Refreshing Paradise

We are in the midst of finishing the simple refreshing (how the French describe redecorating) of the apartment. It all had to wait for Mike's much anticipated return to France due to his expertise with plumbing and electricity. He has been working very hard each day to chink away at the project. The kitchen is the final piece and it is just about completed...just in time for us to start on the new house! That will be quite the DIY project! There is the matter of the oh-so- tasteful wallpaper peeling off the walls in the older section of the house...the whipped egg white like plaster on the kitchen walls that must go (as Celia will tell you...the wall can hurt you!)...and the addition that we must do the finishing touches as the dear sweet former owner Pasqualino says never were completed as he thought about what to do and then he "paused". Don't get me wrong...Pasqualino did a great job with the house. He is as detailed as Mike is with his workmanship. He told us that when he was putting in the pool, he watched the workers doing the pipe construction. He could not bear the level of perfection they failed to attain so he stopped them and finished the job himself. He pointed to their work and then his work as Mike heartedly nodded his head with empathy.

We are so blessed to be buying the home from someone as sweet as Pasqualino and his wife Catherine. He is from Italy originally, but moved here when he was a child. He teaches opera and singing at a music academy in Béziers...just west of Montpellier. He has the most energy of any man I have ever met...well maybe not as much as Brian Merrill! Catherine constantly tells Pasqualino to stop running around (literally) all the time. She being French seems to think he has a limited supply of energy and will suddenly give out. They have had us over to the house three times since we first signed a commitment to buy. They have let us crawl through the house with them and have explained every piece of the house including what his dreams were for the house. He is so passionate about it as if it were a work of art that he was entrusting to our care. We hope to be up to the responsibility!

We can't wait to share our new home with our friends and anticipate many visitors sipping fine french wine on the cool shade of the front porch. We are now taking reservations!!