To open this new set of photos, I've included a photo taken just down the street from our apartment. This is a typical street scene, with cars, bikes, government buildings, and a courtyard with honeysuckle drooping over the wall. In the early spring it's wisteria with it's pale purple/blue flowers, but now it's the bright orange that predominates.

This was taken on an overcast day, so the sky doesn't look very nice. You also might ask why the picture of this church, as it isn't very pretty. It's mainly for a historical perspective. This was originally built about 250 years before Columbus discovered America. It has been repaired several times, but is an example of the simpler construction of long ago.

There was one little alcove in the church, and it contained a statue of Joan of Arc (Jean d'Arc). I've seen a few statues of her in churches and some stained glass windows with her depicted, but this is my favorite one.

This is a closeup of the statue you just saw. I love the face on this figure - very serene, committed, and very French.

This is Liz with Tove Rigby, one of our good friends here. She is the Relief Society president in our ward at church, and has been a big help to us. She and her husband, Alan, moved here a few years ago from England. This photo was taken at the market at the town of Chatalaillon. They shopped. Alan and I wandered.

This is a very small section of a flower bed that runs along the street next to the market. On the other side of the flowers is the yard of a small church.

The small church at Chatalaillon Plage (Plage means "beach" - for which this area is famous, even if it is artificial. They hauled in several hundred thousand tons of sand to create it, and is has made the area a very popular and prosperous community). It is just next to the open air market.

The inside of the Chatalaillon church. It is fairly plain as churches around here go, but was very peaceful and pleasant.

This little guy didn't look much bigger than most children who are going from being able to walk to being able to run, but he was a madman on the scooter! I don't know how his Mom was able to keep up with him.

We saw this shrub on one of our walks. We don't lack for color around here!

Brad and Liz in the gardens at La Roche Courbon chateau (castle). We have been there before, but we took our elders there for a visit. The flowers were in full bloom, and the sky was perfect for a photo.

Elder Scordari and Liz looking at the new swans at the chateau and their parents. The last time we were there, the parents would try to bite you if you even came near the young ones. Now they are big enough it apparently isn't a concern.

It was a good day for photos of the chateau. Just a slight breeze disturbed the surface of the reflecting pool when we were up on the hill across the small valley.

One of my favorite photos from my mission. The swan just happened to swim across this area and I ran and snapped the picture before he got too far. It was a gorgeous day.

If we are out walking around 07h00 we can see the sun just starting to come up over the city. This is the corner of the Hotel de Ville (town hall) in La Rochelle. This was built in the 1500s and 1600s and is a favorite landmark next to the post office in the city center.

On our morning walks we take whatever bread we have left over (which is not often) and feed it to the pigeons and sparrows in the area, and the ducks and fish in these canals that used to be part of the defenses for La Rochelle. (Sorry, but "defence" is the U.S. spelling and I still write some Canadian")

On market days, we go for our walk then visit the market on our way home. It is an outdoor market with all kinds of great: fruits, vegetables, bread, fish, other seafoods, cheeses, chickens, household supplies, chair repair services, clothes, etc. etc. On this particular day we bought melons (we buy at least 3 a week), pears, apples, bananas, peaches, and nectarines.

After our morning walk, we usually come home and get breakfast. Typically we have... oh no! say some voices... oatmeal with fruit or raisins, milk from the blue box (these are high temperature processed and until you open then they are stored in our "pantry", where they will keep up to three months), honey, and other fruit. Right now we eat a lot of melons (seen just before this post).

You probably can't see a lot of the detail here (unless you click on it, then it will be enlarged), but it is to show the many roads and towns in this area. The next post shows what this was like about 1600 years ago.

The three following photos are from a visit to a town that used to be...not. On this map, which is from Roman times, it would be in the far left corner just inside the red line, which represents where the coast is now. Compare that to the previous map which is the same area! Each of the little black dots on the islands is a town, and we drive to our mission meetings straight up the left third of this area. Monks started draining this area about 650 AD, and there are still dikes that keep the sea out.

Liz and Sister Bodinier looking at her vegetable and strawberry garden. She has made a beautiful home in La Tranch sur Mer, one of dozens of small towns in our area. This town is across the bay from La Rochelle, and is a popular retirement and tourist area next to the ocean.

The Bodinier garden area. This is Frere Bodinier's work, and he really has enjoyed turning a sand dune into this beautiful oasis of flowers, trees, and bushes.

Frere and Soeur Bodinier with their dog in their back yard. We had a really nice lunch at their home. Originally they lived in Paris, where he was, over the years, a manager and director of production of several large companies. They retired a few years ago and drive 60 kilometers to and from church every week.

On a walk along the port in the morning, we frequently see cases of wine bottles from the restaurant's previous night's activity. Fortunately, they have an excellent recycling program here, and most of the glass is reused. There are thousands of these bottles every day during the tourist season.

This is a grill covered with sardines - yes, the ones you buy in a can but they are larger that those. They are about 7" long, and you buy them by the kilo (2.2 lbs). We had these at a couples dinner in Puyravault, a town about 30 kilometers from here.

A plate of sardines. These are served whole off the grill, and are quite tasty. I ate three of them - that's three more than Liz ate!

Our host, Albert Bonnaudet, eating a sardine. He's a pro - just peels off the scales, doesn't have to clean it, and just nibbles off the meat on the sides of the "bones". He can go through one of these in about 30 seconds.

What's left over after picking off the meat from the fish. We had a lot of plates full of these, as a lot of the people ate 8-10 fish. A popular dish in this area!

Flolwering shrubs a short walk from our apartment. It's amazing how there are always new colors showing up on shrubs and flowers.

I know you've seen pictures of the port at La Rochelle before, but I never get tired of seeing the view as the sky, the light, and the water are always changing. This was a particularly beautiful day, and I couldn't resist another photo.

Liz and I with Theo Hermosilla, a 7 year old member boy who we are giving the abbreviated missionary lesson. He'll be baptized on September 13, and his parents asked us to teach him at their home. He is full of life, so it takes time to go through basic materials.