Another wonderful evening in the south of France, thanks to my gracious friends (in order of photo: Rick, Lisa, Helen, Nathalie and Laurent). For those who know me well, you know of my pension for Bingo...my one gambling weakness. This was soon to be learned by my friends here as one by one different "Lottos" were announced in this city and that. Quite excitedly I asked each of them if they had the same passion, sadly no...but again as I've said numerous times, they are so gracious. They decided to make an evening out it for my sake.


Unfortunately for me, with the sickness that was invading France, I succumbed to this awful bug. I feared that I would miss out on the evening festivities, but I was determined to go. Especially since my friends had decided to go to make me happy. After a longer walk than I expected, we arrived at the makeshift "Bingo Hall" full of people full of hope and expectation. We grabbed our tickets, 5 tickets for 20 euros and took our place way in the back.

Despite their hesitant start, I think that everyone enjoyed their Bingo experience...the guys were a little bit more difficult to keep entertained as well as the wee ones. So midway through the evening, Laurent took the girls to the Christmas festivities in town and they enjoyed the 'baby rides', cotton candy (known as Barbapapa) and all the lights. Rick got a little stir crazy but managed to hang with the professionals.

As you can see by our expressions, this was serious business, as their was mountain bikes, flat screen plasma TVs, dinners for two at local restaurants and even a trip to London and one to Marrakesh! We all came so very close and there was excitement in the air but alas, none of us won.

After our night of bingo we walked back to Nathalie and Laurent's Maison and passed through the beautiful decorations and fair-like atmosphere. The wind was so strong making it almost unbearable, but lovely just the same. We left his wonderful scene for the warmth provided by their home and had a great time chatting and laughing. Due to my illness, I was quite (if you can believe it) and they were wondering and worried. I simply told them that I was trying to give equal airtime for everyone as often I end up talking way too much.

The following day I slept in till lunch time, and was wondering how smart I was for having gone...it seemed to make the sickness worse...but....how many times does one live in the south of France and get to enjoy life so fully.

So now my goal is to be 100% before Nicholas arrives in 9 days...I am so excited to introduce him to my family and my new friends as well to see him for the first time in six months.