I’m misappropriating a line from a Ben Folds Five song because it accurately represents the weather here in the Dordogne these past few weeks. It’s been rainy, cloudy or otherwise grey now, nearly since we returned with the cats almost three weeks ago. Will has taken to sitting on the sofa, watching long movies and not leaving the house by way of protest. Grey skies really get him down and he feels especially cheated since one of the reasons we came out here was the guarantee of nice weather for a few months of the year. Although April was lovely, May was mixed and June has been mostly crappy, so Will’s wondering who to speak to about a refund.
I am happy to report, however, that summer seems to have arrived and with impeccable timing too, today being the solstice. The weather for the coming week is sun just about every day with temps increasing from 20C today to 28 by the end of the week. This is especially fortunate for our veggie garden, particularly the carrots, onions and potatoes that just went into the ground ten days ago and have yet to see the sun. Furthermore, we now have a second plot at the back of the garden that’s just been turned over and is ready for planting. This area used to be completely shaded but Sharon found a local handyman who cut down most of the trees and tilled the plot for us. The front plot is now almost completely full and we’ve only planted a small portion of our seeds so the new plot allows us to plant many of the others including the large veggies that require lots of sun such as squash, aubergine, courgette and cucumber.
Personally, I haven’t minded the rain so much since I’ve been busy working on my programming project for the past few weeks. Without going into too much detail, I’m building a prototype application for the iPad that will be used by the sales/marketing guys to show to potential customers. I need to finish it before I leave for Minneapolis in two weeks so that’s been taking up most of my time. So far, I’m on track but will need to put in a lot of hours before it’s finished. Overall, I’ve been enjoying the work, partly because it means learning a new technology. I’m impressed with Apple’s development platform and pleased they make it relatively easy to get up to speed quickly.
The boys are doing very well and are noticeably bigger each week. Thankfully, we’ve got them sleeping on our schedule and even though they usually fall asleep before us, they generally don’t get up until we do, except for a bit of activity when it first gets light. Leon (aka Smeagol) seems to have stopped scaling the curtains but now we have to contend with Louis using Will’s amp as a scratching post / climbing frame instead. We haven’t tried to introduce them to Oscar again but we plan to take small steps to bring them together in the future. (Update: before I finished this entry, Louis just discovered he too can climb the curtains and he hasn’t stopped trying, despite being extracted each time. Perhaps he was reading over my shoulder.)
I would like to close with some thoughts that are largely meant for me when I read through the blog much further down the road. You, dear reader, are more than welcome to continue with me but be warned that if you’re prone to jealousy, you probably don’t want to. It’s not often in life that we are granted the chance to take some time off from work so I just wanted to reflect on that for a bit. This is the second time in my life I’ve seized such an opportunity and both experiences rank highly on the list of the best things I’ve ever done. Many people wondered if perhaps we would get bored living in the country with nothing in particular to do and I can report that it’s not been an issue for me. I’ve become addicted to fresh air and go on a local walk every day except when the rain doesn’t let up. Being free from the tyranny of work means every day is your own and deciding how to fill it is rarely troublesome.
We’re now approaching our eight month anniversary of arriving here and have decided to stay for as long as possible. Ultimately, we’d like to buy a place but without a job, that may prove difficult. We still have a number of months to figure this all out so I’m not worried yet, it’s just something lurking in the back of my mind. Until then, let’s hope summer sticks around for a while and we get to enjoy the garden and pool for a bit.