How to save the Tour de France?

I may be onto an idea of how to save the scandal-ridden Tour de France.

Hop over to today's post on my spanking-new blog effort My European Scrapblog and tell me if you think my idea would work.

By the way, it's a Typepad blog...

I wonder if I'll get a friendly comment from a Blogger staff member about that?

The Saillac Series: Post Two -- Window Watching

What expat photo blogger can resist the occasional foray into a door or window feature?


I do put off posting on the subject because I don't really have that much to say about it, but it's not for lack of photos...



On our December trip to Saillac in the Lot department, my husband and I captured these "ouvertures" in various states of repair...



What local events have been watched through them over the centuries?

The Saillac Series: Post One

Being away from Aveyron for the summer makes posting about the area more challenging. I've brought a lot of photos with me to the USA , but I'm suffering from a lack of context.

Maybe it's time to go back to some other places that are equally important in my French life.

One is Saillac, a tiny village in the Corrèze department, not far from Martel in the Lot.

We have close friends there, and the area has been one of my family's vacation havens for the past seven years or so. One of my favorite photos on this blog was taken there on a crisp winter morning.

Another was less complimentary, and elicited a few squawks from my friends --and rightly so, for Saillac is a far more charming place than this photo implies.

Over the next few weeks, discover some frosty photos of winter in Saillac -- another intriguing corner of La France Profonde.

Stormy Weather

I am now in Olympia, Washington for the next six weeks, and this is the sultry and strange weather I left behind in Aveyron.

I do believe 2007 is the first time that we have not been able to eat outside on our deck a single time in May or June. Storm after storm plagued Aveyron during those months, including a few that caused serious flash flooding.

Listening closely through my open windows in mid-June, I could swear I heard wailing and gnashing of teeth. It must have been all the neighbors who had rushed out to build costly swimming pools last summer.

(Photo courtesy of Thierry Jouanneteau)