Fall is officially here in North Western France. The leaves are coming down with each storm, the clocks have turned back and a nightly fire is becoming a bit more than a novelty. This week is Halloween and while I doubt I will have any visitors, I will have a bowl of candy. I mean you just have to.

Yesterday because of the time change, I woke early. I ate breakfast and then went straight to the gym. I was the only person in this massive gym for the first 45 minutes. It probably isn’t safe but it sure felt nice. There were no fist bumps and no one to marvel at the quantity of sweat that American woman produces.

For this week only, I am five hours ahead of my friends and family on the East Coast because we turn our clocks back ahead of our counterparts in America. It is a small difference but it makes it much nicer to be able to talk to my husband or cousin when we are all finished work for the day.

I took some pictures on our walk this morning, I noticed that the town grounds crew ripped out the annual summer plantings and prepared the gardens for Winter. In our town that means the annual planting of pansies and violas that will thrive in this climate through Spring.