More pictures....

Another week in France. Brain is severely fried at the end of every day because of having to constantly think about what I am going to say. Basically, I talk a lot less than I normally do because sometimes I just don't know the words I want to say, so..I say nothing. I think there are some people in my life would appreciate if I could figure out how to be like this when speaking English too!

This week, I was kind of a French housewife while I helped Steff. And, I made my first French pastry- FROM SCRATCH! And, ironically, it was an apple pie! I used apples stored from the autumn in the cave under the house and taught Steff how to use her new Cuisinart. J'aime bien "the kweez" as we have always called it at my house.

Laurent's niece and nephew (who are in their 20s) are visiting right now so there is lots of activity in the house! Laurent's niece took me to the coast and also to the big hill nearby called Mont Dol. Not so much a mountain as a big rock but it was a cool view nonetheless.

Thursday, I head back to London for 5 days for the international school job fair. Mama needs a job...I really like traveling by train here so I am really excited for the trip again. However, this time, I won't have to have a huge bag so it will be significantly easier!

View of the countryside from Mont Dol. If you notice that the countryside ends, that is because the ocean is right there. I didn't realize until I could actually see it how close I am to the ocean. No wonder that every morning there are super low clouds and it is kind of foggy.

Also, it doesn't get light here in the morning until about 8:45. I FINALLY figured out why (yes, for a science teacher, I am a total moron). France is one hour later than England but here in Dol, we are practically in England and so it stays dark much later in the morning. It was really weird to open my shutters at 8:30 and it still almost pitch black dark. I thought it was hard to get up early in England...not so much compared to here!

There is a big windmill at the top of Mont Dol. I assume that it likely used to work but don't think it does anymore!

This is Mont St. Michel. It is a castle/abbey/fortified town out in the middle of the water and it is only accessible during low tides. I haven't been yet but you can see it from extremely far away.

Sandy would like to know that I went "birding" with Laurent's niece who has a degree in Environmental Education, like me! We saw only like three birds because they were way too far away where the water was (low tide!). But, we did see one raptor. That was my French word of the day..."rapace." I tried to explain the concept of "Bird Nerd" but it didn't really translate! But, Laurent's niece is also plagued by knowing the Latin names of species, as am I. But, now, being from two different countries, I can see the handiness of a binomial nomenclature! :)

Being a landlubber from Colorado, it sure is fun to be within about 5 minutes of the coast!

Guard dogs at the house on the hill. The house was only accessible by foot and likely only when the tide is out. See picture below.

Not sure I'd want a house that was only accessible when the tide is out. That would be kind of a pain for quick errands....oh that and the fact that you have to climb a huge hill every time to get up to it.

Love the views.

We had total kite failure. So instead, Léo collected about 30 rocks and could barely walk he had so many in his jacket and jeans pockets!