Dreaming of France -- Holidays

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

Today is Mother's Day in the United States, and our plan is to move to France next year the week after Mother's Day.

Here is my mother and her four children. I'm the girl on the right, without the teased hair!

Mother's Day is a deadline of sorts for us since we chose the week after Mother's Day to leave  next year. That means that from now until we move, I will be filled with melancholy about the last time we... whatever it is. Celebrate Father's Day. Celebrate Fourth of July. Labor Day. Birthdays. Thanksgiving. Christmas.

I'm so thrilled at the plan to move to France, but I, of course, am nervous about moving so far away from my children and my parents.

Here I am in La Rochelle, France with my three children, along with a friend's teenager. She came along to show us around.
My good times in France with the kids should encourage me that we'll have more good times to come.  This was 1998. 

So next year, on Mother's Day, I plan to convince my mother to come to Ohio so we can celebrate together. Then, I have already told my husband that we must return to the United States for my mother's 80th birthday in November 2017. So I know we'll be back here for that and Thanksgiving together. Maybe we can slowly wean ourselves from American holidays.

Here we are in Paris having a meal with our family friend, Marguerite.
I really hope that our children will come visit us in France and we can celebrate holidays with them.

Truthfully, the French have so many holidays that I really shouldn't miss the American ones.

Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France. I really appreciate your participation and I hope you'll leave a comment plus visit each other's blogs.

Saturday Snapshot -- Mother's Day

For more than half my life now, I've lived far away from my mother. When I was 24 I went off to grad school in Washington, D.C. then moved to Florida, Michigan and back to Ohio with my parents long since moved to Florida.
I try to go down there at least once a year and they come to Ohio a few times each year, but it isn't the same as living close.
Here's a picture of Mom and Dad at a recent Kentucky Derby party. You can see that they are definitely enjoying themselves.

Here's a picture of me with my parents at my wedding. Mom was just about the same age I am now. 

And, finally, the piece de resistance, a family photo from 1968. You can see that Mom had her hair teased high and she let me sister get her hair teased too. Tammy was 9. I even got a little lift to my hair. I was five. 

I'm sure there were plenty of Mother's Days when I wasn't thankful enough, when we kids tried to plan a special mother's day and instead it left a big mess for Mom to clean up. 

I'm really grateful for my mother. 

And I get to see her next week!

Mother's Day Flowers

The irises are in full bloom at my house. Many of them have simply fallen over on their long stems.
These irises came from my mother's house in Kentucky. I'm not sure where they might have been planted before then. She lives in Florida now and the irises do not like the climate there, so I thought I'd send her one on my blog.
The irises are just one of the gifts she has given me that continues to bloom every year.
Happy Mother's Day!