happy thought.

The farmhouse.. or at least one view. I'll post a panoramic pic later, but isn't it lovely?!

Frustrating moment this morning. As trivial as it may be in a few hours, currently I am trying to think happy thoughts because after all it only takes one to make you fly, right?

We drove all morning on not much sleep. I was smooshed back in “my hole” behind Pottsy’s seat and his outstretched 6’3” body. We drove to somewhere near Bournemouth, playing guessing games with pop music and enjoying the strange glances of folks wondering why we had a pew strapped on the truck also pulling a caravan. Jon loved the attention.

One long ferry ride later (it was less like a cruise and more similar to a greyhound or train) we landed in Cherbourg and set off for Dinan. We arrived the Wednesday before the summer solstice so the day was barely ripening at 5pm. A bit groggy still, the boys got the caravan (translation: camper van) level (during the night we realized they’re not good at leveling) and I went after the weeds. Apparently Jon hadn’t been to his farmhouse in quite a long time. We had a few days to prepare the land and house for a dozen of our friends from Rickmansworth to join us on their holiday.

After a couple hours we moved on to burning Laurel trees. Jon had hired someone to cut the branches, but with the guidance of a neighbor he ended up leveling all of jon’s trees! They had also fallen on said neighbor’s farmland and blocked the tractor path so we jumped on it. After hauling and burning till our bodies were scraped and hands raw, we sat down around 11 that night for a steak dinner, grilled nicely on the propane stove in the caravan. My legs were scraped up but I finally felt like I’d given back to Jon after he’s been so generous, both this trip and when I was renting a room from him in England. We took deep breaths and soaked in the sunset… a warm summer night at a farmhouse in France after a long day’s work. My entire body smiled at this moment.

Three tired amigos

we decided to hit the town...

my dear friend jon