Changing Lives

We are changing lives again.

After three great months in Switzerland, our home base, we are about to go South for a month.

The Swiss time, our main home, has been productive:

• Rick did his intensive French course for six weeks, 
• We saw friends all over the country, 
• We traveled to St. Gallen to order his hickory stick golf clubs, which he has played with, 
• had a chocolate tour, 
• I voted, 
• We saw a play
• We explored different places just for the joy of doing so.

Life in the two places is very different.

Switzerland is definitely more formal with meetings pre-planned while in Argelès, impromptu is the mode of life. It is not a joke that I can go out in Argelès at 8 in the morning for a fresh baked loaf of bread and because I run into so many friends I might not get home until after lunch.

In Switzerland we need a car, bus or train to accomplish almost anything, where we can walk to everything in Argelès including the movie theatre, dry cleaners, doctor, etc.

Both homes have a patio, although the Swiss flat is smaller, but it comes with a beautiful garden in walking distance of the lake. The view of the Jura and Alps is breathtaking.

We have Canigou mountain in Argelès, but it is not visible from our house. No one will pity us if we have to walk to get a view of it just as we need to do a longer walk to the Med than the walk to the lake in Geneva.

There's still some fun things to do before we go. There's the library sale where we will load up on English books (I am often to lazy to read in French). Much easier to get English books in Geneva. And there's the Nyon Visions du Réel Documentary Film festival.

We have not activities planned for Argelès although they happen. Rick needs to go Paris almost immediately when we arrive and he will also be Florida for a conference part of the time. I will hold down the fort and walk the dog.

I think the big difference is we don't use supermarkets in Argelès. Bakers, green grocers, and butchers abound and almost every food buying expedition is personal.

The last week in either place is about the same.

• What do we need to take down? 
• What is already there that we forgot? 
• What has to be cleaned extra thoroughly What have we forgotten and we will forget something. 
• Have we got all the electrical cords? 
• What about Sherlock's toys--what should be taken left?

The trip will take between 6 and 8 hours depending on stops and traffic. Then it will take another day to settle including remembering where we put the (fill in the blank). Then in mid-May we will reverse the process.

No one will feel for sorry for us that we live in Switzerland with a second home in the south of France. I do remind people who think it is glamorous, we still need to do the laundry and take out the garbage in both places. However, I never, ever forget how blessed I am to live this life with the man I adore.