Here's the opening photo of our latest blog addition. I'm running a few days behind because my hard disk had a problem and would not start up the computer. It has been repaired and all my files recovered, so we're back in business.

One day I thought I heard bagpipe music, and went out and found this group practicing in the parking lot just a hundred yards away. They were on their way to perform at a music festival two streets from us. They sounded great!

Elders Volpe and Scordari, the Italian team in La Rochelle. They were only together for 6 weeks, and Elder Volpe has moved on to another city further north. We always feed the elders something when they come by for a visit or to get the car key.

Our mission president, President Don Staheli, and Sister Staheli along with us at the time of our regular interviews in Angers, a city about 120 miles from here. We travel there once or twice a month for meetings. They are great people, and we enjoy being able to visit with them.

Liz and the flower garden on the side of the chapel in Angers, the city we go to for missionary zone conferences and interviews. The roses were magnificent.

Closeup of some of the flowers around the Stake Center in Angers. We just visited there last week, and they are still blooming a month later.

I called this one the "guard cat of St. Porchaire". He just sat on this fence and glared at us while we were buying some sandwiches in a little village.

I couldn't resist taking this one. The guy says to the lady, "Here, I'll hold the ladder and you go up and clean the windows!" I'm not so sure that was a good deal for her.

Many of you remember Rie Nagaoka, the Japanese exchange student who lived with us from fall 2000 to late spring 2001 as an exchange student from Japan. She turned 16 while in Missoula, but she's now 24 and working full time. She came with a friend of her's who is an American from Cincinnati, but who works in Japan.

We have kept in touch over the years, and she still calls us Mom and Dad.

She and her friend Eric came and visited us for 4 days.

Our favorite gift from Rie and her family. Her Mom made these for us just before she left Maebashi to come visit. I think they are supposed to represent me and Liz in our blue and pink kimonos. We have such pleasant memories of the Nagaoka family, and of their kindness to us when we visited them.

Rie and her almost-fiance Eric, on the wall overlooking the port and on our way to visit the Lantern tower in the background.

She wanted us to meet him before she had him meet her parents. He's a pilot for a Japanese company that is similar to Fedex, and she's a stewardess for another airline.

Here we are on the walkway around the top of the Lantern Tower in La Rochelle, about 200 feet above the ground. Althought the forecast was for clouds and cool weather, it turned out to be a beautiful day.

This is one of the wonders of this area, La Roche Courbon chateau. It was a military fort in the late 1600s, then was purchased in the 1700s and turned into a beautiful home, gardens, and fields for a wealthy family. There are still people who live in it, but two floors are open for public tours. There are multiple building for staff and gardeners. We've been there twice now, once on our own and once with Rie and Eric.

This is a view from across the property where there is a fountain that used to provide some of the water for the pool. It has almost dried out now, but still has some input. There was a light breeze blowing when I took this, so the reflection isn't too beautiful - but who cares? the rest is so wonderful.

Liz, Eric and Rie alongside a long stretch of apple and pear trees. I'm sure the pruning and shaping took some time, but they certainly would be easy to pick come harvest time!

Liz and I at the reflecting pool of the Roche Courbon chateau. The wide open area is the result of a large river that flowed through here several thousand years ago, and it is still somewhat marshy around the area. The chateau is built on an outcropping of solid rock that used to be an island.

Eric, Rie, and Liz on the balcony outside of the chateau. This was at the end of our visit, and they left soon afterward. It was great to see Rie again after 4 years.

In some areas I could almost think we were back in Montana or Alberta. This is not at all an unusual sight, as there is a lot of hay grown here as well as wheat, barley, corn (for cattle feed) and canola (they call it colza here). It is a rich agricultural area, but unfortunately for us they have very few orchards or vegetable farms. Fruits and veggies are all brought in from other areas of France or from Spain.

We took a quick trip to the city of Lorient, further up the coast in Brittany. On the top of the only high spot in the city are a lighthouse and two windmills (none of them operating now). There was a sign saying someone would be there later for visits, but the dirt and cobwebs around the door indicate that they were taking an extremely long lunch!

Why were we in Lorient? Next photo.

The high point of our visit was our visit with Sister Rose Blanchet, who is living for now in a rehabilitation center in Lorient getting over a leg amputation from diabetes problems. She and her family were my favorite people when I was on my mission in 1964 in Marseille. She is now 92, but is very vibrant and enjoyed visiting with us two afternoons we were there.

A field of sunflowers, just starting to open. There are huge fields of these everywhere you drive, grown for their oil. This was taken from the back yard of our friends, the Rigbys, who live here but are originally from England.

Our missionaries here in La Rochelle, Elder Scordari (from Italy) and Elder Weight (from---Boulder, Montana!). We had them come for lunch and enjoyed a short visit. Elder Scordari has 3 months left on his mission.

We went for a walk this morning, carrying pamphlets etc. in case we had a chance to visit with someone. The clouds were really beautiful as we passed the lantern tower across the bay. They were also moving rather quickly from over the ocean to over the city.

Here's the end of the blog for today. As we looked at the preceeding sky, and the darkening clouds, we said "It looks like rain!". It was. On our walk home despite umbrellas, we were soaked! The streets were running 1/4 to 1/2" deep, the downspouts were gushing, and most sane people had ducked for cover.