Our dear friend, Diane Mizell, blessed us with her company for several weeks during May and June. She even filled in for me while I was in the States for Nicholas' graduation! We had many wonderful moments both alone with Diane and sharing her with our friends here in France. Here we are in the quaint, nearby town of Ventabren where she treated us to dinner at the wonderful restaurant, La Table de Ventabren.
Our Spanish friend,Paco's, birthday seems to be on it's way to becoming an annual event. We are fortunate to be his guests because not only do he and Danci throw a great party, but Danci puts on a great show in the food department. Last year's party featured her paela and this year she made foods typical of the Canary Islands, where Paco was born. We call him "The King of La Gomera", after the specific Canary island he hails from.A group of us presented 'the king' with a gift of new benches for the tennis court...
Paco and Danci trying out one of the new benches...
Moving on to another anniversaire, we celebrated Nathalie's birthday at the Set Club again this year. The theme was tennis attire...
A few of us joined Julie and Darrin to celebrate her June birthday at the Lebanese restaurant, Divan d'Antioche, in Aix. Here the happy birthday girl gladly accepting a gift!
Cecile, Susie, Darrin, Megan, Fabien, Julie and Teal...
Should we use our hands to eat the hummus and taboulie?!?
We were all pretty surprised when desert came out with a touch of a WILD flaming sparkler!!!
Our Monthly Women's Luncheons had it's final gathering at the lovely home of Asunta de la Parte on a gorgeous June day. We were a happy bunch of women from all over the world. Here, Canada, Norway and France...
California and Germany...
Holland and California...
England, two blonde California girls and Thailand...
France and NYC...
Massachusetts, Spain, France and Spain...
Lillies from France!!
The End of the Year "Spectacle" at Sarah's school was complete with lively entertainment and the awarding of academic prizes. Sarah was in several chorus numbers doing some french songs as well as a few numbers from High School Musical Two. She was also awarded third place in her class for academics. Bravo, Sarah!
Sarah had the camera for the rest of the night. Here are some of her shots...
Pasta Cosy, which has become our French version of Cheers, was the scene of many final finals in June. First, we said goodbye to our favorite server, Jennifer...
Next, Nick wanted to have his 'last supper' there before he left for San Francisco...
As the weather had finally warmed up, we were able to dine at an outdoor table...
Megan and Teal stopped by to buy Nick a little farewell glass of Rose...
And even though he adores the pasta there, we know one of the real reasons Nick wanted to eat his last meal at Pasta Cosy was to say au revoir to his dear friend, Fabien...
Two days before Sarah and I left Aix, our good It was a lovely, hot summer day...perfect for swimming and playing in the pool...
Sarah with Adrianna and Asunta...
dining outdoors...
and playing soccer...
Spain was to play Italy in the Euro 2008 championship that evening so all the Spanish guests came dressed in red to support their team. Spain not only beat Italy that night, but went on to win the Championship for the first time since 1964. These amateurs enjoyed a pretty good game too!
My final night in Aix was spent attending Megan's birthday. We went for tapas to Anita's apartment and then to dinner at Pasta Cosy...where else!?
So folks, that's the end of the ends.....now it's off to blog from Duxbury for the summer!
Happy Summer and a la prochaine,
Susie
