It’s only funny after the Fact.
For the past six months we have been dreaming, planning, praying, cleaning closets, and trying to make something happen. Anything. We had hoped our book would be sold and ready to go to publication. We had planned on Jean's dissertation being done in the early spring. We had planned that our house would be sold by early April. And we definitely counted on the springtime in Provence to be sunny.
Jean's Dissertation
If there is anything we have learned here this past 6 months, it is the fact that you have no control over timing and you do indeed have to be very careful what you wish for.
April, usually a beautiful month full of sunshine and spring flowers has been turned on it's head and spilling rain everyday, but a few. Nothing worse than a gray rainy April. Another lesson in living in the now as that is all we have. 
Living in the present is something that Jean and I have been pursuing for awhile now, but every once in awhile it seems to become even more important. The more we get ahead of ourselves, the more we persist, the more something resists.
Coming down the homestretch of Jean's dissertation he ran into a HUGE - BIG _ GRAND - snafu, in which some data was later submitted by a lab resulting in Jean having to redo all his data analysis. This is the time when emotions have to be put aside and the work just has to be done. Being present in the moment is required. April rain didn't help either!
Lyon, a Gallo-Roman settlement situated a few hours from Paris, Avignon and Geneve is often a city one waves to as they pass by the on the train. This time we decided to take a direct line and spend a day and night in the city on the way to Geneva.
The old ville has been renovated as a pedestrian area with fantastic shops and gastronomic restaurants every ten yards. Spending a week there and you still would have more places to eat than time. The Gallo-Roman remains to modern architecture, not forgetting Romanesque and Gothic buildings - Lyon has preserved its ancient districts echoing with memories of its 2000 years of history.are as good as those seen in Paris and the vibrancy of the city is felt throughout.
We actually started to take a day trip to Marseilles by train, but the train was cancelled (yes it does happen) and we realized we would be too late for lunch. As a detour we decided to hangout in Avignon, visit Zoe's favorite park above the Palais du Papes and bask in the Provencal sun. As you can see it was a lazy, great day.
Even in France you sometimes need to truly take a day off. It seems like we have been working hard since the Spring vacation finishing up some writing and Jean working diligently on his dissertation which is a life of its own. Plus end of the school year activities are added into the schedule with what seems like less and less free time. Now I know this is all relative as we do live at a leisurely pace, but a day off was needed.
I decided it was time for a mini vacation so we headed off for Marie St. La Mer and the Camargue where the original cowboy came from. The land of white horses and taureaux. Starting off we took a two hour horseback ride through the Camargue to see the etang and the flamingos close-up. Zoe-Pascale having taken a year's worth of poney lessons was confident on her tall white horse, one of the famous camarguais horses. Jean a bit timid loved his gentile horse and moved through the landscape slow and steady. 
Interstingly all the baby horses are born brown but turn white as they grow older and only the males are used for horseback riding.