Le Grim Reaper

Bonjour, mes amis! It has been a few days since we arrived in France and we're slowly setting in to our new accommodations. The homeowners, M and Mme R, are here with some of their extended family from the UK. It's a very full house, with 8 adults, 3 kids, and 1 dog!

Jim and I have been entertaining ourselves by relaxing poolside, going for extended walks in the countryside, and exploring the local village.

The pool was formerly a water trough for farm animals.

Walking trail behind our house.

Windows in the village.

We've been suffering from an unfortunate string of bad luck lately. In fact, I'm beginning to think that Jim is the Grim Reaper of Electronics. The first victim was his camera, which mysteriously died while he was hiking at Paklenica. (I think it jumped off a cliff... or was it pushed?!)

Just like the good ol' days, taking pics with a view finder and "developing" your photos later.

Next came our GPS, which was subjected to an unhealthy dose of UV radiation:

Who knew you weren't supposed to use it outside?

And, last but not least, his laptop was drowned in a cup of coffee:

Just before it exploded, coffee was pouring out of the USB ports.

So please forgive us, dear friends, for not posting as much lately. We've been struggling to get by with only one laptop. A replacement laptop is on order, but won't arrive for a couple more weeks. In the meantime, we are collecting photos and stories to share with you once we're up-and-running at full capacity.