I know many of you are enduring a harsh winter so I am not writing this to rub it in your faces. For us, the blog is our diary and thus, I’m simply making a note here for posterity and not to be cruel. For the past week, we’ve had the same weather: sunny blue skies with temps around 16C (57F) during the day and 5C (41F) at night. I just went on a quick walk and even though the sun was setting, I was fine in just a long sleeve t-shirt. It also means great sunsets every night with a truly magestic one last night. We’re expecting two more days of this and then some rain before it turns cooler next week.
And that’s really all there is to report.
Just kidding. A few other things have happened since the last entry such as lunch today over at Nat and Jill’s. They were having a couple of minor computer issues that I couldn’t fix the last time I was there. I did a bit of homework and went over today for another try which I’m happy to say was successful. We had raclette which is a type of communal electric grill. It comes with little flat pans into which you place a slice of cheese and then place under the grill until gooey. This is then placed over potatoes and served along with cold cuts. We had had it once before over at the Frenchie’s the early part of last year. It’s usually served for large groups but it was just the four of us today. We then had coffee on the terrasse which was lovely.
On Saturday night, we had Mike and Jean over for dinner as a thank you for giving us the 3-piece suite. We gave them a framed photo that Will took of them Thanksgiving last year which they liked a lot. They are freshly back from a trip to the UK where they celebrated their golden anniversary. The celebration was with their family in Cornwall, at the same hotel at which they honeymooned. We started the evening with some champagne and nibbles and then moved on to roast chicken and fennel mushroom stuffing, served with lemony green beans and carrots. We finished with cheese and chocolate ganache, which is a fancy word for pudding*, plus fresh fruit. They ended up staying here until midnight when Jean finally managed to drag Mike away.
They have their house on the market and we’re thinking about a real estate related business so we talked a bit about that. Our idea is to help people sell their own place, thereby avoiding the large agents fees that are the norm here. We would do things like post classified ads on french web sites and answer the ads as well as things like brochures and web sites for thier property on a fee-for-service basis. We’re not at all sure it’s a feasible business but as a means to explore it further, we arranged to meet up with Mike and Jean later in the week. They had us around for tea yesterday and they’ve agreed for us to post an ad on their behalf on some of these sites. Will is also going to have a look at their website and come back with some suggestions for improvement so we’re having dinner around their place on Tuesday.
Yesterday, the pusses celebrated their first birthday. It took them nearly a month but they’ve finally become acclimatised to the house and are back to their usual selves. This also means that we’ve let them out for the past few days to explore their new surroundings and they’re loving it. At Sharon’s place, there are woods just at the end of the garden and boys loved it back there. Here, we’ve mostly got pasture although there are some woods at the edge of the property. For now, they’ve been content to stay in the area around the house but I’m sure it won’t be long before they start exploring. We’ve also introduced them to the cat flap which Smoo has got half-sussed; Louis, not so much. There is one in the door to the garage and one in the garage door itself. The latter one has a bit of plastic to prevent it from working so for now, they’re just practising on the one from the house to the garage. Smoo can get into the garage but not back and Louis has shown little interest so far. For now, we’re content to use the front door to control their access to the world beyond Port 80.
In other news, we’ve arranged our trip back to the UK for Will’s big birthday. The neighbours have agreed to look after the cats and Sharon will pay them a few visits so although it’s their first time being left alone, they will be in good hands. We had looked into renting a van to bring back some furniture that Andrew is making for us but it’s grossly expensive. Instead, we found a guy who does door-to-door deliveries at very reasonable rates so he’ll be brining stuff back for us mid-March and we’ll be taking Eurostar instead of driving for two days, which is nice.
Lastly, a word on the garden. We were advised by Lucien, the neighbour, that we would definitely need a rotovator (like a lawn mower but for tilling) so I dutifully went out and bought one. I bumped into him today and he said that he’d just had the tractor and plow over to till his land. I proudly said that I got my rotovator and he then explained that for the first time, you need a plow to turn over the lawn. Thankfully, his friend has one so he’s going to arrange to do our plot. He’s coming round in the morning to discuss. He will also help us erect a fence which is necessary to keep out the deer. We’re very lucky to have him nearby.
Bon soiree.
* That’s pudding in the American sense. For you UK readers, it’s very much like custard except chocolate.