let it be

i've decided that enough happened over the last 2 weeks (that i will almost certainly forget) to make it worth writing it down, so here's the sparknotes of days 73-88... well, what matters from them anyway
day 73, monday august 1: victoria and i drove to the airport in the evening, with mom, to pick up the peyronnets: my mom's younger sister, her french husband, and their 3 french children. everyone was jetlagged, the evening was chill.
day 74, tuesday: i took the peyronnets to the henry ford museum. we spent the better part of the afternoon there and i shared my wealth of knowledge about everything in that museum from the kennedy car, to the allegheny locomotive, to the stove collection... and of course i showed the kids how to make rubbings and we played with the power generator a lot. we had a lot of fun and only just managed to go through all the exhibits. i was a little pissed we took so long with the cars and planes cause we only got to see the highlights of the part with the lincoln assassination chair and rosa parks and whatnot. NOT THAT IT MATTERS since i can go there whenever.
day 75, wednesday: the family went to the arab american museum... i didn't, i think i wrote papers instead
day 76, thursday: mom and i drove the peyronnets to frankenmuth. we wandered around the town a bit - got coffee and fully investigated all the tacky shops designed to take as much tourist money as possible. we also got chicken dinners for lunch from zender's, since it's "the thing" to do. there, i taught the kids how to play madlibs (and deviously forced them to practice their english) and i managed to become less scary in their eyes... win! then we went to BRONNER'S which is such an amazing store. we wandered around looking at ornaments for 3 or 4 hours. i got a bunch of roommates ones, and a few for my tree... we all spent far too much money, but it was worth it.
day 77, friday: mom and victoria drove all of us to adrian to pick up charles from band camp. originally, i was supposed to drive because i have the bigger car, but i didn't even get out of our neighborhood before i realized i had a flat... so we all came back and tried again, this time with mom's car. then mom's car almost ran out of gas in the middle of the countryside on the way to adrian... luckily we found a bp just in time. at band camp i finally got to see charles march (big sister points to meee!). i also saw carly and discovered she sat 4 rows behind me on our flight home... facepalm! i helped charles check out of his dorm, then we went on a mission to find his hat before heading back homewards. on the way back we stopped at the pancake house in saline and taught the french about american breakfast... the results were varied
day 78, saturday: i was pretty angsty for day 78, which was a shame since it was the first full day of dearborn homecoming. it was raining though and i had two papers to write, so oh well
day 79, sunday: i slept all morning while the family went to church, then i met up with them at leon's for breakfast... nomnomnom! after breakfast i decided to head down to ford field, but didn't want to look lame by myself, so i turned it into a run... which was great, except for my breakfast sloshing around my tummy. for the rest of the afternoon i wrote papers, then we all went back to ford field for fireworks. charles and i got an elephant ear and cotton candy from the carnival in the dusk (my favorite), then we settled down on the hill to listen to the foreigner tribute band and watch the fireworks. as usual, the fireworks were amazing... the music was varied, and it always stuns me that they manage to make the fireworks go off in time with and match the music.lovelovelove
day 80, monday: the peyronnets drove my car to niagara falls... so after hanging out over lunch, i took my mom's car to east lansing (!!!) i "broke into" my apartment, cause the doors are always open, hung out with travcat all afternoon, and worked on my papers more. i went on a mission for boston market, which was amazing, and then i hung out with my roommates all night. it was just like it always has been... it was so comforting that so much can change, but my family still stays the same. my postcards were even all over the whiteboard, made me so happy
day 81, tuesday: met with craig & petrie at the msu library to discuss my papers. then i walked down to case to check out the construction, which i'm not sure i like... i'll decide when i get used to it. it was such a gorgeous day, that i decided to walk back to the apartment, grabbing subway on the way. i laid out by the pool until some ominous storm clouds came over so i headed inside. 10 minutes later, we were struck by a monsoon... gotta love michigan weather. i wrote papers until going out to dinner with joe. we got chinese, then coldstone and caught up for 2 or 3 hours, which was great. i had a headache coming on so i packed up my things when i got home and headed back to dearborn so i was home by 10:30.
day 82, wednesday: mom and i went downtown to detroit with the peyronnets to visit dad at work and see the riverfront. we played in all the cars in the rencen, then the kids and i spent at least half hour in the fountain outside on the river... it's just so much fun, even now i'm older. we all walked down the riverfront, then mom and i left them to continue exploring detroit while we went home cause mom had to go to the fence appeal (which we finally won!) that night was american dinner night... we had burgers and corn on the cob, followed by a bonfire and s'mores. i played basketball on the drive for 2 hours before bed, it was awesome
day 83, thursday: while the family went to greenfield village for the day, i went to the dentist where i got props for being 20 and cavity free... wooo! i ran a few errands and retired to the house where i probably "worked" on my papers some more. for dinner, victoria, charles & i took the kids to big boy which was something anthony really wanted to do. then the kids all went bowling while i went home, ran with heath, and then went to carly's to catch up for a bit
day 84, friday: mom and i went to the farmer's market in the morning. in the afternoon philippe's cousin's son, valentin came down to visit and we all hung out with him. in the evening we drove across town to the ulrey's house for charles' backyard shakespeare performance of hamlet, which was followed by walking tacos and our death-by-chocolate dessert :D
day 85, saturday: the peyronnets packed up all their things and victoria & i drove them back to the airport... it was weird to realize that they were already leaving and i'd been back for two weeks, time truly does fly. after paper-writing all afternoon, the family went to the movies. we girls watched the help while the boys saw the rise of the planet of the apes... the help was incredible. i don't understand why people clap at the end of movies, it's not like they can hear you, but i even i couldn't help myself. i was crying my eyes out and dying with laughter the entire time.
day 86, sunday: church with the fam in the morning, followed by homemade french toast which mama & i made. i finished my rough draft for petrie and we had chinese for dinner... it was supposed to be thai, but they're closed on sundays
day 87, monday: i had to get up early to sign for the fedex delivery of my new ipod (which i got under warranty), then victoria and i watched a tlc show about kids with some rare disease... no surprise there. i then went for a run, showered, played with heath in the yard, AND KRISTA ARRIVED. we spent the entire day catching up, helping my mom in the kitchen, and teaching mama about synesthesia (aka rainbows).
day 88, tuesday: went for a long run with carly first thing in the morning... it was pretty rough, since i never have the gumption to go on long ones by myself, but it felt sooo good! it was also really nice to catch up some more with carly, it's crazy to think that 4 years ago she hated me and now she's my only friend from high school i still talk to. i spent the rest of the day showering, paper writing, eating, and snuggling heath
and now that i've blown through the last 2 weeks in about 20 minutes i am simultaneously struck by how much i've done (and how many things i originally forgot) but also by how little i've done compared to the rest of the summer. it's nice to be so relaxed, but i also miss being run off my feet... ah well, i'm sure i'll be back to the grind 2 weeks from now and missing this so i'm not complaining, really.

i look around and it's you i can't replace

i've been home for almost exactly 3 days now and, funnily enough, i'm actually having blogging withdrawals. i still find myself composing blog lines in my head, or trying to construct my days into neat little presentable packages... the only problem is that i'm not doing much of anything exciting at all.
friday, i did nothing but feel overwhelmed and hang out with my family a little bit
saturday, i hung out with greg during his detroit layover and spent the rest of the day (and i mean literally the entire day) running errands with my dad. we went pretty much everywhere you can imagine and got lost on our running shoe shopping misadventure/fiasco. then i went to a party with my crew and got to see (almost) everyone which was good
sunday, i woke up feeling like shit... which continued all day. so all i did was attempt to unpack/organize all my shambles for the cousins who are coming tonight (!!!), talk to krista for literally about 7 hours, and watch tv... thriller, i know
today, i took my camera to best buy and found out accidental damage is covered by the insurance. then i lay around "watching the dog" aka watching more shitty tv... the afternoon isn't looking like it's going to be much more exciting either, at least until the french arrive in the evening. i have a to-do list a mile long, which is quite sad after the wonderfully crazy busy, but free, summer i had. 
the return to real life is almost equal, if not more, shocking than the actual cultureshock and jetlag of returning to the US. i'm riding the strugglebus a little bit, which i expected but still don't particularly enjoy... especially since i'm sick. today is august 1, which would be day 73... i wish it was day 73. perhaps i will be back on here to document any of the notable summer days ahead of me. i don't anticipate there being many, but perhaps life will surprise me... it tends to do so

it's a blacked-out blur, but i'm pretty sure it ruled

day 69: thursday

- woke up at 8:30, had some quick breakfast, chatted with johann a bit, and went down to pub au bureau to check into our flights and check our emails one last time before we left dieulefit. i had some trouble checking into my delta flight for tomorrow, which was annoying, but other than that all was well. halfway through, hilary and jean-pierre brought constance down to say goodbye as she was going to visit the bastion grandparents and we would miss her otherwise

- sat with our feet in the pool for about half hour before running upstairs, packing our last things, stripping the beds, and running out the door. grandma made us sandwiches to take with us on the trip, which was quite thoughtful

- arrived at the montélimar station in good time with hilary & jean-pierre. the ticket machine didn’t recognize my bank card to pick up the tickets, but hilary helped us at the desk instead. all four of us sat together at the platform for about half hour until the train arrived, then we found our seats, waved goodbye out the window as we departed, and sat down to our sandwiches in our luscious first class seats (which were cheaper than second, go figure)!

- arrived in lyon st exupery with eons of time to spare, so we printed our boarding cards and sat down at a café in the airport and had our usual croissant/pain au chocolat. i watched pride & prejudice (the kiera knightly one) while victoria finished lord of the rings. about halfway through the film i bought a tuna baguette to split, woooo!

- finally, it was time for us to drop bags and go through security… we then found a café on the other side, i bought a drink (there are no fountains in lyon, grrr!) and we sat down and plugged in our laptops. victoria watched last song and i sat and judged the english/american businessmen filling the café under the guise of writing more of my paper... which turned into playing rollercoaster tycoon

- arrived in london, took the shuttle to the hilton, checked in, and found our room on the hilton honors floor (courtesy of daddy, of course) we felt super special since our floor had a special plaque next to it in the elevator and everything

- we decided we weren't appropriately dressed, so we both found dresses and quickly changed. we then found our way to the restaurant where victoria got a bacon & brie sandwich and i had a delicious (and expensive) burger. i think it's hilarious that we were in england for 13 hours and my vegetarian sister stuffed herself with as much bacon as possible :P

day 70: friday, last friday (night)

- woke up at 6am, left the room by 6:30, walked through the tunnel and had our bags dropped & boarding passes printed by 6:45. we went back to the hilton for our complimentary english breakfast buffet, which was incredibly delicious and filling, and were through security by 8am... we were quite pleased with our planning skillz

- sat at the gate waiting to board for a while and the flight left about half hour late... other than that, the trip to detroit was mind-numbingly uneventful. there weren't even any good movies. i watched 3 shitty comedy movies (starring the likes of vince vaughn, owen wilson & adam sandler), the office, and the adjustment bureau (which was actually decent enough) i also finished my bracelet, yay!

- passports, bags, and customs were the usual... the drug/agriculture beagle did jump at victoria's backpack for a hot second while we were waiting in line for customs, but it turned out to just like her or something cause upon further inspection he walked away completely indifferent

- mama & gubbe picked us up and i got to drive home where we were reunited with heath :)

- had tea & shared stories with mama before heading out to the yard and playing with heath. i created a game with the hose where he chases the water and tries to bite it (and has some struggles) he was jumping all over & it was adorable

- tried to unpack, only to realize that i don't really have much of anywhere to unpack into, so i just took all my clothes to the laundry and decided to figure out the rest tomorrow... particularly since it was dinnertime. while we ate, victoria told us her paris story, which took quite a while though it was only 3 days!

- went on a short walk with heath and victoria before finallyyy going to bed at about 5:30am in my head!
i can't believe i just wrote day 70... day 70 was supposed to always be this super abstract, far off, future hypothetical where i moved back to america and had to get on with living real life. there are so many things i need to tackle now that i'm back, it's just crazy to think that yesterday i was in france, this morning i was in london, and now i'm sitting in my bed at my parents house planning like crazy for work, school, housing... and more travels! i'm not sure what's really going to happen to this blog now... but as the french say, au revoir!

the night before life goes on

day 67: tuesday

- woke up at 10ish, had breakfast with grandma and, as usual, talked about lee abbey

- victoria & i went down to pub au bureau to use the internet and finish catching up from yesterday… another 2 hours of internet and i finally feel on top of everything again (helped by the fact that i will be home in THREE DAYS)

- realized i forgot to post granny & grandad’s anniversary card while we were in town, so i rushed back to the postbox

- there was only nine for lunch since the boys went to the bastion grandparents to eat. after lunch i got out my bracelet and explained that whole thing to everyone… it even gave grandma & i an opportunity to bond over our craftiness

- the sun came out while we were having tea, so victoria & i rushed up to change and jumped in the pool. it was a bit chilly (only 23.9 degrees, down from 25 on sunday) but it wasn’t too bad once we got moving. we were soon joined by martin, jill, liz, johann, constance, jean-pierre, hilary, and JC. after swimming for a bit, i got out and sunbathed while i worked a bit more on my paper… yay for studying in the summer! victoria & hilary beat their ball tossing record (with a whopping 65 hits before dropping it) and we all went back in the pool for one last swim

- as i returned to the house to change, jill gave me & victoria presents… which was very nice, but we are getting a bit overwhelmed with gifts (particularly considering how close we are weight-wise with our bags!) first, hilary gave us necklaces (and also a book in french for me – hardcover, no less) then johann gave us thank you gifts for doing the flower arrangements: a basket of body wash & lotion. now we have each gotten a flannel & bar of lavender soap… all the gifts are adding up to quite a pile which makes me nervous about packing tomorrow, particularly as hilary & grandma also expect us to bring their presents for our family back with us as well… sighhh

- william, JC & i were on constance duty while the adults changed. as she watched johann go into their room, constance began to scream so we decided to play the “big music box” in our attempt to get her to shut up. it was an immense success and we discovered that constance prefers techno with a steady 4/4 beat, a simple melody and a fairly strong pulse… it was adorable to watch her dancing around excitedly – she even kept time by beating her hand against my leg!

- tonight there was just the “kids” (JC, will, johann, liz, victoria, me) for dinner, so we had american dinner night. JC made delicious cheeseburgers, fries, and we had popcorn during our movie. first we tried watching troy, which was terrible and the dvd player broke halfway through, so Victoria beat JC in connect 4 a couple times before we tried again and watched a bunch of fawlty towers. victoria & i also rediscovered an old childhood favorite: rollercoaster tycoon

day 68: wednesday

- woke up at 9:30 to shower. went back to bed until about noon when victoria started talking to me and forced me to wake up… i hung out in the kitchen drinking my tea while constance fussed all the way through her lunch with grandma & hilary

- lunch with grandma, grandad, hilary, jean-pierre & victoria, so it was quite a small party. grandma & hilary exchanged presents so there was quite a bit of gushing about norway/new york and the meal took quite a while

- after lunch i tried to start packing, but hilary interrupted us with a trip to comps. comps is a romanesque church on the top of one of the smaller mountains a few hundred hairpin bends up the road… needless to say, i did not enjoy the car ride at all. we got back into the car around 4:30 and managed to convince hilary to drop us off at home before they (grandma & grandad) carried on with her touring adventures for the day since we still needed to pack

- when we got back it seemed like no one was home, and victoria forgot her keys, so we thought we were going to have to climb up the roof and in our bedroom window. luckily william was actually skulking in the living room, so there was no problem. we spent the rest of the afternoon packing, and had a short break for tea when the others returned

- dinner at the pizzeria with grandma, grandad, hilary, jean-pierre, JC & will. we had a good time joking around with our cousins and, though it was pizza (which I still feel quite the aversion to), it was quite good… i even had tiramisu for dessert! i also stole the spoons from our desserts because they were SO COOL, hehehe.

- JC, will, victoria & i walked home. there was only space for 5 in the car and, since it stopped raining while we were at dinner, the walk wasn’t bad. once home, we said our goodbyes to JC & will, who are leaving before we wake up, and the grandparents took a gazillion cousin pictures… most of which came out appropriately silly

do you ever feel like a plastic bag?

day 66: monday

- woke up (by myself, i might add), showered, and had breakfast/gossip time with hilary, grandma & grandad

- helped johann/grandma feed constance her lunch, then i helped hilary prepare the table for lunch. johann & i had quite a difficult time dividing the cakes (one citron & one with lots of fruits) martin & jill brought for us into 14 even slices – they kept falling apart everywhere and the knives were super dirty/sticky… when we ate them, however, they were absolutely DELICIOUS. today we had a measly twelve dining for lunch: hilary, grandma, grandad, laura, johann, JC, william, martin, jill, liz, victoria, and myself. maman ligot left around 11 and jean-pierre drove her to visit her other children in the south of france… i really liked her, she is very spunky and i think she liked that i actually speak French

- victoria & i walked into town to go to pub au bureau and use the internet. we booked our TGV tickets to lyon for thursday and caught up on our emails a bit… it’s amazing how easy it is to fall behind, even in the summer when nothing in particular is “happening.” we were there for 2 hours and i still feel so behind that i will surely return tomorrow

- began to work on my florence paper… luckily it was quite cloudy so i wasn’t tempted by the pool

- my studies were interrupted by hilary/constance. hilary wanted to make tea, so i became on constance duty. we “walked” about in the living room a bit, then played with william. at tea time we played with all her toys and then the grandparents began trying to take photos which very swiftly resulted in a fussy constance. will took over for a bit until the phone rang, which he went to answer. ever fussy, constance and i took a turn about the garden, looked at all the flowers, and sat by the pool while hilary swam. we then made our way back to the house and watched grandma cook while hilary (finally) prepared a bottle and relieved my arms of their screaming burden… needless to say, my productivity took a turn for the worse as the afternoon progressed

- once again we had twelve for dinner… laura left in the afternoon, but johann & constance are staying down in dieulefit for the rest of the week. the vegetables for dinner were furnished by our neighbors: “blet” (which is, as far as i can tell, a tasteless green vegetable caught somewhere between celery and leek but lacking all of their virtues) with a cheesy sauce grandma made to try and make it palatable. i feel blet is quite a fitting name for the stuff… blech

- after dinner i retired to the living room to do more reading and was joined by everyone else. johann made some popcorn, hilary brought out the herbal tea, and we all sat around reading in amiable silence until martin decided to try and make conversation at which point i got distracted and had to give up on reading (again!) until after they left

you're gonna want this back

day 62: thursday

- despite my best efforts to wake up at a reasonable time, victoria found me still sleeping at 11:30 right where she left me when she woke me up an hour and a half prior

- i made my way down to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea, and on my way to the back kitchen to get some milk i got waylaid by hilary (who was doing laundry) and ended up with an armful of constance. i played with constance a bit and hilary took some more photos (there are so many already!) then i handed the baby back to hilary so i could get back to my tea, which was the perfect drinking temperature by this point

caryn and victoria worked on making the nougat sachets for the christening (it is traditional to give these out at french occasions, apparently) out of white muslin-type fabric, white ribbon, and sprig of lavender for a bit of color. i began making namecards for the dinner on saturday and everyone made fun of me for being so OCD about having them perfect. (the OCD only lasted about 5 cards, thankfully)

- lunch was a bit late today, so we were quite hungry by the time it was served since we hadn’t had breakfast! after the melon, we had the leftovers of the ratatouille and salad from yesterday, with sausages which jean-pierre cooked on the grill. there was brie in the cheese selection and white wine along with the rouge et rosé, so that was quite exciting

- after lunch, it was quite hot out so we decided to take a dip in the pool. caryn, victoria and i jumped in together, as usual, and played around for a bit. at one point a sparrow flew towards victoria and i, so close we thought it was going to run straight into us! we found ourselves floating in the pool (victoria on the waterbed) and we got a bit cold, so we got out and i laid down right on the warm stones of the pool deck to dry off… it was so nice! we laid out for about half hour while we dried off, then we got up to put on some sunscreen. i then finished the namecards while basking in the sunshine

- caryn, victoria and i walked down to the super u (grocery store) to buy some candy/popcorn for our movie night (more pride & prejudice!) then caryn and i went back into town to the bar so we could use more internetzzz. around 8 we decided to head back home ready for some dinner!

- dinner was vegetable (or fish) soup with bread, cheese, croutons, etc. after dinner, which ended quite late, victoria and i wrapped all the table centerpieces ready for the flowers tomorrow while caryn showered, then we settled down with our candy and popcorn to about 4 hours of pride & prejudice. i also wrote my last set of postcards for the trip!

day 63: friday

- woke up at 7am to get ready to take caryn to the bus. unfortunately, she had to be on the bus at 8:05 even though her train out of montélimar was at 13:20 because there wasn’t any others that would get her there on time… we were quite disappointed since it would have been nice to explore the market together before she left, but oh well. i saw her off to montélimar (from there she took a train to paris) and then walked back to the house

- victoria, hilary, jean-pierre, maman ligot and i went into town to explore the market that is held on fridays in dieulefit. victoria and i bought a pain au chocolat and croissant for second breakfast, then we wandered past all the crafts and bought our stamps from the post office before retiring to a bench on the main square where we waited for hilary

- popped into the flower shop with hilary, but there wasn’t much selection out yet so we decided to leave that until later. victoria, JC and i went to pub au bureau (the main bar) for a “petit café” where we were joined by maman ligot, johann, and constance. victoria and i played with constance once we finished our teas so johann could drink his petit café, then JC, victoria and i walked back to the house.

- victoria and i then went out with hilary to a different florist to buy flowers for the centerpieces. after stopping at two florists and the supermarket we finally had a decent assortment of white flowers, so we went back to the house to begin arranging them. victoria and i divided out all the flower “rations” between the centerpieces and decided we would need some more white spray to fill them out, so we left the project until after lunch when the florist re-opened at 1500.

- we sat with our feet in the pool for a while and enjoyed the brief break. laura (who had arrived while we were flower shopping) came down with constance and we chatted for a while

- lunch was quite a busy affair. pierre-yves and damien (jean-pierre’s sons) had also arrived so there was loads of us at the table outside… we still managed to have all the different courses and a balanced meal, so props to the grandmothers

- hilary drove us back up to the florist to buy the white spray for the centerpieces, then we spent the rest of the afternoon arranging all the flowers. it was a lot of fun, but also a bit aggravating as we have begun to feel a bit like if we did not do all this work it would never get done. while, of course, we are happy to help and pull our weight, it is frustrating to see everyone else entertaining guests and enjoying the sunshine while we work on decorations for a party thrown by families that are only slightly related to us… ah well, we got it done and then we took the decorations to the hotel and set the tables up ready for the dinner tomorrow

- as soon as we got back to the house, i crawled into my bed and fell asleep. victoria woke me up for dinner, which ended up being just JC, laura, william (who had finally arrived at about 6pm), victoria and i. JC made mojitos and we had a great time chatting about everything, being silly and cousin-y. at the end of our meal, hilary & jean-pierre arrived back with grandma & grandad so we got to say hello to them as well

- victoria and i decided to go for a walk, much to hilary’s displeasure/worry. We wandered up the hill to the top of the mountain where we could look at all the stars, then we walked all the way down into town and back to the house along the river. when we got back, JC & william were about to go down to pub au bureau to meet up with pierre-yves & damien for a drink, so we decided to join them. the 6 of us had drinks and victoria & i chatted with william a bit, it was really nice to be out in the town at night… i love it so much!

- we walked back under the “supervision” of jean-pierre, pierre-yves & damien while hilary drove JC & will to their hotel. as soon as we got home we got ready for bed, what an exhausting and long day!

day 64: saturday, christening day

- woke up at 7am to take a shower… apparently the water in this house only heats overnight so it is only possible to take a shower in the morning. since it was the day of constance’s baptism, i decided to get in the shower as early as possible to make sure I actually had time/warm water… then i went back to bed

- woke up at 9:30 to victoria bringing me a tea in bed, put on my dress, did my make-up, etc. at 10:30 we walked into dieulefit to the church for the christening. the ceremony only lasted about half hour, then we all milled about for a while and took loads of family photos. victoria and i rode in the car of inge & jacques (hilary’s friends) to the hotel for lunch

- lunch lasted four hours. first, there was the aperatifs: champagne and some crackers. i made conversation with a few random people, including one that was solely in french which i took over from grandad, much to the relief of the couple he was talking to since they didn’t actually speak english. johann kept creeping on my french speaking every time i talked to people, so did jean-pierre. the meal began with a salmon starter, then we had a massive salad with these little cheese ravioli in it. that was followed by lamb with ratatouille and cheesy potatoes, which was followed by cheese, which was followed by a nougat ice cream. it was all very good, but it was so much food! i had three or 4 glasses of wine, and another glass of champagne, so i was pretty docile by the time the meal was over.

- at our request, jean-pierre drove JC, damien, victoria and i back to the house so we could go swimming. we were later joined by pierre-yves who was swiftly followed by the rest of the bell-ligot party. JC made mojitos for us once we got tired of playing in the pool; it got quite cloudy though so we all ended up inside and getting dressed for the evening

- victoria, JC & i were driven back to the hotel by hilary’s neighbor for dinner. first we spent an hour standing in an exhausted circle at the hotel staring at baby constance being a goofball and playing with johann/laura. finally, dinner was served so we went in to eat. first course was cold cuts of meat & salad, followed by cheese, then fruit salad, then coffee… basically the whole thing was a giant excuse to consume copious amounts of bread and wine. it still managed to take three hours, even though we didn’t actually eat any sort of main meal… les français!

- exhausted and bored out of our brains, victoria & i sat outside the hotel for a while until we were driven back home by the neighbors. we quickly changed, got ready for bed and finally went to sleep! it’s crazy how tired we are… we did nothing today except eat for 11 hours (with a little siesta in the middle) yet the day seems like it took absolutely ages

day 65: sunday

- was accosted by fabienne, and the rest of johann’s family, as i walked out of the bathroom having just woken up at 10:30… i was not amused. i then had tea and breakfast in the kitchen with grandma & grandad. after talking about my dad for a while (standard protocol) we moved on to me, my studies and my plans for the future… at which point grandma made her usual plug for me to move to lee abbey for a year. we were interrupted by hilary rallying troops to go to the craft market, an invitation i declined, though i did take advantage of the opportunity to escape the kitchen

- i hid upstairs for a while before wandering downstairs, only to discover it was too cold/cloudy outside so i scurried right back up to my room until lunch

- we had fourteen people for lunch: hilary, jean-pierre, sophie, patrick, pierre-yves, damien, martin, jill, liz, grandma, grandad, maman ligot, victoria & i. the meal was fairly simple, since we had to feed so many, yet we still managed to have three courses and take over an hour about it. grace à les nuages, it was super cold/windy during the meal which was a bit unpleasant (grandma made sure her displeasure was clearly evident)

- the clouds had begun to (finally) clear up after lunch so victoria & i changed into our bikinis and tried laying out for a while. we got frustrated with the clouds however, so we went back up the lawn to where constance & léa were playing together (with all the adults in a massive circle around them)

- when we next looked up at the sky it seemed to be clearing up a bit so we decided we had to take advantage of the opportunity for a swim right away and rushed in. it ended up being sunny for the rest of the afternoon, thankfully, so we swam about and played together for almost an hour, then we got out and sunbathed for quite a bit. all the family was milling about, chatting and swimming… it was a lot of fun. at one point johann stole my ipod (and my chair!) and was dancing about and singing out loud in his silly french-english accent while he was listening to my music. he also had sunscreen painted across his cheeks à la warpaint, so he looked absolutely ridiculous… constance quite enjoyed all his antics

- dinner was an even grander affair as the party was seventeen. the only person missing from the meal was johann, who had dinner with his family instead

- after dinner, we all sat about in the living room around the warm fire (since it got quite cold out after the sun disappeared) and looked at some of the photos from the weekend and all of grandma’s photos from their trip to norway on ainsley. pierre-yves, damien, sophie, patrick & baby léa all left as they were only able to come down for the weekend

baby, baby, baby oooh!

day 61: wednesday
- woke up around noon to constance screaming downstairs… i went down to investigate and discovered maman ligot and hilary trying to get constance to crawl, much to her displeasure. caryn and victoria came down, and the three of us had tea and pastries and played with constance a bit. i fed constance so hilary could also have the chance to change. of course, constance started screaming as everyone left… once "mama li-li" returned the feeding was more successful

- jc arrived, and johann arrived back from the shops, so we all had lunch together. We had a melon starter, followed by pork chops & ratatouille, and finished with yoghurt… with bread and wine, of course

walked into town with caryn and victoria. first we went to the newsagents to buy postcards, pick up hilary’s newspaper and also some fiches bristol for the namecards for the christening (which I am going to write out tomorrow in calligraphy). then we went to the bar in town to use the free wi-fi… we each ordered tea and then went to sit at a table in the back, then we used the internet for well over an hour

- walked back to the house, via dieulefit main street and along the river. it had gotten quite warm out in the afternoon so the walk was very enjoyable and we went down the road to the lavender fields and took some photos together

- changed into our bikinis and jumped in the pool. it was a little chilly at first, but after we moved around a bit, it was definitely warmer to be in the pool than outside. we played with the beach ball and the noodles while johann lounged around on the waterbed. meanwhile, jc and hilary played with constance by the pool deck. once we got cold in the water, we rushed out, dried off, and moved the deck chairs around so we could lie out and catch the last few rays of afternoon sunshine. the breeze picked up, which made us even colder, so we ran inside and got changed into sweatpants and cardigans because we were freezing!

- dinner tonight was a more casual affair, jc and johann took constance to the bastion’s because jean-claude had just arrived so it was just hilary, jean-pierre, maman ligot, and the three of us. we had a traditional potato salad, but since hilary knew we had plenty of picky eaters at the table we had all the pieces separate: potatoes, tomatoes, shrimp, chickpeas, and a mustard-oil dressing.

- settled down to watch johnny english with caryn and victoria, which was a good laugh. the movie ended quite early, so we decided to move on to watch the bbc version of pride & prejudice (with colin firth) since caryn has never seen it

i need oxygen

day 60: tuesday
- i didn’t actually end up going to sleep last night, instead I skyped greg, read about 40 pages of dearblankpleaseblank, and worked on my bracelet. at 5:10 the alarm went off, just as I was starting to drift to sleep and i reluctantly got out of bed, put on the kettle, and we rushed out the door
- caryn and i were in good time for the airport bus at 5:40 and had the whole thing to ourselves… i guess no one else is crazy enough to want to be at terminal 5 before 6am! we had a bit of a wait for the bag drop and caryn’s bag was 3kg overweight, luckily i was under by 3kg so we managed to rearrange things without too much trouble
- got a final english breakfast from the restaurant in terminal 5… we also got tea, of course, and were tempted by the idea of a pint since it still felt like the evening for us, but we figured that would be inappropriate for 6:30am!
- wandered the terminal for a bit… past gucci, prada and all the other designer stores before we headed to the gate and got on the plane where we had the window and middle seats and nobody in the aisle, hooray!
 - got off the plane, got our bags, figured out the rhone-alps tram and, 30 minutes later, we were at lyon part-dieu station. after a bit of a fiasco with the ticket machines, caryn and i managed to get tickets for our TER (regional) train to montélimar. we bought some sandwiches from a café, boarded the train, and were on our way
- we arrived in montélimar a little bit behind schedule, caryn bought her train tickets for paris (!!!) and we sat out at the bus stop in the sunshine for about 40 minutes before getting on the bus to dieulefit. about 40 minutes later, we were pulling into the main station in dieulefit and we were met by hilary and victoria
- caryn and i were exhausted, so we had a cup of tea with almond cakes out on the terrace with jean-pierre, maman lIgot, hilary, and victoria. there was a prize hidden in the cake, which i found, so i got to wear a crown and show off my tweety bird toy. the weather has been quite english: during tea it started pouring, then the sun came out, and there was a beautiful rainbow across the sky over the pool, just in front of the mountain peaks in the background… too perfect

view from the terrace - with rainbow

- hilary, victoria, caryn, and i went off on a little explore to poët laval. we took in some of the views overlooking dieulefit from the mountains on the way... lovely!
- back at the house, victoria, caryn and i went on a mission to find pillows and sheets to make up our beds. meanwhile, johann returned with constance so we finally got to meet the baby! she is absolutely adorable… she has this goofy little smirky grin and her hair is this perfect little ginger tuft on her head. she is so silly and her favorite toy is this squeaky plastic giraffe… so odd!
- dinner was quite the french affair… we began with cantaloupe for starter, then we had fish soup with croutons that had this zesty tomato paste and cheese on top. this course wasn’t at all popular with caryn, but victoria and i also found it a struggle. soup was followed by a spanish-y rice pilaf, which was absolutely delicious and then we finished the meal with yoghurt and peaches. of course, the meal was accompanied by wine and bread… because this is france
- after dinner, jean-pierre set a fire in the living room because it was quite cold outside, and victoria and i got into our pajamas and made s’mores for hilary, johann and ourselves before settling down to watch the second half of jane eyre with hilary (which they had began the day before) while johann and jean-pierre puzzled over the seating chart for the christening. there are so many preparations going on all over the house: sachets to be made, fabric to be cut, flowers to be arranged, and guests to be housed anywhere and everywhere possible. i’m glad caryn and i arrived a bit before the mad rush to give ourselves time to get settled in and be as helpful as possible
it’s strange being in france... i can understand everything that’s going on, french and english, but only to a point. when i know what’s going on the conversation anyway, i find it quite easy to follow jean-pierre, maman ligot, and johann when they talk. sometimes, however, they will ask me a question i’m not expecting or i will lose concentration for a while and suddenly i will have absolutely no clue what is happening anymore. hilary is trying to stop translating as much to force me to use my french both in speaking and in translating for victoria… it’s a challenge, but not too bad since i can always turn to my sister or best friend and jabber in english as always. even though i’m tired and ready to go back home, especially to east lansing, i’m glad to be here. i am so happy to meet a new baby in the family and it’s great to practice my french in such a comfortable atmosphere… i even seem to smell of lavender now just by proxy

there's somethin' 'bout the way the street looks when it's just rained

day 59: monday
- woke up at noon, made my way down to the kitchen, chatted with bev for a while, and had marmite toast for breakfast... so english
- called hilary to figure out tomorrow, checked into our flights, organized all our things, packed, and skyped greg
- ordered in chinese for dinner, which we ate together after bev picked harry up from his cricket day camp... i had a spring roll and split sweet & sour chicken and chicken fried rice with caryn. it was sooo good! far better than at home :)
- worked on the bracelet i started last night while bev cleared the dishes. we checked the traffic on the M25 online and it looked pretty clear so we packed up the car and were on our way
- said goodbye to bev & harry and checked into our travelodge near terminal 5. we decided to shell out for internet access, which was completely worth it. i skyped greg until the internet decided we weren't allowed to talk anymore, and talked to corey and krista... woooo, internet!

rain, rain go away

so very english

day 58: sunday
- woke up at 9, fell back asleep until 10:30, woke up again at 11 and 11:45 before finally giving up on getting any more sleep at 12:15. i didn't actually emerge from our room until 1:30 when i decided it was time to face the day
- bev made scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast, NOMNOM
- our plans for the day were delayed by a sudden onslaught of heavy rain, so we spent more quality time with our laptops
- found wellies and raincoats and headed to ightham mote with bev and caryn. we wandered around the grounds for a bit, as it had stopped raining briefly. as we arrived to the house, the rain began again so we went inside. it is unknown when ightham mote was actually built, but it was around in 1320 for sure, so it's quite old. there was tons of tudor roses and pomegranates everywhere from henry VIII's rule and the "new chapel" was built in the mid-1400s. interestingly, the last owner of the house was an american, so there were lots of randon american-y things in parts of the house
- took out the recycling on our way home and as soon as we got back to bev's i walked up to our room and passed out face-down on my bed
- harry called us down to dinner/woke me up and we had chicken and rice with rhubarb crumble for dessert... sooo yummy! harry & i hung out for a bit after dinner, then we watched a comedy program with bev before turning to the women's world cup final, usa v. japan... caryn joined us just before it went into extra time and we watched all the way through the penalty shoot-out. i hate penalty shoot-outs... i always feel so badly for the goalies, and also all the kickers, and i get so tense that i can hardly handle the pressure. i actually left the room for the last kicks, so i missed japan's actual winning goal... ohhh well.
- showered, uploaded my pictures to facebook, etc.

we plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose!

rainy portobello road

 day 57: saturday
- woke up at 7:30 only to open the blinds and discover that it was raining in true english style. this would have really put a damper on my day if it wasn't saturday july 16, the day i finally got to see my best friend for the first time in 9 weeks. matt levergood started talking to me while i was getting ready, which was weird... but it was also good to talk to him
- bev drove caryn & i to sevenoaks train station. from there we caught a train to charing cross station. then we took the bakerloo line to oxford central, changed onto the central line and arrived at notting hill gate at about 9:45. the plan was to meet krista at the tube station at 10 and then go to portobello road... both caryn and i were so excited that by the time we got up to the street from the tube we were basically hyperventilating. the second we saw krista round the corner we started screaming her name, ran towards her, and scooped her up in an enormous hug (well, honestly i have no idea if caryn did any of that at all since i was completely caught up in my own excitement)
- explored portobello market with my two best friends. there were loads of shops selling random antiques from WWII, to watches, to scarves, to teacups... it was really cool and i managed to limit myself to one purchase: a long watch/necklace. we walked all the way down to the end of the market and met up with krista's roommate tiffany before we began to walk back. of course, it started absolutely pouring with rain at this point and didn't let up at all, so by the time we got back to the tube station we were soaked.
- took the central line back to oxford central, then bakerloo to kilburn park where we walked (through even more rain) to krista's flat! by this point, my toes were already going pruny, so i decided to ditch my shoes completely and switch to flip flops (which i had, thankfully, brought with me). i left my shoes in krista's flat and we made our way back down the bakerloo line to bakers street and regents college!
- had lunch in the refectory at regents with krista and caryn. unforunately, they were serving pasta... it wasn't too bad though and the meal was really reasonably priced/very good for a cafeteria. it was absolutely wonderful to sit down with my two best friends and just talk and be silly again. it felt almost like we were home at msu; it's nice to know that wherever we are, some things never change.
- the weather had finally let up, so the three of us went to explore the gardens at regents park. krista showed us all her favorite roses in the rose gardens and we took lots of pictures together... of course

- walked back past madame tussauds to the baker street station and took the bakerloo line to edgware where we waited for krista's friends tiffany and kalen so we could walk to the cinema to see HARRY POTTER. of course, as aoon as kalen and tiffany arrived it started absolutely pouring again so our walk (which felt like forever, even though it really wasn't) was wet and miserable. we arrived, got our tickets, and found our seats with no problem though so it was well worth the rain!
- harry potter was great... krista and i held hands through the entire movie. we laughed, we cried, it was awesome.
- took bakerloo back to kilburn park and went to krista's local pub, the queen's arms with kalen and tiffany. we got dinner, which was quite delicious, a couple pints and a tequila sunrise.
- we left the pub a bit after 9 so that caryn and i could catch the bakerloo back to charing cross, then we hopped on the train back to sevenoaks and were back in bev's car by 10:30. when we got home we unpacked all our wet clothes/shoes/socks, i talked to krista and skyped greg, and went to bed veryyy late

it's not just a thing

day 56: friday
- woke up a bit after 10, but didn't actually emerge until well after 1... caryn and i spent the morning uploading all our pictures onto facebook and just generally enjoyed the opportunity to waste time and not feel guilty about it
- bev made omelets for brunch, which were absolutely delicious: ham, cheese, mushroom, tomato. of the box of 6 eggs used to make our omelets, THREE had double yokes... that has got to be some kind of record
- went out to knole park for a walk. the park is enormous, full of deer, and has a golf course, so we had to be careful we didn't get hit. the house itself is absolutely ridiculous. it's a calendar house: 365 rooms, 52 staircases (yes, staircases), 12 entrances, 7 courtyards. dear england, thou art ridiculous. got tea and a flapjack from the tearooms :)
- had a laptop party in the kitchen with bev and caryn. i showed bev some of our italy pictures, we chatted about all sorts of things, and i (surprise, surprise) skyped greg... for longer than 20 minutes for the first time in quite a while. i also tried to call granny to let her know that we had arrived safely to bev's, but our phone conversation went something like this: "hello?" "hi it's elli!" "who?" "...elli" "i'm sorry, i don't know anyone by that name" so it was a bit of a fail. i called back a bit later and left a message, so hopefully they figured it out
- went down the road to the pub for dinner... i had a pint of magners, which was actually quite pleasant, and caryn & i got a delicious thai chicken CURRY for dinner! ohmygoodness it was so wonderful... with rice and naan... such a pleasant change from pasta/pizza (which we continue to abhor)
- called krista (!!!!!!) to make our official plans for going into london to SEE HER TOMORROW. we also looked and trains for france to figure out that portionof our journet and had lots of fabulous conversations with  bev (which carried over from dinner). i really love talking with her. it's crazy to think about, but bev & david have known me the best for the longest of anyone outside of my parents... it's a really refreshing perspective, and it's just so easy to talk about everything. i love it.
- showered, got ready for bed, talked to krista some more, and went to bed early for our train!

i lose myself in a daydream

day 55: thursday
- got up, had breakfast, packed, cleaned the room upstairs and walked down the road to say goodbye to the heath
- walked down to long's for fish and chips with granny, grandad and caryn (we sent our suitcases in the car with granny & grandad). it was so good, as usual. i can't believe i managed to get a week and a half into my english visit to have chish & fips, but really long's is one of the only places to go. i love going with granny and grandad
- the bus into poole was late, of course. we said goodbye to granny & grandad and were on our way to london! the bus got into poole in perfect time and we got on our national express bus which actually had wireless, as advertised!
- arrived at victoria station and sat in the departure terminal for about an hour before our next bus... and skyped greg
- the bus out of london took us past big ben & the houses of parliament (we snapped a picture - proof that we were really in london) and then through all the nicest neighborhoods ever: peeling paint, sketchy shop signs, chinese take-out EVERYWHERE, construction, boarded up buildings... london's finest. after over an hour of getting absolutely nowhere we were on the motorway for about 20 minutes before sitting in traffic to try and get to tunbridge wells. we only arrived about half an hour behind schedule though, so quite good for london traffic. GUH
- chatted with bev & harry the entire drive back to sevenoaks and through our cuppa (which was offered right after we walked through the door) bev made us a late dinner that was delicious, then we chatted some more about the EU and madison and how americans don't understand european culture or the EU at all, then we retired to our room
- had the best shower i've had in absolutely ages, talked to krista for a bit, and rejoiced in the wonders of the internet

this is where i grew up

day 50: saturday

- charles woke us up a bit before 9 so we could have english breakfast before leaving the cottage. after breakfast we finished packing, i read a bit more decameron, and we left virginia cottage around 11

- went back to osborne house, wandered around the walled garden and went to the café for tea and cakes (so english)

- drove to the red funnel and sat in the car lines for about an hour so i sat in the back of dad’s car and read most of day 5. i decided i needed to go to the bathroom, so i headed to the terminal station and, of course, as soon as i left the cars started loading onto the ferry so i had to run back to make sure i didn’t get left behind… typical

- the ferry was, unsurprisingly, very windy and cold as we crossed back to southampton. i finished reading day 5 and snuggled with daddy for the 55 minute journey

- arrived at the coach station where caryn and i bought our tickets for poole! we also divvied up our family’s sandwich rations so we wouldn’t starve on our journey and said goodbye to everyone… i can’t believe our “week” together is already over! we decided we were so hungry that it was worth sending caryn to mcdonalds to buy us fries… 20 minutes later she returned. it was super crowded, apparently. while i was waiting I looked up TGV prices for our train from lyon to montelimar. it’s crazy to realize all these lofty future plans we had of visiting granny, london and france are here!

- it was exciting recognizing all the signs during the bus ride: ringwood, bournemouth, poole… so close!

- arrived in poole and got the bus to broadstone where we were met by granny and grandad. we loaded our suitcases into their car, but there wasn’t any room  for us as well so we walked back to the house. i got to show caryn the roundabout underpass and granny’s woods so she had her first exposure to the sites of my childhood summers

- chatted with granny and grandad for a bit about traveling Italy, our florence apartment, the decameron… the usual. for dinner we had shepherd’s pie and for dessert there were mince pies with cream… so many of my favorites! then, of course, caryn and i did the dishes and i impressed grandad with my ability to remember where everything goes… it’s not like i’ve been doing the dinner dishes ever since i can remember or anything

- caryn and i showered and unpacked to the point that our things our usable, but still in our suitcases. it’s quite odd (and inconvenient) going from living in one place for 3 weeks at a time to moving every 5 days

- wandered down to the heath with caryn. we tried to walk from the viewpoint back through the neighborhoods, past the spot i’m sure we always go through, but i didn’t recognize where we were going so we turned around and went back the way we came… i’m sure we were basically in the right place, ah well. we watched the sun set over the heath, took lots of pictures of the nature, and seeing poole all lit up in the dusk was pretty cool. the moon was also gorgeous. all in all, a good adventure. i even got to stretch out my legs properly! they have been pretty sore from riding on thursday… nothing unmanageable, but it was good to get the muscles going again

- went through all granny’s albums of the family weddings and made commentary on all the lovely 70s and 80s fashion. we also found this album from ’74-’78 that had all of chrissie’s old dance costumes which was particularly exciting for caryn

- read the first 2 chapters of middlemarch (by george eliot) before my eyes got so heavy i had to go to bed

day 51: sunday

- introduced caryn to the breakfast routine (toast with jam or peanut butter and tea) and got ready for church

- church was interesting… it was sudan sunday since granny’s diocese is linked with sudan and south sudan just declared its independence yesterday. it was weird to realize just how oblivious we have been to the news for the last 7 weeks. at least caryn & i got some world news along with the sermon

- returned to granny & grandad’s for tea and biscuits in the sunroom. once we’d finished our drinks we showed them our pictures of the key sights in rome. their interest/screen tolerance lasted just long enough to get through rome, perhaps we will show them the rest another day

- made lunch with granny and caryn. It was the usual: cheese and egg sandwiches, salad (grapes, tomatoes, lettuce from the garden, apple) and yoghurt. we ate in the lounge and chatted some more

- caryn and i headed off on an adventure to sandbanks (the beach, for those of you not in the know). we had to negotiate the limited sunday bus schedules to get into poole and then out to sandbanks (and back again in time for tea) a bit, but we managed without much problem. there were lots of tents set up on the sand for the british polo tournament, which apparently is now hosted down here, but there was only a small football game going on there so it wasn’t particularly crowded. caryn and i took all the requisite photos, collected some shells, and wandered down the beach for about 40 minutes until we were tired, then we got ice creams and walked all the way back. the walk back was into the wind, so by the time we got to the bus stop we were exhausted! i read a few more chapters in middlemarch and our ride back to poole was quite chilly (we rode on the open top of the double-decker bus, of course). we had about a half hour wait at poole bus station, so we decided to entertain ourselves with walkers crisp flavors and got 3 to try (roast chicken, Worcester sauce, and cheese & onion) and ready salted, just in case. the bus back home was 25 minutes late so we arrived back at the house half hour behind schedule, but only 10 minutes late for dinner… just in time!

- chicken roast for dinner with roasted potatoes (lovelovelove) as well as carrots, broad beans, gravy… the usual. i was very proud of caryn for eating all her carrots and even taking seconds to help me finish up the vegetables. dessert was loganberries in cream with shortbread… always so good

- caryn showered while i did the dinner dishes with granny, then i showered and we all settled down to watch the kite runner together. it’s such a good film and i loved the book, but i think this was actually the first time i saw it from start to finish… i always seem to walk in for the last hour or so and always, always, always miss the beginning!

- uploaded photos, blogged, and read some more middlemarch before settling into bed

day 52: monday

- woke up around 9:45, had breakfast, and helped granny hang out the washing so they would be dry before the next loads came out (as she said, “all your little bits are going to run us nearly out of pegs!”)

- walked down to the high street to use the computers at the library. when we got there they were all taken, so we went on a mission for postcards instead. after scouring nearly every shop, including the post office, we found a few and headed back to the library. both of us managed to find an open computer and spent half hour catching up on facebook, email, etc. got proper hot sausage rolls from greggs (a café/bakery on the high street) and walked home

- helped granny make lunch – this time the sandwiches were pate and cheese and we had cucumber for the salad as well as the usual pieces. also, we were down to the heart of the lettuce, which was a special treat for me. since it was a lovely day, we ate in the sunroom and listened to the fountain tinkling in the garden while we ate

- granny drove all of us to badbury rings. caryn and i walked around a couple times, looked at all the flowers and the butterflies and the bees, and wandered into the center where we found the stone in the middle covered with a massive swarm of flying ants. i picked a couple blackberries from some of the bushes, which were delicious, and after about an hour we were bored/sick of all the bugs crawling over us so we headed back out and met up with granny and grandad. today was a gorgeous sunny day, but towards the afternoon the air got quite heavy and still so the bugs were awful

- i walked back down to the high street to buy stamps and mail all of our postcards. i quite enjoy the simplicity of going to the post office to buy stamps and post letters compared to the onerous chore it was in Italia

- tried to begin writing my proposal… which turned into taking a nap

- granny called us down to dinner and woke both of us up. today we had marrow, carrots and potatoes with the rest of the chicken... yet another vegetable victory for caryn! dessert was rhubarb crumble with custard… eeeee! :)

- caryn and i did the dishes, brought in the rest of the washing, and retired to our room where we actually sat down to write our proposals. we struggled a bit with the concept of writing a paper without the usual facebook reward system, but about half hour later we were both nearly done

- took a break at 9 to watch a detective program that granny and grandad enjoy… it’s about these old retired cops who do a bit of detective work. the plot wasn’t exactly riveting, but it was funny nonetheless

- caryn showed me all her pictures and videos of kitties (which i countered with going through all my pictures of heath!) before we settled down and i finished my proposal draft. listened to Maroon 5 in honor of July 11 and read middlemarch

day 53: tuesday

- woke up at 9:30, had breakfast, made sandwiches, and took the bus into poole. from there we transferred to the bus out to corfe castle, which took about 50 minutes. the bus drove past the bear in wareham, which made me verra happy

- walked up to corfe castle, explored a bit, and had our picnic in the ruins while we watched all the little kids and families running around. one little boy started trying to eat the rocks, caryn thought it was hilarious. i climbed up a rocky wall with a bunch of footholds only to find myself, as usual, at the top of a fairly sheer rock face and struggling to get down… no surprises there. corfe is my favorite castle, so I was really glad we managed to fit it in… i just love clambering over all the ruins and the views of the countryside from the top of the hill are amazing. if we’d have had more time/energy I would have loved to walk from corfe castle to wareham (only 6 miles!) so we could have explored that town… ah well, next time i guess

- explored corfe castle village, including the church, before retiring to the greyhound inn. caryn and i each got a pint of cider and crisps and we spent about an hour chatting

- bought postcards and an old fashioned lollipop from the sweet shop before walking back down to the bus stop. the bus was a bit late, but we arrived back in poole just in time to hop on the bus back to the broadway so that was convenient.

- tea and cupcakes in the kitchen while granny finished putting on the dinner. hung out upstairs wishing we had the internet to fritter our time away on until dinnertime. instead, we played several card games on our computers

- dinner was, as usual, immensely filling. we had stew with dumplings which were so so so good and plum pie for dinner… it’s a good thing i only visit once a year. over the dishes grandad and i were talking about all of granny’s delicious desserts and how perhaps he is even too well taken care of, so i responded “you only live once” and he countered with “oh don’t i know it.” which led to a great conversation (that is not as morbid as it sounds, i swear)

- caryn and i both showered and then we settled down to “plugga” which turned into playing countless games of hearts and getting very angry with the 3 players controlled by the computer… we gave them names we deemed appropriate as retaliation. once i got frustrated with cards i wrote some more postcards to my boys before returning to CRUSH the computer at hearts (finally!!!)

day 54: wednesday

- woke up at 9:30, had breakfast, read middlemarch while waiting for granny and grandad, and made sandwiches

- walked into town to buy caryn stamps, pick some things up from boots, and use the computers. we had to wait quite a while for the computers to open up, but finally we had a chance to check emails and print our national express ticket!

- bought a fresh out of the oven sausage roll, an anniversary card for granny and grandad, and got the bus to wimborne

- had a picnic on the green outside the minster with caryn, then we went inside to add another church to our list from this trip (one of these days i want to count how many we’ve been to). we discovered the chained library inside the minster and spent a good half hour geeking out over all the books up there. of course we were particularly excited by the “books of machiavelli” though other notable titles included “the life of henry VIII,” sir walter raleigh’s “history of the world,” and “the gentleman’s companion” (written in the mid 1600s). there was also a copy of the old testament in greek and a map of the world from 1750... and there was some books with the tudor rose/queen katherine’s pomegranate stamped into the leather cover and an unfinished charter from charles I for a school in wimborne (written in 1639) and an original manuscript of how to be a priest from the 1300s or something. the ladies in the library quite enjoyed our obvious excitement and told us all about everything… it was just so cool! such a madison moment.

- made the obligatory pilgrimage to the model town. it was exactly as i remembered, though a bit older and undergoing some renovations… there were still children running about with their little quizzes and things and thomas is still going around the model track in the shed. caryn and i enjoyed going about and looking at all the little figurines and models and things, then we got tea in the tearooms

- explored wimborne a bit more, including an old fashioned sweet shop hidden off in a courtyard down a little alleyway where i bought several sherbet lemons (!!!) NOMONOMNOM.

- took the bus back to broadstone and walked the long way home to make some room in our tummies for dinner since it was THE BEST DINNER EVERRR… aka the one where granny makes chips and sausage and bacon and beans and mushrooms and it’s wonderful. then we finished off the plum pie for dessert and taught caryn about tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor.

- caryn and i took a walk to upton country park, after the dishes of course, to walk off some of our dinner. i was glad to have the chance to revisit another one of my old haunts. the walk is only about 4 miles round trip, but my shins started to bother me since the path through the forest was cement… grrr, track injuries. other than that, it was quite pleasant

- had some milk and biscuits with granny and grandad before bed… we talked lots about university and living at home and grad schools/graduation plans; i love hearing all of their stories

- played some more hearts, sorted through our photos, blogged, read… the usual. there was a gorgeous nearly full moon straight out our windows and the clouds kept passing across it in a very eerie, halloween-esque manner… ‘twas bewitching. i also won my second game of hearts, which was far more exciting than it should have been, so it’s probably good that we return to internet land tomorrow