Oh, no!

Here I am drinking delectable Breton cider  at a cute Creperie near our hotel in Paris.  Part of me still can't believe we made it to France, so complicated, confusing, and risky was this trip. Before departure, I contacted five French embassies and got five different answers to my question about entering France from Poland.  The reality of the trip felt relatively easy, and everyone was kind along the way.

We did encounter a few, "Oh. no." situations  in Paris. The Bus Direct into Paris posted a suspended service  sign due to the health crisis. We spent at least an hour  figuring out alternative transportation.  It felt harder to get out of Charles de Gaulle Airport than to get into France.  The next morning we proceeded to the train station with our Ouigo train tickets in hand. Alas, we did not go because due to remodeling and lack of signage at the Gare Montparnasse, we missed our train. I cannot remember the last time I missed a train. We bought new  more expensive tickets  and fell exhausted into our seats.

Once at our house in Monflanquin came the biggest "Oh, no!" of all. No  functioning Internet,  telephone, or television. Even my French cell phone  wouldn't work. Cut off from the world, we drove over to the Orange boutique in Villeneuve-sur-lot the next day. Thus began the painful process of explaining, testing equipment, more explaining, more testing until finally one long week later, Orange sent out a technician who resolved the problem in five minutes.  

On the flight to Krakow, I noticed a little toddler boy. He seemed the male equivalent of the "Hey, Lady" toddler on the flight to Chicago. Every few minutes, he would cry out, "Oh, no!" until he finally conked out. I dedicate this blog post to him and hope our "Oh, no" experiences are over for now.

 

Hey, Lady!

 Where do you think you're going? To France, via Poland. Sometime in August I formulated the plan to get to our house in France with the help of my Polish passport. Daniel applied first for a Polish passport at least three or four years ago. I followed suit. It took an enormous amount of patience, documentation, and a significant  amount of money to receive the Polish passport. Luckily, Poland does not require proficiency in Polish to acquire a passport  or I would have been toast. Have you seen how many consonants are in the average Polish word?   

Armed with my Polish passport and marriage license, we flew to Chicago from Portland.  We pulled down our masks for TSA at PDX but aside from that, all proceeded as usual. Bill and I shared a row with an empty seat between us.  Diagonally across from me sat an adorable toddler.  I watched her in fascination the entire flight. She distracted me from my worry about entry into Poland,  etc etc.  She insisted on showing another passenger behind me her video game, her shoe, her ballet moves. To get this person's attention, she repeatedly cried out, "Hey, lady." Reminded me of what a New York City toddler might say.  Now, I have taken to calling all toddler girls, "hey, ladies". Surprisingly, a lot of "hey, ladies" are traveling at this time. 

Before boarding the plane to Warsaw, I presented my Polish passport and my marriage license to prove Bill is my  legal husband of almost forty years.  I actually took an original copy which looked more official encased in a plastic sleeve.  The Lot Airline agent took a copy of the license and then we were good to go. Whew!!!

Our temperature was taken as we boarded the plane to Warsaw. A comic moment ensued as the agent struggled to take my temperature behind my shield.  Bill and I each enjoyed a row to ourselves. I stretched out and slept.

I repeated the same drill to board our connecting flight to Krakow: Polish passport, marriage license, agent photocopy.  No  Covid testing, no questions, no problem.  The taxi driver reserved in advance greeted us  as we entered Arrivals with a sign bearing my name. I felt a little like crying.  Thanks to my Polish passport, I succeeded in traveling to my father's homeland. I consider the passport a gift from my father without which   a trip to  France during these crazy times could never be imaginable.

Still here

My new summer love

I am still here. The EU will not allow Americans in so we wait. Meanwhile my sweet  French little village house sits empty.  I  too feel empty and sad. As Michael said to me. "France is your thing , Mom."
Without "my thing", I don't know how to navigate this new thing,  summer in Portland. We went to Hagg Lake last week. I even swam a little bit in the  chilly water.  We hiked with Maggy who stress panted round trip in the car.  Yesterday, we picked  blueberries  and raspberries at Smith Berry Farm where we washed hands before picking, wore masks, and stayed well away from others.  Maybe wine tasting next week?

The last time I celebrated July 4th at home might have been twenty years ago.  The neighborhood looks proudly patriotic in its red, white, and blue finery,  but I cannot feel proud of our country at this particular time.  I feel our country aching for lack of intelligent brave leadership. With freedom comes responsibility.

I do my best to be kind and compassionate, offer assistance when needed, and remember to be grateful for all the beauty and love that surround me here in Portland. And so, I will spend the summer  enjoying what life offers me. I will grieve "my thing" but I will love all the rest.
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Soul Collage

My Spring Collage

My Soul Collage Class encourages us to share our collages made at home via email with the other members of our group.  We make collages on 5x7 cards. We're  given different topics to explore ,for example spring, motherhood, the pandemic or whatever comes up for us.  Meeting in person allowed for great shared insights and meaningful communication. Many made collages in honor of Earth Day, but we seem to making very few collages at this stage of confinement.  I am struggling to finish a collage about de-confinement, but  am either lacking images or inspiration or both.   Also, what does de-confinement look like?
Today marks two week of daily blogging.  I am going to take a break and will be back when something blog worthy  happens. Thanks so much for reading. If you would like to write a comment, please send it to Giselle.bawnik@gmail.com
Be well!

Best of Baking

Apple Turnovers

Raisin Scones

Bill's Challah

Artisan Bread

Since March 16, the official day we went into confinement at our house, baking continues to comfort us.  Pictured above are the creme de la creme, what we deemed  baking successes.  I am most proud of the apple turnovers which I made per my sister's request. Thank goodness for store bought puff pastry. Not all grocery stores carry puff pastry. We got ours  conveniently at Winco.  Today I could have used a good bake. My world seemed too quiet, and the gray weather did not help the mood.  I miss the liveliness of my PCC classes and the variety of folks at the college. Is this what retirement feels like?  I hope not. This is what confinement feels, and until it's over, I will keep on baking.

Comments: Giselle.bawnik@gmail.com

Yum

A sweet treat

Bill and I could not resist getting a treat today. The sun shone, the air smelled sweet.  We felt rather warm after doing some socially appropriately distanced shopping. We passed Dairy Queen on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and thought, why not?  We took our place in the drive-thru line. it immediately came to a stand still. Fifteen minutes later, I was ready to call it quits and go home. Bill
insisted we tough it out as we had already made the commitment. He really is serious about his ice cream. Finally, the line started moving slowly.   We both  already knew what we wanted:  chocolate dipped vanilla cones. Normally my size choice would be small, but after waiting  in this interminable line, it merited an upgrade. Finally, we made it to the order window. After that, it took almost no time at all to get the cones.  I held both as Bill drove us to a shady parking lot. My cone found my mouth immediately. Cool, creamy, and sweet, it hit the spot.  It took half an hour to get the cone, but it was worth the wait.  Do yo have a favorite at Dairy Queen?

Happy Anniversary

Drinking Cider in Paris

Bill and I celebrate 39 years of marriage today.  We did take out coffee at Starbucks and read our vows  to each other as we do every year.  I wrote the vows, long ago, and it struck me how relevant they are even now especially in confinement.  As in every long marriage, we've experienced ups and downs, but we have always stuck together. I think one of our strongest qualities is the ability to laugh at ourselves. We also do family meetings every Sunday. We were married in Menomonie, Wisconsin at the Mabel Tainter Theatre.  The theatre is registered on the US National Register of Historic Places. The theatre 's history can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabel_Tainter_Memorial_Building  You can see from the pictures on the site what a gorgeous setting it makes for a wedding.  Back then, we were able to rent the entire theatre for $35.  Each guest we invited also participated in the wedding ceremony.  I loved the intimacy of our wedding. Hopefully, those marrying this season with limited participants will  also appreciate its value.