The "Rentree"...

Well, truth be told, it's way past "rentree" time in France, but I am just now getting around to writing about it! When we first arrived last year, there was talk of "the rentree"; there were even billboards with the word on it and they were advertising school supplies. Despite things like this, we really had no idea of what it was. Maybe you are wondering the same thing? Basically, "rentree"(and there should be an accent on the first 'e' but my computer doesn't know any French) means "return" and it is used much as we speak of 'back to school'. But the word seems to have a broader meaning in this culture referring to rentree to "school, church, even just one's routine life after summer.

So, with that in mind, here are a few "rentree" things we experienced in our first several weeks back in Aix. The first of course was the store ads and we needed that so we could go get Sarah's back to school/rentree supplies. The second, and much more fun, was an invitation to a Rentree cookout at friends' house near Aix. The Andersons have a wonderful house with a pool and big piece of property and they opened all of it up to a huge group of friends and acquaintances for a day of music, barbecuing,swimming and fellowship. Here are some photos from the day:
As you can see, it was lovely as was the view of Mt. Saint Victoire...

We were treated to great live music from an all volunteer band newly formed during the summer...

Everyone lining up for the feast of grilled chicken, roasted potatoes and lots of terrific pot luck!

Enjoying the meal with Kristina and Karsten...

The third rentree experience, was a Rentree Women's Luncheon I hosted at our new home. Our new rental house has much more space than last year's did so we want to be able to use it and share it! Over 35 women from the Aix area came to the Sucree/Salee luncheon. For anyone who's missed an earlier description of sucree/salee it's kind of a pot luck where you bring something to contribute to the meal. That might mean a quiche, salad, bread, protein dish for the salee or a dessert for the sucree. It's always a bit of an unknown what the balance of the meal will be; if you'll have too much sucree or salee but somehow it always works out and we definitely had many yummy things to try. The guests were women from the school Sarah attends, The International Bilingual School of Provence, from our church, The International Christian Community of Provence, from a hiking group I've joined as well as other friends from the area. The idea behind the lunch was to bring all these wonderful women together to meet, share ideas and get to know each other. It was a gorgeous day and judging from how long many lingered into the afternoon, it was a success!

Annie, Apryl, Julie and Naomi...

Susie, Dana and guest, Nina and Linda...

Bettina and Krysland...

Dejeuner sur l'herbe...

Annie sampling some of the sucree!


Julie, my co-host, and I after the clean-up... What a great Rentree!

Family Time...

Another in a series of belated summer 2007 blog entries...


One of the first things we did when we arrived back in Duxbury at the end of June was to reunite our whole family. That meant Nick, Lindsey, Sarah and I went to see Nicholas who is living and going to college in Newport, RI. We were were very happy to be together again after so many months apart. We got to see where Nicholas was living and working and we also enjoyed a lovely lunch at the New York Yacht Club's Harbor Court where this photo was taken.

We were also happy to be reunited with our dog, Jackson. Thankfully, he had a great time with his 'other' Duxbury family with whom he'd stayed while we were gone, but he was thrilled to see us too...

Home, Sweet Home... it was nice to be back in our own house for the summer. ...

and despite our 10 month absence, the gardens looked great...

We enjoyed many morning walks on our beach...

We had some beautiful, family sails on Duxbury Bay aboard Mom's catboat, Runaway...

Sarah participated in a little show our yacht club puts on every summer to raise money for the Duxbury High School Scholarship Fund. This tradition has been going for many generations. My father, brother, sister, Nicholas, Lindsey and I have all participated in it over the years! This summer's production was "Once Upon an Island" and as you can see, she was an island girl...

The girls' kick line...

Mom, Dave, Lindsey and I before the show...

As our summer in the States drew to a close, we were fortunate to all be together for a good old fashioned lobster dinner before Lindsey went back to college.

A la prochaine!

Hiking in "Les Calanques"

Last week I went on another great hike! This time, with the International Hiking Group of Provence. This group is primarily made up of parents from Sarah's school and led by a wonderful, former parent named Isabelle. What I found out that day is that this is not a 'girls only' group; a good number of husbands come along too, so Nick can join this group in the future. We left the school about 9 and after battling a horrible rush hour commute to and through Marseilles, we arrived at land's end at the edge of the city limits to begin the hike.

This rocky, rugged mountainous area called the Puget Massif is located between Marseilles and Cassis on the Mediterranean coast. These "calanques" are inlets, or mini fjords, carved by melting glaciers at the end of the Ice Age. They are flanked by steep-sided valleys and sheltered cliffs which are sparsely covered with maritime pines. In the inlets are delightful beaches which for many are the whole reason for hiking in this area in the first place. All in all, definitely worth visiting! So, we're off!

We climbed and we climbed and along the way the views just became more and more spectacular!

Here is a fantastic view, looking north, of the whole city of Marseilles...

When we reached one crest, the wind was blowing so hard we hung onto the rocky hillside for balance!

The view was TRULY incredible!!




Here, our leader, Isabelle, had to consult her map for a safer way through the rocky path....


Finally, at 2 o'clock, after a 4 hour ascent, we stopped to rest and have a much needed lunch. Naturally, the French hikers had red wine with their lunch!!


After lunch, we began our descent and rewarded with a delightful swim at this little beach! The water was fairly warm for the end of September and it sure felt good!





I'm looking forward to the next hike...and Nick joining me!
A la prochaine!!