Did you say it was HOT today hunny?

The  weather station recently installed (unpacked first, you understand!) on the fence at the bottom of the garden registered 41.2C at 11am today. I didnt look to see what the temperature was at 4pm, but I have only just opened the shutters and doors to the pink room to let some air in...no wind to speak of, just slightly cooler air. it is 9.15pm. It is also 33C in the pink room where I am writing this. The standing fan is on medium pointing directly at me, and I feel that if I move too much, I will melt.


Waz is a gadget guy, so we have them everywhere. Useful and useless information is gathered, but heck, its fun, isnt it? lol

 Just opened the doors to let some fresh warm air inside! ha! It is cooling off slightly...and maybe around midnight it will be cooler?

Dinner was supposed to be duck legs but we didnt want to add any further heat to the house, so we ate crackers with smoked salmon pate, sliced tomatoes and melon. I also had some little goat cheese balls stuffed with pesto, which were delish spread on the crackers first, followed by the pate. Yum!

The past two days have been so hot we didnt really know what to do with ourselves. Having guest for two nights was lovely, and we all opted to go walking in the vines last night around 8pm, but it was hot and we all labored up the hill to the top before sitting in the grass and enjoying the gorgeous views from up there.
Brent and Lesley are former employers of mine and friends for over 30 years. It was lovely to see them and spend time catching up, and sad to see them on their way this morning. It would have been nice for a longer visit, but we will take what we can get. Now that they know how to find us, perhaps there will be a longer visit in the future! We sure hope so.

Here they are relaxing after a long hot day on the road.We enjoyed drinks and a meal outside on this terrace...lunch...and having a stiff breeze helped keep us all comfy.

 We bar-b-q'd some lovely pork ribs for dinner on the south terrace, and though it was HOT I put a fan out there to help bring some airflow. Not sure it was much use at all, to be honest. We sweated it out a bit!
The shutters are closed to help keep the inside of the house cool. It works! Thanks to thick concrete walls and shutters we stay reasonable inside.

Rather than sitting around inside yesterday (Friday) we all decided to go into Cognac for a 'look see'. I think that's a very kiwi term, lol. We did look and we did see, but we also suffered greatly in the heat.

I love outdoor art, especially when accompanied by trash cans! and a large can of paint!

 It looks hot, doesnt it! It was stifling!

 We are all walking towards the covered Halles or markets. There weren't many vendors in there this day, which was unusual on a Friday, but we walked around all of those who were there and remarked on the high prices and compared them to what we had paid for the same things just two days previously. In some cases the difference was 1.50euros per Kg!

 Lesley and I disappeared into a fabric store (I know how to find it now and it has some loverly fabrics in there!!!) and came out the other door. Our menfolk were otherwise engaged and didnt see that we had fooled them:)

 We had some issues getting our parking ticket. Crikey! Why do they make it so complex for those of us who are challenged in the first place???? Anyhoo, we bought a 1euro ticket which gave us three hours of parking. Good thing it was under a tree, too!
Some bright spark (who shall remain nameless) decided that it would be easier to walk down to the Charente River, about a km down the hill....of course at some stage we would have to walk UP the hill!! ahem!
So, we walked through the lovely gardens at the Mairie, which kept us a little cooler in the shade of the many trees

 It was lovely to see it in summer, after our last walk through here in the middle of winter.
Lesley is walking up the steps to the Mairie, thinking it might be open, but of course it was just after noon, and it was closed for lunch.

 We sat on a bench and enjoyed the view from the top of this hill, and then, looking at our watches, decided that we needed to make our way down to the water to find some lunch.

Of course we chose an Italian Restaurant overlooking the Charente River. La Scala had a decent enough menu, and the food was pretty good. Waz wasnt overly impressed with the huge chunk of cod in his Fish and Chips.

 Lesley and I were too hot to eat anything warm, so we opted for the avocado and salmon two ways salad. Excellent!

 The other three enjoyed this Provence, medal winning rose. We drank heaps of water. The heat is dry, so you feel a bit dessicated as a result.

 Our restaurant is there on the left with the red umbrella. We wanted to sit outside in the shade but were directed to a table inside, as they were fully occupied outside. The original town gates of Cognac face the Charente River.

 We walked up through the gates on our way back to the car. Phew! Talk about hot! All those buildings funneling the heat and the hot cobbles reflecting the heat, we had to stop often and walk in what little shade we could find.

 Looking back through the town gate towards the Charente River.

 A few Colombage (Col om barzhe) houses along the way.

 We all stood in the shade at the entry to this pretty place and enjoyed the breeze being funneled down there.

 Onwards towards the car and cool.

 Hollyhocks grow everywhere. They are coming to the end of their summer lives though.

 This is an historic house. I have the legend but am too lazy to go and find it! sorry!

 Ahhh...the church. Now we know where we are!

 It has always amused me to see that houses and businesses are built onto the side of the church...left.

 Before getting into the car we stopped off at a Salon du the...Tay...a tea shop. We ordered a boule (ball) of citron (lemon) sorbet thinking it would cool us down somewhat. WRONG! The heat pump in the shop would not work in the high temperatures, we were told...merde it was hot in there. They were very kind and brought us tiny glasses of cold coffee and then the man appeared with a tiny jug of Maple syrup to add to the coffee! Interesting!!!

Back in the car feeling very warm indeed, we made our way home. Wanting to show Brent and Lesley one of our favorite towns, We stopped off in Jarnac and got out of the car to admire the cool (not really!) of the river with the Le Boat hire boats on it. They weren't going anywhere, and their inhabitants were snoozing on the back in their bathing suits. Plenty of people swimming in the river in another part not far away. Looked lovely!

 We know that the Charente is THE most polluted river in France. I just read this! Too bad!

So we then made our way home after driving through the middle of town, up and around the roundabout at the top and back down, coming home through Segonzac per usual and up the hills into the Grande Champagne area that we all HOME. Lovely to be home in the relative cool, and though it is tempting to open all the windows, it only made the house hotter! gah!
Dinner was very much whatever we could throw together on the table and some Chicken Aiguilletes that I had previously marinated, which Waz bar-b-q'd. We sat on the south terrace and enjoyed the late afternoon/evening together.
Breakfast this morning was a kind of bread pudding that I had put together the night before. With chopped dark chocolate and plump cranberries in it, I popped it in the oven when we got up and it was ready when everyone came down stairs. A little maple syrup and some sloppy whipped cream...and some of us had 2nds! yum! A special treat to send out guests on their way.

Sad to see them go, but we know there will be other visits...we certainly hope so. We have such a special place to share with others and loved having the good kiwi company, and special friends.

Well, its too hot for me to sit here any longer, so Im off to the bedroom where the window is open and Im hoping there is a cool breeze. Waz had a mozzy repellant in the room last night, and we kept the windows open all night, but there wasnt a breath of air! lol. The Fan was on full all night and we did sleep but it wasnt of a good quality I dont think. I hope tonight is better. Well, we can hope, right?

Night, night! A bientot.