Paris 2008

A year ago when Tom started thinking about taking a trip to Japan on his own, I started thinking about going to Paris to take French classes. I have no idea why, it seemed like a good idea at the time. So when his trip started taking shape, and elderhostel took him off the waiting list and asked for money, it was time for me to follow through. While I took plenty of time and energy second-guessing my decision, it turned out to be a wonderful trip.

It was a terrific experience for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, our friend Anne invited me to stay with her at her apartment in Montmartre. I loved every minute with Anne, even when her French broke the sound barrier, leaving my comprehension in the dust. She was so very generous and thoughtful, including me in dinners with her friends and family, chauffeuring me to her home in the country on the weekends -- it was more than I ever could have asked or dreamed of. And, of course, her fluent English was very helpful as I tried to decipher the finer points of my French lessons.

I enrolled at L'Atelier 9, a small school in the 9th. It claimed to be relaxed, small, inexpensive and fun. It was all of that and more. It was also 4 metro stops from the apartment, an added bonus. I took the 32.5 hours a week immersion class, and was placed in the highest level that was being taught at the time. Our class included three Germans, three Americans, an Italian, a Brazilain, a New Zealander, and a Brit. It varied a bit as students came and went over the three weeks, but it never exceeded the maximum 9 students. Classes were challenging (sometimes more than challenging), and although I feel that I have forgotten 99% of what we were taught, it was still quite beneficial. I came home with a suitcase full of Inspector Maigret books, a kindle full of public domain French classics that I may even be able to read, and a head full of new vocabulary and grammar. And a heart full of gratitude to Anne for her hospitality and friendship.

And, yes, that is snow on the rooftops of Paris....

The outside

We get one every day.....

And there's more....

Following on the photos below, here are a few more of the interior of the house -- the living room, master bedroom, the downstairs TV room and guestrooms.

Maui No Ka Oi....

So, yes, it has been a while, and finally I have the pictures, the time, and the space to post a few photos of Hale Mililani, our house in Maui.

We bought the property in 2000, and rented both the main house and the ohana (cottage) until we moved into the cottage in mid-2003. In 2005 we started a remodeling project on the main house, which would have taken about two months in California. But in Maui, it is another story entirely. Our contractor had promised completion in 120 days, but 10 months later it was still far from finished. By then he had other jobs to do and he finally abandoned the project about a week before Thanksgiving 2006, as we had a houseful of guests arriving for the holiday.

Since we had completely replaced the entire kitchen from the studs out (and pushed out a wall to add more space), we were left with a kitchen with no appliances, no sinks, and no gas line for the stove. Tom spent many very hot and humid hours under sinks hooking up water and garbage disposals, and getting water lines to the refrigerator ice maker and water spout, and cajoling a plumber and the county gas folks to coordinate their installations so we could actually have a family Thanksgiving.

I spent my time with the miraculous Christine, a lady who agreed to help me clean the house after the construction, meaning that walls had to be vacuumed, cabinets cleaned inside and out, and the new Brazilian cherry floor carefully wiped. Then we moved our stuff from the ohana into the house, which left us about 5 minutes to spare before we left for the airport to collect my mother, the first arrival. Our kitchen was used for the very first time the night before Thanksgiving, and the turkey was in fact the first item roasted.

Since then we have had a number of major projects left by the contractor to complete. Every one has involved layers and layers of issues that we had expected someone else -- a professional -- to do for us. The last one was the tiling of the master bath and installation of the master bath tub. Turns out that the tub we had bought would not fit in the space, something that both the contractor and the store should have told us, but did not. That little detail delayed us almost a year, since it then turned out that in any event the tub had been improperly installed, and the plumbing to the tub was made of the wrong material, and incorrectly done. Oh, and let's not even talk about the wiring. But, finally, we figured it out, found good people to work through the project, and it is done. All we have left are a few drywall/paint and baseboard issues, and we will be done with that project.

So....here you see the house from the street, the ohana, the view of the house from the backyard, a slice of the panoramic ocean view from the lanai, and the entry and dining area of the house.