These past few days have been pretty hectic. We cleared out, cleaned out, donated, tossed, gifted, and hauled away as much as we could, but still felt we weren’t quite ready when that big moving truck showed up on Monday. For two full days, four men tore through our beautiful house like a tornado, wrapping and packing and reducing our possessions into 285 boxes and turning our furniture into giant molded packages — all with nifty pre-numbered and barcoded labels — and then drove it all away. Hopefully, somehow, in a couple of months it will all magically show up halfway across the world in a tiny village in the middle of France.

We are staying in a local hotel for our last few days, busy with the tasks of closing out our lives in California, and saying goodbye to favorite restaurants, friends and neighbors.