As Will mentioned in his last entry, my mom was kind enough to arrange to have my old dishes packed and shipped here. It’s a bit of an extravagance but I really enjoy the continuity of having something from my last place. The second box didn’t arrive until yesterday, nearly a week after the first. I think they must have tried to deliver it the day after the first but we were out to lunch. They didn’t try again until yesterday and I know this because I have been home waiting for it every day since then. The second box had the rest of the dishes (bar one salad plate) as well as my tool box so that saves us having to buy a new one and tools for it.
I also ordered a bunch of things on line, mostly bedding and electric kit so that’s also been arriving in dribs and drabs. The second bed is due to arrive in the coming weeks and I also have a new set of duvets that are in transit. The courier company actually sent me a letter telling me they needed more information for them to deliver the package. The merchant also emailed asking for directions so I replied in bastardized French and he replied saying he understood so I’m proud of myself for that.
On the subject of speaking French, we spent a lovely afternoon around at the neighbour’s, Lucien and ______. How terrible that we don’t know her name! I’m not sure who I can ask either so I may just have to break down and ask one of them. (It’s Mauricette, we learned subsequently). Anyway, we had popped around to theirs on Sat. to see if the facteur had left the package with them and to borrow an axe. He lent us two and they asked us to join them for dessert the next day so on Sunday we went over after lunch. She made an apple crumble and we washed that down with a dessert wine and followed that up with coffee and then a few home made liquors, casis and one other that I can’t remember the name of (It was Chartreuse – Will). Neither of them speak any English so I did my best to keep up with the conversation. I understood about half and even managed to speak a few sentences myself – enough for them to compliment me anyway which was reassuring. Perhaps they were just being nice.
We spent a few hours with them and they regaled us with local history. She was born in this hamlet and her mother still lives here, just down the road in the main part of the hamlet. They’ve been here around ten years after living in Paris for ten years and then the rest of the time in Bordeaux. They’re in their late 60’s and have been retired for few years at least. They have a fermette like ours except theirs is still pretty much a barn to which they added a glass walkway with a new house on the other side, essentially doubling the length of their dwelling. So the lived in part of the house is very modern. They do loads of gardening and she makes jams with their fruit so we left with one jar each of fig, peach and strawberry jam. I treated myself to a croissant from the boulangerie the next morning so I could sample them all and I’m pleased I did 
Will has been in the UK since Monday morning. His train was at 8:45 so we got up before 7 and hit the road just before 7:30. It took just over an hour to get there which is only 15 min longer than from the old place. I went straight home to wait for packages and be with the pusses. They are continuing to adjust and I think it’s now settling in that this is home. They are still getting stuck in the rafters but I’ve been using and old wooden ladder with a sofa cushion on it as a bridge to get them back. They can climb up to the higher beams but then can’t get down without falling. Speaking of which, Louis had a little spill the other day. There is a gap between the mezzanine floor and the beam that holds it up. He had climbed from my shoulders into this space and it wasn’t until 15 min later that I looked to see him come tumbling out. I think he must have fallen asleep up there and rolled right out – he was fine, just a bit shaken up. I’ve been letting then out one at a time while keeping a watchful eye on them. They both seem a bit freaked by the horses who can be very loud at times. Smoo dove under one of the big hedges and took a while to come out.
With everything else that’s been happening, I have yet to mention the demise of eLeaf Media. In brief, Apple came out with a much improved version of iBooks, their reader app that is also their storefront for e-books. It does everything our app was going to do and more, so it essentially makes ours obsolete before it was really ever born. We considered focusing instead on book conversion but it’s a different kind of business model and not one that we wanted to pursue so in the end, we had to throw in the towel. I had planned to give it a few more months but with little chance of success, it’s better to move on and focus my efforts elsewhere. If nothing else, I have gained the knowledge that it’s not too difficult or scary to start a business so perhaps that’s what we’ll do here.
On the work front, I had a convo with Alan, our friend in the UK who has his own business. I built a time keeping app for him back in Sept and he has improvements he wants doing to it, as well as another possible project or two. We’re going to meet in late Feb when I’m back for Will’s bday so I’ll know more then. In the meantime, Will and I are planning to do something web related, possible in the real estate sector or else with local tradesmen who don’t have but may want websites. I’m meant to be doing research but have been very lazy so far in Will’s absence.
Having said that, I did get up and clean the house today. It gets dirty so fast, especially with an open fireplace, you end up with fine ash and bits of wood everywhere. I did everything but the kitchen and I’ll tackle that tomorrow. Also my new DVD rack arrived so I put that together this eve and will unpack boxes of DVDs onto it in the morning. I also unpacked the bathroom before cleaning it so that’s a few more boxes unpacked.
This afternoon, I went on a long walk – it was 8C and sunny so a great day for it. I’m getting to know the local trails fairly well now and I’m happy to report, there are some lovely ones out there. I returned the axes to Lucien before I left – turns out I didn’t need them after all since the wood in the shed is already cut to the right size. It looks a bit long but on a diagonal, it fits which is a relief since there are two huge stacks of the stuff. It’s nice and old so smells lovely when it burns.
Socially, I had dinner at Sharon’s on Wed. The fish pond in her garden was leaking so she needed a hand fixing it. Afterward, she fixed us a roast lamb dinner that was marvelous, as always. She’s coming around for scallops on Saturday. I also have a bit of beef in the freezer that I’ll take out and have for dinner tomorrow and I got me some smoked salmon and tuna to have for lunch so I’m making the most Will’s absence in the food sense anyway.
I will sign off by mentioning that we have our first confirmed visitors. My mom is coming in early June, probably for six days, depending on whether she goes to Morocco to visit a friend who lives there. The friend is actually married to the American Ambassador so it should be a fun trip. Also, Gavin is coming for Easter weekend, Fri – Mon and it will be great to have him here. The Demailly’s, the family we got the cats from, have said they’ll be coming in early March but I’m not sure if that’s confirmed yet. Ok – enough rambling – bon nuit.