It’s been a very busy week, and this one’s going to be a might bit busier. I took Doloris for her bi-annual control technique on Monday, and all was well expect the front tires. They were worn on the inside, meaning there was a problem with the alignment. Since bald tires were the cause of my accident, I wanted them replaced immediately. I called a place in Nontron who got me in the next morning. Will had physio so I went with him, then we did the tires, ordered the beer and went food shopping. I had my first choir practice of the season that evening, which went about as poorly as expected.
Mom arrived the following day and I collected her from Angouleme in the afternoon. She’s never been here in fig season, so we’ve been taking advantage of this year’s small harvest. We had fig tart for dinner that night and have been using them as an appetizer with goats cheese and/or parma ham. Mom is doing all the baking for the wedding, so she got started the following day. Will and I had haircuts in the morning, then Mom and I went shopping after lunch for ingredients. We went for a decent walk in the afternoon. Jenny and her new man, Julien came for an appero that evening so that we could meet each other before the wedding. He is likeable, and it was good to catch up with Jenny. Dinner that night was turkey escalope served with quinoa.
Will had physio Fri am, and has cancelled his appointments for this week. Mom did more baking during the day, and we went for a walk that afternoon. The weather wasn’t great when she arrived and got worse over the weekend. It’s been downright cold for this time of year, with high temps of 12C one day. We had fires going during the day for a few days running. It hasn’t been too rainy, but we have had storms. This is very unseasonable for September, and it doesn’t help that it’s been this way since July. Things are mostly looking up from here on out, although we may get some rain early Friday morning.
In addition to the weather, a national strike has been called for the 21st, the day most people are due to arrive. This affects all modes of transport, with those coming by air from the UK the worst off. This was due to be all of his family, except his parents who arrive on Wed. We alerted everyone last week, and many people changed their plans, so a max of 7 guests may not make it. There was a strike on Tues of last week, and many of the flights made it. Most of my side will already be in Paris, and should still be able to get the train down on Thursday. Finally, Will appears to have picked up a cold, although it may turn out to be his usual jaw/tooth/ear/throat thing. For once, he would be happy to have it.
We had dinner on Friday night at chez Beaufils. Will and I have been around to theirs many times in a row, but with Mom here, they insisted it was their turn to host her. They put on their usual five course meal starting with rum punch apero, then a lovely Perigourdine salad with duck breast, followed by turkey escalope served with sauted potatoes and chanterelle mushrooms. This was followed by cheese, and apple tart for dessert. It was a pleasant evening, with copious booze and we left very full around 10:30 when their son and his family arrived from Bordeaux.
I finally made it to the pool on Saturday, for the first time in weeks. They were closed for two of those weeks, so it wasn’t entirely due to laziness. I came home via the supermarket with more baking ingredients and beverages for the wedding, which I’ve been slowly buying. We were invited out again that evening, this time to Guillaume and Babeth’s our new friends who live in Mazeroux. She has an 11 year old son named Jules who was also there. We had a similar meal to the previous night, starting with rum punch, then duck breast salad. The main was a chicken and mushroom risotto and tarte tatin for dessert. This is Guillaume’s specialty, and it was certainly delicious. We had nice and fairly calm evening, and we invited them to the wedding, which we’re pleased we were able to do. Will recently did a web site for him, and they were both most impressed.
It was mainly rainy yesterday, and not much was accomplished apart from baking. Will and I manicured the one plant that we harvested the week before. It’s probably too early, but we want to have supplies for our guests when they arrive. In the late afternoon, Sam came over with Mathias and Sophie came a bit later. This was mainly to discuss the proceedings for Friday, which we succeeding in doing. Sam had yet to find a second server, and since Manu and Mathilde’s daughters had already volunteered, we decided not to look for one. We had rice and veg gratin for dinner that night, and then watched telly.
I had an early start today and got the car to the garage in Nontron at 9am. She needed an oil change, and to fix the alignment. They gave me a loaner, so I did some errands including the supermarket, and the bakery to order the bread for the weekend. I collected Doloris this afternoon, with another stop at the shops on the way home. Mom has finished a lot of the baking at this point, but there are still a few recipes to go. Will has been working with Mathilde on the wedding table arrangements, including printing programmes, and dealing with last minute changes including a couple of cancellations and some new additions. At this point, most of the chores are done, and we will soon start welcoming guests.