Thunder and manicures

Hello friends! Prepare yourself for some really exciting news!.........

Today Sjaantje and I went to get our nails done. This was the fourth time in my entire life to get a manicure, the third for a pedicure - point being that's really not me but, after the big ol' move and all, my nails were shredded and my toes and feet just plain gross. Our 'Nail Specialist' was named Sally but the kicker was her last name: Presley. Need I say more? If I do, then this is it: Elvis memorabilia adorning the walls, Elvis keychain (presumably for the autoclave lock), pictures of Graceland on the walls and, weirdly, a picture of Rome as well. And then, bless her heart, Sally said, 'Just where did you girls move from?' When I responded with, 'France!', Sally sort of bent over and pointed both arms in some direction (N,S,E,W - I'm not sure because I'm still a bit disoriented) and with two loud lungs exclamed, 'YOU MEAN LIKE THAT OTHER COUNTRY OVER THERE SOMEWHERES?' The confusion on Sally's face was basically priceless. From that point on, Sjaantje and I were treated as a sort of cross-bred royalty/alien species. So that was fun.

By the way, Sjaantje's nails are now painted, in an alternating pattern, midnight blue and dark green. She's gone all Goth on me. Too young. See what The States will do to kids?

Speaking of my favorite little Monkey Butt, Sjaantje went camping last weekend with some new friends. She swam in the river, dove off of a 10 foot high diving board (into the river, about 30 feet deep), went kayaking, fishing and even caught her first fish (a foot long catfish) which, as you would assume, she threw back into the water.

Sjaantje seems to be adapting well; in fact tomorrow morning, Sjaantje is going to another friend's house. Don't worry. We're not shipping Sjaantje off with strangers. The new friends are David's grand-daughters and they're the same age as Sjaantje. I've known their Dads for 19 years and Henk and his first wife used to take care of them! It's nice that they are coming around and taking Sjaantje under their wing now.

On another note, THUNDER is a big, bad, frightening, demonic, horrifying terror to our favorite Bear/Dog. Short of giving you the embarrassing details, I'll just say that last night Wuzzy ran upstairs and jumped into our bed. Get an image of that. It was thundering. Our big protector.

Ironically and before Wuzzy's actions last night, we have been in contact with a Newfie breeder in San Antonio. We would love to have an offspring of our fearless one!

Aside from that, all else is well. Henk has been painting and I'm still organizing our stuff (and finding long lost items that I hadn't seen since we left Dallas in 2004!) and we're just trying to plant our feet here. It's good. We're hoping to eventually find some people with whom we can communicate. All things take time.

Sagey arrives next Friday and Sjaantje has already prepared Sage's bed, cleared out some space in the closet and posted a sign on her bedroom door that reads: Sjaantje/Emile and Sagey's room NO BOYS ALLOWED except Dad.

We miss you guys; almost as much as we miss the boulangerie in Fourques - the bread here is all soft and squishy! Plus, they call it 'Pain Frances'. I don't know who Frances is but obviously she doesn't know how to make bread.

Big kiss to all of you and much love from us -

Wend, Henk, Sjaantje and the Wuz