October?!?

Wow - October already.....it seems like I just got here...and its 2+ months later....how time flies.

With the wine aging nicely, I have taken a little time to start seeing the neighborhood, so to speak. I have already made it to Mt. Ventoux (in the car...no Tour de France for me) again, with the weather a bit better than the last two attempts..and today went south-east to the little town of Venasque. Its one of those small, quaint, charming, gorgeous hill-top towns...with a fabulous view of the surrounding countryside. And on this Sunday, with the sun out and the tourists all gone, it was great. And made a quick stop on the way back in Pernes. These are both towns with remnants of their Sarrazin background - they changed hands over the centuries a multitude of times, from Gaul to Roman to Anglo/Norman, to Roman to Provencale to French...and the towns have the architecture to show for it.

This upcoming week's big adventure - a return to AMERICA!! I got notified by the French Consulate in San Francisco that my long-term VISA application had been approved, so I need to go back to the US to get that, and will wind my way up to Seattle for a couple of days before returning. I plan to only be gone a week all told - after all the wine is here - so I will only have 4 days in the States. I have asked the neighbor's younger (17) son to look in on the wine in my absence.

They are an interesting set. He, Richard, is British - and teaches English as a second language - mostly technical translating into English - at the University in Aix en Provence. She, Doris, is Belgian, but with extensive family in Italy - and was working in Avignon as a translator. She speaks 5 or 6 languages fluently, and in conversant in several others. Their 2 boys, Simon(19) and Alan (17) are great - both speak French, English, Italian, and Dutch. And both are very smart - - Simon is off to University in Belgium - studying astrophysics, and Alan (my temporary cellar rat) is in his last year in school in Avignon. They have taken me somewhat under their wing - particularly Doris who is helping me with my French, AND is doing the translations for the website.

All for this week. Got to get ready to leave early Tuesday.