It really does take a village.

I'm not talking about bringing up kids, here.

Recently in one of my posts I referred to the fact that much goes on in our lives that we dont talk about publicly. I wasn't ready to discuss it then, but perhaps now I can.

Life is a circle. We start out needing all the care in the world, and we end our lives often needing all the care in the world. In both cases, no one person can do it all. It really does take a village to care for both ends of our lives.



Back in mid-September 2017, when I returned to NZ to help my cousin  following the death of her mother, my own mother, eldest of her family, was in good health and otherwise 'with it', though her memory was not good. I didnt see a lot of her at that time because I was otherwise occupied supporting my cousin. When I left NZ, I was secure in the knowledge that my own mother was still successfully taking care of herself in her independent living situation. At least that was the impression she gave at the time. As always, her thoughts were for others and she didnt want to be a burden to me at a time when my efforts were needed elsewhere.

Cousin (living in California) and I (living in Florida) spent 10 frantic days dealing with the aftermath of her family tragedy in NZ, clearing out the house, putting it up for sale, and the myriad small and large things that go with such an event. So, I am familiar with some of what goes on at such a time.

Cousin and I were not alone throughout the process. Many people (literally from the village my Aunt and Uncle had been a part of for most of their lives) came into our lives, went beyond the call, put themselves out in ways that were almost divine intervention for us, and family rallied to support us emotionally, physically and whatever way they could, within the bounds of their own busy lives.
Small things such as a vase of beautiful flowers left for us upon our arrival in NZ, and beds made up in the family home so that we didnt have to, under the stressful circumstances, contributed to feelings of care and familial love.
Cousins husband did not make the journey as they were in the process of selling their home prior to an interstate move. He was supportive from a distance.
Waz was back in Florida preparing for a Hurricane which left us temporarily homeless, and our Marina neighbors (who stayed throughout the Hurricane on their boat, with their two dogs!) kept in touch with him while he was away from the boat seeking safe shelter in Georgia. In turn he kept in touch with me when that was possible given the time differences between countries. Support services in action!

My own immediate family were equally supportive both locally and from a distance. My sister living in the Pacific Northwest, USA was bereft, as our Aunt was the youngest daughter and only surviving sister to our mother, and sis felt she very much wanted to be a part of the family gatherings and the support network there, of course.
At such times it is extremely difficult being absent and thousands of miles away.

Which leads me to the latest news. This is actually more difficult to share than I had thought possible. It is extremely personal, and I hadn't wanted to talk about it until now.

When we returned to NZ in May to pack up our NZ household goods that had been in storage for 6 years, Waz and I  had the opportunity to spend some concentrated time with my 89 yr old mother.
Though our brother, who lives not far from our mother, was her first point of contact and helped her in a myriad of ways, including food shopping and paying bills etc, he is father to two young teenaged sons and a business owner who is almost permanently short staffed. We have seen him in action, and the phone never stops ringing. While this is good for business, it is stressful and time consuming. He is stretched in all ways, to be sure.
 His contact with our mother was almost exclusively to do with grocery shopping for her, and any other important issues that arose. He was not there with her on a daily basis, and so his knowledge of her situation was always somewhat challenged as our mother is good at putting a good face on things and making excuses as to why she shouldn't be a burden. To all of us, her unwillingness to be a burden and share how she REALLY felt or that she really needed something other than what was offered, was a travesty we had to learn to live with to some degree. It did her no favors in the long run.

Our mother has been a widow since her early 50's, never remarrying or having another man in her life. Our father died at the young age of 59 after a battle with Cancer, and our mother nursed him through that illness until he was hospitalized at the end of his life.
She has been a wonderful mother, grandmother and great grandmother, spending extended time with my sister and me at our homes in Oregon and Hawaii respectively, during the summer school holidays, for the most part. Our children grew up with a Kiwi grandma who loved nothing better than to play games with them, read books endlessly, watch performances, and do anything else that required a positive response. Our children felt close to her even though they didnt see her for most of the year. Her visits were always much anticipated.

In May, Waz and I found mum in a state that should not have happened. She was losing weight despite eating what she called a 'healthy diet'. Diet it was and any of us wanting to lose a few pounds/Kgs should do well to take a leaf out of her book. At 89, she should not have been on any diet. Listening to her describe her day, eating patterns, what she favored and why, it was discovered that she was lacking much protein in her food choices. Our mother had a great diet all right but it was not sustaining her through her day, and she spent much time feeling generally unwell and faint. Her blood pressure was all over the chart, and we arrived one morning to find the medics with her and her sitting on a gurney.
What none of us knew was that she had been struggling with this independent living situation for quite a long time, and really needed more care in so many ways. She was also having many issues with her memory and cognition. This contributed to her inability to manage her life, anymore.
Help is available in NZ through the health system and she had some, but not enough.

Waz and I worked with her over the 8 days we had available, to get her back on track and eating sufficient food for her body to catch up, and for her to feel better and get her blood pressure back to normal. Of course at 89, the body is running out of steam, and this was obvious to us. We were reluctant to leave her, but felt we left her in a position where she could carry on until my sister was to visit her in August, this year.

Mum made great positive strides in the time we had with her, but a week after we left, she was admitted to hospital with a nasty infection. The infection and resulting high fever was so nasty that she was delirious, and there was nobody there to hold her hand, as it were. This is devastating when you are a world away.

This is where, again, the village comes together.

Our sister is a Reading Specialist at her school in Oregon. She is a highly regarded senior teacher there. With the school year coming to a close, she felt she needed to make the decision to go home to NZ to be with our mother. With only ten days left on the school calendar, she applied for immediate leave which was granted. The person who retired from the position now held by my sister stepped up to the plate and took over the role again. Her colleagues and friends and family rallied to make it possible for her to leave immediately.

It has taken two months for my sister to affect the changes that were necessary for our mother to continue her life in a manner where she is supported, fed, medically cared for and monitored whilst having a measure of independence appropriate to her needs and age.

My sister worked like the very devil to put all our mother's wishes in place and while it was a highly emotional journey for both Mum and Sister, much was accomplished, thanks largely in part to our mother's positive attitude, her belief that she needed to be cared for now, and that change was a necessary part of aging. She has always been pragmatic.
Our sister was supported hugely by the lifetime friends she stayed with who had recently gone through a similar experience with their mothers, and were able to help point the way in so many ways and offer not just the emotional support she needed, but practical help as well, such as sewing name tags on Mum's clothing, to name but one instance.
This same friend has visited our mum when we aren't there, taking her shopping and tiki-touring for fun. What a gem!
Mum's brother and Sister-in Law went with my sister to view different care homes and villages, offering different points of view and being supportive where and when it was needed most. They have been wonderful!

Cousins gathered around to celebrate Mum's 90th birthday early (she is 90 on Sept. 23rd) and while my sister was in NZ.  All of the cousins enjoy the opportunity to gather, and this was especially important in Mum's new home.

Our mother is now ensconced in a 5 star Care Home facility. She deserves the very best! She is well enough and gaining strength enough to walk to the dining room and interact with others like her. She is reading voraciously again I'm told and doing her word puzzles.... always a good sign. She is determined to keep what marbles she has left, working.
My sister said that when she left NZ a few days ago, Mum was attending Chair Zumba! I guess that says it all? :)

The lifetime of possessions have been distributed and donated. Books have been reviewed, either shelved in the new room or donated. The apartment is being renovated and will be sold, providing the level of care that is much needed by our beloved mother.

Mum can have her much loved music on her own stereo in her room, art on her walls and memorabilia alongside her. She has chosen not to take a whole lot of 'stuff'. Again, always the pragmatist! Mum knows that she is in a holding pattern and accepts it, though it is not an easy place to be. We pray that her health will improve now that someone else is cooking the lovely meals and she is being loved and cared for as if by her own family.
I can only tell you what has been told to me (broadly).

It is challenging to see a once vital and independent woman now in a position where she is reliant on so much care. She retains a fighting spirit and can-do attitude though. I hope I am that wise and have that fight in my old age. What a fabulous example she is!

Most days I have read my sisters posts amazed that she had the energy to write, at the end of some harrowing days, but she always shared whatever was going on with Mum, even when Mum was hospitalized a second time, three days after going home, and my sister was bed sitting there all day.

The hardest part of all this has been the photos of our mother. While she might look 100% better to my sister who has just seen her at her worst, to me they show a haggard old woman in clothing 3 sizes too large for her. It is devastating!

So now you know!
Our Florida container arrived two weeks after our return from NZ, and the NZ container arrived just one month after that. It has kept us busy, but it has been difficult some days to carry on, knowing our mum was in a health crisis on the other side of the world.

So many people were involved in this transition for our mother and will continue to be. We are grateful for their love and care and continued support.

I had just returned to live in NZ in 2005, when our mother made the decision to sell her home and move to a Retirement Village. I affected that move for her physically and in all other ways, and so this current situation is just another move in the right direction, made possible by the positive attitude of our mother who has never wanted to be a burden to anyone....and this time by my sister who has affected all those changes and made it possible for Mum's last of life stage care.

And so it really does take a village.

Mum with 7 of her 8 grandsons at her 80th birthday celebration.

A photo of Mum I took when she first moved into her new apartment in the Retirement Village. She was 78.

Nearing the end of the unpacking.

What simple pleasure it is throwing open the windows in our bedroom each morning, and observing the day as it is at that moment.

Today brought exclamations and an instant search for the camera. How extraordinary is this!! We are often amazed at the contrails in the sky above us, but this morning was exceptional.

Today while eating lunch, Waz spied two planes that looked like they were having a race. We knew that they would be at least a couple of thousand feet apart, but it sure looked funny, both headed north. Some planes make wide sweeping turns somewhere overhead, others make what appears to be sharper turns, and we wonder where they are all going. 

How nice to have the time to contemplate these things:)

Life is more relaxed these days. We dont have to get up for anything other than a cuppa and some food, unless we have an RDV (Rendez-vous - appointment). We had one of those today, but not until after lunch, at 2pm. 

We have observed that you only have three hours in the morning, from 9-12, to do anything involving a business, shop etc. You then usually only have a couple of hours in the afternoon to do the same. 

Most businesses are open until 5pm, many until 6pm, and occasional ones open until 7 and 7.30pm, mostly supermarkets. So, you dont complain (well mostly!) and organize your life around these things. So I guess we do have things to get up for.

Today being Monday, we needed food. The fridge still looks pretty bare, considering we just did a food shop! Oh well, Thursday will see us back there.

We bought quite a lot of meat for the freezer, today. We kept some of the pork ribs out for dinner, and with a light sprinkling of salt, they were some of the best we have ever tasted. OMG! So meaty, juicy and finger licking good! YUM!

Our RDV today at 2pm (or 1400 hrs, here) was with the Window folks who will be replacing all our old windows and doors. Having discussed options with them today, we thought the price should go down, but merde! Imagine our surprise on our return home, to find that the price had gone up 1500 euros! Crikey Dora!! What was our first choice, and why did the price just jump that much? Well, I think we chose PVC doors originally, and now we have chosen Steel security doors. THAT might make the difference, you think? Shock to the system, seeing that it was 10 grand over our estimate...OUR estimate, mind you! lol. 

We are still waiting on the Devise or quote from the fella who will be installing the new Fosse Septique, or Septic Tank. All kinds of shenanigans are needed to install the new one...of course, so we hope it also isnt 10 grand over our budget. 

Not many (if any) of the NICE TO DO's will be done, methinx. 

Waz and I are quite capable of making any kitchen cabinets, if we decide to install a new kitchen, and we will be looking out for the appliances we want, to be on sale. February and June/July are Sale months here, apparently. 

Saturday we took two loads of trash to the local off-load place, which is somewhere our English friends told us about...thank goodness, as we dont have to drive all the way into Barbezieux or Segonzac, 11 and 9kms respectively. Instead we only drive 3ks up the road, and dump it where it will all be chipped! Excellente!

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 Affixing trailer to car...

 Taking the trailer off the tow bar to back it into the space for offloading. There wasn't room to back it. I had to drive forward a ways, reverse, drive towards the end of the area where Waz then reattached the trailer to the car when we had finished emptying it.

 This view is opposite our dumping site.

 Back home, a little rain, and we are back indoors, trying to clear our Bureau (office space) so that we can actually move around. Waz is making up the shelving to hold our many appliances. What would you like?? US? NZ? UK? FR? We have them all!!! Aieee! We have to contain them before we start the process of elimination, you understand. Elimination comes MUCH later, when we have everything out of boxes and can see it all and make civilized decisions, vs uncivilized decisions...meaning arbitrary and perhaps not always wise! You get my drift!

 Well, it might look like a mess to you, but we couldn't move in this space a week ago!!
We feel quite pleased with our efforts since the container arrived three weeks ago today.

Obviously that pink paint will have to go, but no point at this stage. This room is going to get two new windows. One on the wall behind Waz that emulates the existing windows in the rest of the house, and one straight ahead on that wall where the lamp is. That one will be a long picture window with sliding panes. There isnt room for a window that opens into the room, as all of the others do. That wall will give us a gorgeous view out over the vines. It is expensive to do that, and we have to employ a Mason to make the holes, fit new headers etc and then the window folks will fit the windows. Kaching!

Do you remember me telling you that the upstairs security door slammed and the glass broke?

This is the door without ANY glass. WAZ took it all out yesterday (Sunday) ,carefully chipping it all out, taking the parts off and then making the door secure again. This will be replaced eventually with one of those secure steel doors. We have to have glass in it because there is no light in the hallway without it.

 Some panels in place

 And thank goodness we brought our compressor and nail gun from NZ, because it would have been twice as hard to do it all by hand!

 The final panel goes in. Just needs caulking on the outside now and we are safe and secure, and hopefully weather-tight. No storms forecast!

 Et Voila! Fini!  It looks pretty nice from the outside, non?...Oh yes, that reminds me...those pots need to go downstairs! Thanks for the reminder!!

In the meantime, I did the 999th load of laundry.

Unpacking bedding, towels, blankets, fabric items galore, including the motherlode of embroidered and crocheted clothes/doilies that our dear grandmother made, meant that after 6 years in boxes, they didn't smell very nice. Not just that, they also had spots on them. This meant we had to go to the store and get some Javel or bleach. White things were put in the bucket to bleach white again...which was mostly successful, and everything else had to go through a HOT wash to get rid of the smell. I tried to circumvent the water heating/expensive wash cycle, but found that cold water doesnt rid the items of the stale smell. Could have saved myself the bother, couldn't I!!

Everything goes out on the line. No dryer needed, as the sun is hot and the breeze is perfect for drying.

Some items only needed draping in the fresh air, or in direct sunlight, like down pillows. They seem to have thrived on the fresh air and sunshine.

 And of course, this all meant that I HAD to iron! While Waz attended to the door in the hallway next door, I was in the work room ironing doilies and cloths and tripping down memory lane.

Do we really need 12 cloth serviettes to go with that tablecloth? Cant we just use paper ones? Sigh! I have a dozen table cloths. Will I use them?? Who knows! Some are from our dear mother and they will be used with much love and memories of meals past, and others have memories that are newer and in many ways just as special. They were bought with someone special and with shared meals at a family dinner table in mind. A small labor of love in the scheme of things.

We have worked so hard to make this house feel more like a home, these past three weeks. Having boxes in every room in the house (except the bathrooms!) has meant we felt like campers, walking around things, making sure not to disturb some in transition, and trying to figure out where we want everything to go. At times it has felt like a chore, but mostly it is about "Where did I put that....???" or "Guess what I found!!!:) " and "For crying out loud! Why on earth did we bother!!!" lol. 

I have to say it is nice to occasionally collapse into MY chair, small joy that it is, and for such a short time before getting up and carrying on. 

Waz has mislaid some major items, and we cant for the life of us think what happened to them. These are things that should not be missing, and he has searched EVERY box in the hope of finding them. They will either turn up or they are missing forever, and we will never know what happened to them. 

Every morning I tend to my tomato plants by the front gate. We have had a couple of almost ripe ones with black bottoms, and it wasnt until tonight that I discovered MANY have black bottoms. What the heck>?? Anyone can tell me what they are lacking? Or have too much of?? It isnt all of them, but I am dismayed to find it is about 1/8 of the crop.

 All of these tomatoes have black bottoms! I'm pretty pissed to be honest, especially the tomatoes that are almost ready to eat.

Our second bedroom (the pink bedroom) now has a bed in it, and though there is a tidy mess of boxes in there still, it is now possible to walk around the bed! woohoo!

The guest room is ready for our first guests this week, and is a relaxing room to be in. 

The work room, on the other hand...well, it's a work in progress. At least we can close the door on that mess and it can wait until we have the energy to work through the myriad bits and pieces. My sewing machine will have to be plugged in at some stage...some things need mending. Priorities, eh?

 I found ANOTHER box of cook books. Phew! Did I really use all of them? Well, the page markers in most of them tell a good story, and I had fun trying to figger out what I had been considering, when I turned the pages with the markers. 

Some of my design books, and plenty of the magazines I had kept have now gone on the book shelf, as I can totally understand why I kept them, though some of them date back about 12 years, lol.

They are resources, which are very important to me.

I discovered I have wayyyyyy too many hobbies, as the pile of boxes at my upstairs desk testifies, and I have wayyyy too much of my children's precious artwork. I think I will photograph it all and put the photos into the books I am writing for each of them. I cant possibly keep it all, lovely though it is!

I also have wayyyy too many children's books which I will have to donate to a local school where they teach English, I think. We have a couple of bi-lingual friends nearby, so I should ask if they would like some of the children's classics, especially the Beatrice Potter stories.

Now we just have to sort out the Bureau, and get rid of the bags and bags of bubble wrap. You would think someone would want it all? The recycling plant dont want the bubble wrap that is reinforced with paper on each side that our packers used plenty of. It is great for the purposes on, but we will have to find out where their people on the ground here take it. I dont want to dump it in the landfill...plastic, and all that! albeit covered in paper!

Tomorrow (Tuesday) Waz has to call the local Doctor and made a RDV. There is no nurse or receptionist, just a waiting room. It was a bit disconcerting, to be honest, but we got the idea and will make the call. Doc speaks enough English to be good for us, (as recommended by our English friends who go there) and we have to register with ONE GP for our health insurance.

Well, it is time for me to open the shutters now that the heat has subsided and we have a cool breeze blowing. Get rid of some of the heat upstairs, where it likes to stay.

We are sleeping with a sheet only and a fan on 2 these nights, but it isnt so hot that we lose sleep, fortunately.

Night night. 

Generous Neighbors.

The Wazster and I have been out all day. Sitting and catching up on mail when we arrived home around 4.45pm, and both of us felt the need for a nap
Headed into the newly put together living room....he took the black sofa and I took the blue loveseat, legs draped decorously over the end arm-rest (yeah right!!).Warm, but not too warm. The front door was open, encouraging the cooler breeze to flow through the house. We had left the house shut up when we left early this morning, including shutters. After a week of too hot days we felt the need to return to a cool home, after being out all day.

The nap was interrupted by a singsong voice...I dont know how long he had been singing this song, mind you... (You have to hear this with his French accent!) "Oh, Monicaaaaaarrrr, Madame Monicaaaaaarrrrr….Bonjour??"  Finally there was a "Hello??", which is when I poked my nose around the door, sans glasses, and found our character of a neighbor standing outside the front gate with a large box in his arms. Frank had previously handed over a large (he doesnt do anything in halves!) bucket full of lettuce...a couple of weeks ago.
I opened the gate, exclaimed at the mountain of beans and the gorgeous newly dug potatoes with dirt clinging to them. Frank had asked us a while ago if we like beans...Mais oui! But yes! So we have kind of been expecting him to turn up with some....SOME, I said, but after the lettuce, we should have suspected that there would be more than a meal, handed over.
What a generous neighbor, and how much fun he is. He made the motion that when we were ready we could enjoy a drink together. That hand motion needs no translation. Oui, I said, and thanked him profusely before he left with a "Bon Soiree!", which I returned.

So, feeling a bit drunk, after my interrupted nap, and without glasses, I plonked the box in the kitchen and went in search of those glasses so I could take a good look at what had appeared. Oh My GOODNESS! Such generosity! It is a bit overwhelming, to be honest. The only thing to do is #1...eat them! So I prepared a steamer pot with a large handful in the basket, after washing them thoroughly, not that they appeared to need it. They filled the sink! Some of them needed topping, which I did as I washed them, and put them in the steamer basket. On the stove, I dealt with the rest of them, putting them into my largest pot with some water in the bottom, and setting that too on the stove to blanche them ready for freezing...which is #2.

Dinner?? Leftover kidneys in sauce with lardons and mushrooms for Waz and just tossed beans and eggs for me...oh, and some last minute mushrooms in the beans, for good measure. They were SOOo good, with the knob of butter and chopped garlic, that I was literally eating them out of the pan.

I threw some more in so Waz wasnt deprived, and we enjoyed their freshness and crunchiness.

This blog is a bit back to front, but that's typical, I think? lol

I have to share the cool beauty around us this evening. Its just after 9.15pm, and still the light is lovely, and the view never gets tiring.
This tree is in our yard, and we dont really see the beauty of it from the yard. We wondered what the pigeons were doing there...eating the berries of course!

 Our grapes are coming along, but we need to spray them if we want to stop the rust...or so all the French tell us:) We are reluctant to spray anything!

 End of the day, and the air is quiet and still. No traffic on our normally busy road (except on Sundays!).

 Frank has a Coral Tree in his yard. I think he doesnt see it from his house, but we get to enjoy it.

 The vines are all neatly trimmed....not a runner out of place. One lane is mown the other is normally tilled. We have yet to learn the reasoning of this, but I am sure we can ask Frank who did his training in Viticulture.
We are looking forward with some trepidation, to the harvest and first pressings. Apparently there is much tasting goes on. We will remember to be extra careful on the roads!

So, back to the beginning...but first, the days I haven't been blogging about, we have been unpacking our container load of goodies. There isnt much I can say about all that, other than it is much schlepping up and down stairs (we are on 3 levels, with the bottom being the basement/garage) and folding bubblewrap so that it fits into a large bag, and folding wrapping paper so that it similarly fits into a container for ease of management.
We took a trailer load of folded boxes, paper, bubble wrap and some plastic to the Recyclage/Dechetterie  yesterday.

So, tell us why the paper couldn't go in with the cardboard? Sorry, no go! Had to bring it all home again and put in the yellow recycling bags to be collected outside the gate. Hmmm...

 Waz is tying up the load.

 This place is well organized and they watch  you like hawks..

 The skip down below is almost full after we have put all our boxes into it. More to go, at some other time.

 We also took a load of housewares to Segonzac to post in the bin for clothing, house wares etc. Someone else can enjoy the good quality items we have in abundance and no longer need. Ultimate recycling!

We unpacked artwork yesterday. It is lovely having our special NZ artwork in particular, on the walls. Though they are prints, they are good quality items and enhance our lives. We particularly love the native bird paintings.
I also have plenty of artwork from my years in Hawaii, and am enjoying putting some of that on the walls also.
That's my chair on the left with the natural colored sheepskin on it.:)

The days are long, often making ourselves put down the scissors around 10.30pm, before enjoying a shower and falling into bed. We have made a huge hole in the unpacking, and it is now going to be challenging knowing where to put everything, and going through it all to weed out the non-essentials. Sigh!

Back to this morning:
We had a RDV (here an appointment is known as this...RDV= Rendez-vous.) with Richard and Michelle our kiwi friends, in Verteillac for Fish and Chips at Le Calice, the British Pub there. It was a balmy 27C, perfect for sitting outside under and umbrella for a couple of hours. A beer for Waz and shandy for me while we waited for our mates to turn up. The noon hour was chimed (for FOUR Minutes!) by the village church just across the road, and all conversation ceases because you literally cannot hear yourself, let alone anyone else over the racket. It is what France is all about. We can hear the Lignieres 12th century church bells from our house, which is lovely.

First, and on the way, we had an RDV with the English Book Shop in St Severin. Getting there proved a bit of a challenge. We knew where we were going, and of course decided to forfeit the 'normal' way of getting there via N10, and instead we took  a circuitous route. Ha! Tiki-touring at it's best:)

So, off we went on skinny unpainted roads, with crazy people coming at us at breakneck speed while we hugged the grass on our side of the road. Crikey! Do they have a death wish? We sure dont.
Now that the speed limit on such roads (unless posted otherwise) is 80kph, which we think is great, nobody here seems to observe that! We hardly ever see cops, so I guess they think they can get away with it. There is a good reason for lowering the speed limit! Such unmarked roads have some of the worst accidents on them. That the locals dont observe the speed limit is a real cause for concern. Some of the worst of them are those who apparently drive for a living. Their high top vans careen down the roads with little regard for those opposing them on the other side, hardly making any effort to move over, and for which we almost always come to a complete standstill to avoid collision.
 We had a couple of these to deal with today. A bit too stressful, and something we normally avoid by taking the N10.
Anyhoo...Off we went through Blanzac -Porcheresse, which has some of the most interesting skinny roads (some one way) through town, with sharp right angles that make it nearly impossible to get around, and people walking alongside the road at the same time...with baguette in hand, as luck would have it! lol.
You have to keep a smile on your face.
Of course, all this challenging driving and the fact that there is no shoulder on the road to pull of and take a photo, meant no pics to show you. You will just have to look these places up! sorry!
 Next up is the Town of Montmoreau. We have been on this road before. It is elevated over the north Dordogne in some glorious countryside, through forests, along steep-sided ridges, and fields of sunflowers, some cattle and the occasional horse, which we are pretty sure belongs to a Brit!
Montmoreau has two parts to the town. One part is on the river, and the other is on the hill above that. We have been there before on a tiki-tour when we were on our most previous house sit.

St Severin is another small town with some challenging and skinny streets. We parked outside the post office, made our way to the book shop and introduced ourselves. Waz had made contact with the Sth African owner with a Brit wife, prior to this, hence the RDV. He looked through all our books, took some, but left most of them. He paid us 10 euros for our trouble and we left. We did have time to pet his cute wire haired Fox Terrier, though:)

In the parking lot in front of the P.O was this WW1 tribute to Les Enfants Morts….Those who died for their town and country. Waz pointed out that the soldier is actually standing on an upside-down Eagle! ha! too funny!

We were in the area known as the Dronne Valley. The Dronne River runs along the bottom of the valley that is overlooked by these high hills, not just rolling countryside, but real hills that we wondered how the farmers actually managed to cut that hay without rolling down the hill, kind. We were very near to the ancient town of Aubeterre-sur-Dronne. If you ever come over this way, do drop in on that hillside town with the church carved into the rock!

On Tuesday we went into Chateauneuf-sur -Charente, which isnt too far away, but is where our garagiste is. They sold us the car, and installed (at great cost) our towbar and electrics. After getting the electrics sorted (an hour later they said it was a Fuse!!), we went to the SuperU for our groceries. We like SuperU supermarkets. Their branded food is well priced.  On the way there, and of course it is on the edge of the old town, we saw this amazing sight! What is it?? A huge field of what looked to be Basil in pots.

 I couldn't stop and look better, so Waz was tasked with photographing on the fly.

Back home, and it was time to put the trash and recycling out. This is two weeks worth of recycling. We do our best to not buy things that are highly packaged, but make no mistake...France is NOT the GREEN Place you are led to believe it is. Yes, we all take our own bags to the supermarket and elsewhere, as nobody offers bags, but everything is plastic wrapped. The worst offenders are the baked goods. HUGE plastic container! Our tea bags are double wrapped in plastic, and that is just the brand we like, so tell me how to get the same brand, as we dont want to drink floor sweepings (which most tea bags taste like).

We have yet to come up with a solution that will work for us, and we are giving it some serious thought. Meat is a challenge, and veg can be put into cloth bags for the most part, and I have some of those, which I made in Florida, but the bags for veg are usually biodegradable.

Well, it is now 10.30pm. We are listening to French singers singing English songs...sounds plain weird, but well...when in...lol.
Bed time. Tomorrow is Saturday...again! On Sunday afternoon, I am taking the trailer to an empty supermarket parking lot to refresh my backing trailer skills! Watch this space!

Night, night.

We are 'Officially' French!

Yes, that's what we have been told...Officially!

What makes someone officially French? Why, you dont know??

Bien Sur (of course), it is Owning a Trailer!!

Yes, we did it! We actually bought The Trailer!! Woot!

The fact that we now own the trailer, or have one at all is a freaking miracle! Serieusement!

We left home (by design) just after 9am, to travel to Civray, same place that was closed due to vacances, last week.  Arriving there around 10.45am, we went straight into the showroom. A queue was forming, and we were the 2nd up. People here dont mind waiting, it seems.
So, we waited for our turn which came quickly, and the Boss was called. Waz and the Boss had communicated online through leboncoin, the online sales site a bit like (but not) E-bay. One problem...Boss man told Waz that he instructed him (in the e-mail) to call ahead first! On our return and checking said e-mail communication, there was no such advice from the Boss man. Sigh.
I dont know what difference that would have made, frankly...perhaps they would have had the trailer in their yard, who knows.
The trailer isnt in their yard, and we would either have to come back tomorrow for it to be there, or we could go and pick it up in the next place we went last week. We opted for the latter, as there was NO WAY we were going home without the trailer, TODAY!
We sign up … I insist on having my name on the Facteur (invoice) also...this becomes something of a joke between Waz and the Boss. They think I'm stupid or something, lol, because when the time came to pay, Boss man asked if I would also like to pay(big smile on his face!!)! I called his bluff by pulling out my card...Waz already had his out, mind you.
France is not that liberated. Seriously, everything goes in the Man's name! Gah! And guess what happens when he croaks, unless the item is in both names?? You guessed it, no matter that the Will says he leaves everything to moi...I may not be able to use it, let alone OWN it, if my name isnt on  the ownership papers, or Carte Grise. This, by the way, we will get eventually...a bit like the house ownership papers, which we still dont have, almost 4  months later. The wheels turn slowly here en France!
Anyway, I digress...slightly. Now that the two of them have had their little joke on me, we walk away with the paperwork...oh! I forgot to tell you that you have to sell two of your grandchildren, two arms and two legs...and maybe a kidney for good measure!
Well, in actuality, they need copies of your passport, your driver's license, your latest utilities bill, the ownership papers of the car you are driving...and proof of insurance for the trailer. They usually dont let you drive the vehicle away without having insurance on it. Where else in the world do they require this? Seriously!!!

Merde!

We had everything but the insurance...my agent is on vacation until the 30th of July, and this news was greeted philosophically by the management and all those gathered there. That's ok! Send it to us when you get it, after your agent returns, ok? Also the electrickery bill...Oui, d'accord! Ok! No rush!!! ha!

The other store (same company) is 30  mins away. We were told we would have to go there about 3pm. It is 10.45am.  We cannot go straight there because if we did so, we would be almost at lunch time, which is sacred in France, and they wouldn't have had the number plate ready to install.

Pas de Probleme!  What to do in the meantime?
Civray is 5 mins away, so lets go and park and walk to the Centre Ville, the center of town, and have some lunch. I really didnt want a repeat of the dry baguette sandwich. Hmm....
Something was going on, because the minute we turned into the street to get to Centre Ville, there was a sign saying "Route Barre 200mtr". We went as far as a parking space was found and exited the car. It was HOT! 32C! We are back in the Vienne Sud, and there is no breeze in this place.

Voila! That is why there is a sign on the street...Tuesday Market! Excellente!

On the way we had to pass the gorgeous 12th century Eglise Saint-Nicolas. This is one of the best preserved 12th century churches we have seen...and we have seen a lot of them. Most churches in these parts date back to the 12th century, though you can sometimes find them from the 10th and 11th centuries.

 The level of intact detail was astonishing. I love to spend time looking at each different figure, because ALL of them are different. Marvelous stonemasons in those days.

 This was originally a horse, we believe. Not sure how the block of granite came to be in his middle, but that was probably added some centuries later, as happens.

 The doors and hinges in particular are spectacular.

 Turning the corner we entered the Centre Ville. There are cafes around the square, and a couple of Patisseries that we poked our noses into. We thought to find a café with a decently priced Menu Formule, but we smelled bacon cooking! Oh Boy!
This Englishman was literally cooking English- style bacon, cured by the butcher opposite him there, and you could buy a bacon butty either on slabs of bread or a burger bun. We opted for one of each, but no butter inside, so it was a bit dry. Not that we needed the butter as well as the bacon grease. It was a bit light on the bacon, only getting two slices each, and they cost 3,50euros EACH! Daylight robbery, but what fun! It was now 11.30am.
Not satisfied with this as a lunch, we went in search of a coffee...a Grand Crème, somewhere. First we poked our noses into a patisserie with a long line outside the door. This is normal at this hour, as everyone picks up a fresh baguette for lunch, about now. We didn't, we chose some pastries. Waz found a café Millefeuille, which was divine. Never had café flavored before. I had a citron (lemon) fancy thing which was divine...and the neighbors admired our purchases, rubbing their tummies...until we were leaving and they spoke Queens English....like almost everyone else we heard in town! Crikey...another English Invasion town!

 We ate our pastries alongside the grand crème in the bar. You can do that when the bar doesnt sell food. NOW we were full! That was lunch and we needed a nap, in  this heat.

We had seen on our previous trip last week, that there was a park running alongside the Charente River, at the bottom of town. We sought and found a suitable place to park and put our heads down.
In the shade of course.

 With so much time to be idle, it was good for us to just put our heads down, our feet out the door to catch the small breeze, and to listen to French Radio. The announcers usually speak slowly enough for us to understand what they are saying. Good for us to hear this!

 Half an hour early, we set off for the trailer place. I remarked last week that this town had NOTHING doing in it. Literally! There were plenty of cars parked on the street, but NOBODY was around.

 We decided to go for another coffee...it was 2.30pm. Nothing else to do, in this place. There was a truck stop and restaurant across the N10, so we drove over there for a coffee. Frankly, we have never seen so many trucks in one place before. There must have been at least 70 long-haul trucks. Drivers were eating their lunch on makeshift tables in the parking lot, enjoying a smoke and chilling. Everything stopped at lunch time! Our coffee was luke warm, and the restaurant was sparsely populated, so we stood at the bar and drank.
Time to go...just outside of this small town, is the Motoculture store with our new trailer.
VOILA!! There she is!
We specifically wanted a perforated crate on top vs a wire cage. The steel crate is better built, and though we paid more for it, we know it will last longer.

Next up...check that the brand new connection and tow bar, for which we had to sell the remaining Grandchildren back when we bought the car, would light up the indicators and brake lights on the trailer. Nil! Zilch, Nada! Bien sur (of course!) Murphey's law.

Fortunately for us, one of the staff spoke excellent English and she managed to get all the necessary done and checked, to find out that it wasnt the trailer that was at fault, but our newly installed electrical connection point. Merde! We had 120ks to drive without any functioning lights on the trailer. Let's hope we aren't pulled over, and that the traffic is light!

We arrive home around 4.30pm, intact minus lights, but light traffic and no problems otherwise.
Nothing is ever straightforward, is it!

E-mails to the installers of the tow bar et al, and he is very sorry this happened and we should take the car in as soon as possible for them to fix. What pisses us off, is that this might take half to a day, and we have to drive the trailer there also, as we doubt if this garage is equipped to test the connection without the trailer. It is another day when we aren't doing the things we need to do! Sigh!

We had arranged with our English neighbors to get together around 5pm today, and fortunately for us, they didnt arrive until 5.30 ish. We sat where there was some fresh air, though it was still almost 30C outside.  David and Nicole have lived here for 17 yrs, and it is fun learning how things work, around here. They were not surprised by our story, and they have a whole book of them themselves, lol.
Yes, one has to laugh!

Nice to sit and chat in English, and enjoy a good laugh at our mistakes and life in general. we are fortunate!

 Dinner was late, tonight. After a couple of Gin and Tonics I was history! Good thing we had frozen quiche in the oven! and some cole slaw left overs, lol.

It is still 28C, at 10pm. Time to go and have a cool shower and lie very still on the bed....with the fan on high, methinx!

Night night, A Bientot!