Mélie, our friend from church, drew this for us.  We like sitting beside her at church because she illustrates the sermons beautifully!  Check our her art at:  http://melhildenille.weebly.com/

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

-Robert Frost

How you know you’re home, in the (843) of South Carolina:

• Family!
• Biscuits
• Shrimp and Grits
• Water and bridges, and more water and bridges…
• Clerks: “Can I help ya’ll find anything?”
• People say, “Merry Christmas!”

Grandma and Grandpa Miles came back to France after a 43 year hiatus.  The last time Gpa was here he asked Gma to marry him in Rennes.  We had a wonderful time together.  Here is a video with a few souvenirs of our time together:

Some friends took us to see the town Les Andelys and Chateau Gaillard (read the history here).   We enjoyed walking along the River Seine.  The three pictures below highlight Claire’s adventurous spirit…first, she runs toward the castle, then discovers it is nap-time in the field, and finally, she comes home to mamma.

Even though we’ve been there numerous times, we never get tired of seeing the WW2 Battlefields.  The American Cemetery was beautiful on this warm August day.  Jack and I found another soldier from SC whose name was Ransom Davis.

Last week we had the pleasure of hearing the sounds of Appalachia…soul food.  We met several friends there from Rouen and enjoyed picnicin’ and pickin’.  We took a day to visit Lake Annecy as well.

Several weeks ago I met a German luthier in Rouen.  She shared some interesting tidbits on my oldest violin.  This violin was made in her region of Germany by George Adam Gutter in 1775…one year before America was born.  This region gave rise to one of the earliest guilds of violin luthiers in 1677.   Many of these young instrument makers were Protestants fleeing persecution in neighboring regions.  They became skilled at their profession.  After learning that we would be near this region, I decided to take my violin back to its hometown.  In Markneukirchen there is an excellent museum and we were given a guided tour by the museum director.  She was very kind and keenly interested in my violin.  Here is an article that tells this story of this small village (Musical Valley Article).  I was surprised to learn that another young luthier was born here named Christian Frederick Martin, who started Martin Guitar Company in 1833.