Travels with Jeanne and Serge: au revoir

The final day of any visit is filled with reorganizing and repacking. However, Serge felt it was very important to document all the citizens of our house with a "piggy safari." Sometimes, he felt obliged to give stage directions to his subjects.

No angle was overlooked in pursuit of the perfect photo.

Nobody should be left out!

Not even those many who live elsewhere in the house.

Those who are reading Harry Potter were nicely lit for their closeup.

Not even the literature was exempt from the safari scrutiny.

What better sign of hospitality?

Look for the piggy in the window.

The next day we drove Serge and Jeanne to the airport, stood nearby as they checked in and placed their luggage in the scanning machines, and bade them a fond adieu. The Icelandic volcano was still affecting the North Atlantic; their flight from Atlanta to Paris was delayed three hours, and forced to take a more circuitous route that added another three. Even though they missed their flight to Nantes, our friends were able to reach home the same day, two flights later than their scheduled connection. Considering the havoc the volcano caused in earlier weeks, this was an OK result.

It was our great pleasure to show Serge and Jeanne a few sections of our very large country, and to spend time with them, getting to know them better. During the trip, Serge often joked that to match our hospitality from Chattanooga to Columbus, he would be obligated to rent the Eiffel Tower for a day. (This story spread through the staff at the Wilds in just a few hours.) Whether he does so or not, Serge did leave us with a couple of euro bills as a "hook" to bring us to France, where we could spend them. Joan and I look forward to it.