MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15:

This is my address. Not much of a picture, but I was hoping you wouldn't miss the car, the Smart Car, actually. Bill and I were mesmerized by it years ago during a trip with my Mum to the Dordogne Valley, East of Bordeaux. Imagine two Smart Cars parked side by side, perpendicular to the other cars, occupying ONE spot. Cute. This blue babe belongs to Andrea and Reto, my Swiss neighbors.

My entire day was spent with Sue, my landlady's friend. She lives outside Fayence and drives a British-style Volvo. Imagine: sitting on the driver's side without a steering wheel, verring right around a tight corner, and a car speeding at you. Yep, a new experience.

Sue, from Scotland, has a very provenciale home. In her professionally landscaped garden I saw olive trees, oleander, flax, sego palms, all other palms, lavender, pittosporum, wisteria, gardenias, most things we have in Auburn. Also, Sue had a pool and koi pond, some things some of us do not have in Auburn. Sue retired from American Express, having worked in Edinburgh, New York, Milan and Paris. Just an adorable little Mum in the South of France, raising three adorable children with her French husband, who commutes weekly to Paris.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16:

Dressed up today. Clean tan slacks and blouse. Had a date at 10:30 with the Women's Group of the Var, Fayence chapter. Now if you can imagine walking all day, remembering not to smile too much and avoiding eye contact with any couple you pass, your day feels a little sad. Now, you have just stepped onto a terrace full of mostly British ladies, colors ablazin' and laughter surrounding you. Oh those Brits. Gotta love 'em. Irreverent, engaging, chatty and sooooo friendly. I plunked down my 20 Euro immediately to join this group. This vacation will be remembered as "English Spoken Here."

Tomorrow we are off to Cannes. My new friend Christine is shopping for cotton clothes to wear on a trip later this month to Egypt. She is Phillipine and married her French husband while working in McLean, Virginia. Feels like traveling around the world, doesn't it?