Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, Cauliflower and The Ayatollah Khomeini

In 1980, we moved from Waterloo, Belgium to Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, France (St.Nom). St.Nom is well-known for its golf course which was one of the first built in France and little known for its role in the Paris Peace Accords which ended the Vietnamese war.  Apparently between 1968 and 1973 Le Duc Tho (Vietnamese negotiator) and Henry Kissinger(US Secretary of State) met secretly in several locations - one being St. Nom.

The small town is located north-west of Paris on the way to Rouen.  It's a little north and west of Versailles.  Nearby is the forest of Marly Le Roi.  The village is nestled among cultivated, rolling fields. I found the countryside picturesque - like a painting by Pissarro or one of his impressionist friends.

Pissarro - Lanscape at Chaponvill

With a friend I went on daily walks.  We would do a loop through woods and dale, skirting lush fields.  One morning we walked by a field where a woman was swinging a scythe. With smooth, rhythmic motions she was cutting heads of cauliflower off their stems.  I waved and she came over and offered me a a true flower surrounded by deep green leaves.  The woman's round face was rosy with exertion.  She wore a blue-patterned babushka and a sunny smile. The cauliflower was a gift from Mother Nature. 

We had a nice house in a small housing complex called Le Buisson Ste. Anne which translates as St. Anne’s Bush!  The ground floor was tiled with octagonal terra-cotta tiles which gave a rustic feel to the place.  Upstairs there were three bedrooms and a wide open loft that provided a wonderful place to play.  The children put on theatre performances and constructed Lego masterpieces.

Here is our house from the back.

The house was on a cul-de-sac.  At the end of the street there was an open field and a tennis court.  Our neighbors were all French except for the house directly across from ours which was another rental.  The first year the house was occupied by an American family. Marie-Juliette enjoyed playing with their two girls. We are still in communication with the family today.  The second year a British couple moved in with a baby.  That lady was a decorating queen and she completely papered and painted the house two times over.

The American School of Paris today.

The children attended the American School of Paris.  Since we planned to remain in Europe, it seemed wise to have the children in an English-speaking school.  Every morning I walked the children up to the main road-D307- to catch the bus. If my friend Nancy was there we would see the children off and then stop in the café-tabac for a café au lait and a croissant. 

I was told that the Ayatollah Khomeini used to walk the D307 road each day when he was in exile.  He left the area and returned to Iran in 1979, shortly before we arrived.  Did you know that initially we Americans backed him and his regime?  He was even named Man of The Year by TIME magazine.  How can we blame a candidate for political office for flip-flopping? It would seem that our nation as a whole performs erratic U-turns when it suits.