Wordy Update

Here I am on a Sunday morning looking in both directions, backwards and forwards. It's been 5 weeks but it seems much longer. My french is coming a long. I am not sure that I will ever find a teacher. I am making out best , again, when I am thrown into the deep end and have to speak. So many people have been helpful when they hear me trying. I want to find more of these circumstances.
I am going to skype with my great teacher in California this week...I need to study more. But I am progressing.
I do find that I need to warm up. I also find that if someone does speak English, and I know it, I resort to Engliah. My fault. Perhaps it's part of my black or white nature.

I tell the time by when the gun shots start. During the week, they start about 7 and the dog down the hill starts barking and crying about then as well. I think he barks because his family goes off to work ( they own a fancy restaurant in Cagnes called Renoir) . They must put him out for the day and he is unhappy. He has a big yard and a beautiful vista. I have seen him a few times. He is a big beautiful long haired mountain dog. During the week, he tells me what time it is.

On the weekends, the shooting starts later, around 8 and lasts longer. The dog does not bark in the morning on weekends.

In California, I was able to tell the time in the morning , any day, by the sound of the traffic on the highway. When it became a solid whoosh, I knew it was 8 am or so and people were rushing off to work enmass.

The weekends are a little difficult for me. It may be that everyone goes into their family unit and I am left on the outside, but I feel a little rudderless. I need to get the dogs out and exercised before I can go anywhere for any length of time. I feel guilty not giving them a good run. However, I can't get them out into the woods until noon or so as I fear the hunters. I wish I could take them with me on adventures, but it's impossible, I think, with the 2 of them. I would love to go on a hike around a little town and then go into the town, look around, have lunch, but I don't think I can do it with 2 and I would feel terrible if I left one home. So I am torn.
I cannot seem to find a dog sitter. Mme.L. Tells me that she can't find a gardener, she says no one wants to work and that if she finds someone, they complain. It's frustrating...no french teacher, no dog sitter. I must make some headway this week with those 2 things.

Today, I will find a place to take the dogs, a hike in the woods. North west of me is a town called Tourette's Sur Loup that is on a cliff. It is known for it's violet production . They grown them under the olive trees. They supply violets to grasse for perfume.
There is a festival in march that I will try to go to. Today, I think we will take a drive there and see if I can find a trail along the river for us to walk.

There is a mimosa festival today in a town called Tanneron. It is about 45 minutes form here way up at the top of a small mountain in the Esterels. I have driven up there in June and have wanted to go back to see the Mimosas in bloom. They are blooming everywhere here, but in that area, they have a Mimosa Trail, like the Lavendar Trail in Provence where it is miles and miles of acid yellow flowers. I decided against the festival. The driving and traffic and parking would be hell. I will go later this week to see the sights.

It's so beautiful here. California is very beautiful too, but I love this type of landscape. I never grow tired of the sunrises and sunsets or the view of the sea.
I feel like the time is passing quickly and I need to do more. How will I get deeper into things?
I will start the exercise classes this week, go to the Meet Up on Wednesday, go to a movie, get a key
 made, find the famous hardware store in Nice, get more secure about using my credi card, eat no bread, cut down on cheese. I need to take more serious photos ( I have actually had quiet a few serious shots ( big camera) accepted by my stock agency, have to do a lot more of that,  work on my painting, more writing little vignettes that have been great for me, I need to get on a schedule, find a dog sitter. I also need to find more inroads into French everyday life. I need to go on a date with a man that speaks no English at all.

What have I learned about myself? It's interesting. In the house the are many mirrors. To me, I look different. I look at myself and can really see myself for the first time. I have that same ailment that many women have, that they are over weight ...but, seeing myself here, I'm not. It's like I see myself more clearly.

 I know that people thinks its very brave of me to just pick up and move to a foreign country. For some reason, that part is easy for me. I don't really miss California at all. The hard part for me is forging a new social path. I think this is one of the main reasons I am here and not just existing day to day in California or in the US where it was easy for me. Easy equals boring to me.

I think I needed a "tabla rasa" .People don't know me here. It's not easy to make friends , but there are so many opportunities for me to push through. I can be socially awkward as I am not from here, so people accept me as they see me trying. I am making aquaintances everyday, but I need to go deeper, as I keep saying. I need to find inroads into areas that I am interested in, the flower production, farmers, antique dealers, hunters, truffles, dogs, the sea, the old towns...
I need to use my photography skills to get me in. Why don't I try to have a vernisage ( exhibition) or have a show in a gallery here. I  have always shied away from this, but it would be good for me to get my images and myself out there.

So that's where I am at the moment. Sorry to be long winded. So many have been sharing this path with me that I thought I would tell you how I am feeling about this all and how it is shaping me.
All comments and ideas greatly appreciated.