Category: Settling into French life–year 1
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June 3, 2023–“Not even an egg…”
When we first started the B&B, we had all kinds of ideas about what our guests would love and what they would appreciate–we planned with those conceptions. Many of those dreams were based on our experiences with American B&Bs–particularly when it came to breakfast. If you have visited B&B’s in the States you know that…
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May 26, 2023–Best Kept Secrets
This week marks 4 months we have been running the B&B, and on June 6, we will have been in France for 6 months–wow! Time really has flown. It has been exhilarating, exhausting, at times mundane, frustrating, but always rewarding. After starting the visa process last September 2 (many of you rode that crazy ride…
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May 18, 2023–House Hunting
Since we opened in mid-January, we have had about 200 guests, and when I consider that this B&B has been running for 12 years before Darrell and I purchased it, I realize that this home, in that entire time, has sheltered thousands of guests. (Literally, if each year there were just 500 guests, that would…
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May 10, 2023–A Rose by any other name…
One of my fondest memories growing up was going to visit my grandparents on Emerald Isle, NC–my grandfather was the pastor at Chapel by the Sea, and they lived in a parsonage right next to the pretty white church with a steeple. Every afternoon in the summer, after my grandfather worked at the church (including…
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May 1, 2023–Labor Day in France..how sweet it is
Today is Labor Day in France, a national holiday–and just like the US, it is a bank holiday. Yet, it is quite different here and means so much more this year for me. More about that in a minute…May 1 is also very special in our home because it is Darrell’s birthday! We took the…
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April 25, 2023–Butter, Lamps, and Locks
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…
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April 17, 2023–Another lesson in vulnerability…
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…
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April 10, 2023–Road Trippin’
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…
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March 31, 2023–Le déjeuner…it’s better than lunch
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…
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March 26, 2023–People…
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…
A Cariad Life 