CM Gronlund

Professional Image

2008-03-18T05:32:20Z

I'm really getting into my new company image. For the first time as an independant consultant, I have a business card that looks professional - something that says I am really worth all the money I charge clients;-)

The designer created a custom logo for me - I don't have an image of the entire card but I can show off the logo.

What do you think?

life & everything

2008-01-24T18:32:41Z

The sun is shining and its very cold, for Seattle. I'm unwinding from interactions with a client that tends to have lots and lots of emergencies (didn't plan effectively and need support at the last minute). Unfortunately, that resulted in my "working" at least an hour per day from December 21 through January 11th. I turned my cell phone off at noon on the 11th and didn't see that there was a late afternoon "emergency" call until the next morning when I was up at Snoqualmie Pass skiing and it was too late. Plus cell reception at the pass is pretty spotty, text messaging works ok, calls don't always go through or if they do, they get disconnected often. So, I didn't respond until late Sunday when I was off the mountain.

Should have turned my phone off sooner, this seems to have ended the tendency toward weekend "emergency" calls.

I've been working with a branding specialist who has designed a logo and business stationary for me. Last week, I ordered the business cards (the other stuff can come later) and am anxiously waiting for them to arrive.

Samhain....

2007-11-01T01:50:20Z

Sparky decided to dress as his inner self - a witch!

Birthday's

2007-07-24T04:58:57Z

Birthdays are coming up!

Mine is 7/26 and the boy's is 7/27 (and no, we do not fight all the time).

My schedule is totally crazy this week. Loads of meetings and stuff at mickey mouse software company, loads of social events (b-day dinners), the dentist will mess with my braces again and I've got an assignment to complete in my spare time for Passages. And I haven't seen the new harry potter movie, and I have the book and want to finish it, and my little dog needs to be house trained (my guess is that he smelled all of the places where shadow lost control and thought they were ok places to eliminate). ICK!

Climbing Escape

2007-07-17T03:46:37Z

The Snow Chute

Sparky went on his first snow/rock climb this weekend. We went up Mount Ellinor in the Olympic Penninsula four miles and 3,100 feet up (1,500 feet of elevation gain in the last mile). He did really well until we got to a long snow chute where I slowed down, using my ice axe as an anchor as I kicked steps in the snow and made my way up. Its pretty easy to go too fast and slide down the slope (into the rocks below). After about 30 minutes of working our way up the snow, he sat down and refused to move. His feet were very cold! So I picked him up and stuffed him in the back of my pack. Then I slowed way down. It was hard to continue climbing up hill with ten extra pounds of weight. Once we were past the snow chute, I was able to take him out of the pack and let him walk.

Sparky doesn't get to hike off leash yet. He loves to run - away! On this trip, I let him off leash while we were going down a fairly steep, rocky section. Jim was ahead of me and I thought he could grab Sparky as he came by. Sparky ran past Jim and wandered off the trail. I kept calling him and eventually, he found me and went back on the leash.

Sparky, Riding in My Pack

Sparky, Crashed out in the car on the way home

Absorbed

2007-07-17T03:08:26Z

My gig at Microsoft is going well, now that I am through the security hurdles.

At first, it was frustrating to deal with large company beauracry. It took a week for me to get my building access and network sign-on. Till then, I couldn't review any of the project documentation, check out the Microsoft SDLC, or schedule meetings with people. Then, once I received access I had to completely reconfigure my lap-top to their network security settings and install a bunch of software. I've spent at least two days just futzing with my lap-top.

Once I did get everything set up it was pretty easy to find my way around Microsoft's internal web sites. I found their SDLC documentation along with templates that really make my life easier. I was able to create a project plan using their SDLC project planning template in a couple of hours (instead of several days).

The only problem is the commute. The Redmond, WA office where I work is about 15 miles from my house. It can take up to two hours to commute one way, depending on the traffic. My usual commute is 1/2 hour to the office in the morning, arriving by 7:30 AM. Going home, it takes about 1 hour when the traffic is moving well. When there are traffic problems, it is miserable. Redmond is on the other side of lake washington and there are four options across the lake and all of the options are bad. No rapid transit options here!

I'm here for 2 more weeks and they want to extend my contract another 4 or 5 weeks. There is a possiblity that I can stay to the end of the year if I want to stick it out. I'm not sure that I can handle the commute that long.

Soon, I will be able to add Microsoft to my list of satisfied clients. That will be nice.

Doggie Tarot Reading

2007-07-03T04:09:34Z

Last night, Sparky found my latest tarot reading and ate one of the cards - The Devil. I wonder what it was about that particular card that attracted him? Should I worry?

He also found the packet of rubber bands (for my braces), chewed it open and scattered tiny rubber bands all over the couch. With his jumping range, I have to keep stuff at least four feet above the floor and outside of his three foot horizontal leap.

This evening, he is relatively calm. He is running through the sprinkler I've set up to water my garden and then rolling around on the couch, rubbing the water off his fur and making a kind of GrGrGr noise. Now, there are little muddy footprints all over the red leather couch and love seat.

Luckily, leather is very easy to clean.

the borg

2007-06-28T02:31:50Z

I'm being absorbed by the borg tomorrow.

Seriously, I'm starting a four week project with Microsoft that could extend to the end of the year. And it is in my area of specialty - business intelligence. And it is a high profile project that reports up to the Chief Accounting Officer (he will be one of the users of this system). And I've never worked at Microsoft before (hard to believe for a native Seattlite).

Tomorrow should be fun!

Pictures

2007-06-26T00:01:17Z

Took a very long (for me) bike ride this weekend and stopped by the UDub Practice Climbing Rock on the way home. I've got this dorky, posed publicity picture that needs to be replaced. So, I climbed and Jim snapped away.

Then there is the self portrait shot of me & Sparky taken at Rattlesnake Ledge - it was Sparky's first hike. Probably won't use this one.

Perhaps I can just use a shot of Sparky. Or better yet, Rosie and Sparky. Here they are pretending to be good dogs.

Here they have given up on pretending to be good.

Connections

2007-06-25T05:30:14Z

I'm hosting a gathering Thursday evening and have 9 RSVP's. I call it "Indie Adventure Tales" and invite everyone to "Join me for an evening connecting with other independent business owners as we speak and listen. Dig deep into your independent business experience and shape your message into a story and share that story with the biznik community."

Check out www.biznik.com and their events page for more information.

Indigo Girls Concert in my yard

2007-06-18T03:51:55Z

All evening I've been listening to music, thinking that my neighbors have their stereo cranked up. And then I realized that the Indigo Girls are performing outside tonight at the Woodland Park Zoo - eleven blocks south and six blocks east of my front yard.

I wonder if I could sell tickets to my front yard for the next concert. Karla Bonoff is coming on 7/15.

Sparky rides a bike

2007-06-18T01:24:57Z

Yesterday, I took Sparky to the Fremont Solstice Parade. I wanted to take him in a picnic basket on the bus. Jim wanted us to ride our bikes to the parade. Then I got an idea.

So, I carried Sparky in a tote bag. He seemed to like it a lot. We sure got a lot of comments along the way.

Consulting.....

2007-06-07T23:30:44Z

I have been added to the City of Seattle's Consultant Roster. It means that any City Department can hire me without going through a competitive bid process - where they are required to hire the lowest bidder (IF the contract is for an amount less than $240K, or a total of $481K per year).

Last month, I heard about a project that would be perfect for me and now I can pursue it!

I'm also networking like a fiend, attended a breakfast meeting yesterday and am going to another networking gathering this evening with a bunch of high tech people. I'm listed on a couple of cool business networking sites Linked in: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cmgronlund and Biznik: http://biznik.com/members/index.html?name=Catherine_Gronlund

Linkedin is a good source of "real" jobs. I'm not looking for one, but I've send job postings on to friends who are looking. It is also a good way for me to locate the names of HR representatives - so that I can follow up with my promotional material.

Biznik is kind of fun, open to self-employed people and business owners. It seems to be a good place to advertise personal services, locate independant high-tech consultants and meet some cool people. I'm attending a business workshop this weekend and will have a better idea of how it fits with what I want to do after that.

House Move - Update

2007-06-01T02:05:44Z

This is the tiny house being demolished. Can you see the mini-bulldozer through the door?

The "new" old house before the move.

And the "new" house in place, ready for a foundation, chimney, etc...

Sparky!

2007-06-01T01:56:23Z

Sparky is a real city dog now.

Today we took a long walk, past Woodland Park Zoo, through the off-leash dog park, around Greenlake, back up to the top of Phinney Ridge and home. It is about five miles and the last quarter mile up the hill is fairly steep. I thought that if he got tired, I'd carry him the rest of the way. Silly me. He ran circles around Rosie and I throughout the walk and pulled on the leash up the hill while Rosie was dragging, pulling me back.

I think he will be a good running partner once he is used to being on a leash.

Rosie has been corrupting Sparky, teaching him how to guard our house from all of the dogs that walk by. She quietly waits in the bushes until they are next to the fence and then leaps out snarling and barking - generally scaring both dog and owner. It works. Most dog owners cross the street long before they come to our house.

Sparky doesn't lie in wait for them, he comes running whenever Rosie starts to bark and adds his voice to the noise. I'm thinking obedience school might not be a bad thing.

Now, Rosie is completely different when kids come by. She runs up to the fence to greet them with her tail wagging. Our neighbors (who don't own dogs) love Rosie.

I'm still trying to get a photo of Sparky when he is moving. He is very fast!

Sparky!

2007-05-30T05:00:43Z

Rosie has a new toy! Or so she thinks.

Sparky is a 10lb Yorkshire terrier who thinks he is much bigger. He came from the same place where we got Rosie four years ago, a friend’s retreat center and dog rescue (for those who find barking dogs restful). We spent last week there building a cabin (and learning to use power tools) and Sparky helped out. He is adjusting to life in the big city.

Yesterday, he had his first adventure. I had just given him a bath, removing his collar with the dog rescue number on it, thinking I would put it back on when he dried. Jim let Rosie out and he followed close behind. At some point, he saw a woman walk by with her dog and decided to follow, squeezing through a gap between the gate and main fence. The woman saw him right away and asked one of our neighbors, Becky, if she knew whose dog it was. Becky didn’t recognize him and decided to see if she could find his owners. He didn’t have a collar and she assumed he would have a micro-chip identification. So, she took him home, bought him a collar, leash and food and called around to see if any of the places that scan dogs for micro-chip identifiers were open.

I found Sparky on my way back from posting “lost dog” flyers in stores around the neighborhood. I saw Becky’s husband in their drive way and walked over to ask if he had seen Sparky – and there was Sparky on a leash. Sparky was very happy to see me, I picked him up, carried him home, grabbed my wallet and took him to the pet store to get an id tag with our phone number on it. Since then, we have tested all of the gaps in the fence and discovered that he can slip through the gap next to both of our gates. We have blocked the gaps with fireplace logs, temporarily blocking them so that he can’t get out. We are looking for a permanent solution to reduce the space between the gate and the fence.

Rock Climbing

2007-05-16T01:26:55Z

Got the boy to go climbing with me on Sunday. I love rock climbing - he hates it. So, I "won" a climbing trip at the Passages NW Benefit that was offered by some friends of mine. Nick is a National Outdoor Leadership School(NOLS) instructor and mountaineering guide for Alpine Ascents. Jenna is learning to climb. The plan was to have Nick work with Jim, starting out with some easy climbs and increasing the difficulty level as the day went on. Jenna and I paired up so that we could climb along side them.

The weather didn't cooperate. It was cold and a bit drizzly in the mountains. We worked up a bit of a sweat hiking up to the climbing area and then got a bit cold while setting everything up for our first climbs. The rock was cold! I climb pretty fast, and the tips of my fingers were numb by the end of my first climb. Fortunately, it was an easy climb.

After the first climb, Jim reminded me that he wasn't here because he enjoyed climbing. By the end of the second climb, he seemed more relaxed and comfortable. By the end of the day, he was enjoying himself.

The last climb of the day had a harder variation that involved an overhang. Nick suggested that I try the hard way up and so I did. I looked at the climb - seeing water dripping down the rock where I would need to trust that a microscopic edge of rock would be able to hold my weight - and that my feet wouldn't slip off. It took a couple of tries before I figured out the sequence and was able to climb past the overhang.

After I finished, Jenna was eager to give it a try. As she tried to climb the overhang, she complained that I had made it look much easier than it was. She continued to struggle, long past the point where I would have stopped, and finally made it past the overhang.

As she struggled, I devalued my accomplishment, saying "its much easier for me because I'm taller." After I spoke, I wondered why it is so automatic to diminish my accomplishments when she said that I did something well. Could it be left over angst from earlier years hearing "Oh, you are so ____ (smart, thin, pretty, lucky) I hate you." I'd like to think that my friends would want to see me succeed.

It was a very fun day, in spite of the cold. As we drove home, Jim mentioned that his ideal day of climbing would involve 70 degree weather and shade. I'm sure I can arrange a perfect trip later this summer.

Tree Surgery

2007-05-10T21:17:15Z

The sounds of a chain saw and chipper are in the background. My neighbor's oak tree is being trimmed back to provide extra room so that a house can pass by and turn the corner onto my block.

A developer purchased several houses a few blocks away and planned to tear them down so that he could build a four story condominium in their place. One of my neighbors owned a tiny house that would be difficult to remodel or update. At one time, I heard they were considering tearing the house down and rebuilding it completely.

Instead, they purchased one of the houses the developer was going to tear down and will move it to their property. This week, they are clearing the site, tearing the existing house down carefully so that most of the building materials can be recycled. Then on moving day, they will lift their "new" house off its foundation and move it to its new location.

The move will take place in the middle of the night on 5/19 - 5/20. Unfortunately, I'll be out of town and will miss the excitement.

I spent a bit of time watching the tree surgery this morning. Many people passing by on foot or in cars stopped to ask if the tree was being removed completely. I assure them it is just being trimmed back so that it won't extend over the street. The tree currently leans out over the road and has pushed the sidewalk up with its roots. During storms, I often watch it sway, wondering if it will topple over and which way it will fall. If it fell toward my house, it's large enought that it could go through the roof and demolish the northeast corner of my house - perhaps even damaging the house next door as well. Looking at the direction it is leaning, I'm thinking that if it did fall over, it would miss my house completely and take out the home of my neighbor across the street.

Today, the tree surgeons have removed a large portion of the tree and appear to be working on the last large branch. A couple of people ignored the no-parking signs and left thier vehicles in the path of the branches. So far, the crew has managed to miss these cars. They have an elaborate rope and pully system that allows them to control the way each branch falls. Another system secures the climber to the tree so that he can move around and secure himself when he is ready to cut off another branch. I'd love to see his harnass and climbing system!

Being careful takes a lot of time. Rosie and I headed off for a walk around 3:30 PM this afternoon and overheard the crew talking about another job that was scheduled for today. With another large branch to remove and clean-up, they weren't going to make it to that job.

Libby's Place

2007-05-09T21:50:52Z

I've uploaded pictures from our road trips in Southwestern France:

http://pics.livejournal.com/cmgronlund/gallery/000070ta

Tuesday 4/17 - Thursday 4/19

2007-05-09T21:04:20Z

Tuesday – Final road trip

This is it. Our last chance to explore Southwestern France.

We start in Cazaubon to drop off the rental car. Then we climb into Be Bop and are off. Our first stop is in Montreal – a cute little village.

Then on to Fources on the River Auzoke – I asked Libby to take a picture of Jim and I – so that we would have something to prove we were in France. We’ve been snapping away but haven’t taken any pictures of each other.

This town is very charming, on the banks of a river with many flowering trees and a lovely garden park. Next weekend, they will host a flower show. We wandered through the town and I checked out a place with a for sale sign. A bit too much work for my taste.

We continued on to Larressingle – a walled town that has remained intact. In one of the fields outside of town, there are war machines – a catapult and other things I don’t recognize. There is also an arena where they stage mock battles during the summer tourist season.

Most of these towns have souvenir shops that sell cheap trinkets – machine made copies of famous tapestries, swords, pottery branded with the name of the town or region, and so on. In Larrenssingle, we found a potter’s cooperative that featured work by Christiane Fitzpatrick who has researched traditional French porcelain designs and is recreating them. We pooled our money (by this time we had used up most of our cash) and bought a small plate. I could have bought much more.

We continued on to Aignan – the picture postcard was much more impressive than the town and then through Auche and back home.

Lily was still gone, so we continued on to Mauvezin de Armagnac to meet Jean Claude and see the final painting. Jim and I plan to buy it, our only question is when and how we will transport it to Seattle.

After a lovely visit with Jean Claude, we headed back to pick up Lily and go out for a final dinner together. Lily left a note saying she was at Chez Claude – the snack bar on Lac d L’uby. So we headed over to pick her up – which was not that easy. We had to have some wine, visit with everyone and after a couple of hours, were able to depart for the restaurant.

The meal was lovely – though they weren’t thrilled about our late arrival – even though we arrived long before their posted closing time.

Wednesday

Our final, final road trip took us to the Mont de Marsan SCNF station. We stopped in at the desk to verify our connection with the train from Bordeaux to Paris and discovered that the train we planned to take from Mont de Marsan to Bordeaux was cancelled and we would not be able to make our connection. After fifteen minutes of looking for alternatives, we were finally issued tickets for a later train that would depart at 2PM.

We arrived at the station in time for a 10:30 AM train so it would be a long wait. The station personnel were kind enough to let us stash our luggage in a back room. After 9/11 and attacks on European trains and subways, baggage storage areas in all of the train stations were closed and security measures enacted that prohibit anyone from leaving their baggage unattended. The woman who let us store our baggage said that she trusted us because we were US citizens.

We went with Libby & Lily to the cheap grocery store and then headed back to Mont de Marsan to kill time shopping and having a bit of lunch. I stopped in a store that looked great from the outside, once inside, I saw that all of the brands they carried were from the US. Not exactly what I had in mind. I stopped in another store on Rue de Frederic Bastiat (an economist/philosopher I studied in college) and found some great linen slacks – linen was a lot less expensive than blue jeans.

Once again, we had lunch in the Chinese restaurant and then made our way back up to the train station in time for a nap on the lawn before catching the train.

Back in Paris, we dragged our luggage through an underground passage to the subway station where we took the subway to the St Germaine des Pres station. Dragging heavy baggage up and down stairs was not much fun – they did not have elevators and only the train station had escalators. My bag weighed over 60 lbs.

At the hotel, the desk clerk took one look at my huge bag and offered to take it up for me. The elevator was tiny, barely enough room to take a little carry on bag. We took turns, taking one bag up with one person. The next day, I got stuck for about 10 minutes trying to fit my huge bag into the elevator with me. There simply wasn’t enough room for the door to close around the bag, I finally compressed the bag down long enough for the doors to close.

That evening, we wandered the area looking for a place for dinner and found La Meridienne (18 rue Guisarde) where I had a fabulous dinner, significantly better than any other meal I’d had on the trip.

Then off to bed and up early the next day so that we could get to the airport in time for an 11:30 AM flight. In the morning, we had one last café a lait and a final trip to the Boulangerie before the taxi came for us.

Saturday 4/14 - Monday 4/16

2007-05-03T04:19:49Z

We make plans for another Road trip, after a quick trip into Mont de Marsan to pick up the correct Alternator. Libby and I leave Jim behind so that he can continue working on his barn cleaning project.

Libby left a message for Felix, letting him know we had the correct alternator, thinking he might be able to work on it that day. We head out the back way – bypassing Barbotan and Cazaubon. We travel through Gabarret and Mezin. At some point along the way, we encountered a cow on the road who escaped through an open gate and was not happy about meeting up with a car. We left the cow to find its way back and continued on to Nerac.

I asked Libby to stop so that I could take a photograph of Nerac. I would have liked to tour the town except that it was too late for lunch and too early for the shops to open and we had other destinations in mind. As Libby and I stood on a bridge and snapped our photo’s, Gary & Paul came running up and gave Libby a hug. They are from Great Britain originally and live near Condom. Libby updated them on dinner with Diana Rigg (Gary loves Diana and was insanely jealous until I reminded him that as Libby’s dear friend, he could expect to meet Diana in the near future), car trouble and contractor trouble (getting someone to show up when they say they will is difficult at best).

Then – back to the car and on through Agen and Valence. We made another brief stop in Moissac when we saw signs advertising a “feria de artesania” in the plaza del ayun tamiento. It was a small artist’s fair with a wide range of hand-crafted products. My favorite was the puppeteer and his amazing hand made marionettes. I could not imagine bringing one back intact, I was sure they were too delicate. He also had a few clown hand puppets that were cute, but not even close to his other work; I bought one anyway to help support his work in a small way.

We got back into the car and continued through Montauban and Negrepelisse. Our ultimate destination was the Circuit des Gorges de L’Aveyron and we had burned up a lot of time getting the alternator and on our side trips.

We weren’t sure where to go once we made it to the Gorges – so we looked for interesting things along the way.

As we wove our way through the river canyon, I saw a fortress on top of a rock wall – Bruniquel. We started to pass by and then decided to turn around and check it out. Bruniquel is worth an entire day of exploration. It was built over several centuries with one of the oldest sections - Queen Brunehaut’s Tower - dating back to the 12^th century. It is not a deserted ruin, we saw several residences and at least one of them was for sale. We enjoyed wandering through narrow winding streets up to the highest point in the castle.

I would have love to stay there for the rest of our evening, but we wanted to complete the circuit before dark so we continued on to St Antonin Noble Val and stopped briefly and then went on to the final village on the circuit, Cordes Sur Ciel a village set up on a hill in the clouds. Again we wandered through narrow winding streets up to the highest point and had a sweeping view of the countryside.

After Cordes Sur Ciel, we continued on through Gaillac and Toulouse. On the way back, we took the express road, similar to a freeway which was much faster than going on the roads through town. We stopped for dinner in Auch, discovering a wonderful Spanish restaurant called Bodega tio pepe. Service was slow, but the food and wine was very good. The bartender was very cute.

Sunday –

A relaxing day at Libby’s place; gardening, cleaning out the barn and catching up with e-mail and my journal. The neighbors came by to visit and gave us a tour of their house that was built in 1680. They also wanted to make certain Libby knew the correct property line. Fortunately, their description matched the description Libby got when she purchased the property so there shouldn’t be a conflict. It sounded as though the previous owner disagreed with the legal description.

Libby’s property is called Le Petit Soubere, there is another place nearby that is called Le Grande Soubere. Libby has not been able to discover the meaning of Soubere.

Monday -

We get up early for a trip to Auche to pick up groceries and get back by 11:00 AM so that we will be there when Lily arrives.

Lily met Libby when she spent a couple of years in Seattle working as an Au Pair. She has helped Libby find her place and get settled in the community. Libby met many of her friends through Lily.

We eat bread & cheese and drink the champagne Lily brought. Then Libby, Lily and I head back to Auche for another shopping trip. On the way back, we stop at Virginie’s so that Lily could pick up some things she had left there. Of course, we have to stop and drink a bit of rose with Virginie, it would be rude for us to pick up Lily’s things and leave right away.

As we drive back to Libby’s house, we decide that it would be best to stop by La Palmeraie so that Lily could say hi to Felix and see when he plans to fix the car. Lily doesn’t think he will make it that day. Perhaps tomorrow.

A lovely dinner at home and more wine!

Friday 4/13

2007-05-03T03:19:27Z

Time for a real road trip -to Lourdes and the Pyrenees.

Libby had visited Lourdes several years ago and wanted to share this sacred site with us. Lourdes is where in 1858, the Virgin Mary appeared to a young girl, Bernadette in front of the Grotto of Masabielle several times. Thousands of people make a pilgrimage to Lourdes each year to visit the Grotto where Mary appeared to Bernadette, to draw holy water from the source and in search of a cure for physical ailments – the Catholic Church has recognized 67 miracle cures that are associated with Lourdes. The full story of Lourdes and Bernadette appears (in English) at http://www.lourdes-france.com/index.php?texte=1&langage=en Again, we started in Cazaubon with a quick trip to the Boulangerie and this time we were able to keep going.

Our route took us through Aire St L’Adour, Pau, Nay, Listelle and Betharram. We stopped briefly in some of the more picturesque places to stretch our legs and snap a few photographs.

Our first planned stop was the Grotte de Betharram, a huge system of caves which can be toured online at http://www.grottes-de-betharram.com/default0.htm click on the British flag for information in English. We waited and waited and waited for a tour to begin and just before we got on the bus to ride to the beginning of the tour, we were told that our tour guide would be speaking Italian and French and that we would need to wait for the next guide if we wanted to have the English language tour. By then, we had noticed that the French have a different concept of time and that a few moments could easily become an hour. Besides, we could practice our French.

The tour guide was very kind and spoke slowly. I could understand a large portion of his explanation of the formations and all of his jokes – he made a point of telling very simple jokes.

The scariest part of the tour was a group of Italian ladies who remained in a tight group through out the tour. At one point, Jim was stuck behind them and could not pass by to join up with Libby and me. They didn’t seem to trust this strange man.

Rain was pouring down outside, when we left the caves and continued on to Lourdes.

We followed a winding road and just as we came into the city, we saw a large Bastide perched on the top of a hill overlooking the sanctuaries dedicated to Bernadette’s miracle. We were seeing Chateau Fort de Lourdes built in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Unfortunately, clouds prevented us from seeing the Pyrenees. I did pick up a post card so that I could see what we missed.

We turned into Lourdes and wound our way through busy city streets to the grotto and sanctuaries. The site appears to be designed to accommodate thousands of people inside or outside.

There is a large courtyard outside the main sanctuary and grotto. The sanctuary is built on two levels, with the second level high enough that someone standing outside on that level would be visible to anyone in the courtyard. There is also a huge underground sanctuary that will seat several thousand people.

Lourdes is known for its healing water and healing miracles. While we were there, we saw several groups of teenagers taking handicapped people to the Grotto and sanctuaries. At dinner, we were serenaded by a group of college students from Great Britain who were singing silly songs – and acting them out – along with several handicapped children. They were having a wonderful time.

Thursday 4/12

2007-04-27T01:02:22Z

Thursday morning we woke up ready to take our first road trip – to the Grotte de Betharram and Lourdes. But first, we needed to take a short trip into Cazaubon for gas. As we exited the station, the attendant said something to Libby that I didn’t understand (and neither did Libby).

We drove a couple of blocks over to a Boulangerie and got back into the car. It wouldn’t start. Not another car with electrical problems. She tried to start it over and over again with no luck – so we tried push starting it. I could hear it start and then die soon afterward, Libby kept going down the hill out of sight, continuing to work on starting the car. Jim and I waited for a while. When five minutes passed and she didn’t return for us, we started walking toward her.

She met us on foot half way up the hill. The car had died and could not be started. We walked about a half mile or so to the dealer where we rented the car.

At the Dealer, Libby told the manager about the problem and after a bit of conversation back and forth, we discovered that we had pumped gasoline into a diesel car. The manager was furious with us and in a typical French response – blamed us for the problem (the French don’t seem to believe that the customer is always right). Yes, we felt dumb, but no-one had mentioned that it was a diesel car and there was no indicator near the fuel intake to let us know that we needed to feed it diesel. IF we had listened to the engine running or had opened up the hood, we would have known it was a diesel.

The manager drove us down the hill to the car – and was a bit surprised to learn that we were right; there wasn’t any indication that the car used diesel fuel. He tried to start the car, but it wouldn’t run at all, so he went back up the hill to the dealership and returned with a truck and an assistant. Together they towed the car back and started draining out the gasoline. By then it was close to lunch time and it would not be possible to finish before lunch. We were told to come back at 2PM

Fortunately, we had planned to investigate Cazaubon during this visit. We just got an opportunity to check it out a bit earlier than planned. We walked through Cazaubon and even took a trip down the hill to where the car broke down for a view of the entire town up on the hill above a lovely farm.

The dealer was smiling when we arrived back at 2PM. His anger was masking fear that we had ruined the engine. Once he knew that the car was ok, he was able to smile again.

We didn’t have time for a lengthy trip – but we could check out the local Armagnac cooperative at Vivadour Cave de Cazaubon. We picked up bottles of Armagnac to take home and some local red wine to drink right away.

After all this excitement, we were ready to relax at home. We worked a bit on our projects and then got ready for dinner at Diana Rigg’s.

Libby met Diana Rigg through Jean Claude, who she met while walking near Lac d L’uby. Jean Claude is a classically trained artist who began his career as a sculptor, living and working in Paris. He walked to work; when his work moved far outside Paris, he moved on as well. He switched to oil painting as the physical demands of creating sculpture became onerous. About seventeen years ago, he relocated to Mauvezin d Armagnac, which is a very small village a few kilometers away from Barbotan and Libby’s place.

Diana Rigg was the star of the British TV Series the Avengers. She lives next door to Jean Claude and spends a portion of each year in Southwestern France. Diana is gracious, charming, opinionated and feisty. When in town, she spends afternoons playing scrabble with Miriam, Jean Claude’s wife and evenings visiting the neighbors.

Diana had also invited Robert Higgins, an American actor to the dinner party. Back in the 60’s and 70’s Robert lived in Seattle and was involved with local theatre groups. His children still live there.

After dinner, we stopped by Jean Claude’s studio and were very impressed with his paintings and the space. I can’t imagine a better studio. You can see some of his paintings at http://www.jcdutertre.com/

Libby's Place - April 11th

2007-04-25T03:15:33Z

Wednesday morning, we waited for TiTa to arrive so that she could speak with the auto-parts store and we could borrow her car for the trip to Mont de Marsan. She arrived with Virginie and Bamboo, a dog that Lily found wandering the streets & starving. Bamboo is gorgeous – long fur that is brushed until it shines, blue eyes, eager to play – she loves to chase sticks and balls, bringing them back again and again and again. Lily gave Bamboo to Libby last summer. When Libby came back to the US in September to meet with the US Consulate to set up her French business permits, Virginie took care of Bamboo. When Libby got back to France, Virginie had fallen in love with Bamboo and would not give her up.

By the time TiTa arrived and spoke with the guy at the Auto Parts store, we didn’t have much time to get in to Mont de Marsan (40 minutes away) before everything shut down at noon for lunch. Libby, Virginie, TiTa and I jumped in the car and raced over to Claude’s to drop TiTa and Virginie off. Then Libby and I raced over to the auto parts store, picked up the alternator and discovered that Mr. Bricolage – the hardware store – was open through the mid-day lunch break. We would be able to pick up supplies for the projects we had started.

On our way back to Libby’s we stopped in St Justin’s, a lovely little town above a river with terraced gardens leading up a Bastide and court yard. We started in the courtyard and wandered around, snapping photos of ancient buildings and quaint gardens. Everything was closed for the lunch break.

We headed home and went back to our projects. Jim had started to clean out the Barn and I had moved on to weeding the rockery, looking for plants in other areas of the yard that I could divide and fill in empty spots. As we worked, Felix stopped by, removed the old alternator and compared it to the one we got at the parts store. Unfortunately, they didn’t match. Felix took all of the information we had on the car and alternator and ordered the correct one. BeBop sat in the driveway, wheel off, alternator out, unable to move.

Libby was pretty unhappy. We knew that the auto parts store would need to order the new alternator and had no idea how long that would take. I offered to rent a car and we checked online for the nearest rental agency – which we thought would be in Mont de Marsan. At some point, Libby was on the phone with TiTa and mentioned our search for a rental car and TiTa told us we could get one in Cazaubon – 7 Kilometers away – if we hurried. TiTa dropped everything, ran over and took us in to Cazaubon to rent a car.

Our car troubles were over – or so we thought....

Libby's Place 4/8 - 4/10

2007-04-24T19:19:27Z

On Sunday, April 8^th we took the train to Mont de Marsan to meet Libby. When I made train reservations, they would not reserve a seat on the train between Bordeaux and Mont de Marsan so I could not give Libby a specific time to meet us at the station. We both thought that it would be safe to assume that Jim and I would not be able to take the train that was supposed to leave Bordeaux fifteen minutes after the two of us had arrived from Paris, so Libby made plans to meet us when the following train arrived.

We were wrong. Jim and I stepped off the train from Paris, walked to the main station and stood in line for a reservation for the train to Mont de Marsan and were promptly sent on our way to pick up the earlier train. So we got to explore Mont de Marsan for a bit.

That night, Libby made dinner and we caught up on her adventures in France and happenings around Seattle.

After a very restful sleep, we woke to a beautiful spring day. The next morning we worked together weeding her rose beds and later in the afternoon walked to Lac d L’uby where we stopped by Chez Claude – a snack bar in the resort area of the lake next to the swimming pool and play ground. Libby stayed at Claude’s place for several months while working out the details of her house purchase.

That evening, Jim, Libby and I went to the closest town, Barbotan les Thermes. It is a resort town with natural hot springs that attracts visitors from all over France to its spa. We went to the places where Libby hangs out with friends and neighbors - dinner at Coccinelle, a walk through the Botanical Gardens and ended our evening with drinks at la Palmeraie

On Tuesday, we got up relatively early so that we could go into Auche to shop for groceries before the stores closed for lunch between noon and 2:00 PM. Libby’s car - BeBop – wouldn’t start, so we push started it, got in and headed into town. We hoped that the battery would charge while we drove into town. Just in case, Libby parked in an open area so that we could push start it again. Unfortunately, when we got back to the car after shopping, it wouldn’t start again so we push started it. We made one more stop, parking so that we could push start the car and then headed home.

We dropped the groceries and Jim off at Libby’s place. Libby and I went into Barbotan to consult with Felix about the car. Again, we looked for a parking space where we could push start it if needed and when Libby tried to turn the car around to take a good spot, the car stalled and we couldn’t push it up the hill to get it started again. So we walked a little ways to La Palmeraie to consult with Felix about the car. Felix gave us a device to measure the electrical charge that would help identify the source of the problem. It didn’t register anything.

Libby and I sat at the bar, drinking rose while Felix and another man went to check out the car. They were able to jump start it and bring it down to parking lot in front of La Palmeraie. Felix gave Libby the keys to his car and said he would be by later with her car to diagnose the problem.

Now, the conversation between Libby and Felix was not as clear as my story would imply. Felix does not understand English at all and Libby’s French is ok but not when it comes to complicated subjects like describing car problems.

It was even more complicated later when Felix walked over to Libby’s. He looked really mad and at first I thought we had misunderstood and had failed to pick him up from Barbotan (about 5 Kilometers away). I later learned that he had driven most of the way to Libby’s and the car had once again stalled going up a hill.

Felix ended up towing Libby’s car the rest of the way to her house and gave us instructions on where we should go for a replacement for the alternator. Libby called Claude’s girl-friend TiTa, explained the situation and asked her to speak with the auto-parts store and loan us her car to pick up the alternator.

Fortunately, the weather was lovely, we had bought plenty of food and wine for a fabulous dinner and relaxing evening at Libby’s.