We’ve just returned from Perigueux for Will’s citizenship ceremony which took place at the Prefecture. There were 70 people from all over the department, representing 28 countries. The Prefet gave a short speech, we sang La Marseillaise and then the certificates were handed out. Exceptionally, a school group attended and they gave a number of short speeches about artists who acquired French citizenship, including Chagall and Kandinsky. I took a few photos of Will, but none turned out very well so you’ll have to take my word that event occurred.
Before the ceremony, we had lunch in a small bistro in town. It’s a place that had been recommended to us but since we rarely eat out, had yet to go. Before heading to the big city, we stopped in Brantome where I had an hour of physio. This was my third session since last week and it mainly consists of doing exercises in the gym in order to strengthen my back muscles. The therapist also recommended that I do back stroke at the pool instead of the crawl. Currently I do 4 back and 36 crawl so I’ll need to change that up.
Our new stereo system arrived mid-week. Both Will and I had amassed a decent amount of Amazon vouchers, so we didn’t have to spend much of our own money. We got a network receiver that plays music and video. We can play from our network storage, from our computers and tablets, and from the internet. The receiver is plugged into the network so it can be controlled from just about any device. We also got two column speakers which, along with the receiver, are upstairs. They were the smallest version of this particular brand, so we weren’t sure they’d be loud enough to fill the entire room. We needn’t have worried since we’ve yet to crank them more than a quarter volume.
We inadvertently had a rather social weekend. As of Thursday morning, our only plans were having Mark and Troy over to dinner on Sat night. The Beaufils came around in the afternoon and invited us over to lunch on Sunday. On Friday, we got an invitation from Manu & Mathilde to join them and Philippe for a curry at their place. They wrote back later to say that it was lamb curry and Will reluctantly agreed.
We started with an apero of peanuts and then a type of rillettes made from tuna, another strike for Will. The main was curry with rice and not much else. Dessert was ginger ice cream with crumbled biscuits. So Will didn’t get much to eat that night, but we did enjoy some nice wines. This was the first meal that I followed the conversation until the end of the evening, or nearly so. Normally, I need to force myself to pay attention if I want to know what’s being said but over time, this has become less of an effort. We left around 1:30 and didn’t stay up too late once we got home.
I went to the shops on Sat to get in food for dinner that night. It was a lovely day with temps near 20C so everyone was in a good mood. We did a few chores around the house including fixing the network cable that runs between the receiver and the router which is downstairs. We also hung some prints of Bud’s that I brought back with me from the States. I made brownies in the afternoon and did the rest of the prep that evening.
Our guests were Mark and Troy, the American couple who currently rent a house in Badaillac, where we used to live. They are moving to a town near Carcassonne at the end of April so our friendship has been short and sweet. They’ve invited us to visit once they get settled in and we hope to take them up on that. Dinner that night was veggies and dip for apero, and a salad of roquefort, toasted pecans and cranberries for the starter. The main was turkey sloppy joes served with sweet potato fries – a nod to our American roots – plus brownies and ice cream for dessert. The left on the early side and watched a bit of telly before a relatively early night.
We weren’t really hungry for a Beaufils meal on Sunday, but that’s really only possible if you don’t eat for 24 hours beforehand. Despite only having three courses, we left as full as usual by the time we rolled out four and a half hours later. Our hosts were both on good form and the conversation flowed. Mauricette had been ill earlier in the year but she is now back to normal.
We started with some nibbles and cubed cheese with our apero of rum punch. The main was raclette – melted cheese served over potatoes and cauliflower with charcuterie. They brought out a huge platter of cheese and an even bigger platter of meats. We actually got through a fair bit of the cheese but not so much the meat. And for some reason, they also made “chien chaud”, i.e. hotdogs. I jokingly called them by their French translation and it turns out, they actually use the term here. Lucien got a dry white wine for me, and served a 12 year old Haut Medoc and both were excellent, bien sur. Dessert was a Baba-O-Rhum, a sponge soaked in booze served with fruit salad, followed by a digestif of chartreuse and coffee. We chilled out when we got home and watched some films while trying to digest. It was an early night since we had to be up and out fairly early the next morning.
It’s going to be nice most of the week so I’ll finally get a chance to do some gardening. I should have trimmed the wisteria and grape vine already but apparently, it’s not too late. Lucien came by today and tidied up our rose that grows on the trellis in front. He also “trimmed” the two Katalpa (Indian Bean) trees and by that, I mean he hacked off most of the branches. He also did the fig tree, so it’s going to be a lot easier to mow the front garden from now on. That needs doing as well, so I hope to find time for all that amongst my steady stream of work. It’s also been busy for Will on the work front, but I’ll leave for him to discuss the next time.