Getting there. We have undergone a major shuffle here at Villa Ndio. As we cleared out what we are now calling Studio B of all things “photo” and hoping to establish a place for Kathy to pursue her hobbies and pastimes, it became clear that my Studio A was going to have to accommodate more than just all things photo. That is to say all items associated with family business activities have been moved to Studio A as well. This makes it a bit more crowded in A but affords more opportunities to be better organized in B.
Democracy Demands A Free Press
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free … it expects what never was and never will be.”
Thomas Jefferson
Villa Ndio Butterfly Book
I have received a working prototype for a book to be published later this year. The prototype has some 40 pages, each with a full-page photo of a single unique butterfly. On the good advice of my photographer brother Tony, I will be redesigning the inside pages to include multiple images of each butterfly, as well as additional images to provide context. I plan to make some other changes as well.
Happy New Year
Leaving a challenging year behind and facing new optimism for a fulfilling 2025. Kathy has come a long way on her long road to recovery from her stroke last August. One more operation to address collateral damage caused by a necessary change to her meds will happen in mid-January. We expect a period of convalescence and hope for some normalcy in our lives come the spring.
Some thoughts, not in any particular order with regard to importance timing or priority:
Follow-up and completion of unfinished household projects, particularly the ground floor bathroom.
We will start looking in earnest for a new place to live. A smaller easier living arrangement.
Some travel is planned to Arkansas in March for a White House Fellows gathering and to Arizona in August for a high school reunion. We will otherwise be welcoming visits by family and friends.
We are anxious for America and indeed the world as a new political wind blows.
When did you decide to have a family and what has it been like to have a family?
The Storyworth adventure that has produced the book “A Trove of Stories, Volume I” was a tremendous experience for me, and I was sad to see it coming to an end. In retrospect, I might have structured the questions more to my own liking, and I added this last one as part of a reorganization and expansion of what I did write down throughout the past year (2023). Treat it as a prelude for a second volume, if you will.
Much of the stories in this first volume are about my childhood memories, often based on questions that I would never have thought of. What’s missing are shared memories of more recent years, especially those involving my wonderful family. True, there are stories in this volume about things that we experienced together – our travels together, our extended family relationships, even a bit about our daily family life.
As I am about to turn 80, I am thinking about the need to keep looking ahead. That doesn’t fit with dwelling on the past, of course, but I do see my family as something that is important to me for my own future, just as much as it has obvious importance for them.
I was lucky to meet my life partner well after I had passed the age of 40. (So it still has been less than half of my life.) We had a typically whirlwind courtship – that is to say, a courtship that didn’t require a long gestation. Ralph aka Peppy showed up at the perfect time to become “the boy next door”, as I have previously written. He clearly gave me a feeling of comfort, with whom communication was natural and familiar (as was, of course, the lovemaking). I spontaneously announced to him that I wanted to have his children, and he spontaneously asked me to marry him. And off we went. Through plenty of ups and downs, to be sure, but with a lasting bond of warmth and love for each other.
Our two children together were born when I was 44 (Kristina Doggett Hagen on 25 February 1988) and when I was 47 (Ralph McShane Doggett, Jr on 25 September 1991). They became the center of my life, along with Peppy, even with a career that took me away from them a lot of the time. They may remember those absences with a certain amount of disgruntlement, but I hope they will also remember our times together and the love that was always there – and still is, of course!
The home life as a family was magical – all of it – the daily routines, the reading of children’s books and the watching of video entertainment together, the shared meals, the going to and from school, the birthday parties, the trips back and forth between Geneva and Grasse, the extended family gatherings, the travels here and there, the swimming and tennis and skiing and baseball games, the graduation ceremonies, the cats, Romeo, the music and guitar playing.
The joys of Kristina and PJ becoming the distinctively unique individuals who continue to “become” who they are – they are the memories and also the anticipation of more to come.
Today, life at home with Peppy has its own comfort level. We both went through separation stress after each of them left the nest – whether for university or in search of their own careers and partners. Now we enjoy weekly Skype chats with them – and with Becky, whose presence in our Doggett/Hagen family life was only through her high school and college years.
Becky’s time in the daily family routines in those years were certainly important for all of us – not only as she blossomed in her own right (the acting, the love for David Bowie, the literary interests) but also as a great older sister. We have savored our family time with all three of them, even if they are no longer a constant presence in our lives. Here we are as a family in Sardinia, when Becky’s partner Scott had already joined us:
A few years later, we welcomed Kristina’s partner Julian at a wedding that started in Geneva and was followed by celebratory receptions in Grasse, Bristol and Richmond:
And later we welcomed PJ’s partner Sarah to the family. Then there are those fabulous grandchildren, Remy and Kaia. What wonderful futures for all of them. Here we all are, including Remy and Kaia, celebrating the marriage of PJ and Sarah:
We continue to have strong family connections with brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews – and even “grand-nieces and grand-nephews”. And the joy these days of reunions with old friends and friendship networks can be bittersweet with the memories of those who are no longer with us.
We pursue other activities and new friends on our own – Peppy through his photography (mostly but not exclusively of butterflies these days) but also his guitars and olive oil processing and renovation work and lawn-mowing and pool maintenance; and I through my commentaries, my teaching of “American” English, my studying of Spanish, my gardening (mostly weeding), my daily walking, my book clubs and other forays into the local lifestyle here. Ready for Volume II?
Back to Brico
I invited Jack Hammer, John Mayal and Eric Clapton over today to help me pick up where I left off on a major home renovation (brico) project here in the Villa Ndio big house. For years we have wanted to have a ground floor bathroom to replace the inadequate and not really legal facility left behind by the previous owners of the annexed half of our house. That toilet and sink arrangement pumped raw waste out into the small garden across the way. We have had several false starts at implementing a solution that would involve proper disposal of waste out of the house in the same direction but concluded it is just not workable. We now have plans afoot to have waste from a new bathroom pumped across the next floor up and over to the existing septic tank on the other side of the house.
Before the bathroom fixtures and plumbing can be installed we have to prepare the walls, floor and ceiling of the room that is to be the new bathroom. Enter Jack Hammer. Curiously the original space, which has been used as a storage space, had shelving units resting on three concrete blocks, one each against the north and south walls and abutting the west wall, and one in-between them with a one and a half foot gap on either side. Each of the concrete blocks is about one and a half foot cubed. These have to go.
The original structure that is now Villa Ndio, we have learned, is over 300 years old, and has a storied past. It has been rumored, for example, that German military used the house when they occupied France during World War II. During each of my brico efforts over the years that have involved jack-hammering through rock and concrete, I have wondered aloud, jokingly, if I was going to find hidden treasure as part of these efforts. Will today be the day?
I have hammered into pieces the block against the northern side, pieces small enough to wheelbarrow away. No treasure under it. The middle block has been quite stubborn. I have chipped away at it, literally, but so far I haven’t been able to break it up. I hammered around the bottom edge and got a crowbar under it enough to flip it over. No treasure. Next I will drill a line of holes across the middle and try again to hammer it into smaller pieces that I can lift into the wheelbarrow. The first block was in the corner on the fa r right of the featured photo above. The middle one is lying on its side in the middle of the photo. The third is under a pile of brico supplies and equipment,
I have now attacked the third concrete block, to find that it consists of two large rocks, like the big one in the middle block. I have so far cleared out around them as you can see in the photo below. So now it is time to clear out the debris before trying to break up and remove these three large remaining pieces. Stay tuned!
Katherine’s Trove of Stories, Volume I
My children, Kristina and PJ, came up with a delightful Christmas gift of having me put together a book by answering an unusual collection of questions week by week over the course of the year 2023. They even read most of the responses to keep me going. The questions were more oriented to childhood and family recollections than anything I had written professionally or on my blog. But I really enjoyed the experience – and the outcome is a real book!
Celebrating American Independence Day 2024 and an 80th Birthday at Villa Ndio
We enjoy celebrating American holidays with our French (and international) friends at Villa Ndio. This year we took advantage of inviting our neighbors and friends to a traditional pot-luck celebration of American Independence Day to include a celebration of Kathy’s 80th birthday. Over 50 people joined us by the pool on Saturday, 6 July (two days after the actual Fourth-of-July holiday in the States and three days before Kathy’s actual birthday) for an afternoon of feasting and conviviality. Continue reading “Celebrating American Independence Day 2024 and an 80th Birthday at Villa Ndio”
Looking Forward
Today Kathy and I reviewed the Villa Ndio website and resolved to keep it up to date
A Day in Geneva
Up at 5 am for an 8 o’clock flight from Nice to Geneva. Clear sailing both on the ground and in the air. I was looking forward to hooking up with my dear old friends Clive and Benedikt. We had planned to spend the day together.
While I was at it, I brought along my Minolta 35-105mm AF lens, which I am currently reviewing. I will evaluate the lens performance on both my Sony SLT A77V and my Sony A7r3a camera bodies when I further process the photos on my computer and write about them and my experience with the lens in a review on the Villa Ndio Photography website.
I met up with Clive and Neil, another old friend, at the Nyon train station. I took a train there directly from the Geneva airport. From there, we drove to a favorite lake front cafe for a coffee and a gooey pastry. We then met up with Greg and the four of us went hiking through a woods on a well worn path. I took some photos of the guys and a few butterflies and flowers.
After saying farewell to Neil and Greg, Clive and I went back to Nyon for lunch at a lakeside restaurant. Benedikt joined us there.
The three of us then went to the spot where we had distributed some of Ed’s ashes into the lake several months ago. Ed was and always will be the fourth member of our “Gang of Four”, together for over 25 years, having met and bonded in Geneva those many years ago. That was the highlight of my visit. Clive, Benedikt and I palled around for a few more hours before I headed back home the way I came. I was dog tired but spiritually fulfilled.