Small things we look forward to in Bourdeilles:

Being forced out of bed by the crazy bells.

Watching the swallows dip and dive along the river under the tower of the chateau.

Having the entire village watch us every time we cross the bridge for anything.

Trying to speak French. 
Our evening walks along the ridge.

Here is a small list of what we will miss from 3838 South Road. The gardens. The sunshine that streams into the windows on a below zero day. Walking out the door and going up to Ginger’s Pond and Moose Mountain. Amazing neighbors. Coyotes yipping in the night.

Everyone is afraid to come right out and ask, but you can hear it in their questions. How can you do this? 

Maybe we are too contained in our own little bubble world. Selfish? Lucky? Whatever, the best thing seems to keep taking advantage of it. Even we are not sure what ‘it’ is-- joie de vivre, escapism, adventure, lack of attachments.....

Once an idea takes hold in our imaginations it can get pretty darn big. Look at Tom’s art work. Look at the gardens. We’re not afraid to work, we’re not afraid to try new things. This time our dreams are leading us a bit further off the beaten path.

We can envision a happy life wherever we are. We can adjust to new routines.  We can tolerate being a bit lost - well maybe a lot lost. We can enjoy each others company. 

Anyone that lives in Williston knows Tom and his truck. Her name is Rosie and she is very popular. This is probably because she is handy for friends to get things to the dump. But Rosie might also be popular because there is a bottomless supply of really unhealthy snacks Tom stuffs into the cab space behind the seats. If you are brave enough to eat anything that has been in that truck it is entirely at your discretion. And don’t think of cleaning it up as a favor to Tom. Think boys dorm rooms that have not been cleaned out for 10 years. For indeed Rosie is 10. And that is 10 Vermont Vieth years. (Double the real years for Vermont winters, double it again for the way Tom uses a truck.) But she is a very proud girl, a 2000  black Nissan pickup. Before her was another black Nissan Pickup, also named Rosie. When Tom got ‘new’ Rosie he only paid $500 dollars more for her than he had for the ‘old’ Rosie. He is so proud of that fact. Old Rosie’s tailgate was falling off and the garage simply could not pass her for inspection without it being way too obvious that they were cutting Tom way too much slack.  Now ‘new’ Rosie is listing to one side, she handles like a sled, and you don’t go into intersections too fast. Maybe because of the shocks, maybe it's the springs, goodness knows about the brakes. One’s teeth bounce together with the frost heaves* this time of year as there is no buffer between passengers and the axels. Rosie's tailgate fell off as a friend returned her and I’m sure she will not pass the next inspection. So what does one do? We decided to move to France before the cops could ticket the poor old girl.

**(Frost Heaves, for our southern friends think of a choppy day out on the ocean in a very small, fast speedboat and make that your daily drive around town. The frost heaves do go away sometime the end of April, if we’re lucky.)

Tom's transportation in Bourdeilles.

Getting the Images

To our friends on the east coast. Think about your thoughts as you realized you had to go to the mailbox, out to get milk, or any thing outside this past weekend. Now think about Tom running his paintings outside to photograph them so that I can place them on his web-site and here on our hatchling forum. Its been cold in Louisville, in Richmond, and in Baltimore - make it colder for Vermont. We were at 0 degrees for most of Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The great thing about these bitter cold days is that they are always accompanied with brilliant sunshine. Brilliant sunshine is what Tom must have for taking his images. If it was up to me I would display new images only when the thermometer reads 30 or warmer. Tom has a very different ethic and so here he is out at 5 degrees being sure his web-master will be busy and his clients up to date.

There is quite a contrast between the weather for making watercolors and the weather for taking images of them.

p.s.: all you southerners quit hogging the snow - we need some!