In 2002, Talbert Pipes moved from our comfortable existence in North Carolina, USA, to an entirely new life in Brittany, France in search of adventure. It was an enormously difficult transition in every way. Here, for the benefit of our families and friends from around the world, we present a little travelogue of our life in Brittany - the people we have met, the places we have seen, and occasionally an adventure or two.

News!

• November 2nd, 2004 -Just posted a lot of new pics - new stuff in the "Places" section and a page of circus pics under "Adventures", plus a "movie review" also under "Adventures". As I write, I am listening to reporting from the US on the elections, and am very glad to be an entire ocean away from all that. I've heard more political advertising for US candidates over here than I'd like, so I can't begin to imagine what the overdose burnout must be like for folks in the states. My own funny election story comes from mailing in my absentee ballot from the Herbignac post office. North Carolina ballots require a statement on the envelope that you're a US citizen residing overseas, plus two witness signatures. These don't have to be anything special (husbands and wives can sign for each other, there's no way to verify them, and no real reason to even have them) so I thought I'd just stop in at the Herbignac mairie on the walk to the PO and have someone at the desk sign the envelope. I should know better by now... :) This was a five second signature, but the request caused a flurry at the mairie, where we were asked to wait and wait for various people to be consulted, and finally a couple of their staff appeared prepared to apply official stamps and ribbons. Some explanation later, and we finally convinced them that no, there were no stamps required, just a signature, anyone's signature, which seemed to boggle them. Emily and I left laughing, entertained again by the French inability to accept that an official document could "just" be signed, without needing any special stamps or extra papers....but our vote was finally mailed, and of course they meant the best for us, as always.
  
  
• May 29th, 2004 -I've added two new pages to the Adventures section. One is for the Herbignac Marché de Potiers for 2004, and the other is an essay of my musings on our two year anniversary in France.
  
  
• April 13th, 2004 -One new page is added to the "Adventures" section, telling of the strangeness of having our first friends from North Carolina over here to visit.
  
  
• April 9th, 2004 -Happy 2004! It has been a long time since I have had any time to tinker with this area. I've made a few changes - there are a couple of new entries on the "Differences" page in "Adventures", and also on the "Questions" page (Which now have answers!). We had some friends from the US visiting us in January, one of the most miserable months of the year in Brittany. It rained the entire time they were here, but we walked the beaches undaunted and still had a great time. When I have more time, I hope to write a short bit about the strangeness of having our "old life" coming and visiting us in our "new life" (it sounds bizarre, but prior to this visit the entire France adventure still seemed a little surreal, like we would one day wake up back in Thomasville). We are also approaching our two-year anniversary in France (May 28th) so I will try to write another retrospective for that, too. In the meantime, enjoy the new bits and the new title page picture - this is classic "Brittany coast" in January!