Out Came the Sun!

The day dawned grey, wet and not so inviting. We didn't rush to get up, as a result.
Eventually, a breakfast of a lardon (small pre-cut pieces of bacon), mushroom and cheese omelet topped off with a cup of tea made in a real porcelain tea pot. Makes such a difference, that.

We spent some time on the phone with the insurance company, getting Waz's broken tooth issue dealt with. We havent heard back from the local contact about where we might find an English speaking Dentist to deal to it. We have a limit for emergency dental procedures of $500. We are hoping a crown isn't needed, which will cost a lot more than that...well, we dont know for sure, but we will certainly be interested to see how much a crown costs in France. His last crown in Florida cost approx. $1,100.

It was still raining when we left for Riberac again. This time to find some composite logs to use as fire starters. Our docent will come by on Friday and bring a file for Waz to sharpen the blunt chainsaw blade, and also some oil and fuel, we hope. In the meantime we have to make the most of the small amount of firewood we have that he cut before we arrived. The firebox is not efficient, and we are burning way more wood than we anticipated, or that we should be.

Our shopping trip was successful, first going to Lidl for a couple of loaves of Pain Cereal, our favorite. One of them will go in the freezer. We also needed some more meat for the rest of the week. E.Leclerc was the chosen supermarche. We chose some lovely looking steak...what would normally be a Scotch Fillet, in the USA. I put two in the freezer, and kept two out for dinner tonight. At 13.90 euros per kg, they weren't inexpensive, but we average 3 euros each for meat/fish, per dinner. It looks wonderful!

 The boneless pork chops also looked great. These dont have any added brining, as they do in the USA, sometimes as much as 12% liquid, per lb. At 7 euros per kg, this was good value, in our opinion, and all of them went into the freezer.

 Basics satisfied, we headed home for lunch. The last of the cold salmon from dinner the other night and a tasty salad was thrown together with a little mustard mayo drizzled over the top. It was refreshing and delish. Nice to have a salad for a change. The iceberg lettuce, which I wouldn't purchase in the US, tasted great, as did the tomatoes. We bought some more of those. Such an intense sunshine taste.

 LOOK! Sunshine! I could feel the sun on my back, while sitting in the living room, and turned to see the rays shining through the window. Quick! Outside for a walk while the rain has stopped. We needed to take the household trash up the road to the bins. A perfect opportunity.

The view from the window as I checked out the sky.

 After seeing all the cars whizz around and through this little hamlet, we carefully walked along the side of the road, careful to stay on the side of the grass, where possible.
When we got to the bins, I turned around to enjoy the light sky and the lovely green view, with the Moulin in the foreground.

 Near the bins is this lovely Longere, all shuttered up. Apparently it is for sale! Hmm... We walked further up the road to look over the gates and discover some more.

 From the gateway, I turned again, and more sun had cleared the clouds.

 Doesn't it look so much nicer with the sun out!

 The wall on the little shed with the roof that is falling apart.

 Look to the far right, where the electric cord snakes it's way up the wall, and then sideways, from the Satelite dish on the side of our house. We had a chuckle over that.

 The blue sky was so welcome, after so much rain. The rivers are all in flood, and this 'pond' in the foreground has grown considerably over the past three days.

 I think we should call this place 'Soggy bottom'. That house in the foreground is owned by a Catalan couple from near Barcelona, apparently, They are in the process of gutting it and renovating, but the renovations have been going on for 10 years, according the neighbors, whom we met at the end of our walk. It was easier to knock on their door when we weren't trying to get out of the wet.

 Wonderful funghi on a log.

 Gosh, unbelievable the difference some sunshine and blue sky makes.

 Our immediate neighbors (that's our house on the right where the roof rises) are a lovely English couple who are part time residents, but they have made some wonderful changes to their lovely yard, with a huge vege garden behind where I am taking the photo. What you cant see is the swimming pool to my right! Bulbs were popping their heads out of the ground, snow drops, crocus and Iris all enjoying the warmer temps we have been experiencing. Their 4 bedroom home is lovely, and gave us hope that we might find something similar in a similar price bracket. We could have moved right in!:)

It was time for a wine, and check the mail to see if the medical insurance folks had made contact. No! Tomorrow, perhaps.
Wine on an empty stomach put me to sleep. As we had enjoyed a late lunch, it didn't matter that we were eating at 7.30pm. I was so looking forward to the steak and Brussels Sprouts. The beans and sprouts were great, and the creamy mushroom sauce also, but the steak was almost inedible. Waz managed to eat his, but I couldn't even masticate mine. So....how do you return meat that is inedible to the supermarket when you dont speak enough French to complain? Hmm...a dilemma!

 'I forgot to tell you that we found some New Zealand Lamb. Lets hope she roasts up nicely tomorrow. 10.99 Euros per kg! This is a good price for this little leg, in our opinion. I also bought some American Sweet Potato, which we will enjoy alongside the Lamb.

We were shocked to discover how much the water had risen in the Dronne River, along the bottom of Riberac, as we entered the town. The flooding was now all through the flood plain and the new trees you see in the middle photos, are now definitely flooded.

 The water was running fast. Glad that the rain stopped for a while. Not much absorption going on anymore.
Like I said, the place should be called 'Soggy Bottom'!

 While the rain had somewhat ceased on the way home, we enjoyed the lovely green of the crop fields, and hoped it might stop altogether.

After the disappointment of the meat, with our dinner, we had a coffee in the now very warm living room upstairs, and are catching up with news on BBCTV and enjoying their programming.
Right now we are watching a program on the hazards of Victorian Era homes and food! Fascinating.

Bye for now. Lets hope we wake to sunshine in the morning. It certainly makes a huge difference to how we see the world. All the locals complain that the rain has barely stopped since November! That's a lot of water.