4G in the States, 2G Here, can you say WTF?

Yes folks I'm writing and have been writing for OVER TWO YEARS on this miserable slow coonection through a 2G Dongle from SFR/Vodaphone. Oh gee.
Now don't get me wrong, I miss it when it's down (as it is often that way) and the reward of not having to constantly deal with France Telecom/Orange is pleasure enough perhaps BUT I've paid full price for this miserable connection for OVER TWO YEARS without a word of apology from SFR/Vodaphone for the screwing we are getting every download. Yes, I pay the same 34.00E per month as someone within the range of a 3G signal, that's over 47 USD for the previledge of being an SFR dupe. Lovely.

The good news is that my email now works thanks to me openning the windows and pushing open the shutter that the storm closed about 12 days ago now (I liked the shade you know) and l'viola! Outgoing email is alive again. The signal here is THAT weak?! A damned wooden shutter dropped it down so low it couldn't get through? My oh my...moderne technologie! I couldn't believe it but yes, the shutter is enough of an attenuator to keep the basically line of SIGHT signal from rising to my dongles needs, close it...no email, poor inet, open it, email with inet. Huh.

Got a new Logitech C-600 web cam, one of the less than HD but 2 MB sensor jobs. Nice picture, full of crisp detail and the software works pretty well to if a bit of a clunky interface. It doen't know how to send pics and videos to a server via timed FTPs but...it's ok 'cause YAW-CAM does. Now you can see out the window of our home in Lignieres towards the Champ du Foire where the annual Donkey Faire will be in another week...Heee Hawwwww!

Gotta work in the courtyard today amidst the brambles and aoutat biting things that you can't see...the drought has brought them out and oh boy do they like me. Chomp, tasty California Import! Nice. Tried to find some clear nail polish yesterday at one of the many stores we visited but no luck and now...I'm an itchy thing let me tell you, an itchy thing! I hate AOUTAT! Bought 5 Basil plants so we can start having pesto and capressa salads with dinner. They do very well here in the humidity but the sun and dry are killers for sure. Place them in the sun in the morning and the moon...no shade in the afternoon for best results.

Off to get coffee folks, have a wonderful day wherever you are, I'll be here scratching.

The Health Care Debate, A Personal Matter

I watched the Senate debate last night concerning the health care bill now making its slower-than-molasses way thru the US Congress. I'm not going to go into the technicalities or the awful politicizing of each American's health care that BOTH Republicans and Democrats have done since September on this bill. There's no point in that, save to say that I have relatives, a daughter stuck with no health care at all due to her workplace not having any and my beloved wife Kelly who also has none as she is not yet 65 and thus not covered by Medicare. The rest of my immediate family does (I HOPE!) have coverage of one kind or another. My own is thru Medicare Advantage at Kaiser Permanente. My verdict so far is that it works for me and at a fraction of the cost that I had as a teacher to be enrolled at Kaiser, which had grown to over 1100 USD when we pulled the plug on it last year as unaffordable. We went to the Fingers-Crossed coverage plan for Kelly as I was then enrolled in Medicare.

A long time fan of Kaiser, I have had terrific, nay I say, life-saving, treatment by them several times in my recent past ie. two heart attacks among them. I am fortunate enough that I have first hand observation of another country's healthcare system, that of France. I have gotten prescriptions filled there, have gone to the doctor and the dentist there and have observed and spoken with French citizens about the health system's parts I haven't used (yet), such as the emergency room. I have a couple of examples of extraordinary health situations that were resolved on non-member persons (ex-pats) in the French system too. The World Health Organization thinks highly of the French system, rating it as the one of best in the world.
I hope in my heart of hearts that we in the US can have such coverage one day but I have my doubts. Too much money is involved, doctors with their own clinics, predatory insurance companies, astronomical drug costs, poor diets, alcoholism, rampant diabetes et al. It's a sick "system" that definetly needs some fixing, the current bill will help but will still need much further modification before it becomes anything worthy of praise. Still...this bill IS a start, it will be passed this week and passed by the same boring and unimaginative 60 Yeses and 40 Nos that we have come to expect from our so-called representatives in the Senate. How wonderful.

For example...my doctor's best friend vactioned in France last September. After hoisting lugage about for a few days he noticed a bump on his abdomen above his belly button. As a few days went by it grew larger and painful as well. He went to a doctor in Paris and was examined. "A rupture" was the diagnosis and he was sent forthwith to a local hospital. Given a name tag, there was no discussion of insurance, he was asked if he had any but that was all. This was before noontime. He was in bed, settled with his wife at his side at 1pm. He was operated on at 3pm and back in his bed at 4pm repaired. He spent the next 5 days healing further before he was released. Upon release he resumed his vacation and returned to San Francisco. A bill arrived from the hospital, the ONLY bill by the way, for $600 Euros (about 900 USD at the time). Try THAT in the US.

My Leading Ladies

Oh, I slipped! Damn...I hit the L instead of the R! Oh well...you get the picture, they are all readers and they are incessantly reading...only Furry and I are left to contemplate our navels. They read all day and into the night taking little time out for smoking (Aud), going potty, and eating. Mostly...they sit or lay about reading. A life of pure leisure. I'm NOT complaining! Far from it! I get left to my own devices largely, don't even have to drive the car some days as Kelly has bravely taken on that chore to guide our guests about the countryside. Leaves me time to cook, read cookbooks, fiddle around on the computer and fight with Furry.
Not bad. The most "time off" I've had in a while.

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Andy, my ex-student from Hogan oh so long ago...mid 90's has just landed at CDG and is enroute to the hotel with his friend. They are near Port Orleans but are traveloling to London tomorrow via the chunnel, stay a couple of days then back to Paris til the end of the week, then they are coming here to join us for a few days before venturing south. I have some places I think they'd like to observe in person. The Pont Du Gard, Lascoux, The Tarn Gorge and the Bridge over it, there's so much to see and appreciate it's a challenge to do a proper job of being tour director really...all this on the way to Marsaille and Nice which they want to visit.

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Tonight we are having S and D over to meet Katie and have a go at more experimental (not quite) food. I've made Canneloni and Eggplant Parmigiana as the entrees, Kelly has made her beet and blue cheese salad with nut oil and vinegar dressing (delicious!), I also made French Vanilla ice cream from the ancient recipe that everyone seems to like. It should be a pretty filling meal and a lot of fun.
Katie's daughter G is coming via velo from Belin with her boyfriend N and may be calling us any minute now to give us a possible arrival date and time. Biking fron Berlin across both Germany and France! Amazing! It's quite a feat that's for sure!
She's the one going to Circus school too, so she's very athletic to say the least!

Nansulate Applied!

Yesterday I gave three rolled coats of Nansulate to our attic mounted water heater of unknown capacity, perhaps 200 liters. Today I took the ambient temp of the attic adjacent to the water heater and it was 72 degrees. the temp on top of the water heater itself was 78 degrees...a difference of 6 degrees. Yesterday the temp difference was over 9 degrees so we are in the positive so far in this grand and somewhat expensive experiment ( the closer the water heater temp is to the ambient temp of the room the better the paints performance ). Kelly coated the clothes drier and the small refrigerator in her kitchen, I took no before and after temps but it couldn't hurt the performance of those devices to have additional insulation now could it? Then I tackled the back wall in Kelly's sewing room so she could put the chest of drawers back in place and we could get on with coating the rest of the room. Nansulate is tough stuff when dry, drips come up but only with difficulty. I think it would make great glue if it didn't cost so much. The surface after three coats was smooth with a matte transparent appearance. The same held true on the appliance applications...plus it developed a feel as though it were coated with rubber. I had Kelly coat her little water pitcher too to cover the rusted ridge on the bottom so it would no longer stain her drain board. We'll see how all these little projects play out. Other uses have come to mind as well, the car's firewall to keep heat from the engine out, on patio umbrella cloth to keep the UV damage to a minimum, on the outside surfaces of my countertop oven to prevent heat loss. I'm SURE there are many, many more things that we will discover uses for this nearly miraculous substance. Tomorrow we will "paint" the Nansulate on the exterior walls of the guest bedroom...three coats and wait the requisite 30 days before we apply the wall paper.


An additional note: the sewing room wall is covered with horsehair, lime and sand and had many small surface cracks thoughout though it was firmly attached to the waddle and dab underneath. The coating filled most of these crevices completely and with the strength of the bond I think that it has helped overall to maintain the quite ancient surface from degradation. We shall see. I'm very hopeful.

A Red Letter Day and 108 Euros!

Fed Ex recieved the paint on the 14th and as of last night it was in Paris getting duty assessed by French Customs before leaving for Bourges (St. Doulchard). 5 US gallons of the ever more precious nano paint are, at last, in the country of France and subject to whatever duty Customs can figure out. There is no estimate of additional charges on the Fed Ex site at this time, and there probably won't be anyway as by the time they process all the fancy and expensive paperwork the stuff will be on the truck speeding down the heart of France to our anxious little hands. We will pay by check whatever amount is necessary to get the paint into our house, rest assured. And I did, and slept like a baby.
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Up at 7am, coffee, potty and check the Fed Ex web site...it's IN Bourges! Arrived there this morning, terrific! Now to another truck (probably a local expeditier) and then to us sometime today! Whoopee! Guests gone one day and The Paint arrives the next! Great timing! Another cup of java at 8am and read the emails, start writing the blog to explain all of this. Recheck the Fed Ex site and l'viola! It's on a deliver van already! Cool! Or HOT depending on which side is one or the other (It IS insulating paint after all!) Wondering where we start the application and if we have the right roller(s). Kelly wants her sewing room finished and so that is where the action will start so that we can paint and wallpaper and get it back into useable condition ASAP. I walk downstairs and go to my kitchen to assess the days activities in that arena. Wash a couple of pots left over from last night, put away the now cooled thoroughly roasted (overdone actually) chicken and on my way back to the sitting room...the truck of our dreams (nightmare?!) arrives in front of the house.




I openned the front door and the driver handed me the small box with 1 gallon of the ever more rare and precious paint inside, he then returned to the truck for the other 4 gallon box. $108.68 duty is indicated on the shipping receipt. Wow...$657 for 5 gallons of the stuff. We must be mad or terribly convinced. Check out their website...http://www.nansulate.com/

One Busy Summer!

Yes we are going to be greeted by many visitors this year. Old and dear friends, relatives and Barrack and Michelle might even join us. 8-) Whoopee! Dinners for all to cook, lots of wine to sample and hours and hours of chats and sightseeing in the verdant green outback of France called The Berry. Terrific! Ted is first, he's landing the day before we get there thanks to my errant scheduling attempt at www.Cheapoair.com. I have no idea of how long he'll be there but he can help with preping the little house for sale or rent and we'll have a ball with him too, he's open to anything and anyplace. The S & M (Steve and Michelle) come in early-mid summer for a couple of weeks more or less, then a past student of mine Andy and his girlfriend in early September followed by Kelly's sister in the middle of September! What a hoot! Meal planning extraordinaire! Gotta get to work on the guest room too...new cloth walls and paint, paint, paint. The courtyard will be a winters mess, the roses need work as does everything else. I'm about to become very busy. The huge and heavy iron gate needs hanging...great fun that. Steve has volunteered for that lil' set of tasks, drilling 3/4" holes in solid limestone is interesting, inserting the pintals into said holes and then hang the gate panels. It gets painted black too. So we will have a productive and rewarding good time in the French sunshine this year...weather permitting.
I'm always asked, as is Kelly, "what do we wear?" Well...that's a long read. The weather in France has proven itself to be quite variable. It can snow as late as late April, at least it has twice in the 7 years of our personal observations. Not enough to matter but not exactly T-Shirt weather then either. May and June are beautiful Spring weather mostly, clouds, rain in the afternoons, sunny mornings, just plain pretty. July can be a bit warmer, or not...the cloud cover this last year was extensive in July and July was cooler than I remember in the last few years...highs in the 70's mostly, umbrellas at the hand in the afternoon. August, the Vacation Month can be blistering hot like 2003 and 4 or like last year a copy of July, highs in the 70's and 80's with a rare day in the 90's thrown in for backyard fun around the barbecue. Beer weather for sure. September can be August-like but more variable and towards the latter part of the moth decidedly cooler at night.
So there it is, freezing to sweaty, that's France outside of Winter (cold to colder).
So wear layers, cotton or linen in the summer, warmer stuff in the Springtime thru June and otherwise T-shirts and shorts in July and August. Pack lightly! You'll love yourself for that as you can buy anything here and the prices are cheap to higher for any clothing items you might need, makes great souvenirs too! Bring camera, batteries, memory cards and two pair of comfortable shoes. To be picked up at your train station is easy as long as you choose the right train, get on it and make it to Verizon, take 2nd class non-smoking. You will leave Paris via the
Austerlitz station. When you land a Charles De Gualle (CDG) go to the taxi stand and take one to phonetically said as " Jay-Voo-Drey...Austerlitz See Voo Play" and sit quietly while you scream down the freeway some 15 miles to the very center of Paris. Cost...well about 50 Euros...they take credit cards but best to get an ATM at the airport and get cash. Don't do it in the US...they charge way over the exchange rate here...and currently it's about 1.28 dollars = 1 Euro. Better than last year by a mile (1.60 = 1 then!). Once you get to Austerlitz train station go to the mail hall and get in line at one of the windows. Be very polite and calmly say.
Duh bee-lay Duh klass aww Ver-eh_zone (Verizon) See-voo-play (2 tickets to Verizon Please)...once in your hand look at the scheduling board and see which track is the right track. There's a machine to insert your ticket into at the front of each track...you need to get your ticket time stamped therein. Watch others to do it easily. It works.
Then find a conductor nearby your train and show him your tickets and do as he indicates. Board your train...put your bags in the end of the car and find a seat either as assigned or anywhere. Rest, read, look out the window. About 2 hrs later you will arrive at Verizon station. You will need to call us from Austerlitz or cell phone...and we will pick you up in Verizon!!! Such a deal!
If you are driving...that's another matter entirely. I'll cover that issue in the next issue!

The Doors...not the band

On the barn, well NOT YET ON the barn, are 2 doors, actually three for the big openning as the 2 "little" doors include one smaller door. These were not attached when we bought the house and barn. We're sticklers for the preservation of olde mouldy things (bits the Brits call them) and these doors have fallen into that very mascyline "trap". They are HEAVY, very heavy, the Right hand one (at least it's GOING to be the right hand one, weighs no less than 300 lbs and likely more. It has the small door attached sort of. The left hand one weighs about 200 lbs or slightly more. It is no mean feat for me to lift them on edge or reposition them. They are BIG in demension as well being 3+ meters tall and 2.8 meters wide. The openning NOW has been made smaller (sometime in the past) and is 2.62 Meters wide and 2.8 meters high. That means that your trusty handyman (me) will be sawing the old rotton bits off to get the things down to the correct size AND refitting the little door.
Great fun all this. I spent the morning standing them on edge which took some doing, then power washed them to clean off the old white wash, spider webs and tendrills from the vines of years past. Now to allow them to dry and begin sawing them, that'll happen after the Olympics.

A Sunny Saturday Peeling Wallpaper

Isn't peeling wallpaper FUN! The sound of the 2" strips just ripping off the wall sends chills through my spine in anticipation of the wonder beneith. Shit. The room in question is the old dining room next to the Little Kitchen, the green and pale green and yellowed dirty white paisley pattern had finally worked it's magic on our brains and Kelly started and I soon picked up the task as well. Scrape, pull, rip, climb, scrape, pull, rip, scrape, rip...on and on for hours and up and down on the ladders to get to some of the more inaccessible locations behind water pipes and bizarre electrical thing-a-majigs...brother. A beautiful Saturday like this set to waste with this awful task, what is wrong with us?! Furry just walks into the room, it's floor coverred with thousands of 2" X 2" peices of ancient wallpaper and looks around, up and down at it as if to say, "Why did you screw up my purr-fectly good sitting room where I can vomit in peace under the lovely grey chairs?! Why?" Because we are DRIVEN you useless furball! Driven!
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We grow ever closer to having the bottom story of the olde place recoverred if not entirely refurbished...at least it looks better to US than it did, whether or not we have gotten the sequence right or not, well that is a question isn't it? Who knows, maybe we'll have to pull some of our cover-work down and fix a leak pipe or two, or rebuild the wall or...who knows? It's an olde place, it's been here longer than you dear reader, I and Kelly PLUS our two cats have been alive and I suspect it will do as well FAAAAR into the future. Once we sell the little house and get that money into our hot little worn out hands (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130234244587&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=003 to see it and
MORE PICS AT http://flickr.com/photos/hnlute/ Go to SETS then click on DIX or go straight to the pictures of the house at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hnlute/sets/72157605912040170/ )
the roof will be assessed once again and a brand new INSULATED one will be installed by SOMEONE ELSE! Then what? Well, we have a plan to build a veranda structure between the two wings in the form of one of the lovely iron ones common in Paris. All glass and arty-like. We like the one we had built for us in Suisun a few years ago so much we'd like to replicate it here in sunny and warm Lignieres. We shall see what time tells us.
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What I wonder is how the hell we are going to get HERE next spring what with all the airline cuts. Booking the journey ought to be a thrill that's for sure, big bucks and few flights with many more stops. Shit!

Lyon

Well...why haven't I written in the last week and a day? Been sick boopie, sick. How? What? Why? Well in reverse order the FOOD POISONING occured beginning a week ago last Thursday with a delicious sandwich of the usual ham, cheese, eggs, lettuces and mayonaise taken at the cafe adjacent to The Geant in Bourges. This lunch was made necessary as we were waiting to get the new front Michelin tires installed on the Avensis. Home we went afterwards and seemingly were ok and normal for the next 6 - 8 hours, then diarhea and cramping...awful, green nausea. Yes, durn it, it's a common human ailment isn't it? A left out of the fridge too long anything, a cold cut, a mishandled lettuce leaf, an unwashed tomato...doesn't take much and those flora and fauna of our gut take offense at the new intruder. The result is more potty time in the next day or two then the problem slowly goes away. Well this time it stayed and grew worse when we went to the store on Friday and I bought 2 kilos (4.4lbs) of the most beautiful, small moules (mussels), labelled "France Normandy", oh yes, a favorite of ours and cheap too at E2.90 a kilo...about 1.35 a lb. On ice, all shiny and upon close examination most were quite closed, a GOOD lot! Well home we went, Kelly washed and debearded the little suckers and I prepped the sauce, white wine, parsley, shallots, salt and pepper (garlic if you want). I put them in a large pot and poured the sauce over and brought them to steaming and cooked for about three minutes, just enough to insure they were all open, turned them off and pored the whole lot into a large crockery bowl. We ate like Kings of these little devils, wonderfully tender and sweet with the sauce. We ate about half of what we prepared and sopped up the sauce with chunks of baggette smeared with our local butter. Yum! All good, filled to the brim we cleaned up, put the remaining moules coverred into the fridge and retired to a movie in our upstairs office. Movie over, off to bed to read and fall asleep as is our way. 2 am I awake, now green, frog-colored and very, very aware of my less than well condition. Quickly I gather my wits, jump outa bed and run to the WC a few feet away...thank gawd! This over, back to bed to repeat at 2 - 3 hour intervals over the next 12 hrs. Not good. So much for Saturday except we ate the beloved moules for lunch via the microwave approach and repeated to the last little beast at dinner time, burp! Somewhere in all of these little delicious creatures I partook of one to several that were less than ok, either undercooked, a distinct possibility initially, or dead-on-delivery not to be eaten in the first place. No matter...now I was really sick and Kelly was just a bit green. Sunday was a day off of eating at all. Just sick. Then Monday...planning for the trip to Leon I was still planning trips to the WC about every 2 hrs. Not good. Yogurt, blessed yogurt to the rescue. I had now lost between 4 and 5 lbs and was fading fast. No appetite at all, chills and fever and the runs. Great. Here comes Tuesday, ate little, slept a lot and occassionally ran to the WC. Whewwww. Wednesday was a day of near recovery, not as tired, not hungry but the yogurt was good and 7 up helped ease the tummy green-ness that hung on so very well. We left Thursday and I was back to my old self again, hungry and happy. Brother...poisoned myself good that time, not just once either! Enough. Cook 'em longer boopie, maybe 5 minutes would be enough. Here's a link for you re:preparation of mussels.
http://www.helpwithcooking.com/seafood-shellfish/how-to-cook-mussels.html
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Lyon is a wonderful city to visit though it's approach from the south is industrial as all get out. Oil operations abound featuring long, black trains, the French Modern factory approach to urban planning rules the landscape. Once across the river though it becomes a lush, green garden on visual and gastronomic delights. Parking can/is a hasstle and though advertised as part of our one-star hotel's (Alexandra Hotel http://www.hotelalexandra69002.fr/ ) amenities we decided to walk the short walk, pay the PAYANT machine it's due and be done with it. Bonnie the Tom Tom GPS had gotten us to within a block of the hotel door and l'Viola! there was a space for us on the street! Amazing! So we unloaded our single bag with our 2 changes of clothes apiece and headed for the hotel. Once there 5 minutes later, we walked up one flight of stairs to the reception desk and signed in. Then off to our room on the 4th floor via ancient stone steps, 22 to each flight to account for the tall ceilings. Thank goodness for the single bag and few books. Once UP we openned the door to our suite in the clouds. Clean, newly painted grey and white with a view over the red roofs of Lyon. It was still early afternoon, about 3:30pm so we wanderred off thru Rue Victor Hugo a wonderful wide boulevard turned into shopping mall with stores of every kind and description. We spent the next while wandering the storefronts and sitting to watch the ever changing street scene. We headed generally north along the streets, taking our time headed towards the eventual goal of our dinner place L,Ourson Qui Boit at 7:30 when they were scheduled to open. Once found a lovely worker in the establishment informed us that they were full that night AND the next and since we had not made reservations we were out of luck. Durn it! Kelly had asked me too! So we lost our shot at the 16th most popular restaurant in Lyon by my not making a reservation. That teaches me! So we dejectedly turned about and walked back along the way we came looking for the nights meal along the way. Two miles later we arrived at our hotel once more and facing both the McDonalds (Nooooooooo!) across the street and the now pouring afternoon/early evening rain Kelly took another look at her map. A Chinese restaurant was nearby, in fact around the corner on Rue Franklin well...why not!? A small place, less than 20 seats and packed except for one booth which we occupied shortly. The food looked and smelled wonderful, a fusion of Vietnamese and Chinese then menu wasn't so long as to be intimidating (you know those, we don't go there anymore) but very interesting. We chose a veg, a chicken a beef dish with Cantonese Fried Rice and were soon greeted with the aromas we had been surrounded with coming from beautifully prepared and served dishes. We orderred two Tsing Tao chinese beers, delicious and ice cold too! Wonderful food by any measure, certainly the best Chinese we have had in France to date. It was so good we repeated the meal the next night!
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Trip Home - See image at top of the blog.
The way back was different. We decided to go north along the river to Macon (Mah_cahn) then over to Lignieres through whatever was there. So after a protracted leaving of Lyon through the back streets and alleyways past several open air marches (markets) we were on our way Saturday morning. The countryside of Burgundy was much as it is here in Lignieres, rolling, green hills and small farms, cattle, sheeps and a few goats. Beautiful verdant landscapes. Along the way we past a beautiful long barn, a half-timbered one from several centuries past with a checkerboard-like brick pattern evident. I wanted a picture so slowed down to find a place I could turn around in. Once about-faced I accelerated back the way we had just come and slowed as we past the barn scene looking for yet another place to turn around and park so I could take the picture I wanted. I slowly pulled first to the right off the roadway then turned toward a small road that presented itself across the main one and there was a spot to stop to get out and take the pictures I wanted. I turned slowly to the left and as I did I saw out of the corner of my eye a motion, a figure, a motorcycle coming over a rise in the road and through the shadow of the adjacent trees...oh my gawd, I cut him off! And I had, he was forced to make the descision to slide into me, steer around at speed or hit me. He chose the steering around but was faced with another car in the lane I had just vacated. He narrowly missed the oncoming car! Narrowly.
I sat there stunned that I had caused this entire scene and that nothing bad had happened. I stared at the rider as he slowed further down the road from where I had come just a minute or so ago. He accelerated back to me and turned around, I lowerred my window to appologize and tell him that I had lost him in the shaddow. "Desole, desole!" I said. This was a very close call for both of us, he just stared at me, then he nodded acceptance and drove away. I breathed a sigh of releif that I hadn't killed him or someone else I didn't even know. That's how it happens with motorcycles. It's the quick and the dead by the hand of someone driving a car unsafely, like myself in those few moments.

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Digging progress

#94 Sundai School in Chezal Benoit

#94
Not just ANY Sunday either! Chezal - Benoit (Che-sahl - Ben-Wha) was having it's annual Brocante (junk sale) and mental health summit. You see Chezal - Benoiy is the home of a Mental Hospital and the sellers occupy the town right up to it's gate. Too, many of the patients are present adding their own color and grunts to the event. L came to the Ruin at 9 am and while she made the huge green salad for the party we were attending afterwards at A&R's, Kelly and I scrambled to both wake up from the party the afternoon and early evening of Saturday (yes we do these things serially it seems) (where 5 of us drank 7 bottles of the finest below 2 Euros sparkling wine and wine). I made Spinach Canneloni and it was very, very good if I do say so myself. Followed some hours later by a Pasta Povera with garlic, capers. It always works, a very simple dish that I've described in my blog before. That was Saturday's food scene, Sunday afternoons at our friends A&R's was an Asian-styled food fest. A and R had preped vegies galore, carrots, radishes, green and red bell peppers, onions, lemons and had various bottled sauces and condiments. I was put in charge by the Master Chef herself who provided me with the valued kitchen support I needed to create an asian feast. It was great creative fun and there was more than enough food at the end for A&R to have leftovers for two meals at least! I came up with Oyster Sauce Beef, Musselman Curry, Vietnamese Lemon Pork, Red Pepper Chicken, Chop Suey (YES!), and a couple of other ad hoc dishes thrown in for good measure. All over rice, thai rice noodles. Much wine was drank, as usual. The French couple from up the road (Chicken Farm) chatted amiably with all of us, in French of course...but we seemed to rise to the occassion. I had a bit of trouble understanding which isn't unusual as the speed at which the French speak is, at times, intimidating. They also brought along their own product...goat cheeses from their heard of Goats, it was, without doubt, the FINEST goat cheese I have EVER enjoyed! The Ash coverred round loaf was spectacularly good. Wonderful light texture and a lemony aftertaste that just faded to the next bite. Anyway, we all enjoyed ourselves emmensly in A&R's sunroom under ever darkening skies and eventually the late afternoon pouring rains. Here's the link to the YouTube movie of the Brocante we enjoyed in the morning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT6Ztt_Iz1o
What a lovely day, rain or not. Great fun with great people, tons of chat and laughs galore, Life hardly could be better than this.

Off to China...

I have begun The Search. Pipes, drains for the precious water system, Blackwater (shit) and Rainwater (fresh almost) exist somewhere in the olde courtyard. The Veolia inspector person indicated they ran adjacent to the new ancient kitchen. Sure. And, of course, the ONLY fault in our entire dye inspected system was MY connection of the olde kitchen's sink to the rainwater downpipe from the roof. Seemed convienent. Damn. So I have begun The Dig. I have "sign", an old rusted bottle cap at 12 inches and a fragment of a plate found about 16" under the surface. But no sign of an actual PIPE carrying actual shit. I have three tools for this project, 4 if you count me. A 6 foot breaker bar, a square tipped shovel and a gardening hoe-type tool. I chose a spot between the kitchen and where the effulent comes out of the showerroom and disappears into the ground at some oblique angle. Who knows? This could take a while especially at the rate that I dig.

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The front window painting exercize is going forward while I lurch dirt into the pile in the courtyard. Kelly is scraping away, it's looking better as she goes. She is also painting the coffee table black that I have set up in the courtyard on metal sawhorses. She says she is in her Black Phase, guess so.
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No Lean came out of the kitchen to examine the courtyard with me in it. She ringed the area sniffing here and there and chewing whatever vomit-grass she could locate. That promises a little wet surprise somewhere real-soon-now. Nice...cats.
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The language lesson yesterday at A&R's went off pretty well, embarrassment was at it's height as no one there other than A herself can say much in Francaise at all. We all listened attentively at Don as he gave some language theory and explained verb endings to his languid class. Remember, these are all native English speakers, it is 6pm nearing dinner time and their brains are challenged by French no matter what. Mine certainly is. We yawned a bit, listened intently and had a generally swell time. Next time we are at the teacher's house. He wouldn't accept our payment either so we decided to pool the monies and do something wonderful with it when this exercize has reached some natural ending. Buy the teacher a nice bottle of scotch and a straw was one suggestion.

Une Petite Francaise SVP

That's all it really takes, a LITTLE French. Be polite, address all persons as vous, si vous plait is good all the time. CA VA! (How are you - to those with whom you have a standing friendship andhave been properly told that now we can be familiar) To which one replies Ca Va! back (I'm ok). Well today is Tuesday and our friend Don who is a retired language teacher is taking on our little groups need for French tutorage par groupe, oh lord, help him! After 6 years of visiting this lovely, genteel land our grasp of it's language is abouton the level of a 2 year old (or less!). It's NOT for lack of trying, we have many CD's, this course and that course, have taken courses at the local tourist board til we drove them mad, and commuted one a week to Berkeley to bang French into our heads. Little sticks but what does is in the present tense almost always, NOTHING comes naturally. So today we will begin yet again to learn a bit of French for the sakes of the oh so friendly French folk in and about our village and environs. Sure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsfV-ZL4rUo&NR=1
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The black paint job is through for now, now we must scrape off the over-painting on the glass of a million panels, oh boy. So I do a panel or two, scrape, scrape, brush, scrape and I soon tire of this and wander off and Kelly grabs the scraper and razor blade and goes to work on it. This will take a while. I want to get on with the cloth hanging but it takes laying out and pattern matching before it can be hung. It will be one very dramatic entrance to the old girl, the pattern is Japanesey black on a subtle gold in big swirly things that dance along edge to edge almost. The curtains are going to be a lighter gold with a little texture in them, the whole effect should be stunning...perhaps too stunning. No matter, as soon as this scraping activity is done we will have at it.
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I brought over my oil painting "bits" (a UK word meaning...things), brushes, media, linseed oil, tubes of paints, the whole bloody mess. When will I paint? I dunno, I never know...If I get inspiration I'm often unmotivated and if I'm unmotivated my inspiration fades and I'm back at square one again. It's the opposite of procrastination where you should do something but you put it off. This takes less effort. Nonetheless the stuff is here, I have canvasses and we'll see what time does.
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Back to the scrapings,
H

Another Day in a Lazy Paradise

Yawn...up at 6am, I looked out the window of the comp room where I slept last night to see a grey and cloudy sky. Oh well, off to the computer to read the emails, if any, and see what the weather sensors have detected overnight. It is a passion of mine, the weather is, I study the situation day by day trying to sort out the forecast for the next WHILE. Kelly's knees are far more accurate than any local forecast we get from the TV.
Mine , however, are more personal and I have INSIDE information, don't I? Today was not sunny, overcast and grey as could be all afternoon. We worked around the house this morning then in need of paint, nails and a few other hardware items we left at about 1:30pm bound for St. Amand's Brico Marche. I needed potting soil, some exterior wood glue and some wall fasteners, Kelly needed paint. We found our items and found each other and proceeded to the checkout cashier. As it turned out she had inadvertly bought MAT paint so after the discovery at the car returned to the store to trade in the 2.5 liter carton of MAT for the more desirable Semi-gloss. She also bought the black glossy she wanted to finish the mullions of the waiting room exterior.
The whole works is spectacular.

The Donkey Faire

Monday 12 May, 2008
Today is the BIG DAY! The donkeys are coming, the donkeys are coming! I was up early to witness the arrivals, donkeys from everywhere in France in one's, twos, tens, tied to rails in the Champ du Foire (Fair Field). Beautiful, noisy and a cause to celebrate Asses of the 4 legged variety. Our hope this year was that the weather would be nice instead of the storminess of last years version. Up early, at dawn, for no good reason (part of ageing) I looked out the comp rm window and the skies were clear. Whoopee! Even before dawn the trucks were lining up to deliver thier braying hoards onto the Champ (shaw-mp). I grabbed my trusty Nikon Coolpix S10 and set it to movie and left the house bound to see the beginnings of todays Big Event in Lignieres. The movies are in two parts, each about 5 minutes in length. Just click the links below.

The Donkey Faire Continued:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbBHfJCNu2U

Too big to upload? Who knows, I've tried three times now to no avail so just click the link and watch it on YouTube. Sorry.

After the 2nd video (about 11:30) I returned to the house to prepare for our late afternoon lunch for 10. My grand idea for this gathering was to have the group make thie own sandwiches. Well...that's how I set the table up, you know...plates of onion rings, tomato slices, pre-cut bagettes, lettuce leaves etc. and a big salad. This was to be made easier by the addition of leftovers from the meal the night before at A&R's place. Easy to do, fun outdoor-sy at our now long table with the additional length furnished by my library table which I just completed. Sure. Wine by the bottle was soon flowing among the gathered group and conversations went off like firecrackers in every direction. I thought I made to announcement re:making your own sandwiches, but the second the plate of meats (chicken and pork) were deliverred to te table the group swarmed on them like hungry wolves. What sandwiches? Oh well, best laid plans and all of that. Much wine was drunk, the Vouvray Sparkling was especially delicious and made for a festive occassion. The party moved indoors with the coming of the late afternoon rain and we raided the bar closet for samples of the many bottles. Great fun was had by all as usual, Our Little Supper Club.

A Week of Warm Sun...

It's true! A whole bloody week with some sun everyday and not a drop of H2O to go with it! Yippee! We had grown quite tired of the constant grey skies and rain routine that seemed to go on and on weeks at a time. Suddenly it's Real Springtime! Birds, swallows, pigeons, tits, nightingales in and out of our backyard feeding station all day long, wonderful!
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The Waiting Room project continues with Kelly painting the elaborate iron window frame with several coats of her own home-brewed color choice, looks nice. The small wall and the door still need the cloth covering and curtains are yet to be put up, but it is close, maybe this week. I opened up the wall at the entrance to the Dining Room, it was a constant wet source and the lower portion was soft, damaged and falling off of it's own accord. It was, as expected, waddle and daub (rock and mud) covered by individual tiles of a light fired brick color, interesting as an artifact of much earlier times but not the wonderful STONE edifice we desired. I'll do some wood mouldings around the doorway and cover it all up with a moisture barrier of some sort and a more modern equivalent of the horsehair plaster that someone used a century or two ago.
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Today and tomorrow are (today) Pentacost (Everything you EVER wanted to know about this celebration is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentacost ) and the Monday after, so what do you say you heathen, ok, ok, it's The Donkey Faire in Lignieres! Two days of Merguez and frits, red wine, crowds, agricultural sights and sounds and donkey shit by the bagful! Terrific as long as the weather holds out. Last year it was not a nice day. Wet and sloppy, cold too boot. I have a short video of it on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qNxC0srBJo . Today Sunday is the Opening Day and Tomorrow is The Big Day. Difference? Dunno, but there's LOTS of Donkeys arriving today, tomorrow they will already BE here and there's more shit on the ground. It's a wondrous thing to behold, donkeys and their keepers from all over France and a few from other European countries. They come to show them, buy them and sell them and all the gear that goes with. It's a great rural France scene. Not to be missed.
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I built a Library Table this last week, used the Sapin pine panels for the lumber as I had downfall from the Waiting Room bookcase project of last week. The table was simple to build and came out quite well if I must say so myself. Not to be used in the library though, more as a utility table, another flat surface to fill with papers and tools and reading materials AND mostly as an adjunct to our outside table so we can accommodate more persons for summer lunches and dinners outside.
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We had dinner with our Scottish friends Danny and Wanda last night, she is a wonderful cook and I appreciate and invite to their table anytime. We sat outside amidst there sizeable garden which we toured before dinner. Row after neat row of every vegetable important to cooking, it is very impressive, Alice Waters would be proud. We drank more wine and nibbled then went inside to have one very fine meal of Roast Leg of Lamb, Scalloped Potatoes, Green Beans. a fine rich gravy from the pan drippings, a very fresh green salad with her special dressing (I MUST get that recipe) followed by a cheese course (It IS France after all!), and a lovely gelatine, mandarin orange with cream trifle as dessert. Wonderful all. We finished the night with scotches outside under a clear and dark, dark sky. A very easy and wonderful way to end the week. I'd be happy to pay for it!

A Beautiful Warm Sunday In The Berry

Blog Entry Sunday May 4th, 2008
Sun in the morning, warm soothing sun, even the cats notice. Two days in a row now, a record. We had scheduled to go to a neighboring villages brocante with Raj and Nannette. They came over at 9:30, we shared coffee and happy chatter and off we went to see what gems we could find among the piles and piles of rusted junk and plastic crap that a few hundred souls are attempting to foist off to the public. The ride was without incident, we parked outside the town center in a huge feild with a topping of very wet grass and wildflowers, very soppy this. We walked each aisle, gawking at the offerings, old keys, rusted tools, baby rattles, plates, kitchen implements etc. The warmth of the sun made the day festive and kept everyone moving along.
Along with all the vendors there was a rather expansive display of old and classic cars, SIMCA, Pougeot, a Pontiac Firebird for god's sakes, an 80's Cadillac, a bright red and PERFECT Ferrari Testarossa 512 and many others. It was great fun looking at them all lined up adjacent to the village church as it rang it's bells every hour. I spent some time taking pictures as I do and bent over staring at the interiors. What this said to me was that the French LOVE their cars as much as we do. A gathering of ancient tractors lined one street, 20 of them I counted, Old Massey Furgusons, Fords, Fiats, Pougeots and others I've never heard of before. All running, chug-a-chug-chug, wonderful sounds of deisels and gas engines of very old designs still running after all these years. While walking along we ran into first one then many of our friends enjoying the sun and the bussling atmosphere of the brocante. Later we gathered at the bar tent for a few beers and laughs. Another hour later off we went to head home satisfied that we had filtered the place of any object worth our time and fast evaporating money. To the field we walked to see yet another acquantance with his front tires buried in the sloppy soft mud, uh oh. In the distance we heard one of the ancient tractors fire up and slip into gear. Soon one rounded the bend and drove into the field, an old hit-and-miss two cylinder gas beast belching black smoke and eager for the challenge. HA! Hooked up in a few minutes it readily pulled the offended modern auto out of it's hole and soon it was on it's way home. The driver of the tractor refused payment offered by the cars owner and just smiled and waved as he chugged along returning to the line up back in the village, a job well done!

Fuzzy Stuff

Blog Entry Tuesday The Day It Might Happen Maybe
That's what the kind lady told MC at the tourist office last week, Maybe Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Well, here we are, no joy yet. I reset the Live Box and tested the DSL line via the Live Box installation software...nope.
We spent the morning hanging the cloth over the fuzzy sheet goods I spent part of yesterday installing.
The hanging went well given we had to come up with the method of installation to cram the cloth in the tiny gap between the wooden battens I nailed and glued into place a few days ago. Beat it with a small hammer and a spackling knife. All in all it went well, two walls are up on the top support battens held in place by the battens themselves and a few gluings with hot glue, their sides and bottom yet to be done...tomorrow I guess.
The sun shown this morning while the barometer told a different story entirely, the bottom appears to have dropped out, rain in MY forecast and it came true as the day went on. We drove to Bourges to the Mondial Tissue store and bought out their supply (25 meters worth) of the fuzzy stuff for the fireplace wall and the parlor which is next in the sequence. They looked at us like we were deranged when I told them I wanted the entire roll. They laughed their way thru folding and tying the huge wad so it could be stuffed into our car. The ol' Avensis swallowed it right up, filling the backseat entirely and blocking the view to the rear as well.
Tonight we will have brochettes of Cod with red bell peppers and onions sauted in bacon fat, over saffron seasoned basmati rice with a Lemon Mornay sauce over. Peas with onions on the side. Dropped the Peas...not required as there were enough vegies with the onions and peppers. Was good but not terrific to my taste, no kick.
Kats:
The cease-fire continues into it's 4th day, how long it will last is difficult to determine as neither side is talking. No Lean is posted to the TV room almost continually, Furry wanders the premises unabated curiously peeking about our various work sites to see for furself what we are doing to fur house. At night we sit in the TV/Computer room with whichever kat has taken up residence. Life goes on.

Alice and Rob

Blog Entry Monday April 28th, 2008
Rain this morning after a very warm yesterday afternoon that dissolved into a chill wind amidst our reveries with our good friends, Alice and Rob from Chezel Benoit. I did a Mexican lunch thing, quick but quite good if I do say so myself and I enlisted their chopping help with the onions and garlic and apple. Mexican Hash (Pecadillo), Spanish Rice, Beans in a Pot, corn tortillas. It was all good but the chill wind took the temp down quickly and frankly screwed it for me, I like food HOT and this was not. Rob really LIKED it and had seconds and thirds, Alice soon followed suit, so cold to me was fine for them.
We had gone out yesterday morning to see what we could see at two local brocantes (junk sales), great fun for the French and Brits who seem to adore these things but not so much for Kelly and I who have become pretty jaded after 6 years of attending these events with some regularity...piles of knick-knacks and rusted tools, old crap that nobody wants any longer. Every once in a while something terrific shows up but with the dollar at 1.6 to 1 or worse it would have to be a Mona Lisa to get our money. We did find a bargain with a man selling plants, 10 very healthy looking strawberry plants with flowers and tiny berries for 6.20E, so I bought 20 for our courtyard planting. That was it. It was warm enough I sought out the shade of a nearby seller selling crepes, iced drinks and at the moment eating their lunch.
Today? Well, stay home and work on the ruin a bit. Nail the strips in the old waiting room so that the cloth for the walls can be fastened, not many left to do then Kelly can start hanging the wall covering material. Have to go over to DIX (Deez...10 Rt St. Amand) to empty it of extraneous odds and ends in preparation for sale someday real-soon-now. As I finish that up there is a knock at the door, it's our original English speaking friends Jack and Hortense who told us last week that they would be by to “have a look” soon. Today was the day. So we gave the grand tour including the barn for Jack. He is very familiar with the style of construction as he was a contractor in the UK for years. He is the funniest human being I know, he is very animated, all arms and gestures galore, constantly commenting on many subjects and an open door in every verbal way. He is VERY suspicious of almost everyone here, with many examples of paranoia-like thinking, The French, The Gypsies, The neighbors across the street, the local bar-master, The Cafe, US for all we know. We sat in the dining room and gabbed for hours about the house and their future abode in Spain which they have adopted as their next home...and we laughed our asses off! Like many Brits they like the heat of warmer climes so prefer Italy, Spain, Morocco and other locales to this particular one. So be it, something for everyone hereabouts, mostly anyway.
Music:
Listening to Bob Dylan in my iTunes Library takes me back to my Air Force days,
listening to him rap his way thru his tunes while I laid in my bunk at Beale AFB.
Seems a million years ago now, before anything of consequence to me, my mother dead a few years before and my father gone away to god-knows-where.
My grandmother and her husband Harold in the not-so-distant past and only down the road a few hundred miles, I listened on, dreaming of a future, jet noise in the background. Yes, at the time it took a wild ear to listen to ol' Bob,
not the most melodic sound one let into one's ears, he said things that we all felt but few spoke. I found him intellectually stimulating if not highly entertaining in the time. Now I listen and enjoy him very much, older, much older, and wiser too.
Then things happen out of the larger nowhere that encompasses all of us and our lives. Friends I have long lost came back. The first was SC, a letter arrived the day AFTER we returned from our stay in France, hello, Hi! How are you? It began, now several years later I review the miracle of his finding me after I had looked for him many times in the past. Gone, in a bus travelling across the US,
once in Seattle, a computer repair business then just g-o-n-e. Now back we share thoughts and memories often, reveries amidst the storm of Life. So very good for the soul, old friends renewed. Another happened too, a friend from longer ago yet, an old girlfriend T. She was gone while I was still in the USAF.
Afriend stole her away as I was courting her. Mad? No...just looked elsewhere.
Long, long gone she was, another letter came via email, she had read my blog!
Amazing! Over 40 years had passed since I saw her face! 40 years! Now we regularly exchange emails about our families and lives. I'm a happy man.

Lost In The Woods

Blog Entry 4/24/08 Thursday
One of my talking points has been abolished, at least for now...it was 81 degrees F here today. So much for the cold of Lignieres, the continuance of winter, the obnoxious clouds and rains, the river out of it's banks. So much for it all...we had a breath of summer today and it was wonderful. We sat in the sun this afternoon and drank rum and coke and talked to our wandering cat Furry as she explored her territories. Her nemesis Long Tail was no where to be seen so Furry was free to examine her domain without challenge today, tomorrow may not be so good for her. Such is the life of our cats.
Later in the afternoon we made a grocery run to Issoudun and then promptly I made a right turn a bit early and we found ourselves wandering thru new territory headed towards Chezel Benoit and our friends house there. Lost in the woods, we saw the managed forest cut here and there; the individual trees lined up against the dirt road for miles and miles. Finally we exited the forest and headed off in the right direction for an evenings visit, a few laughs and a bit of using their computer for our latest fix of email and news.

Tickets!

Blog Entry Tuesday 22 April, 2008 Lignieres, FR
Rain, clouds, light wind and chilly beer temperature. Sun? No sun. Reasons to stay inside and do little...many. Reasons to go outside and work, zero. The winner? The cats get a heated warm room.
We read, I stare at the weather screen on the computer and we wait for France Telecom to take some action that will result in us being back on-line again via DSL other than send us the letter stating our passwords (two days in a row). That is the summary of this less than energetic morning at Rue 35 Marechal Joffre. I turned on the water heater and we have waited the requisite hour and a half for the water to get sufficiently warm to shower one of our every three day shower routines underway. Kelly is first. I next. Fun and warm.
Got a @##$#@! speeding ticket this morning from the 24th of March. The machine along the route du St. Amand got me going 100kph in the well marked 90kph zone allocated for it's divine presence. Merde! 45 Euros worth of speeding enjoyment. Oh well. It's frankly amazing I don't get more, I have become so used to just cruising in the green world of middle France that I miss the un-miss-able 5 X 7 foot signs that announce the presence of the radar box and all that means to one's checkbook. I just go blank. Then I realize as I'm about parallel with the @#$$! box that I am going OVER the LIMITE...shit! Too late, it's beady square eyes have me in it's sights, photo taken and weeks and weeks later I (The BIG We) get the notice. 45E to you buddy. Pay up! They mean it. You have 15 Days before it's 68E, 21 before it's 108E! Fun huh for 6 MPH over the limite. Kelly writes the check and inserts it into the envelope provided, sigh.
So off to my swell olde kitchen with it's wood beams and roof for a ceilin, red tile floor and wooden cabinets 100 yrs old to make a warm potato salad.

Warm Potato Salad with Lemon and Red Bell Pepper

2 lbs white potatoes, peeled and cut into 1” cubes more or less.
1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 stalks of celery cut into bite sized 3/4” pieces
2 cloves garlic diced finely
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 canned red pepper diced 1/2” pieces or substitute fresh red bell pepper roasted and skinned.
½ lemon – juice (About 1 Tablespoon)
½ teaspoon lemon zest.
1 tablespoon Italian Parsley chopped fine
1 Tablespoon Celery Leaf chopped coarsely

Put potatoes into a medium pot with water just above them, place lid on and cook for 25-30 min. til done to al dente. Mix Onion, Celery, Garlic, Mayonnaise, Mustard, Vinegar, Salt and Pepper and the olive oil in a small bowl and stir vigorously. Add lemon juice and zest. Taste and adjust for salt. When potatoes done, drain and allow to cool 5 minutes. Place into large bowl, mix in Parsley, Celery Leaf and rest of ingredients.
Bye for now!