A Cariad Life

This past Sunday, Darrell and I had our first day off in 16 days. I don’t know that I have ever worked 16 straight days in my life (though some of the all nighter bargaining sessions with the unions felt like 16 days in one 24 hour sprint). We were so exhausted that we closed…

Throughout our lives we build relationships, some deep and solid that last for years and some that exist just for a season–both are important. I’ve often defined the strength of each relationship not on how much time I’ve spent with a particular person, but how much we have confided in one another, the depth of…

Every once in a while, sometimes when I take a moment to just sit in the courtyard or while I am ironing sheets (pretty much all of the time), I marvel that we are really here–that just a year ago, I was contemplating resigning my job and trying desperately to purchase an Inn on Bainbridge…

We are officially into Spring here in France…the trees are blossoming with light pink fluffy buds, the markets are full of flowers, citrus and olive trees, and lush, green herb plants, and there were hundreds of cartons of beautiful ripe, red strawberries at the Friday market this week. All of it certainly awakens my senses…

This week was one of those times when I had two blog posts in me, and I really needed to unpack a few things…we’ve been here in France for 3 1/2 months and just finished our 2nd month of being inn keepers. Last weekend, we hosted our 100th guest, and we continue to meet new…

Welcome to the final posting about shopping (for now at least), specifically shopping in France for clothes and a few other things. You may be interested to know that Europe and the UK just sprang forward one hour last night, so for the last two weeks instead of being 9 hours ahead of our sons…

You may or may not know that one of my most favorite things to do is decorate my house, and I love to decorate most when I have the opportunity to be creative, using what I have and what I can find. Our house here in France has given me that opportunity, and as I…

Bonjour! I thought I would take the final three weeks of March to dive into one of my favorite past times–shopping. Specifically, what it is like to shop in France. I will do my best to paint a realistic, and hopefully interesting, picture of what it is like to shop here, specifically as I have…

First, today is special because our youngest son, Caleb, turns 19 today! We are so proud of the young man he has become–he is kind, wise, charming, witty, and smart. It’s so hard not being there with him today and celebrating, as we normally do, with a Betty Crocker Devil’s Food Cake with dark chocolate…