Exploring our neighborhood in the cccoooold!

Again, I had left my hat and gloves upstairs and totally forgot about them until we had been walking around the village for about 10 minutes, and then my head began to hurt, and my ears, and hands, finally.
The reason for going into the village was to take a look at a house we had seen for sale. It is an 'attached' 7 room (yes, here in France, they count the rooms, but their measuring system is something we have yet to figure out...more on that later). We know the house is about 220 s metres inside (2,200 sq ft approx.) and the grounds are about 1/4 acre, or 1100 sq. metres.
We needed to find out if we could access the back yard via a back entrance of some kind, and after walking around the corner and down the next street a way, we saw that there was NO back entry and that the back yard was in fact about 5 feet higher than the driveway for the neighbors yard. Bummer!

Back to the drawing board.
We like this little village that we are living near...Saint Yrieix La Perche. Let me pronounce that for you, because I have great difficulty doing so...phonetically, the Yrieix goes like this...ee ree ez . I know this because the sign just down the road has it written just so:)  The rest of the name is easy ..Pairshe.

It was very foggy this morning, and you could feel the damp, vs the dry we had up until this week began.

The cats were let upstairs, and they almost trip me up on the way, with them all wanting hugs and attention. You would think they would shoot out of there like rats out of the proverbial aqueduct...but no, they need hugs first!  Alfie is VERY demanding, and Scruffles just wants me to wear her around my collar. She is light as a feather, but first thing in the morning I don't have time for fur collars.
Maybe later!

Fed, watered and whatever else they all do outside first thing in the morning, and then they come back in afterwards. I guess the hearth was still warm, because Holly decided to camp there for a while.

 At once stage we had all 6 back in the house, this morning. I had moved the cat rugs away from the hearth, last night, and these three decided  they liked it all piled up, lol. Jolly back right, Elsa in the middle and finally Holly joined them

The subject of our visit to town, this morning. It has a double garage, which in itself is very attractive, and though the house is in the middle of town, it is convenient for everything we might need. We could walk everywhere!:)

 Looking down the road a way, this house got my attention. The corner marks the entry to the Medieval town down the hill.

 This is on the opposite corner, and again, you can see the sign bottom right that says Cite Medieval, just above the green car!

 As usual, walking past some of these historic homes, it is the details that catch the eye. I had to take my hands out of my pockets to take photos, so I was quick.

We stopped down the road a bit for a Grand Crème, which was hot, but a bit pricey at 5.40euros. NO extra hot milk, either.

Though the Grape vine has been pruned almost to extinction, it manages to come back.

This is a Boot Scaper! It is outside a building built in the late 1700s.

 This one!

 Back at the car, and looking down the avenue of Plane Trees.

 Isnt this trunk stunning? A Plane Tree.

 So, after getting cold enough to be blowing into our hands, we set of for the Lidl. We were looking specifically for cardboard boxes for the cats. Lucky us, I didn't even have to ask for them in French, we just took them as the workers were putting new product out on the shelves. No problem.

After Lidl, at one end of the town, we went to the bigger supermarche, Intermarche, which is kind of on the way home. I took a wrong turn and ended up going through a small hamlet and some back roads to get there. Always interesting, these jaunts, lol.
I promised I would take a photo of the seafood section, didn't I? Well, here it is, and yes, I ended up explaining to the lady behind the counter that I am a New Zealander and some of the fish is VERY different to what we are used to. She concurred, and the conversation ended there.

 These Sole...if they are Sole, look lovely.  They were caught in the North East Atlantic, as the sign says. Fresh food apparently has to have the origin advertised.

Boxes and food home, and guess who tried the box out for size first? Jolly! Old boy liked it so much, he stayed there the rest of the day. I had put those floor rugs inside the boxes, and they were a hit. They are not downstairs, and I hope they are providing warmth for at least two of the moggies. I will find more boxes tomorrow, perhaps.

 We tend to go out late morning, when the sun has risen somewhat. This also means we have a late lunch. We finished the last of the delicious vegetable soup off, the lettuce, (see the round garden to the left in this photo below?) and tomato, and enjoyed some freshly purchased blue cheese and another Limousin cheese we hadn't tried before.Excellent, both of them.
The sun eventually came out, after lunch, and it was decided that we needed some exercise This involved feeding the birds by refilling the seed tubes and putting out a cake of suet. All the kitties joined us, and some ...ahem...helped!

 The bedding begonias did not survive the two nights of frost we had, unfortunately.

 We could have done with a larger wheel barrow, today. Lots of piles of leaves to remove.

 There is thyme planted between the stepping stones, and it smelled lovely, as I raked the leaves through it.

 Scruffles is daring, and a bit of a nuisance, to be frank. She has to be exactly where you are, and will even chase the rake, lol.

 Alfie kept his distance, but liked to be where he could see us.

 Holly, on the other hand, wanted to get inside.

 Pretty colors still in the leaves.

 Waz came outside to work the swimming pool pole to drag some leaves out.

 Scruffy eventually repaired to the same window sill as Holly. She didn't stay long though.

 We always bring our gardening gloves with us.  This is a simple pleasure to us, not owning a home or having a garden to potter about in.

 Tipping the leaves in the trees up top.

 I got a little creative with my raking:) I like curves!

 Back at it, and no show without scruffles. Sheesh!

We called it a day, after a solid hour of raking and clearing the leaves out of the drains on the summer house. Time for a cuppa, and perhaps we might enjoy one of those little ice-cream pottles we bought at Intermarche?  Indeed, they were very nice. I had the chocolate Salted Caramel, and Waz had the Strawberry Cheesecake. We put the other two back in the freezer for another day. These four were 2.67euros.

 Strawberry Cheesecake Ice cream

 Chocolate Salted Caramel Ice cream.

 We declared them a success. Flavors you cannot get in the USA, and these are made in France.
As you can see, if I sit down and Scruffy is inside, she is inevitably on my collar. Silly cat!

 Holly on the left, and Jolly on the right.

 Dinner was a simple affair...Chipolatas. We are delighted to eat these in France. They are one of our favorite types of pork sausage (saucisson). These came from the butchery at the supermarket. Not prepackaged.

 The last of the carrots, some new crisp Chou de Bruxelles (Brussels sprouts) the last of the Scalloped Potatoes, and I caramelized one of the apples in the fridge that was dying. Pretty yummy.

All six moggies are inside and downstairs. It has taken the 7 days to get used to us and our routine. Often it will take two weeks, and sometimes never, with other cat sits.

We are heading up to bed now. We would like to visit the caves at Lascaux in the next couple of days, but will reserve judgement on that due to expected poor weather. They are only about 60 kms away.
So, it's good night from him, and goodnight from me. I wonder if any of you remember who said that?:)