What to leave out – art, packing, and moving to France


“It is difficult to stop in time because one gets carried away. But I have that strength; it is the only strength I have.” Claude Monet Monet was talking about when a painting is finished – many good pieces of art have been turned into a not-so-good piece of art because knowing when to stop…

Project management – retirement style


Retirement is a lot of work, well at least if part of the plan is to sell most everything you own and move to France – there are a lot of details. For 25+ years I traveled the world teaching time management, organization, and project management. Not for big, complicated projects like the ones my…

Capture moments, then pass them on – Thanks Niki


Niki often has such good advice. (Niki is my daughter Alexis Nicole, many years ago I started calling her Niki, and it stuck, though I am the only one.) She pushed back when I explained to her my stress about the large number of paintings and sketchbooks that I was accumulating. I do not want…

Au revoir traffic, bonjour D252


We have a lease, all signed and deposit made! One thing we will not miss is the traffic here in the Mukilteo-Seattle area. Here is a sketch of our new driveway. The road to the right, off of the D252, goes through pasture land, then a farm, and ends up at La Thebaudiere. When we…

Let the grande aventure begin -France is in sight


Our grande aventure is back on track. COVID and 2020 put a lot of plans on hold for all of us. On 12 March 2020, the day before the shutdowns began, we were all set to move to La Thebaudiere in Normandy, as I write we are still in Mukilteo, BUT that is all set…