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.

Where's The Beef er ah Euros?

You know if you've been reading this blog for very long that we did finally sort of, kind of, maybe did...sell our little house (called appropriately The Little House) in Lignieres last August to a local person we will call "Madame". She who walked into the open garage, approached us and spoke in very rapid French to ask us if the house was for sale or had it been sold (a short review is necessary I believe to refresh all of our memories). Anyway, she finally got her point across to these two stupid Americans and we gave her the short, long and only tour of the little house, over inside 10 minutes. 4 rooms plus 2 pottys and a shower room...not much to show for all the affection it gave us during our 7 years of ownership. There it was and in a second after setting her foot outside the door she turned and said (in her native tongue so incomprehensable to us...almost anyway) "I'll take it". So here we were cleaning up her future house. Whoopee! The Little House is SOLD! Holy Cow!
Fellings of great joy and amazement as well as some lingering doubts came and went until a few days later when we met her again at the Notaire's office to sign papers and do all the things you do to give the keys over to someone else...eventually.
As I have said before the process is long (3 months to close is typical!) but not complicated as far as us personally...the notaire does whatever they do, other beaurucrats do their thing, the owner gathers the money and some day in the future there is a settlement date (in this case 15 October...last week infact) which is when the money is paid to us via the Notaire who got it that day from Madame (in this case). Well we have checked our fine French bank acount which is about 200 yards from the Notaires office in downtown Lignieres and no...there is no money in there that would represent said sale. Hummmm. To add to this story is the fact that our dear friend T is THERE, well...not THERE...but in Paris as I type this missive.
He's there to collect and retrieve (not the same thing these days) his hal of the proceeds of the sale. Doof! So he called us from Paris and a friend's apartment therein. All sorts of boundless confusion and questions. Friend has called someone and is asking questions to his requests from the Notaire or whomever will answer back. Doof! Friend got Waaaay to deep in the original buy of the Little House back in '01 and here we go again! Doof...double Doof! The notaire never answers an email and the phone rings off the hook as the office is always closed it seems. T has emailed him too to no avail. Stress, pain and we are putting off LIFE itself til this sale is completed and now we are 5 days PAST the settlement date. Doof! Time WILL tell but we are NOT pleased. Not at all.

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The next morning. Email from daughter dearest says she called the Notaire to no avail as the phone number was wrong. Yes...I looked at...it is VERY wrong! No Country Code...no "33" in there to be found. Dialing into space. Doof! Oh well.
Then an email from T, nothing there either...like he wasn't there for the same reason our minds are. Doof! This is a joke isn't it?! Doof! Then about 10am, 7pm Lignieres time, a call from T saying the REAL date is now the 28th as some environmental report was forgotten (didn't we already pay for it and escort the gent around the place back in August...I seem to remember! Doof, doof, doof! Yea gads how screwed up is this going to be? Oh well...the 28th huh? So T is off to Venice to while away his time. Good idea...I'll go back to pulling my hair out.

Come and Gone and Going

A and J called this afternoon just after I had finished the Great Putting Away of 2009. They were bombing along the A71 in a northerly direction about 30 minutes away from us. They had faithfully taken in most of what I had told them were some of the major sights with varying degrees of success. They did enjoy the Pot Du Gard roman bridge and the Millieu Causeway across the Tarn Gorge. AND...they enjoyed the quality of French Rest Areas...called Aires that have service stations attached to restaurants and shops selling local products. I think they had a great time and did it in an restful and yet very active way. They used the ETAP Hotel chain to save hotel expense and ate in local cafes and bars which always keeps the food expense low as well. I was/am impressed. So they arrived at Maison Blanche about 3pm and charged their batteries for the cell phones and computers, had a beer and laid out the tales of their discoveries. Kelly went to Dave and Sue's place shortly after they arrived and returned about 5 minutes after they had left bound to the ETAP outside of CDG in Paris. Here's our picture together a couple of days ago.


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The Voice Cometh

As I said before my dearest, no, OUR dearest Audrey "The Voice" is coming to a bedroom down the hall in The Maison Blanche. I followed her progress across the skies of the United Sates and the Atlantic Ocean until the site could no longer post the airplane's position south of Greenland on a map. It gave instead the GPS Coordinates in real time which was helpful when used with Google Earth. A good site it was as much detail was provided, landing times, takeoff schedules etc. Easy to use too.
Here's the link: http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightTracker/flightTracker.do
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Besides that she was able when on the ground in Atlanta and again in Pittsburgh to email me using her new iPod Touch. Cool as heck! I've never coveted such a piece of technology though I like my little Shuttle iPod a great deal, mostly because it holds enough for me to listen to and the battery life is excellent. Apple did a good thing when they made it.
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We depart for Bourges shortly to pick up The Voice and bring her to the Maison Blanche where she will undoubtedly coo at the decor that has been created in the 2 years since she has been here and tehn take a shower and go to sleep as soon as she can. She has been on the path here since yesterday morning CA time at 3:00am, so well over 24 hours by the time she gets here. 2 stops on Delta plus crossing the pond. Gads.

Canicule...It's @#$#@#! HOT!

This morning feels like last night at 9pm when it was still 90 degrees with humidity to match, a three shower day with the last one being a cold one. Not nice. It bhasn't rained in 11 days...pretty unusual here in the summer when the cululous clouds build to thunderheads in the warm afternoons and it pours like the tropics for a couple of hours tehn subsides to more sunshine the next day and a repeat of the cycle. Not now...it's been like this since August 9th. Yesterday my weather station reported at 2pm 106 degrees and at 5 it was 108! Two different thermometers in two SHADY locations outside and aways from the house. Damn. Devil has opened the gates I guess.

So our anxious-as-hell buyer came to our door on Monday at 6pm all in a French tizzie that she had gotten the estimate back from Olivier for the installation of the electrical in the attic of Dix and it was TRES CHER! No money figure mentioned but expensive in her mind whatever it was. No shit...expensive as hell, nothing odd about THAT. You bet, builders here pay a ton of taxes and medical expenses drive the costs up, up, up...just like everywhere else in the world these days. He of course is a ROOFER...so he would have to sub-contract to a certified Electrical contractor, proper permits etc. It's the shits for anyone that's a builder to have a small job like that and so maybe he doesn't even want to do the damned work, there are much bigger fish to fry, even in tiny Lignieres. Did she get a competitive bid from someone else? Nooooo...so what?...why is that of my concern anyway when we GAVE up 4000 bux off the @!#$@##! price in the first place JUST FOR HER! Go to hell I think. Then she is gone and Kelly and I console each other for a bit and finally decide if that's what she wants to do...f___ her we will go to the Notaire tomorrow with the news and see what he says. Tomorrow comes...that's Tuesday morning...we tell him of the Frenglish conversation we had with Madam Buyer and that NO...WE won't lower the price AGAIN...and NO more concessions are coming her way on the sale of Dix to her, end of story. So he says he will email us when he gets to chat with her. AND...get this...she had 7 days after receipt of a certified letter from him that commited her to the sale to refuse...we did not even know that bit of the sales story existed...new law he says...shit! When is the time up then...tomorrow at midnight. Good. We leave to sweat, watch the clock and be miserable together. At least my Dix blog is still intact and we have the sign and the price at 59,000. So Wednesday came, we left to do a bit of grocery shopping and l'Viola! The Notaire fellow is walking out the door of his office, I ask Kelly to roll down the window as we creep by him cars backing up behind us, he leans in and says...it's ok, she wants the house...Merci! we say and off to the grocery store we go before anyone honks. Such is a house sale in Lignieres...now when do we see actual $$$? October 15th. About 2 months from now. Our half to be deposited in our French account here...and Ted's half to go to buying Jaguar transmissions and shipping them to the US for his @!#$#@#! car. We have FUN in France.
Have you read Furry's blog yet? She asked nicely and I set her up a page nextdoor to mine. Here's the link, (She's a smart kat you know...)
http://thefurkat.blogspot.com/

Water Wars!

The bill that came today from the Marie of Lignieres was for 423.57 Euros for H2O for Dix (10) Rt. St Amand Montrond aka The Little House (In deference to this house Maison Blanche which is across town from Dix) period. Here, in Lignieres, in Cher, maybe in all of France that is one hell of a water bill...especially since no body has lived in the house from September of 2006 to date. We moved into Maison Blanche then. Further the water has been MISSING the entire time...that's right, there is no water coming into any pipe within the confines of 10 Rt. Saint Amand. So what can we do? What have we done? Well poopsie that is The Story.
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The Story

Background:
Chapter 1: There was a huge project in Lignieres during 2006 - 2007 in which new connections for many city operated or administered services were installed. Water, Electricity, Sewer etc.

Chapter 2: Sometime in the recent past, perhaps 2 years ago, the Veolia company took over the water distribution for Lignieres.

Chapter 3: We had normal water delivery during any period of time that we were living at Dix. prior to the Fall of 2006.

Chapter 4: Ted, a half-owner of Dix, came in the Spring of 2007 with his mate Diane, to stay at Dix for a few days. He had no water at that time at the house. Ted complained about the lack of water to the Maire but he left shortly thereafter.

Chapter 5: The water company Veolia was instructed to mail the water bill for Dix to our California address so that we could remit payment in a timely manner.

Chapter 6: The bills we received were never successfully paid due to us either missing the bill as were were here when it was sent or Veolia would not accept a copied version of the bill when it was paid by return mail from France.

Chapter 7: Upon our stay in Ligniere in the summer of 2008 there still was no water at Dix.

Chapter 8: We still had no water at Dix Rt. de St. Amand. when we returned to Lignieres in late March of this year (2009).

Chapter 9: We went to the Maire once again to explain that we had no water at Dix, they promised that a person would come and look at the problem. A fine gentleman showed up and made a date with us to see about the situation at the Dix house. We met him the next day and he looked at the meter, turned the valve and nothing! No Eau Pas! No water! With this we thought, now we get some action. He left, we left.

Chapter 10: As we were getting Dix ready to sell the water issue was becoming a real problem, cleaning the house and watering the garden could not be done in any reasonable way. All during the next few weeks as we cleaned out the furniture and goo-gaws from the interior of the Dix house we still had no water. We returned to the Maire to complain and was told that we would have to contact Veolia.

Chapter 11: We continued to unload stuff from Dix and after a week or so returned once again to the Maire to find out how we could contact Veolia when the nearest office was many miles away and whom should we talk to? The kindly person at the front office called Veolia for us and thus was scheduled a visit yesterday for them to come to check out the lack of water at Dix.

Chapter 12: At about 11:15 in the morning a tall young woman in a Veolia costume appeared at our door at 35 Rue MJ. Through her speedy French I understood she wondered if she could visit Dix earlier than the originally schedule 14:30 hr previously agreed to.
I said my default phrase when confronted by a French person speaking French at the speed of sound "Oui, oui"! So soon we found ourselves in the car and racing through town to get to Dix for the Veolia inspection of the "No eau pas" (no low pah) problem so familiar to all involved. She looked at the meter, turned the valve both directions, tested the toilet fluching (nope!) and tried the sink faucet (dry as a bone). Then in French even more rapid that back at 35 she aimed us at the Maire once more to do what, I didn't have the slightest idea either then or now nearly 24 hours later. She said goodbye, we said goodbye, she hoped in her little Veolia van-car and we did likewise in the Toyota and that was the setup to the next chapter.
Chapter 13: Arriving at the Maire the lovely person at the desk rapidly explained what Veolia had found and said (according to Kelly) that WE need to get a plumbier to fix the problem. We?! The problem is NOT in the house...it's on their turf outside the house where the water IS...at their valve...why is that OUR problem to solve? Are we to watch as the plumber digs up the street with a backhoe holding up traffic with a series of flagmen or women and electric lights front and back? Oh my...water wars indeed!

Chapter 14: Then The Bill arrived today from the Maire...ohhhhh

To The Wall(s)!

The prep of the rest of the sewing room exterior walls was completed this morning. I have applied two coats of The Precious Stuff (Nansulate Clear Coat) and am about to apply the third. The Guest Room follows and it was a bitch to take all the old layers of wallpaper off, but off they came bit by bit, layer by layer. I counted 5 layers in the corners. A copious water spray soaked the paper and eventually the glue let go. No fun there. It now awaits it's third coat of Nansulate in about another hour. Then...we wait for 30 + days til we can wallpaper the completed jobs and finish the refurbishment of the upstairs rooms. Kelly has finished the appliance applications and one gallon of Nansulate is now on the walls and appliances. Onto the 2nd gallon for the third coat on the walls.
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One of the prospects for buying the Little House at Dix Rt. St. Amand called this morning and we met him at the Cafe Commerce downtown and had lunch (on him!) prior to visiting the house for an inspection. He was most organized, having a folder with all the pictures I sent to him and all the other info about the house as well, very impressive documentation. He was a yacht broker in a previous life and his attention to detail was very apparent...like a ship inspector checking out an old hull! Money is very difficult to get these days so we will see. He's be a real asset to our local community. We shall see.

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Back to the Nansulate job. I applied the final coats on the sewing room and guest room exterior walls. Now we wait in earnest for the CURE, 30 - 60 days though exactly how much time depends much on the humidity and temperature. Otherwise a good guess is the best I can do...so 30 days it will be. It looks good now, all shiny and the walls are quite sealed by the coating and definetly in a better structural way than they were thanks to the glue-like effects. Kelly finished up on the refrigerators and her clothes drier. They seemed like a good idea but how to test now that they are already coated? It's ok.

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/

Another Sunday

We have established some sort of routine for Sundays...up at a reasonable hour...7 - 8, then breakfast minimalist with toast and butter or Kelly has toast and salmon with her cheese spread she has made. Then double up with our friends D and S and brocante (the verb). Off to the small and large villages of the Loire Valley in search of who knows what. My interest has waned in recent months, I don't want more stuff, just replacements that are "better" or very, very little in addition. I cook and so am always interested in apparatus, things that are sharp and pots and pans of copper and otherwise. Since my enthusiasm is low I buy little most of the time. Kelly is on the hunt for cloth, old cloth in good condition, sheets, yardage, linens of all kinds but she is very descerning so not much is purchased by her either. It HAS to be GOOD whatever it is. Nonetheless it is great fun and a good walk and we have taken to having picnics in mid brocantes and I love doing that part and I hope it pays D&S back for their fuel outlay every Sunday while hauling us to and from. We should kick in some sheckles too I think so will approach that with them soon.
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Tomorrow we are off to Paris's north eastern sector...the 18th I think to load up two red arm chairs to replace those in the parlor. It's a trip and we have divided it into 2 parts, here to Fountainbleau then on to the city and the village that contains our goodies. Bought, of course, thru eBay for a song. By the time you pay for gas andluches, musee visits etc they aren't QUITE the bargain they were but heym we have two new chairs (to us) and finish the house a bit more. It's a good deal.
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The Nansulate paint company has NOT notified us of anything by email or otherwise.
All silence from Florida where the company headquarters is. They had promised to email us this last week with the shipping info, alas...nothing of the sort happened.
I even examined our isp's grey mail server for any sign, nothing. What's next? Take then to court I guess and sue. We can't wait all summer for the stuff, it's been three months already. The project is stalled and we are out the 500+ US dollars. I contacted the Florida State Attorney General's Office and the Better Business Bureau as well two weeks ago. I'm exasperated and not a happy camper.
I want the Nansulate paint and I want it now.
I guess I'll have my daughter call them once again and then start the paperwork to sue them.

Is There Ever A Day Off?

Yesterday was not a day off, worked my olde, decrepit ass off scratching away moss and well entrenced root systems of numerous weed-type plants from The Courtyard...our backyard when in lovely Lignieres in lovelier France. The surface under the moss is packed broken limestone, very white and pretty in it's limestoney way. Initially we had planned to unleash a couple of tones or more of Loire River rock as we did at the little house. It solved a plethora of problems in that space and I felt it would be likewise here. That went on the backburner some time ago as the Gedimat in town folded up shop, closed, gone, kaput. So be it then and on to other projects we went. Upon arrival this time in Lignieres our friends A&R had deftly removed a large patch of the moss, weeds, top soil and exposed the true courtyard of hell knows how long ago. So the path forward became abundantly clear, clean it all off and it'll be fine as a walking surface, play area for the drunken parties and for Marsha, the landscape designer to contemplate thoroughly. It does look better after yesterday's further efforts, I was proceeding at a snails pace until some unknown force struck me yesterday and I went at it with real energy. Now it is about 60% done, sweep-able in enough square feet to be a real chore now. More today.
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We will have D of D&S take a look at the wall at the little house to sort out what we must do to put it right. I know the walls of the waddle and dab construction style has to remain moist but this one has decided to get wet and stay that way considerably longer than it should. Upstairs I can see no such issue, good roof, dry walls in the corner. I was suspicious of the wall that adjoins ours inside the hidden garage next door but they had left the door open and I peeked inside with my trusty flashlight and saw no such watery signs therein. I also suspected the roof gutter overflowing but now doubt that after climbing up and taking a long look at the gutter system and seeing it's normal level in the water stain well below the lip. I used a sewer auger to delve into the gutter drain to the street too and though I went in about 7 meters, found nothing of substance to impede the flow. So I've asked D to come take a look and solve the mystery for us construction-challenged types.

5 Days To Go...back in 2 weeks!

I wish...alas, we will NOT be back in two weeks, too many people to see, too many Mexican meals to consume, too many rare steaks to make a meal of. When then, you might ask, do we come back? October, nice month, being Autumn and all, but too soon I figure, no sponsership from spouse Kelly either I imagine. In November, there's Thanksgiving, always a wonderful All-American holiday, friends, relatives, kids, grandchildren and a turkey to prepare for who knows who? December, a REAL candidate believe me, I can not stand Christmas as it exists in our neck of the woods...it seems such a Christian Holiday (really you say, really?) and has become for a long, long time so very commecialized, so in-your-face ANTI-Christian that though I am NOT a Christian it feels disengenous to a high degree. I would rather ignore the entire holiday, it-doesn't-exist like than suffer through the day and the weeks before and after (the sales you know!). So onto January...well...a candidate for sure BUT it is damned awful COLD HERE then, like Winter personified. This giant house will be freezing day and night. Currently we have no way to heat it. That's right, nothing. The heater (chauffage) is an oil burner and we have NOT filled the 2000 liter tank as the cost to do that is beyond prohibitive...it's outrageous! 2000L X .80 (price per liter) X 1.39 (current exhange rate, going the right way but not there yet!) = 2224 US Dollars! Huh? Not me poopsie, no way. How many months is winter here you might ask. Well it was a nice warm 81 degree day here today but who knows about tomorrow. It was getting cooler and cooler in the last 2 weeks...60's during the daytime and 50's at night. Soon it WILL be colder, the horse chestnut trees leaves are browning to golden and that, according to our French friends is one of the first signs of the coming winter, so early this year it appears. By the end of October perhaps will be the first freezing night. Brrrrrrr. So heat will be needed Late October thru...April?
Yes and maybe part of May. Six and a half months, will the chauffage have to be operartional that whole time? Maybe...if it's cold enough. We though have adopted a radical system both here and in California where the winter is mostly mild. We only heat the room we are in. That's right, floorboard heaters or more clothes or both and the central heating remains at a cool but supportive 60 degrees all the time. That was all about January as a return date. Hmmmm doesn't sound too likely does it? February we understand last year had both extremes, snow to a depth of 2 feet and a warm period that lasted a week...what is warm after 2 feet of snow? I dunno. So onto March, we came this year on March 20th...and the house was a freezer.
We weren't warm until late April and I'm not really sure that we were then. Terrible actually, we ran from the TV/Computer/Master Closet facility to the bathroom and back. We heated the place here and there with oil filled electric heaters, it worked but we didn't move about much and little was done to the house in a constructive way during that frozen time. So much for March. So April, the song "April in Paris" comes to mind but I have never been in Paris in April and it's 200 miles NORTH of here...wanna Parka Poopsie before you go? I do. Late April maybe is the Right Time for us, maybe a bit colder than we like but will get us back in time to enjoy the joys of Ligniere's horse races and Donkey Faire as well as the change into spring with all the Poppies and wild flowers blooming. Look for us then...though we might have come sometime a bit sooner...like in two weeks?!

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.

Oops, arrived in New Zealand

Yes, I poked out of the sands of a beach on the south island and was NOT in China. Drank a fine Guinness Stout in a local pub and returned to my hole to turn right and head to China in a NEW Hole! Yes, another hole. I bissected the original pipe find and collaborated with the one coming from under my kitchen. A new spot. I took the 6 ft breaker bar and began the dig. We shall see if China reveals herself one day real soon now. We also read the notice given us by the Veolia man, it notes that we have ONE YEAR to complete this rerouting. Hmmmm.
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Else, tore into the doorway wall this morning to see if the material used on the right side was also used on the left side, one never knows in these ruins. It appears it is of the same construction and so now I'll de-nude BOTH walls and the ceiling over the opening as well. The MUR (Wall) through which the doorway proceeds is some 24 inches thick of waddle and daub as they call it...basically mud and rocks (typical olde construction method) and the openning to the dining room is coverred with a very fragile layer of 1/2" thick unglazed tiles of varying sizes. Interesting... yes, delicate... yes, rustic... yes. What's to "NO" about? Well poopsie...if I shatter, break, chip, any of these fine tiles I will get to glue them back together as nowhere on this earth will you find ANYTHING like these except possibly buried behind some grass hut in outer Mongolia or maybe Botswana.
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Then I tore apart an old picture frame and remade it in a different size for a print we got when we were in Scotland some 15 years ago! It's finally getting FRAMED in France! Amazing. Yhe whole IDEA of framing pictures in cut down frames from an early time period...seems nice, easy, cheap and ecological on some remote level. In reality it is a far more DIFFICULT thing to do as accuracy COUNTS and true 45 degree CUTS COUNT and I'm apparently not that capable as three of 4 joints are good...c- work, decent fit, small chips etc. and ONE joint is a friggin' mess of out of angle cuts and chips the size of the frame itself. It's NOT the saws I'm using either...it's ME! I need more practice you say, sure I do...but there is little time left for practice, this IS the real world, measure twice = cut once (old adage) abd get on with it! I do...and I've cited the results. Shit! I have another sitting up in the grenier (attic) to tackle any day now that I want to feel inadequate.

#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.

Lazy Day - The Water Man Cometh

Here we are in the middle of France on a rainy Thursday. I fooled around with Google Maps making a map of our exact whereabouts in the countryside of France. Here's my current result: (Use arrow keys to move right to France...where we are)


View Larger Map
Not very exciting looking or indicative of where this is relative to things that might be exciting, like Paris (200 Miles North), Limoges (60 miles South), Lake Geneva (120 miles East) and the
Atlantic Ocean beaches (90 Miles West). You can pan out with the slider gizmo to see the rest of France pretty much and place us somewhere in the middle to get an idea of our location. Use the zoom in/out tool to see Lignieres more closely. In the meantime I'll fool around with it a bit more and see what I can do.
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About 3pm the front door bell rang. I panicked when I couldn't open the door so went to the hallway and peered thru the window and there stood a young man in a all blue uniform. At first I thought "oh he's from the fire dept come to collect AGAIN the fee for the hornet removal last summer", Kelly was napping upstairs so I was left to my own devices, I signaled with hand signals I needed a minute to get the keys. I ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off and found my keys on the table next to the door. I opened the door to see a Veolia Eau man with his tablet PC standing there, he introduced himself as Jacque XXXXXX YYYYY and told me in a very quick French that he was there to examine our pipes. Well not to be undone by this I welcomed him in and he quickly stated that he had to determine where our drain system was. This was done by hand gestures and speaking French at twice the normal rate and louder as well. Nothing helped me...as I failed to understand a thing the gentleman said from this point on.
We trapsed about the front of the house and finally he found the man-hole cover and exposed the drains. What this all actually MEANT was not apparent to me at all. He chatted away to a deaf ear as far as I was concerned. Oh the language problem. Eventually he brought out three bottles each filled with red, blue or yellow dye with which he was going to test our water system for what connection it was dumping into as the sewer system here is divided into 3 parts, a black water (toilet) system and a grey (shower, kitchen) system and a rain water system. Once I got to the rear gate to let him in I discovered IT was locked as well! Damnit! So back into the house while he yelled over the gate for me to open it, to get the keys and get it open for him. That accomplished he began his inspection and documentation of our system. He poured the dyes in each rooms water drain system and quickly returned to the man-hole cover to check the water for the dye. Over and over again, in the old kitchen, the new kitchen and each bathroom (we have two toilets). Afterwords he said that he would report back via the online link and we would get a letter describing the deficiencies (the kitchen drain was tied to the fresh water system from the roof). He entered all the data, gave me a look at the schematic of the drains and the problem drain and said we would, after it was corrected, go to the mairie to have them call out Veolia to recheck the system for correction. Then it was all goodbyes and he drove off. Another great day in Paradise. We await the letter.

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.