It’s been another busy week here, both work-wise and socially. Dave and Amy arrived on Monday early afternoon. They got the ferry the day before and spent the night in Alençon, about halfway to us. We gave Amy a tour of the place and had a brief walk down to the equestrian centre to arrange a horse ride for the next day. It was cool and a bit overcast that day and we managed to time our walk with the one shower of the day. We got back and started on the cocktails, followed by dinner of confit and scalloped potatoes. We learned a new card game called Anna Perna at Lee and Richards the previous week and we taught our guests and played into the night.
On Tuesday, we wandered down to the centre around midday and got acquainted with our steeds. We were led by Jenny and were accompanied by two young ladies who volunteer there. It warmed up a bit that day but only to the mid-20’s so it was very pleasant. We did a loop through the surrounding woods, familiar to me but not so much for Will. Mostly, we walked but did a bit of trotting as well. I felt much more comfortable this time around, having been earlier in the year with Gavin but it was Will’s first time in many years. Amy had also been riding earlier in the year but it was Dave’s first time in quite a while. Both Will and Amy had sore backs the next day, but I managed to escape only with a bit of stiffness in my thighs.
We did some sightseeing in the afternoon at our usual haunts: a brief stroll through St Jean de Cole followed by a tour of Brantome. Both places were relatively crowded, by our standards anyway although not surprising for the time of year. We came home via the SuperU in Nontron where we stocked up on supplies for the evening. To start, we had margaritas and homemade salsa which went down a treat. We bought some prepared turkey and beef kebabs and sausages and I made a mayo-free potato salad since Amy isn’t a fan. We also had a sampling of patisserie from the boulangerie in Milhac for dessert.
It was even hotter on Wednesday and we spent a lot of time outside, enjoying the warmth and sunshine. Dave is an avid cyclist and saw that we had a couple of disused bikes in the garage. He gave mine a fine tune and had a quick spin “around the block”. I too had a very brief ride and ended up chatting with the Beaufils’ 11 year old grandson who is here visiting. Dave also helped repair our wheelbarrow tyre, which is a saga for another time. Suffice it to say that I’ve spent more on inner tubes for it than I paid for the wheelbarrow itself so it’s great to have it working again.
That evening, we had dinner at the Hotel de France in St Pardoux. They have a terrace out back and it’s a very pleasant spot for a meal, especially considering the calibre of the food. We bumped into Jill, Rupert and Nic who were there having an early birthday celebration for Jill. The meal was excellent, as always although I was slightly disappointed that the head waitress wrote down our orders instead of memorising them as she usually does. Being summer, they changed the format and instead of set menus, you could choose your starter, main and dessert for a fixed price. I won’t recount every dish (for a change) but I will say that we were all very satisfied customers. After dinner, we came home and had a few cleansers while playing yet more cards.
The following morning, Dave got up early and cycled down to the boulangerie for our morning croissants. It took him almost no time and he didn’t seem out of breath when he got back so it seems to be possible to cycle up our hill without dying. He and Amy set up just before lunch, doing their journey in reverse on the way back. It was the first time that Will and I had met Amy and we both really enjoyed her company. We had heard good things from Will’s folks so I’m pleased to say she didn’t disappoint.
Having had a few days off, Will and I got back to work that day. I’m finally making some progress with the work for my London charity. I even invoiced them for a few weeks of work and I’m looking forward to getting paid. I still have at least a few more days work before the project is finished, likely to be in the next few weeks. Will did some work for our pewter jewellery clients and a few smaller bits too including some from a client who had been on hold for a few months.
We worked and had a fairly quiet Friday in preparation for last night. Jenny had a standing invitation to dinner and she was free on Saturday so along with her was her friend Cyril and Francoise and Phillipe. The cherries on our big tree finally ripened so we took a batch down to Mauricette early in the week and received 5 jars of jam in return. We had collected all the low-hanging fruit so Will and I got out the ladder on Saturday and harvested what we could for a cherry-chipotle bbq sauce. That was used as the marinade for chicken thighs and pork steaks, served with a couscous salad and broccoli with a lemon-garlic dressing. I made an American-style sour cream dip to start, served with veggies including the first carrots from the garden. We had margaritas outside before coming in for dinner, with Phillipe arriving just as we started serving the main. He is a volunteer firefighter and had spent the day in Excedeuil repairing roofs that had been damaged by the hail from the previous night’s storm.
We had a leisurely meal, followed by cheese and dessert before teaching the gang Anna Perna, our new favouritist card game. The guests left around 3 and just before, Louis decided to put on a show and jumped onto the beam in the middle of the big room, just above the whirling ceiling fan. Will and I had to help him down, just like when we first moved in and he used to get stuck up there. Smeagol spent a good chunk of the night on our bed and this morning, we found patches of his blood on the duvet. He appears to have been in a fight overnight and has spent the day sulking. He just got up as I write this so I’m sure he’ll survive, like always.
In other news, I booked my plane ticket home for Thanksgiving. I had been holding off since the flight is expensive and also requires a train ticket and an overnight stay at the airport hotel. I must be feeling a bit more confident in our situation here in order to have bought the ticket and it’s been too long since I’ve seen family and friends there. I also booked a hotel room for us in Paris for the night before my dad’s arrival. It will be our first night there in many years and we’re both looking forward to it. A plus.