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Last week we escaped to the unique Oregon Coast town of Seaside for a few days.
Escape to Seaside
14 Tuesday Jul 2015
Posted in Accommodations
The Balcony Blitz
19 Friday Jun 2015
Posted in Accommodations
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The balcony today
Tom wrote in his last post about our difficult move to Expat Basecamp, the heart attack he suffered because of it, and his need to chill, which he did for about seven minutes.
Chill
09 Tuesday Jun 2015
Posted in Accommodations, Sentiments
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Our previous apartment on the morning before we moved
I never looked upon moving as a stressful situation. In the seven years we’ve lived together, Louise and I have moved six times, not counting the mini-moves we made during our year of travel. Excepting one, all those moves were exciting and optimistic, untroubled and confident. Excepting one. And that one put me in the hospital.
Expats Arrive on Wall Street
26 Tuesday May 2015
Posted in Short
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Where do aspiring expats turn for authoritative advice on the expat lifestyle? Wall Street, of course! Could there possibly be a group of people more likely to embrace the allure of the open road than sub-par mortgage specialists and hedge-fund managers?
Basecamp Expat
03 Sunday May 2015
Posted in Accommodations
That’s our balcony with the cathedral ceiling. The TV antennas are actually a half-mile away. We share real estate with them on top of Portland’s West Hills.
Yes, we’re back in Portland. No, there have been no medical emergencies. Yes, we’ve been busy. It’s that time of the year again. We’re moving.
Why There Are So Many Brits in Central France
16 Monday Mar 2015
The English and the French point to history with the tip of a spear. One conflict measured a hundred years, but after that the French and Brits became allies and in central France, agriculture ruled. People planted seeds. People tended the fields. People harvested the crops. People hauled the harvest to market.
Then came the industrial revolution. People moved to the cities. The population of central France was halved in 150 years. Houses were left behind. With a strong pound sterling and all those empty houses, the time for another British invasion ripened.
That time is now.
Le Château de Montrésor
12 Thursday Mar 2015
The first fort at the village of Montrésor, just south of the Loire, was built by the celebrated Folque Nerri, a count of Anjou who was famous for being both violent and pious, and a great architect too. Apparently, he made four pilgrimages to atone for his sins, and then went out and slaughtered another five thousand soldiers. If your history goes far back enough, I guess you can be anything you want.
The Land of Quasimodo and McQueen
09 Monday Mar 2015
Posted in Gallery
When we told our Martizay neighbor Annie we were going to Le Mans for a few days (Tom was interested. Something about a race museum?), she asked us, politely, if indeed we had seen all the great chateaux of the Loire yet? We took this to mean that Le Mans is a dump.
The Great Bank Robbery
02 Monday Mar 2015
Posted in Sidebar
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Louise inserted her card, selected English, and requested a cash withdrawal. The ATM made satisfying mechanical noises, then a message appeared on the screen. “We apologize,” it said. “Your bank has requested that we retain your card.” The screen went blank. No cash. No card. We have a month to go in France.
Responsibility
26 Thursday Feb 2015
Posted in Accommodations, Gallery
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The Expat Almanac 