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.
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!
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!
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...
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.
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.
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.
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