My best friends at Christmas 2012

Oscar sent me a Christmas picture and here it is.  We had oysters and Champagne last night.  Dave is an old shucker from away back and Alanea makes very good risotto with (Canadian) scallops.  Alanea spoke to her mother last night on Face Time a really cool computer thing on her iMac.  See the screen.  I am going to Italy tomorrow for a few days in a nice hotel that Alanea booked on Marriott points.  She is very lucky to have those points because the hotel costs almost nothing and they upgrade me to a superior room.  This is our 3d Christmas in France and it is very quiet here.  I am going for a big Christmas day walk in a few minutes.  Enjoy the photos more to come especially after Italy.  If you have questions let me know.  See you soon Oscar. 

Dec. 23 and counting

On my walk yesterday Alanea took photos of me beside the cepages sign.  Note the grape varieties that grow a Domaine de Plane beside us.  I am going to email Oscar to get a nice Christmas picture.

Big walk today

Today I went for a big walk up the hill to Domaine de Plane winery.  Dave always parks the car at the Grande Bastide (local producteurs grocery store) 2 km from our house and we walk 3km up the hill to the Domaine and back.  Alanea had the camera today and took our pictures.  Dave and me are beside the vine cuttings, Uncle Pierre from Paris knows what the cuttings are called but Dave forgot.  Alanea took a nice one of me resting in my new couch after the walk.  The sun was shining and it is warmer, 12 degrees.  Alanea likes to see the different signs designating the various cepages or varieties of grape.  It is quiet here this time of year but Francoise and Heinz just drove in from Switzerland.  Their house is beside ours but they only come a few weeks per year.  Lola has company too from Lyon, she lives across the street from me and she is a big boxer dog.  I will post her photo tomorrow.  I don't have a Christmas picture of Oscar yet but when I do it will be on the blogs too, he is probably swimming with Uncle Brad or James.  I can see snow on the mountain peaks but the mountains are a long distance from here.

Christmas season 2012

It is Christmas time again (my 11th Christmas) so Dave said I had to get to work on my Blogger.  I don't know what to say except that it is going to be a nice Christmas even if there is no snow LOL.  I will post every day from now until Dec 26th when I go to Italy with Dave and Alanea.  When I come back on Jan 1 I will have more photos and stories.  My friend Cargo sent me a nice card so I am posting that first.  Oscar send me a card too.  Dave made Chestnut flour pancakes today so that photo is on the Blogger too.  I was going to get my picture with Santa Claus at Carrefour but Dave would not take me because he wanted to go into the store and I am banned from Carrefour just because I have 4 feet.  OK so get ready I will post every day until Dec 26th.

Email to a friend

I emailed this to a friend this morning and thought it so profound that I felt obligated to shared my thoughts with La Monde.

Dale

It is December 1st 2012.  I am doing very well here in France.  The rain has stopped and the sun is out.  It will be 15 degrees today but there is a cool breeze.  It is the winter (hiver) season here in the Var but we do not get snow.  Now that the rain has stopped we may get a wind called the Mistral which is very strong and can blow you right off of your feet if you are not careful.  The beauty of the Mistral is that it only lasts 3 days.  When the Mistral is finished the sky is cloudless and so brilliant "brilliant" blue you can see the snow capped mountains to the north very clearly.

In 10 weeks the Mimosa trees branches will start to flower and the whole region will be bright yellow.  I walk with Dave and Alanea up a big long driveway (3km) to Domaine de Plane, a winery, beside our house and look out over the yellow trees.  There are horses beside the winery that people ride and groom every day.  The sun will get warmer and spring will be on the way soon.

We went out for dinner last night with some friends that Dave met at his French class.  We are going to drive to Italy on December 26 for a few days.  Driving to Italy takes about 1.5 hours but we will drive 4 hours to get to our destination.  Have you ever looked at a map to see where we live?

We went to England a few weeks ago to visit Brad and James, see next post, do you remember Oscar the little Schnauzer dog that lived at our other house in Toronto?

We like it here but sometimes we think it would be nice if we had a visitor.

Let me know if you have any questions about where we are or France in general.

PS

That is Dave with a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau 2012.  A new release of this fresh young wine is eagerly awaited every 3d week of November.  Dave says it is not the finest vintage but it is fun.