprisingly difficult to use after years of typing in the US. The hand sign for “one” is not the index finger, but the thumb. The French start counting with the thumb. Holding up an index finger will make a counter person assume “two.” Good table service is being left alone to enjoy your meal. Your coffee or meal “rents” you your table for as long as you want it. If you want your bill you need to request l’addition.

10. It is much quieter here. The volume is at a very genteel level in restaurants, stores, on the train, or walking down a city street. The volome of speaking is at a much quieter level. There is still the outburst of laughing, children playing, and public dispute between people, but in all the general tone of conversation is closer to what we expect in a library.

What We Know About the French Train System (So Far)

April 7, 2013April 8, 2013 | Alan

Tracy’s MacBook waited until after we arrived in Carcassonne to start having difficulties, so a trip to the Apple Store was in order. That accelerated us making use of the French train system sooner than we anticipated. While we have taken trains in Europe before, it was never with a set appointment at the other end so we needed a bit more planning.

Some background first. France has three levels of train service run by the SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français), the French National Railway Company. That includes the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) high-speed “bullet trains,” Intercités for long distance express passenger trains, and the TER (Transport Express Régional) for urban and regional passenger rail travel.

Since we are now retired and on a fixed income, we are very aware that we need to save money where we can on everyday items to have more money to spend on the luxuries. Twenty of France’s twenty-seven regions (a region being roughly equivalent to a state in the US) with TER service has a discount plan that allows discounts train travel for residents within a region. Within our region of Languedoc-Roussillon, for 26€ a year you can purchase a Carte Via Liberte discount card for up to four people to receive a 25% discount on weekdays and 50% off all weekends and school holidays. There are some additional discount plans for outside the region too.

With my trusty Carte Via Liberte’ in hand, Tracy and I strolled over to the Carcassonne Train Station (Gare de Carcassonne) which is .6 miles away from the apartment. The train station was built in 1857 and has one of those classic clock tower passages . It is located next to the Canal du Midi, the canal connects the Garonne River to the Etang de Thau on the Mediterranen Sea and along with the 120 mile long Canal de Garonne forms the Canal des Deux Mers joining the Atlantic to the Mediterranean in 1681. A barging canal like the Erie Canal in New York, it is kind of the French equivalent of the Panama Canal connecting two major bodies of water.

My French is very, very basic at this point. My old “police Spanglish,” high school-college German, and Italian are all better than my French. My “go to” method at this point is to anticipate what I need to request and to pre-write the questions that I translated using Google Translate into my handy pocket notebook (some police habits never go away). If the ticket agent doesn’t speak English (and we are finding very few people do speak English) I hand them my notebook so they can read my request. That and a friendly bonjour, big smiles, and many s’il vous plait and merci.

“S’il vous plait Madam, est‐ce que vous comprenez l’anglais?” Good Karma day for me. The very helpful ticket agent spoke English fairly well. She scheduled Tracy and I for our round-trip ticket from Carcassonne with a train change in Narbonne for final arrival in Montpellier. Since the trip was on a Saturday we received a 50% discount with our Carte Via Liberte‘.

The TER trains are modern, clean and very comfortable. They arrive and leave on the minute to their schedules. (Although there has been rail strikes in the past.) We travelled second class, the only real difference between first and second being reservations and seats three abreast in first class and “first come – first served” and seats that are four abreast in second class. There are large windows to watch the scenery go past with sunshades on all the windows. Arrival and departure times are indicted on electronic display boards throughout the stations, although in French but easy to puzzle out.

While no one checked our ticket outbound, on the return trip our tickets, along with my Carte Via Liberte’ was checked by friendly conductors. Apparently some people try to ride for free. They are escorted off the train by the conductor and met by Surveillance Générale, which I understand is SNCF’s private security that has limited police authority. My understanding is that riders without tickets are fined on the spot. There are also divisions of the Police Nationale that work on the train lines and metro in Paris and its suburbs (Police Regionale des transport) and major rail lines (Service National de Police Ferroviaire.)

The trip to Montpellier was a pleasant way to do some sight-seeing from the train, get Tracy’s MacBook repaired, and better understand the train system. And we get to do all again in a week or so when Tracy’s MacBook has been repaired.

At Gare de Carcassonne for our first train trip!

Canal du Midi Outside the Carcassonne Train Station

Our route from Carcassonne to Montpellier

Tracy napping while riding the train to Montpellier

Trip to the Apple Store in Montpellier

April 7, 2013September 26, 2014 | Tracy

We had to make a trip to the Apple Store today. My baby is sick and needs therapy. Those of you who own Macs will understand. The average PC just needs a medic, a Mac needs a therapist. The actual report listed a “panic attack.” Apparently that is what it’s called when your MacBook doesn’t understand what it’s supposed to do next, it has a panic attack and reboots, all on it’s own. It’s kinda freaky to experience since Macs tend to be pretty hardy, at least mine have always been, so when it got sick I got worried. Thankfully we anticipated future issues when we bought the MacBooks 2 1/2 years ago and purchased the Apple Care Warranty so the new logic board will be replaced free of charge.

I was a little worried that with practically no French language skills that it might be difficult to explain the problem, so last night I stayed up late and used Google Translate to translate into French the problems I was having, what the report said, and a couple of helpful phrases like “May I use one of the computers to open Google Translate.” This trick has been pretty helpful over the last 6 days. When we get stuck with pronunciation, we just hand the person the notebook. Alan did this at the train station on Friday when we had to purchase tickets for today’s jaunt to Montpellier (a 2 hour train ride from Carcassonne, with a transfer in Narbonne — you really want to get the right tickets). Amazingly, though, today I didn’t really need it as the young man at the Genius Bar spoke very good English, and with a Scottish Brogue — which is always pleasant to the ear (Cheers Gregory).

We have found that by using this little trick of anticipating what we may need to say and then attempting to say it in French prior to handing over the notebook is actually getting us a really nice response from the French people we’ve been interacting with. In nearly every case, the person has switched from French to English — except the poor gal at the Post Office, but sign language helps too, not as in American Sign Language, but that sign language you would use with a small child or an animal where you point to something and then to something else like the section on the certified mail receipt and the address your sending mail too. But it’s been working and we’re getting by without too much trouble.

The people that intimidate me are the ones that start speaking in French after you’ve said “Bonjour!” and think you may actually know the language, it’s kind of sad and a bit of a poke to the ego to see the look of disappointment come into their eyes when they realize that’s all the French I know. Oddly enough, Kiara doesn’t seem to have the same problem. Apparently cute is cute in any language and the “aww” that escapes peoples lips when they realize she’s a social butterfly sounds pretty much the same in English, French, and Japanese (at least I think they were from Japan, they were super friendly regardless).

Anyway, for today’s adventure we had to navigate the train system, Carcassonne to Narbonne, a switch of trains then Narbonne to Montpellier, then outside the Gare du le Montpellier, Saint-Roch (train station) to the tram across the street to the Odysseum Mall. We found the Apple Store with an hour or so to kill so we had coffee and danish (chocolatey, warm and yummy) and wandered through some stores. We came across a place called Geant Casino and it’s like the Walmart of France. Great deals, huge lines and an entire aisle of hair care appliances. YIPPEE!! While they did not have the In-Styler I was hoping to find, they did have something similar, and that was good enough for me. Blow dryers are nice by they are not exactly a styling tool, the girls out there will understand.

We also found that the Montpellier IKEA was in the same area so we decided to check that out after the Apple Store appointment. Swedish meatballs . . . need I say more. While we did see Subway and McDonalds franchises, we passed right by those without a second glance. But when we found the cafeteria in IKEA and the sign showed Swedish Meatballs on the menu, that was right up our alley. I am a pretty good cook, but I’ve never been able to make meatballs that don’t taste like little round hamburgers. It was like Mecca for the tummy. And they serve wine, by the glass, by the bottle and even from a miniature wine cask where you can fill a tiny carafe with about 6 oz of wine . . . Alan liked that very much. I cheated and had my first soda in a week, not my first choice but red wine when I’m cold and wet has the same effects as taking a sleeping pill for me.

On our way back to the Gare du le Montpellier, Saint-Roch we noted that we still had about 90 minutes to kill before our train was leaving, so upon arrival at the tram stop, we headed over to the Jardin (garden) at the intersection of the train and tram stations. It’s obvious spring is on its way here in the Languedoc with everything budding up ready to bloom, but I was still surprised to see the amount and variety of flowers already in full bloom in the jardin. It was raining and we were fully loaded down with purchases from the mall, but I still managed a couple of photos that were not half bad.

After a few minutes of wandering through the garden, we had had just about enough of the rain and headed to the Brasserie du le Gare and ordered up a couple of espressos and sat in the warm, cozy interior until it was time to head to the train.

Upon arrival in Carcassonne, we hopped off the train and started the .6 miles back to our apartment. It is rather amazing how fast a half-mile can become a “short” walk to someone who no longer owns a car. We have been averaging several miles per day on foot and after six days, it is hardly even noticed anymore . . . the rain however, is another story. We are looking forward to the dry season, as one gets plenty tired of being wet really quickly. On a side note: I now own a new umbrella!

At Gare de Carcassonne for our first train trip!

Yeah! Almost Time to Go!

A nod to the daughter, Dallas, who is also quite talented with a spray can and canvas.

Full bloom at the Jardin

Funny French Foods

April 5, 2013April 5, 2013 | Tracy

Now that we’ve been in Carcassonne for a few days, there are a few differences that we’ve noticed when it comes to how food is packaged. Not difficult to deal with, but rather an interesting difference to what we are used to seeing in the U.S.

Mayo in a Tube

It looks a bit like Mayo Toothpaste. It is not white but a light yellow color, but has the same texture and flavor we are used to having with Best Foods.

Dijon Packs a Powerful Punch

I love dijon, spicy, yellow mustards, but wow you really need to go easy on the French Dijon Moutard. A teaspoon of this stuff has the same amount of flavor and zest as an entire bottle of Dijon Mustard in the U.S. Which is probably why it comes in a little tiny jar. If you have a sensitive palate as I do, take it easy for the first use.

Milk on a Shelf

We double-checked this a couple of times, but YEP, milk in France is sold unrefrigerated in the same aisle as your cereal. In all honesty, we haven’t actually tried it yet. But we’re keeping ours in the fridge.

Two Carton Sizes for Eggs: 4 or 6

We chose the 6-count carton because Kiara likes an over easy egg every couple of days and well, we like to spoil her. But think about that next time you’re at the grocery store picking up and 18-count carton of eggs – how many of you would decide to give the kids cereal if those were you only choices. Additionally, we have yet to see white eggs. Perhaps all the white chickens live in the U.S.

The Sweet Scent of Strawberry

We bought this pack of strawberries, it smelled so fresh it literally stopped you in your tracks. I do not care for strawberries as I find them more tart than sweet. These thinner French ones are so sweet they taste like strawberry flavored candy. Absolutely delicious. Totally a keeper!

Wrinkly Tomates

French tomatoes (tomates) look like a cross between a tomato and a pumpkin and they are kind of orangey as well. We haven’t tried these yet, we bought the ones still on the vine, yummy. These are definitely on the list to try though!!

Brown Sugar in Small Hard Chunks

Brown sugar, or what I believe to be brown sugar (it could also be raw sugar — jury is still out on this one) comes in a box full of small hard chunks. It breaks up pretty easily and tastes like the light brown sugar at home and, even better, still works with my special dressing/marinade which I made this afternoon. Not bad!

Tiny Jars of Soy Sauce

The only soy sauce we’ve come across so far are smaller than the ones used in Chinese and Japanese restaurants in the U.S. It tastes fine, it made the list cause it’s kinda cute.

City Wine

The Carcassonne Wine. Haven’t tried it yet, but is was actually the least expensive wine in the store, so we had to try it to see what it tastes like, really big bottle, really little price . . . my kind of wine!

Icky Cheese

There are over 600 varieties of cheese in France. It was just our fate that this nasty palette ruining 80 grams of icky was one the first we bought. It is creamy like a cream cheese and it spreads very nicely. The damage isn’t done unti you open your mouth and taste it . . . definitely going on the NEVER AGAIN list.

Yummy Cheese

This is our friend Camembert (the “t’ is silent). Cam is a wonderful cheese, it tastes incredibly smooth and is almost sinfully delicious. This is is definitely a keeper!

Today’s Lessons

April 4, 2013July 28, 2013 | Tracy

Some people learn by watching others, some people learn by reading and doing, some of us learn by trial and error. Here are today’s lessons:

Our daily routine has suffered a bit being nine hours off of a lifetime schedule. We have found over the last few days that naps help, but that we also get up at the ungodly hour of 3 a.m. when we have had one. That being said, this morning at 6:30 a.m. we found out several truths about making friends with our neighbors.

1: 3 a.m. is an unreasonable time for any living person, over the age of 30, to be wide-awake.

2: 6:30 a.m. is an unreasonable time for any living person, who is retired, to be wide-awake.

3: Being wide-awake for hours on end in the dead of night does not help one make good decisions.

4: Breakfast at 6:30 a.m. is a reasonable idea if:

a: one remembers that one is not alone in the building

b: one remembers to turn on the fan above the oven

c: one remembers to not burn anything when the fan is off

d: one has the slightest clue where the shut off switch is to the smoke alarm

Lesson 1: One does not make friends, in France or elsewhere, by waking them up at the horribly early hour of 6:30 a.m. with a screaming alarm for nearly 20 minutes. Suffice it to say that we are extremely blessed that no one called the fire department as we do not have the language skills to explain ourselves.

Lesson 2: When moving into a new apartment learn how to turn off things that make loud noises.

Lesson 3: Turning off the main power switch from the circuit breaker does not cut the power to a hard-wired smoke detector with a battery backup.

Lesson 4: A man of 6’4″ and a cane of 3’4″ does not equal enough height to remove the battery from the smoke detector of an apartment with 15 ft ceilings.

The award for French faux-pax #1 goes to the Husband. And I must add that even after 20 minutes of trying to silence the smoke detector my eggs were wonderful if just a bit chilled. Tomorrow we should try them again without the alarm!!

Still More Minimizing and More Milestones

January 28, 2013January 28, 2013 | Alan

First milestone: Wow. Over the last 18 months we downsized, minimized, donated, gave away, and trashed in order to move from the house into our current one bedroom apartment. Over the next 60 days we will be minimizing still further from the apartment eventually into two suitcases each. Over the last two weeks Tracy has scanned, edited, and uploaded about 7,000 hard-copy photos; snap shots, wallet-sized, Polaroids, 3X5’s, 4X6’s, 5X7’s, 8X10’s, and 10X13’s. I’ve uploaded dozens and dozens of digital photo files from CD’s and DVD’s onto a one terabyte external hard drive. Add to that work scanning all the legal documents that we may need that doesn’t require the actual “hard copies”. The scanning ended up being a huge project to complete. We loved taking photos of the kids when they were growing up. Now we are delivering and mailing the photos and other family memorabilia to the adult kids.

Second milestone: The semester started today at the college today. For the first time in twenty-three years I’m not teaching either full-time or part-time at TMCC.

Third milestone: My first pension check from the Nevada Public Employees Retirement System (NV PERS) arrived today. After 32 years of public service in law enforcement and teaching I am retired.