MAY THE BEST MAN WIN!

With the election less than 11 days away, Dave and I marked our ballots and now they are off across the big blue ocean. My friend Amy P. told me she has been inundated will political calls. That's one thing I don't miss here.
Our prayers are that the candidate who is chosen for president will be able to guide our country through this financial crisis. Knowing at the same time this can only be done with a reliance on God. He is the only one who can turn this around, so keep praying!

My ex-pat friend, Heidi and I went to a saladiere on Thursday for lunch.When calling she said, " Let's not do the three hour French lunch because I have errands to run." I laughed and said " "Can that be done in France?" Yes, those are the heads on the shrimp which I opted not to eat as it is a custom here. Dessert? I just haven't had the will power to pass on their wonderful desserts.

The flowers have literally changed over night. One day you see summer flowers and the next day the colorful mums and ornamental cabbages. I guess I won't be going into flower withdrawal after all. As I moved around to get the best angle, my shadow just wanted to get into the action so........

What a great way to start the day with this view off our fourth floor balcony! The sky was a not a sailor's delight this morning but I was sure enjoying the colors.

We are headed to the southern part of France in the Provence area along the Mediterranean sea to see wildlife, flamingos, wild horses and the sea. You can catch up on our lives again in about 10 days. My mom said someone told her "They seem to be on vacation a lot." In reality we have only used 7 vacation days so far. It just seems like we are traveling all the time but many of our activities are on the weekends taking advantage of this blessing from God.

Psalm 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

A REAL "CHAUME" ROOF

As our Monday bike group was out cycling in the village of Plougoumelen (don't ask me how you pronounce it) I was thrilled to get to see a thatched roof being put on. The women I ride with told me if a house has an existing thatched roof you must replace it with a thatch. This is like our historical districts back in the U.S. It is very costly to replace and I imagine the labor must be the biggest expense. I wonder how long it takes to put down a thatched roof and how many layers they have to use. Anyone know?
My new French friends are always willing to stop for a group photo. They are a lot of fun and try to help me with my French. Luckily, they are very patient with my limited vocabulary! They had a discussion about which house they wanted their picture taken in front of. I agreed with their choice.
Just thought this house was pretty(joli) with it's courtyard, gardens and Brittany blue windows.

Alex and I are the only two that wore helmets. I am the only one that wears clip in bike shoes but luckily no one makes fun of me for my shoes or helmet. Riding some new trails that were single track at times and quite bumpy made for a great day of cycling. It was overcast all morning and looked like rain but the rain held off until later afternoon. Meghan got caught in the rain as she walked home from school.

Speaking of Meghan, she is learning more French each week. She now receives four hours of tutoring classes, two at school and two at home. It still takes her a long time to do her homework because she has to translate it from French into English on the computer to find out what they are even asking, type her answer in English and then translate it back to French and then write the answer in French. Wow, that wore me out just typing the explanation!

We keep telling her if she can go to an all French speaking school at 12 she can do anything in life.

What an incredible opportunity she is getting living in France, but she doesn't always see that at her age. Would I have at 12???

VANNES MARATHON COMES RIGHT BY OUR FLAT

This morning as we were getting ready for church we heard fireworks going off. Well that is unusual for a Sunday morning! Oh yeah, it's the ninth annual Vannes Marathon which goes along the beautiful gulf and through the old historical part of the city. We estimated there were about 1500 runners running this marathon. You could do it solo or as a two person team.
These runners are running through one of the city gates called the "Prison Gate" which was originally a gate to the city prison. The runner with the purple wind socket on his back is the pace setter for this group of runners running a four hour pace.
Cindy S., if only your visit was a month earlier I could have been taking pictures of you running this marathon! What was amazing to Dave and I was the fact there were no barriers to stop people from walking on the course. If you click on the picture you can see the three ladies walking through the narrow opening as the runners come around the corner.
Here runners are running on this rough cobble stone narrow road between the shops and restaurants.

The race course was marked with orange arrows on the road. Meghan said she followed the arrows home from swimming on Friday and noticed that the race would be coming down the street where we live. So just as Dave and I were arriving home, I was able to get a picture of the very last runner. As I cheered him on, a big smile came over his face. The cyclist had a sign on the bike "fin de course".

TOUS UNIS DANS L'ESPRIT

Today we sang the song "We are one in the spirit" in French at church. After church during the social time we spoke with a man from China, a woman from Holland, a French woman all in a matter of a few minutes. It made me realize we as Christians are "one in the spirit" from many different countries worshiping God together. What a great way to start the week!
Meghan attended an overnight with the youth from church, so Dave and I had 24 hours of couple time. We took a two hour walk along the gulf this afternoon and enjoyed the sun, the walk and our time to talk without interruptions. We both agreed how much more time we have spent together doing things as a family without all the distractions of "gotta go here, gotta do this."

Saturday evening we drove to Saint-Goustan to enjoy an evening out on the "water." It was such a beautiful fall evening and we chose this quaint little restaurant on the harbour. We both enjoyed our meals of fresh fish, creamed squash, potatoes, and carrots with peppers. The restaurant was completely full by the time we were served. Since the meals tend to take at least two to three hours there is not the turn over of tables we see in our American restaurants.

We have seen dogs before at other restaurants but we actually saw a dog on a ladies lap trying to eat her mussels. Now that's a new one to us!

LOOK AT THAT DOGGY IN THE ?????????????

It just doesn't get much better than this! The reflection of the harbour and clouds in the river is what I wanted you to see, and guess what? My inexpensive 3.2 pixel camera came through for me again. It was a HAPPY SUNNY DAY!!!
If you look back at the August 5 blog you will see this bridge off in the distance in one of the photos. We ran out of time back in August and I said I wanted to walk across this bridge someday and better yet.... I was able to ride across it.
Did you think I could do a blog without including a picture of the flowers? NOT! Love the color of the shutters and garage door up against this pink house. They even color coordinated their gardens to go with the color of the house.
Linda saw the dog out of the corner of her eye as we road past. He looks like he is sitting on top of an ivy bush. Upon looking closer, we think there was a stone wall underneath. Fooled us!!

Where did the road go, it was here a minute ago? The road gets covered in high tide, so if you live on this island you have to make it before high tide which is twice a day with 6 hours in between. Obviously we got there a little late to see I'ile Berder. It is not technically an island since it is attached by land (which only shows at low tide) to the village of Larmor Baden.

Psalm 33:3 Sing to the Lord a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.

DID YOU SAY IT WAS DESSERT TIME?

Linda decided to trade the bike in for this sale boat. She got a really good deal on her bike! Now she just has to figure out how to sail.
You know our motto is "We bike so we can eat more"!! Taking that into account, we stopped at the harbour in Saint-Goustan for one of their great pizzas.
Nancy, Dave's mom brought us each a gift when she visited two weeks ago. I am proudly displaying my new gift, the blue insulated bag. Everything we needed for the fish and vegetable soup was purchased from the market. Better yet, we are a five minute walk from the center of the market.
Meghan and I love fresh flowers so we bought some sunflowers. Tournesol, the French word for sunflowers, means "turned to the sun." How appropriate!
Like I said we ride so we can eat these wonderful French desserts. I will miss them back in the U.S. This is a caramel crepe with chocolate and a scoop of raspberry ice-cream.
After a full day of cycling for Linda and I (before showers as you can see), she treated our family to desserts. Now I don't feel quite so guilty but that means back on the bike tomorrow to ride off these calories.

DAVE WENT TO WORK...........
MEGHAN WENT TO SCHOOL......

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

SEEING THE SITES OF THE NEARBY VILLAGES BY BICYCLE

I have finally blocked out some time to catch up on the blog from our week of bicycling in the outskirts of Vannes. Linda and I enjoy riding in the country of Indy but we both agree the sights this week were breathtaking. We could not wait to see our view around the next bend. While riding on one of the many trails in this area, we saw this elderly couple out walking. We both commented on how many more elderly you see here riding bikes and walking. I hope this is Dave and I in about 30 years!

Most of the roads and paths we traveled were along the gulf. The weather was in the high 60's to low 70's. My perfect cycling weather. God blessed us with a week of beautiful weather!
We laugh about how long we spent taking this picture! It was our attempt at "hold the camera out at arms length and take the photo." I think we took about 10 shots to get us, the bike and the path in the picture. As you can see the stone walled path is not much more than shoulder width. These are the treasures you find on a bike that you wouldn't in a car. We talked about how much more we experience when cycling.
Just a forgotten boat among the tall grass waiting for the tide to come in.
Travellers came across this old stone bridge to reach the once busy harbour of Saint-Goustan. The town is full of history. It was the setting for a large battle in 1364, the "Chouannerie" counter-revolution, and it welcomed Benjamin Franklin in 1776.

CYCLING ON THE NANTES TO BREST CANAL PATH

A sunny day, bicycles and a beautiful view. Life is good! On Saturday we loaded up the bikes and headed to Josselin, a town less than an hour away to ride on the Nantes to Brest Canal path. We opted to take our single bikes and have a leisurely day of cycling. The canal path is a chain of canalized rivers that was dug between 1812 and 1842.
Just one of the splendid views we had of the Oust river. The temperature was in the high 60's to low 70's.
One of the ways we get Meghan to ride longer is to bribe her with ice-cream. Whatever works!
We ventured into this little town to have a snack and rest awhile.
After an full afternoon of cycling we turned around to head back to the car. Much to our surprise we came upon this man putting this float in the water. Luckily he spoke a little English and we learned he and a neighbor play this game of seeing who can outdo the other in making strange floats. I think he wins the contest. If you click on the picture you can tell it's a cat pedalling a bike and a Hawaiian girl in a grass skirt. He is pedaling with a homemade oar. It was rather hilarious.
Linda, my Indy friend enjoyed the day of cycling with us. She is cycling in front of one of the lock master's houses which were usually beautifully decorated with many flowers.

The castle in Josselin was originally built in the 12th century and is situated along the Oust River. The castle is still a private residence owned by descendants of the family, Duc de Rohan, the original designer of the castle.
Fall is here! The leaves are beginning to turn here, mostly hues of yellows and reds. Our first fall in 20 years of no leaf raking!
The English Book Store was a special treat. Dave and Meghan had read most of the books they brought so they were excited to restock the book shelves. Of course if we could only read French we would be in heaven since our flat has way over 1000 books! I am still trying to read what I brought from home, my cycling and walking cuts down on my reading time.
After an afternoon of going at our tourist pace, Dave was excited to ride home from Josselin on his bike at his speed. He said his maximum was around 32mph down hill. The picture is a little blurry because we couldn't keep up with him in the car! Dave was all smiles because the Tour de France cyclists road on this same road this summer. We missed seeing this part of the Tour by just a few days.
Stopping along side of the road to capture the view of the valley on the way down the hill. I'm sure Dave was riding too fast to see this. Ha!

SAYING GOODBYE

After a week of great cycling with Linda, ( pictures to follow this week on the blog) she was off to her next adventure of cycling in eastern and southern France. Our family may join her at the end of the month for a week of more cycling during Meghan's fall break. Stopping at the local big box store we saw Halloween items displayed in a 8'by10' section. Very unlike the aisles and aisles of items at home. We have been told that they really don't celebrate Halloween here. Looks like no Garriott Halloween party this year.
To avoid more time on a train, I offered to drive Linda to Anger, about two hours east of Vannes to meet up with her friend Nancy who she will be biking with for the next two to three weeks. Luckily we found Nancy at the train station and drove to their hotel.
Out walking and looking for a place for lunch we happened upon this archaeological dig. After researching on the web, I learned they have uncovered 10 tombs dating to the 5th or 6th century.It has been related that Maurille (336-426) sent down fire on a pagan temple and built in its place a church and a monastery.This is the location of the church. It was very exciting to witness this piece of ancient history!
For those who can read French, here is the article in the Anger, France paper dated Sept. 25, 2008.
You know I can't resist the food photos. Look at the colors on my lunch plate! I ordered a plate of hors d'oeuvres and this is what was presented. Was I pleasantly surprised. Much healthier than what I thought I was getting.

OUR FIRST FIND!

Guess who? It's Meghan! I have some exciting news about a new game we have just heard of. It's called geocaching! Here is how to play. Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment. Doesn't it sound fun? The website is http://www.geocaching.com. Try it! So we have a friend here whose name is Linda. She told us about this really fun game. Last night my mom and dad went out to dinner and Linda and I went to the geocaching website. We found a cache near where we live. So this afternoon we went and tried to find it.
So we left at about 5 or so. The thing about geocaching is that the site just gives you the coordinates but you have to have to go and find the cache. Our GPS doesn't let us put in coordinates and we had to find the cache by ourselves. Before we left we put the coordinates in google earth so we got a pretty good idea about where it was.
We walked along a stone wall as you can see on our left. The tide was up so if you accidentally missed a step you would be in the water.
It took us awhile to find the cache. The site gave us a few hints such as:

• The cache is shoulder height
• along the wall
• right by the point
• there is a little loose stone

As we where walking back my dad was walking with his right hand along the wall so he could feel if any of the rocks where loose.Then he stopped. He took a small rock and handed it to me. I took it. He got up on his tippy toes and looked inside the hole. In the hole, he could see just a speck of plactic. He turns to me and says "Bingo".

With all of this might he lifted the big rock and told me to grab the plactic box as fast as I could. On the top of the box it said "geocaching". The other thing about geocaching is there are gifts in the box. But if you take something you have to leave something too. I got a little bear that says"Haribo" which is the brand of candy I eat. So it was perfect! The other thing that is in the box is a little log and a pencil to make comments in. When you visit the geocaching site you have to set up a account. My geocaching name is Nicole Ritter. This was a lot of fun and I hope to do it again soon.