Settling into Our New Home

[Two photos got deleted as I typed and if I drag them to the place they belong, I risk deleting some others so I'm leaving them here at the top. You can play a little game -- "Match the Caption to the Photo!"]

So, here's what's been keeping me busy for the past week!

I'll give you a bit of a tour of the main level. Next week, after everything is hung on the walls upstairs, I'll give you a tour up there! (It's almost ready but I'm getting 3 things matted that have needed matting for quite some time. Will b

e done next Thursday so after that ... photos of upstairs!)

Our shipment arrived Thursday, the 21st. Here's the first truck load of three! (The main truck was too large to make it through all of the zigzags and gates and various security blockades so they had to transfer everything into smaller trucks.) Photo is taken from carport.

The first item that was unpacked -- it fell out of the bottom of the box when they picked up the box!

Our maid, Nita. She's Filipino and a real sweetie. Hard working. Does a lot to help others -- things I can't say, here. You've read about what some employers do to their help around these parts?

One of the moving guys amidst the mess.

After they were "done" -- what a mess!

And now ... the tour.

Welcome! Come on in!
Entry area. Oops, I see that Jim moved the paddles to charge his new cordless drill. Oh well ...

Little guest bath.

Taken from entry area into living room.

Living room.

See the morning sun streaming in through the window on the stair landing?

From living room into dining room.

From dining back toward living room.

First time Jim's done any yard work in 5 years!!! Our gardener is a bit overworked and a bit slow of mind so if we want the grass trimmed, we'd better do it ourselves. The back yard is mainly sand but we're working on that ...

First Portion of Paris and Le Plessis-Robinson Visit!

Jim's meetings are in the hotel where we are staying ... Grand Hotel in the "village" of Le Plessis-Robinson. It's 6 km south of the edge of Paris. And it's FABULOUS! So much cleaner and quieter than the city. We can walk to lovely shops, cafes, bistros, patisseries, etc. Most of the photos are self-explanatory. I'll point out some of the sites ... at the very end, you'll see a few shots from our shopping trip to the north end of Paris.

We begin with the first three photos -- views from our hotel room window. Directly below the window is a fountain ... and I do love fountains! What a treat to open the balcony doors to hear the gurgles and feel the crisp air!

Here's a small park/garden just outside the hotel entrance.

This area reminds us of Breckenridge -- with a French flavour! It's quite a well planned area with a stream running between buildings. Portions of the town date back to the middle ages.

The clock tower on our hotel.

What a treat to hear the crunch of falling leaves ... it's been a lonnnnnnngggggggg time!

Don't know what these are ... teeny, tiny berry clusters.

And our shopping in Les Puces de Saint-Ouen -- a massive flea market/antique market that's opened Sat - Mon. For those of you familiar with Bangkok's Night Bazaar, this is at least 10 times larger, if not more. There are various markets within the large area. Each market has a grouping of vendors.

This is the Marche' Biron -- high rent district, you could say!

Here's a shot inside the shop, #29 in Marche' Vernaison (low rent district!), where I bought my most amazing find ....

And here it is -- my Gien cup and saucer. The stamp on the bottom of the saucer and cup matches the stamp, below, that I found in a catalogue. So, we know it's from 1849 - 1851! It's strangely thick. You can see the thickness of the cup. The saucer is about triple that thickness! And the bottom of the cup starts, on the inside, about 1/4 inch above where the handle ends!

I've been trying to find out WHY it's so thick. The vendor's reason (to keep the drink warm and to make it look like they had more to drink!) seems a bit lame! Birthday Boy, Jim, got a couple of great finds, too. (Also in the low-rent district market!) A poster of the Eiffel Tower with some cool shots of it being constructed. And ... a ta da ... a map from the 1700s of Capt. Cook's journey into what is now called Cook Inlet, Alaska! Cool, aye?? (I don't have a photo of that; it's rolled up!) We'll have two days of fun on Thursday and Friday -- hooking up with some friends from our Nigeria days, visiting Versailles, ... then flying back to Saudi on Saturday. But here's some news we've received that will make it easier to go back -- our shipment is ready to be delivered! So, we're hoping to have them deliver it on Monday!)