Tuesday, a day at home, a day at work.

Retired in France doesn't mean just eating and drinking well and letting the sun rise and set while you relax staring at the birds as they feed from your multiple feeders. It means unexpected visits on days you had hoped to be left alone to work on the damned bathroom some more. Bob (name changed to protect the innocent...US!) rang the doorbell at 11:30. I heard his voice from upstairs on top of the awful rickedy ladder as I was gluing into place the fibreglass mat to create a smooth surface for recieving the paint. Down I went to greet our now guest, recieve the eggs he offered so generously (tried to pay him 3 Euros for them but he refused) and chat about happenings in and around Lignieres, relationships and personal situations that we can't do anything about. I wanted to work on my damned bathroom, not discuss our tiny world's denizens, alas it's what we did for almost two hours. We paused somewhat to partake of my Onion soup, (4 cups chicken stock, 2 cups thinly sliced yellow or white onions, one shallot sliced similarly and sauted til lightly browned on a medium fire, this takes about 30 minutes. Add onions and shallots to the stock, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer another 30 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with french bread and butter or do the traditional French thing, cheeses (guyere and Parmisiano Reggiano baked on top of the sliced bread with the soup poured over) added for additional zing. Bob was pleased, we were pleased, I excused myself to get back to my !@@@@! bathroom project/albatross. He excused himself and left shortly thereafter. I went back to work, completed covering the the two remaining walls and went to work on the garden waste pile. I had retrieved the incinerator and various foodstuffs from the little house in the morning and so loaded up the metal can and lit a fire. It took the better part of two hours to elliminate the pile of debris that I had collected over the last nearly two months we've been here. After the fire had diminished to smoke I drove over to Champion, the supermarket here in town, purchsed three more of the large flower pots for my pot garden, 4 more 50 liter bags of potting soil with which to fill the pots and plant nasturtums, parsley, corriander, japanese onions and others. 6 pm came and I quit all the hard labor about the planting and put on my chef's hat. we had purchased crab claws and a live crab yesterday at Auchan in Chateauroux. I put on water to cook the whoile crab and busied myself at cracking the crab claws as a cold addition to Kelly's wonderful mushroom soup that she made yesterday. Delicious meal along with a lettuce, tomatoe, avacado and onion salad dressed with red wine vinegar and olive oil, salt and pepper (for me...as Kelly seldom uses them relying instead on the flavors of the ingrediants to satisfy her taste buds).