Back from a family holiday in France where we spent two weeks in a rented castle. It was great fun and we lived and ate like kings. The girls each brought a friend and KH and his wife Karin from Frankfurt, as well as my brother-in-law Gerrit and his daughter Inès from South Africa later joined us. KH is an excellent cook and my bro’ Gerrit is an expert braai-master.
That and the fact that there was a well-stocked French supermarket nearby (foie gras, fresh lobster and fish, regional cheeses, nice big cuts of Charolais beef, fine wines; you get the picture), ensured that the culinary delights were on par with the cultural ones (Château de Chenonceaux, old towns of Tours and Poitiers, Beaune, Macon, Nuits-St. Georges and a lot of other famous names in the Burgundy wine-growing region). My darling Milena did a fantastic job navigating us safely on over 1’000 miles of country roads full of lunatic Citroën and Peugeot drivers – think “Trafic” by Jacques Tati.
Below is a picture of the pile we rented. It was very romantic, but not very clean (eh bien, les Français..).
To end our holiday in style, we went to the Montreux Jazz Festival and saw a fabulous concert by Kool and the Gang. More about this later. So we all got back a few days ago, happy, relaxed and with a few extra pounds to carry around.
Unfortunately, where there is light, there is shadow: I was having strong headaches during the last weeks and my Oncologist suspects that the old Gliobastard is on the warpath again. An MRI next week will hopefully show. In the meantime, quadrupling my daily dose of Cortisone has at least alleviated the pressure in my head.
Cheers and a happy summer to everyone,
Tom
Keep on laughing and lovin’ life. It gets us through the most difficult moments.
Glad you had a fabulous time and I dearly hope that your Oncologist will have some good news.
wow – i seem to have lost my invitation for that fun weekend! glad you enjoyed yourselves! i’ll keep my fingers crossed that g.b. has not reared its ugly head again…
hugs!
kim
Hi Thomas,
Delighted to hear that France lived up to expectations and reputation!!! I’m just back from Spain where I added a few pounds thanks to lots of lovely Spanish food and wine, but lost some to the mosquitos who had a field day at my expense.
I hope the MRI scan brings good news – you deserve it.
Love to Milena and the girls.
Geraldine xxx.
Tom,
I’m very sorry to hear you have symptoms again. It could be something less severe than the worst case, so please stay positive. It sure looks like you and family have visited some great places. The Chateau looks like les Briottieres where Mario worked 25 years ago and where Debi and I went on our honeymoon 3 years ago. Also very beautiful and not very clean, but i loved it that way compared with Los Angeles style fake antiquity.
Thinking of you bro, sending good energy.
Sounds like a lovely holiday! I spent a few weeks in Poitiers and am quite fond of the area. My only break so far this summer was for AIDS LifeCycle, the little bike ride from SF – LA that I have worked on for eight years now! It was a good week.
My best to Milena! I’ll continue to send positive thoughts your way -
xo
Christine