Elisabeth and Linda Meet!

July 26th-Well, Elisabeth has arrived and is getting acclimated to being in the States, and seeing some of the many differences! So far we have travelled only locally, although yesterday we did get to Wellesley where we met Melissa for lunch. Elisabeth is a very warm and charming woman with an enviable grasp of the English language!
Definitely the most exciting thing to report at this point is that on Saturday she finally met her “penwriter”, Linda Doucette, with whom her correspondence started when she was 12! While they lost touch for ten years, that means they have known each other for forty-six years plus or minus! They have much to catch up on, and have various outings planned while Elisabeth is here. She also met Roseanne; both mother and daughter were thrilled to finally meet Elisabeth, as she and her family have a special place in the lives of Linda and Roseanne. In fact, Roseanne had saved the letters which Elisabeth’s grandmother had written over the years to her and her husband; she gave them to Elisabeth on Saturday! It turns out that Elisabeth’s father had invited Linda’s father to go home with him was because he spoke French, as his parents had emigrated to the US from Canada. Elisabeth’s delightful grandmother was so gracious that she insisted on doing Linda’s father’s laundry, when he came to visit!

Countdown to Elisabeth's Arrival...

July 21, 2009-Well, after weeks of preparations and more emails than we could have imagined, Elisabeth will be arriving at Logan at 8PM the day after tomorrow! She’ll be here for a week before we leave, so we will have some outings as well as getting to know each other.
The following are on our calendar at this point....
Saturday afternoon-Elisabeth and Linda and her mother will FINALLY meet here. Linda wrote, “I think it is such a wonderful, amazing 'small-world story!' Finally meeting Elisabeth on Saturday will be such a high point in my life -- we are all eagerly anticipating the day!”
Next Monday, we are taking a day trip up to southern Maine with Ogunquit as our destination. Walking the famous Marginal Way with the quintessential vista of the coast of Maine has been a treat for me, since I was 6, so it will be fun to revisit it with Elisabeth. We’re stopping in Newburyport to pick up Joan (Havey Denning) and Jean (Havey Sweeney) of Arlington, VA to join in the adventure! They are twin sisters and high school friends of mine; Jean and I were at UMass together.
Tuesday we’ll drive over to Concord-great local museum, Orchard House, Louisa May Alcott’s home, the Old Manse, and, of course, the Battlefield- and Lexington, where there is Visitors’ Center which shows an interesting video about Paul Revere and the Revolutionary War.
Wednesday we’ll head down to Jamestown, Rhode Island, to visit Anne Lane, another UMass friend. We’ll have a myriad of “entertainment” options-sailing on the Fast Lane, visiting the Newport mansions, visit Beavertail on Jamestown, a wonderful park overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
In between all of these fun outings, I’ll introduce her to Weston, the Town Pool, the landfill, etc. Elisabeth is not the “typical” tourist, as she wrote,”I'm not interested in touristic places and events. I want to go to true American events and places.” Too bad I couldn’t get her tickets to see the Red Sox!
Friday Elisabeth will leave Melissa and me at Logan, as we head to France and her home in Saint-Raphael, while she returns to Chez 56 to plan what she wants to do for the next three weeks. (She is very kindly leaving us some wonderful French goodies in her freezer...ratatouille and rabbit in white wine which she made for us! YUM!!) She’ll visit with Linda, who will, of course, have some great outings planned-Rockport is one I know of! In addition, she has a great weekend trip to New York City scheduled. (Understandably NYC is big feature of the French guide books-not so much about Boston!)

Two Weeks Before We Leave...

July 17, 2009-Melissa and I leave for our three week sojourn to Saint-Raphael and the French Riviera TWO weeks from tomorrow!!I am so looking forward to this great trip!
We will be staying at Elisabeth's Baugier's home, which is at http://www.homeforexchange.com/ID=29281. We are swappping homes, as we "met" through www.homeforexchange.com.
I first emailed her on April 3rd to see if she would like to swap with me. The next morning she responded, "Yes, why not come to Boston?" She went on to say that she had a "pen writer" (pen pal), but they had lost touch. Her next email included her pen pal's name and address. Luckily Linda Doucette had not moved from Townsend, so on Saturday at 9AM, I called and said, "Linda, this is Debbie Toppan, and you're not going to believe why I'm calling!" She was certainly plenty surprised! It turns out that Linda's paratrooper father had been invited to go home with Elisabeth's dad when they met during WW2. For many years Elisabeth's grandmother wrote to Linda's parents.
Elisabeth arrives next Thursday, so we will have a week together to get to know each other. And Linda and her mother and husband and Elisabeth will finally meet next Saturday! (I met Linda and her mother Rosanne for lunch in May, and we had a delightful visit!)