So today was to be the day when we were going to see Liz get her Internet up and running. We planned it since last week to go to the SFR store in St. Amand, purchase a SFR/Vodaphone Dongle and sign her up for a 2 year stint with 3G iNet service (aka 2G internet slow service) and that would be that.
Not so easy there poopsie, first they wanted her passport...? huh? Why a passport, who knows but it was a no go without one so we took a round trip BACK to Lignieres to get it. Once signed up, the dongle was inserted by the wonderful SFR stewardess to no effect! That's right, it inserted the software alright but it did not wish to connect! What? Right, SFR itself couldn't make the dongle dangle , jangle and ring bells. Nonetheless, we accepted the proposition that it WOULD work once we got to Liz's and fired it up. So off we went to the Le Massilia just down the street when we discovered that La Pizz was closed. Lunch was nice, service was surley but effective and the bill was relatively low and Liz paid which was dear thanks for the help getting me online. Sure. Maybe. We drove back to her house outside of Lignieres where last week the little machine with my very own SFR dongle had found and connected to a 2G SFR network signal. We sat down with the fine Dell laptop with Windows XP installed and inserted the dongle and double clicked on the SFR icon. Up pops the SFR Banner quickly followed by a connection window. Down near the bottom in tiny print it says Periferique 3g Non Connected...and that's the way it remained when I moved outdoors in the dripping drizzle to check the signal. Blink, blink but no solid connection lite was forth coming. I fiddled and frustrated myself for another half hour to no good effect. Sooo, we wrapped it all up and the last we saw her at 4pm she was off to the nice SFR person to fix the problem with her dangling Dongle. Further she was to return to our abode to report on the results of the return visit. It is now 5:50 since we left her.
Showing posts with label Loire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Loire. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Monday, December 21, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, September 18, 2009
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.
___
___
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
A Bread Making Disaster of Sorts
You know I like...no...LOVE making bread. I have been at it for a while now...last year actually, and have had many, many successes. I make it so that we have our daily bread everyday as fresh as humanly and machinely possible. I bake every other day on an average and sometimes more often than that. Most of my loaves are hand formed and not confined to a bread pan, just shaped after the kneading and final rise and put in the oven at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes. That's it...no proofing of yeast, no exact measuring of flour, salt, oils and butter or water. I use a Bluesky 40 Euro bread machine to do the mixing then I remove the loaf and proceed toi use the folding method for 4 turns of 45 minutes each. l'viola! Bread. Using my current supply of ingredients it has been just about impossible to fail, good loaves with each baking cycle have been the result...until yesterday. What happened yesterday? A giant break with traditional success is what. The bread as made in the usual way...lets do it for you here:
1.25 cups H2O
2 cups Bread Flour
1 cup Semolina flour
2 teaspoons dry yeast
2 Tablespoons sugar or molasses
2 Tablespoons butter or Margarine or Olive Oil
3/4 Tablespoon fine salt
That's it. Nothing more, no seeds, no nuts, no wholewheat...
results...a brick, doorstop or bookend or wallhanging...but nothing to eat and enjoy.
Oh yes I am one to not throw stuff away...so I tried to pretend it was "alright" this morning when Kelly ask me for some to have her smoked salmon with...but the telltale density running throught the loaf told the tale...this is shit!
So today, an hour ago, I proofed the yeast to check if it was still with the living,
weighed the flour and much more carefully assembled the ingredients as I have never done in the last few months. We will see soon what hath my hard work wrought.
____
Later...All ok, she is arisen! The proofing at 104 degrees F caused quite a foam after about 10 minutes. I added the other ingredients and turned on the trusty dough cycle of the Bluesky breadmaker. 1hr and 30 minutes later...I have a loaf of quite risen bread! Cool...now I just need to sneak it ever so carefully into the 400 degree F Champion oven (My Baker's Pride-like gem of 200lbs of cast iron and enamel coated with Nansulate) and wait 25 minutes for a result. Careful now...don't drop it! It's jelly like slack condition makes it quite a case for collapse if one isn't careful. A beauty! It's portrait is the image above...so my arrogance had gotten me away from the basics a bit too far, now I know better once again. Patience!
Bye for now!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Between Guests and The Fog...
Yes, today was the first fog that we have seen since spring. Thick enough to slow the little traffic of Lignieres around our corner and make for a spooky and ethereal backdrop to our medieval village. We were up early as Aud was on her way to Paris and her flight home. We packed her up and left Maison Blanche at 9:20am for the 10 minute jaunt to the RR station at Chateauneuf Sur Cher. Aud was scheduled this morning on the 9:53 to Paris...oops...Bourges, a stop and change of trains for who knows why. We missed her immediately, coming home we were both silent in contemplation of new challenges upcoming...soon...like tomorrow when my student from my Hogan High teaching days, Andy and his friend Mr. X make thier appearance at the Maison Blanch. New people, new conversations, new subjects. We are already tired and one day is probably not enough time to recharge our batteries for them, at least...not very much. Being young men and adventuresome I think they will put up with us only a little while before wanting to wander off to new sights and places. I know they wanted to go to Marseilles or Nice so I have dreamed up a sightseeing route to the south that will give them much to contemplate about this most amazing country. I plan on printing a sheet with some instructions and a list of our favorite places to tour in France. Here's the list...
Argenton-sur-Creuse, http://www.ot-argenton-sur-creuse.fr/index2.php
Lascaux, http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/
Sarlat, http://www.sarlat.com/eindex.html
Pont Du Gard, http://www.pontdugard.fr/index.php?langue=GB
Tarn Gorge and Bridge, http://www.ot-gorgesdutarn.com/index-gb.html
Carcassonne. http://www.carcassonne.org/
Orange, http://www.horizon-provence.com/orange-provence/orange-roman-city.htm
This is far from a comprehensive list but it's all good and food for the intellect.
All are grist for the camera eye that's for sure and each due it's own good time and a sit to contemplate. I will print out the list and discuss each one with our new guests and see what interest there might be in such a discovery tour.
___
We spent the day cooking tomorrows dinner, a Mexican one with a complex recipe for Chicken Mole, Black Beans and Rice. It took us hours to create and I think it'll be worth the effort. Here's the lin to the recipe we used:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/06/FD1S19F7J1.DTL&type=food
Howard and Kelly Lute
He: Good Cook, Bad Mechanic, Terrible Plumber She: Patient
Orange Cell in France: (from USA) 011 33 64 359 9713 IN France? 064 359 9713
Blog: http://lignieres.blogspot.com
WebCam: http://www.sonic.net/~kell12/webcam.jpg
Photos: http://www.shutterpoint.com/Photos-BrowseUser.cfm?user_id=HNLUTE
More Photos at FLICKR: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hnlute/
Photos for Sale: http://unephono.etsy.com
Sunday, September 06, 2009
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.
___
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.
___
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!
Not bad. The most "time off" I've had in a while.
___
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.
___
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!
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
On The Road In Burgundy
Burgundy, the famous wine region is but an hour north of us close to the Loire where it bends south to it's origin. A 2.5 hr journey was planned to take us to the medieval hill town of Vezelay, the home of a highly carved and ancient church. Audrey is a church nut, loves to photograph them and study and examine their "bones" as she calls them. I like them too, they are endlessly different and interesting in all the decoration, stained glass and uni9que features such as the fingers hands and other PARTS of long gone saints. This one held the finger (a finger) of Mary Magdalene, the only female disciple of Jesus. Sure you say...but hey! Whose to argue with Pope Innocent II who pronounced them actual and true. Oh take it on Faith as the religion demands of you anyway and yes deep down in the crypt below the alter is a golden box with glass sides and indeed...there's a finger there within in remarkable shape. Cool! Nice subject for a few pics, beats the splinters of the "True Cross" that seem to be everywhere here. This though her entire body...intact...is found somewhere in Provence. Oh well...Faith...remember?
___
The 2.5 hr trip was made somewhat longer...4 hrs actually as the existing GPS map of the region present in our Tom-Tom had was rendered obsolete by a new freeway and seemingly endless detours. Jane, our trusty Tom-Tom's voice was totally confused by our route and thus took us in a large circle adding 1.5hrs driving time through the beautiful Burgandian countryside.
___
Reaching Vezelay we parked at the bottom of the hill below the main street leading up to the steps of the church. There is better parking on up the hill nearer the church, it's all Pay-And_Display anyway as it is throughout France so bring some Euro coins with you to plug in the meter, put the ticket on the dash and walk on up.
The church is at the end of a long approach past numerous shops (all closed for lunch) and restaurants. We had brought a pique-nique with us and soft drinks just in case our planned lunch stop somehow didn't work out. The church was huge and one covered with carved capitols amid rows of two-toned wall and column construction. Very striking and very beautiful with the light pouring in from the high windows above the nave. Spectacular! Down we went into the crypt to see The Finger, then observing the pilgrims praying we left them as silently as we could.
___
Out into the sunshine again we concluded our Vezelay visit with a return thru the gauntlet of shops still not open (lunch, remember) to our trusty Toyota and away across the countryside towards the distant stacks of a nuclear power station along the Loire near our Pizza place in Beaulieu-sur-Loire. Alas it was after 3pm, the restaurant was closed! Ohhhhh...off to eat our picnic somewhere soon. Driving back towards Bourge we stopped to gawk at the vineyards from the stunning view from the streets leading out of Sancere. We took up places on a park bench set opposite the landscape below us and ate our ham sandwiches and my potato salad and swilled down a large bottle of 7-Up shared between us. Then back in the car with Kelly at the wheel, I had timed out and was too drowsy to drive any longer. Thru Bourges and home at 5:30. What a fine day trip thru the vineyards of Burgundy we had. Lunched so late that dinner was unnecessary. Off to bed at 9 we were, 3 very tired and happy ducks.
____
"Wearing The Inside Out" Pink Floyd
From morning to night I stayed out of sight
Didn't recognize I'd become
No more than alive I'd barely survive
In a word...overrun
Won't hear a sound
From my mouth
I've spent too long
On the inside out
My skin is cold
To the human touch
This bleeding heart's
Not beating much
I murmured a vow of silence and now
I don't even hear when I think aloud
Extinguished by light I turn on the night
Wear its darkness with an empty smile
I'm creeping back to life
My nervous system all awry
I'm wearing the inside out
Look at him now
He's paler somehow
But he's coming round
He's starting to choke
It's been so long since he spoke
Well he can have the words right from my mouth
And with these words I can see
Clear through the clouds that covered me
Just give it time then speak my name
Now we can hear ourselves again
I'm holding out
For the day
When all the clouds
Have blown away
I'm with you now
Can speak your name
Now we can hear
Ourselves again
___
The 2.5 hr trip was made somewhat longer...4 hrs actually as the existing GPS map of the region present in our Tom-Tom had was rendered obsolete by a new freeway and seemingly endless detours. Jane, our trusty Tom-Tom's voice was totally confused by our route and thus took us in a large circle adding 1.5hrs driving time through the beautiful Burgandian countryside.
___
Reaching Vezelay we parked at the bottom of the hill below the main street leading up to the steps of the church. There is better parking on up the hill nearer the church, it's all Pay-And_Display anyway as it is throughout France so bring some Euro coins with you to plug in the meter, put the ticket on the dash and walk on up.
The church is at the end of a long approach past numerous shops (all closed for lunch) and restaurants. We had brought a pique-nique with us and soft drinks just in case our planned lunch stop somehow didn't work out. The church was huge and one covered with carved capitols amid rows of two-toned wall and column construction. Very striking and very beautiful with the light pouring in from the high windows above the nave. Spectacular! Down we went into the crypt to see The Finger, then observing the pilgrims praying we left them as silently as we could.
___
Out into the sunshine again we concluded our Vezelay visit with a return thru the gauntlet of shops still not open (lunch, remember) to our trusty Toyota and away across the countryside towards the distant stacks of a nuclear power station along the Loire near our Pizza place in Beaulieu-sur-Loire. Alas it was after 3pm, the restaurant was closed! Ohhhhh...off to eat our picnic somewhere soon. Driving back towards Bourge we stopped to gawk at the vineyards from the stunning view from the streets leading out of Sancere. We took up places on a park bench set opposite the landscape below us and ate our ham sandwiches and my potato salad and swilled down a large bottle of 7-Up shared between us. Then back in the car with Kelly at the wheel, I had timed out and was too drowsy to drive any longer. Thru Bourges and home at 5:30. What a fine day trip thru the vineyards of Burgundy we had. Lunched so late that dinner was unnecessary. Off to bed at 9 we were, 3 very tired and happy ducks.
____
"Wearing The Inside Out" Pink Floyd
From morning to night I stayed out of sight
Didn't recognize I'd become
No more than alive I'd barely survive
In a word...overrun
Won't hear a sound
From my mouth
I've spent too long
On the inside out
My skin is cold
To the human touch
This bleeding heart's
Not beating much
I murmured a vow of silence and now
I don't even hear when I think aloud
Extinguished by light I turn on the night
Wear its darkness with an empty smile
I'm creeping back to life
My nervous system all awry
I'm wearing the inside out
Look at him now
He's paler somehow
But he's coming round
He's starting to choke
It's been so long since he spoke
Well he can have the words right from my mouth
And with these words I can see
Clear through the clouds that covered me
Just give it time then speak my name
Now we can hear ourselves again
I'm holding out
For the day
When all the clouds
Have blown away
I'm with you now
Can speak your name
Now we can hear
Ourselves again
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Paris, Versailles and More Chairs
Oh god...more chairs! How many do we have? Where are they? Everywhere! Not just some for this function and this room but more than enough for everything TWICE! OCD on chair possession. No matter, eBay has struck again. Six, count 'em, 6 French style chairs with bright red cushions and backs. Dining room additions to displace the wicker bottom and black leather bottomed ones already in that service. At the same time we took Aud to Versailles for her Bee-Day to gawk at the over-the-top furnishings and decorative designs. Up at 7 for coffee, tell Fur-Rr-Ee what is happening today and that she will remain home (maa!) to watch the house in our absence. 4.5 hrs to the Big V, then about 1/2 hr to the Paris spot to pick up the chairs, stuff them in the trusty Avensis-needing-wheel-bearing(s), then home...all using back roads, no toll roads desired. Shit! At LEAST 9 hrs of driving total and maybe 2 or 3 in the bloody castle gawking...we'll be suitable for framing when this "day trip" is over, that's for sure! Oh and a picnique for lunch somewhere.
http://en.chateauversailles.fr/index.php?option=com_cdvhomepage
___
And so it was, as we left Maison Blanche we stopped at the Boulangerie downtown for pastries which we gobbled down as I sped towards Bourges and beyond. The trip north thru the Loire Valley, across the Loire was uneventful, then we crossed the Seine and soon into the back up of cars entering the parking lot at Versailles, the castle of the Sun King. One car out, one car let in as the lot was full to the brim. The day was a lovely one, not hot but sunny with puffy clouds all about. Nice. We stretched and took off for the castle cameras in hand ready to see how Life WAS for the Sun King and his court a couple of hundred years ago or so...the origins of the Great French Republic (and Revolution!) laid out before us.
___
Inside easily as Kelly had already bought the tickets at the on-line site
and though she (and apparently MOST others) cannot PRINT the damned result of their payment to the system and are thus stuck with only the receipt (don't forget to print it!!!!) and the EMAIL (print it too!) which confirms the purchase but doesn't actually print the tickets from the enclosed link! It was no trouble as they have a window at the Sun King's golden gates at the entrance (far right from the outside) which redeems the resulting papers for actual tickets easily and with a friendly, helpful face as well. Typical French sweet hospitality there!
___
I'm NOT going to describe Versailles except to say that ostentation has thus been explored, possibly at the limits of human consumption at the cost of an entire population and those even at the farthest periphery. Perhaps you won't be so struck, perhaps this all appears understandable, perhaps you are unsurprised by man's insatiable greed by now...Wall Street does not inpress? This then will open your eyes to the next level.
___
After we set the trusty Tom-Tom to the address given by the seller of the chairs and drove off towards Paris on the horizon. Now I have told you before that MY driving in Paris is NOT A GOOD THING. I am so very careful to look everywhere before I do anything, green lights, red lights, arrows, pointers, signage or the lack of it and then there's the Tom-Tom voice barking out in her ever so calm voice specific directions on top of the other more visceral signals. It is ENOUGH, just ENOUGH...
So as we drive further along, right turns, left turns, merging, off-ramps into the most amazing set of skyscrapers I've ever seen in any city clustered so very close together! Amazing doesn't do it justice! OMG! It's La Défense! It was like the set of Blade Runner, The Director's Cut sans flying taxis and police cars! Amidst this wonderland of glass and steel were our chairs somewhere, oh somewhere. On we drove with my trusty navigator Audrey clarifying our Tom-Toms indications and instructions. I still screwed it up as is my charge as the driver of the Good Ship Teresa-the-Toyota. So around we go with the Tom-Tom resetting us in the proper place, what a technology! A BRAIN when I (just ME!) really needed one! So within a block of the last position we had been before I screwed-the-goose (figuratively not actually) we found the street where our chairs live(d)! Whoopee! So we park in the middle of the street and Audrey and I stand outside and wait for the owner's appearance after she had made the call ("The Voice" makes ALL the calls these days!). He's there, instructs us to park nearer the building, and we go with him to retrieve the 6 chairs.
___
Soon we are back at the car, we tie them firmly to the car top rack I built to hold the gates last year and we find ourway out of Paris via Tom-Tom and the famous Periferique (Paris's ring road). Soon into the country I turn over the reins of Teresa to Kelly while I doze in the passenger seat. Audrey soon disappears into the same void as the kilometers melt away towars nightfall. Kelly began to yawn after I woke so soon I watched her drift right in the lane so decided it was time to ask to drive once again until I started departing for the Land of Nod myself. We drove on into the night, the sun disappeared at 8:45 or so, twilight thru little villages, distant blinking lights reminded me of travelling thru the western deserts of the US, forests with the ever present danger of running wildlife, deer, wild pigs, cattle. Verizon, then Issoudun passed, I wasn't dozing yet as I am known to do...but soon we were in Lignieres and the lights of Rue Marechal Joffre were upon us. We unloaded the chairs, untied the rack and put Teresa to sleep for the night.
___
The chairs look great in the dining room...she was right...again! Oh, how many do we possess at this time? I think 60 but I might be...low!
http://en.chateauversailles.fr/index.php?option=com_cdvhomepage
___
And so it was, as we left Maison Blanche we stopped at the Boulangerie downtown for pastries which we gobbled down as I sped towards Bourges and beyond. The trip north thru the Loire Valley, across the Loire was uneventful, then we crossed the Seine and soon into the back up of cars entering the parking lot at Versailles, the castle of the Sun King. One car out, one car let in as the lot was full to the brim. The day was a lovely one, not hot but sunny with puffy clouds all about. Nice. We stretched and took off for the castle cameras in hand ready to see how Life WAS for the Sun King and his court a couple of hundred years ago or so...the origins of the Great French Republic (and Revolution!) laid out before us.
___
Inside easily as Kelly had already bought the tickets at the on-line site
and though she (and apparently MOST others) cannot PRINT the damned result of their payment to the system and are thus stuck with only the receipt (don't forget to print it!!!!) and the EMAIL (print it too!) which confirms the purchase but doesn't actually print the tickets from the enclosed link! It was no trouble as they have a window at the Sun King's golden gates at the entrance (far right from the outside) which redeems the resulting papers for actual tickets easily and with a friendly, helpful face as well. Typical French sweet hospitality there!
___
I'm NOT going to describe Versailles except to say that ostentation has thus been explored, possibly at the limits of human consumption at the cost of an entire population and those even at the farthest periphery. Perhaps you won't be so struck, perhaps this all appears understandable, perhaps you are unsurprised by man's insatiable greed by now...Wall Street does not inpress? This then will open your eyes to the next level.
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After we set the trusty Tom-Tom to the address given by the seller of the chairs and drove off towards Paris on the horizon. Now I have told you before that MY driving in Paris is NOT A GOOD THING. I am so very careful to look everywhere before I do anything, green lights, red lights, arrows, pointers, signage or the lack of it and then there's the Tom-Tom voice barking out in her ever so calm voice specific directions on top of the other more visceral signals. It is ENOUGH, just ENOUGH...
So as we drive further along, right turns, left turns, merging, off-ramps into the most amazing set of skyscrapers I've ever seen in any city clustered so very close together! Amazing doesn't do it justice! OMG! It's La Défense! It was like the set of Blade Runner, The Director's Cut sans flying taxis and police cars! Amidst this wonderland of glass and steel were our chairs somewhere, oh somewhere. On we drove with my trusty navigator Audrey clarifying our Tom-Toms indications and instructions. I still screwed it up as is my charge as the driver of the Good Ship Teresa-the-Toyota. So around we go with the Tom-Tom resetting us in the proper place, what a technology! A BRAIN when I (just ME!) really needed one! So within a block of the last position we had been before I screwed-the-goose (figuratively not actually) we found the street where our chairs live(d)! Whoopee! So we park in the middle of the street and Audrey and I stand outside and wait for the owner's appearance after she had made the call ("The Voice" makes ALL the calls these days!). He's there, instructs us to park nearer the building, and we go with him to retrieve the 6 chairs.
___
Soon we are back at the car, we tie them firmly to the car top rack I built to hold the gates last year and we find ourway out of Paris via Tom-Tom and the famous Periferique (Paris's ring road). Soon into the country I turn over the reins of Teresa to Kelly while I doze in the passenger seat. Audrey soon disappears into the same void as the kilometers melt away towars nightfall. Kelly began to yawn after I woke so soon I watched her drift right in the lane so decided it was time to ask to drive once again until I started departing for the Land of Nod myself. We drove on into the night, the sun disappeared at 8:45 or so, twilight thru little villages, distant blinking lights reminded me of travelling thru the western deserts of the US, forests with the ever present danger of running wildlife, deer, wild pigs, cattle. Verizon, then Issoudun passed, I wasn't dozing yet as I am known to do...but soon we were in Lignieres and the lights of Rue Marechal Joffre were upon us. We unloaded the chairs, untied the rack and put Teresa to sleep for the night.
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The chairs look great in the dining room...she was right...again! Oh, how many do we possess at this time? I think 60 but I might be...low!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
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.
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.
___
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.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
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/
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/
Thursday, August 06, 2009
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
___
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
Saturday, July 25, 2009
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.
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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.
___
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.
Friday, July 24, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
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/
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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/
Monday, July 20, 2009
Peace
Our friends from North Carolina left this morning bound for Paris and the ETAP we stayed in about a week ago. I abandoned all my plans for kitchen cleanup and fell fast asleep a few minutes after saying goodbye. Having guests is heady business,
we had plans, they had plans but we were put in charge from the get go so Get Go we did. They inspected Dix, the house we have for sale ( http://hnlute.blogspot.com ) and loved it. We went to the local horse races and numerous brocantes including the giant one right in our front yard in the Champ du Foire. They bought out half of France having fallen in love with the place. The car was a beast to pack even as well organized as it was. So much wine, food, cheeses, pictures and the spacious Saab was chock full to the very brim.
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We visited Ainay-le-Vieil ( http://chateau.ainaylevieil.free.fr/ ) yesterday and went on the tour of this little gem of the Loire Valley. It always gets high marks from us as it is really a family home and quite intimate. I always feel priveleged to be allowed to see the beautiful interior rooms and especially the chapel with the endearing frescoes. It is a place not to miss in the Loire.
we had plans, they had plans but we were put in charge from the get go so Get Go we did. They inspected Dix, the house we have for sale ( http://hnlute.blogspot.com ) and loved it. We went to the local horse races and numerous brocantes including the giant one right in our front yard in the Champ du Foire. They bought out half of France having fallen in love with the place. The car was a beast to pack even as well organized as it was. So much wine, food, cheeses, pictures and the spacious Saab was chock full to the very brim.
___
We visited Ainay-le-Vieil ( http://chateau.ainaylevieil.free.fr/ ) yesterday and went on the tour of this little gem of the Loire Valley. It always gets high marks from us as it is really a family home and quite intimate. I always feel priveleged to be allowed to see the beautiful interior rooms and especially the chapel with the endearing frescoes. It is a place not to miss in the Loire.
Friday, May 22, 2009
All,s Quiet On The Western Front...Or Is It?
Truth is...it isn,t, at leqst not on this part of the Western Front. We have been busy as beqvers and that,s pretty darned busy. The guest room is our latest target now that the sewing room is partially papered with the yellowstriped stuff Kelly wanted. Now we have attacked the walls available tobe coverred with a grey and beige trois...a set of scenic drawings of the fancified continents, all manner of animal life and winged persons interacting with them in colorful and maybe even questionable ways. We cannot compplete any of the external walls as they must first be coated with the magic paint nano_naunt or some such which will aid in heqt retention in the old place. The stuff, all 5 gallons of it was to be shipped on/about the 18th of May and though I have written the company and they have cashed our check there has been no reply and no paint either. So we wait and strike out in directions that the situation allows. Which included the following activity.,
---
We had a dinner for 8 last night, our best friends A&R, S&D and nearly relaives by marriage to A&R whose daughter is in a serious relationship with. Future mother in law and father in law types. It went off quite well if I do say so myself. The main event was a coq a vin done in the style of Bay Wolf the restaurant in Berkeley, California. Not the usual cooked to deth chicken boiled in red wine, no, noth this. Every ingredient gets carmelized first then assembled into the dish with the chicken skin side left out of the liquid thus it gets/stays crisp. The cqrmelized mushrooms were sweet and eqrthy at the same time, delicious!
---
We had a dinner for 8 last night, our best friends A&R, S&D and nearly relaives by marriage to A&R whose daughter is in a serious relationship with. Future mother in law and father in law types. It went off quite well if I do say so myself. The main event was a coq a vin done in the style of Bay Wolf the restaurant in Berkeley, California. Not the usual cooked to deth chicken boiled in red wine, no, noth this. Every ingredient gets carmelized first then assembled into the dish with the chicken skin side left out of the liquid thus it gets/stays crisp. The cqrmelized mushrooms were sweet and eqrthy at the same time, delicious!
Friday, May 08, 2009
To The North Country! Champagne!
So yesterday we flew the coop...left to pick up our newest Godin wood stove that we bought on eBay for 42 USD! A fantastic price! These things go for hundreds and up into the thousands when new. Yet people wanting to just make a little money and with not-so-great photography skills in hand create a great bargain. This one is smaller and round but it was a Godin air-tight and hopefully in good enough condition that I could do minor repairs to and create a second warm spot in the maison blanche.
___
The trip to Troyes (TROY), where we were to stay the night, went quicker than we thought. We got to the town in a bit over 6 hours and found the ETAP easily thanks to Jane the Tom-Tom. Initially it seemed the heart of the old medieval city were quite far away and would require a real over land hike to get to...but as we discovered, that was not so. The old part of town is wedge shaped and thus we were only a couple of blocks from it. We parked our car on the upper level and soon learned that the rear door to the ETAP was quite locked and not available to us to open. We needed to verify our reservation in the front lobby...actually at the front door computer kiosk that serves as the modern lobby at an ETAP. We entered our card and l'viola! We were in with a key code written out by the printer at the door. Cool! Up to room 207, enter the same code in the door lock and we were home for the day at 1:30 pm local time. Then out to lunch at a nearby Asian restaurant that looked promising. In, we were seated in minutes and provided with an extensive menu. We chose the Midi Special (Lunch Menu) and made our choices known to the speedy and efficient server. Soon lunch came and it was absolutely fresh and delicious and more food than we could ever eat! Truly generous portions! It's the one at the roundabout down the street from the ETAP on Rue 14 July. Well worth a visit!
___
Afterwords we crossed the street and wandered into the old section of Troyes gawking unabashedly at the beautiful 15th century half-timber buildings that make up the largess of the downtown. Block after block of restored and ancient buildings that together make Troyes a more than worthwhile stop in a trip about France. We sat at a corner cafe where the plaza with a large merry-go-round served up a wonderful sight. The beers, hers small, mine large were almost 11 Euros, not cheap but the people watching and the sights made it worthwhile. Troyes has a multi-cultural population and it shows. People meeting people on the street, doing the kissing thing and chatting right in front of us sipping our beers. Lovely, just lovely. We spent about an hour there, then ambled in and around the old town area before making our way back to the hotel to rest and assess our day. Tomorrow...the Godin!
____
In the morning I awoke before my duck at about 7 am, sat at the EeePC and read the news and emails. She woke at 8 and very quickly we got our stuff together. We headed out to see the local Gothic cathedral, have a coffee at a tabac nearby and local pastries from a boulangerie next door as is the way in France. Then off to Soilly, it being NW of Troyes in the low hills and verdant valleys that adjoin Belgium. Hilly country full of colza and the vines from which champagne are made, a regional production that produces the world's supply of the great bubbly wines. Colza's yellow flowers cover thousands and thousands of acres here as do the wonderful curvy vines. As we drive amazing vistas appear yellow upon green and light green of barley and wheat sprouting simultaneously. Beautiful. We take side roads thanks to Jane of Tom-Tom fame and witness the countryside in all it's glory from high on hilltops themselves covered with vines and colza. It is truly spectacular!
___
Jane steers us towards our goal, the stove we bought from the gentleman in Soilly. Once there we found the address easily enough and amidst the turmoil of multiple guests arriving at the same time we paid our debt of 42 Euros for the unknown stove and with his help liften and laid it down in the rear of the Avensis. It looked in amazingly good shape, all the castings un=cracked and not chipped either. Beautiful indeed! Once packed we were off again to head back to Lignieres with a fine wood stove in tow from yet again a new spot for us in the French hinterlands.
___
The trip to Troyes (TROY), where we were to stay the night, went quicker than we thought. We got to the town in a bit over 6 hours and found the ETAP easily thanks to Jane the Tom-Tom. Initially it seemed the heart of the old medieval city were quite far away and would require a real over land hike to get to...but as we discovered, that was not so. The old part of town is wedge shaped and thus we were only a couple of blocks from it. We parked our car on the upper level and soon learned that the rear door to the ETAP was quite locked and not available to us to open. We needed to verify our reservation in the front lobby...actually at the front door computer kiosk that serves as the modern lobby at an ETAP. We entered our card and l'viola! We were in with a key code written out by the printer at the door. Cool! Up to room 207, enter the same code in the door lock and we were home for the day at 1:30 pm local time. Then out to lunch at a nearby Asian restaurant that looked promising. In, we were seated in minutes and provided with an extensive menu. We chose the Midi Special (Lunch Menu) and made our choices known to the speedy and efficient server. Soon lunch came and it was absolutely fresh and delicious and more food than we could ever eat! Truly generous portions! It's the one at the roundabout down the street from the ETAP on Rue 14 July. Well worth a visit!
___
Afterwords we crossed the street and wandered into the old section of Troyes gawking unabashedly at the beautiful 15th century half-timber buildings that make up the largess of the downtown. Block after block of restored and ancient buildings that together make Troyes a more than worthwhile stop in a trip about France. We sat at a corner cafe where the plaza with a large merry-go-round served up a wonderful sight. The beers, hers small, mine large were almost 11 Euros, not cheap but the people watching and the sights made it worthwhile. Troyes has a multi-cultural population and it shows. People meeting people on the street, doing the kissing thing and chatting right in front of us sipping our beers. Lovely, just lovely. We spent about an hour there, then ambled in and around the old town area before making our way back to the hotel to rest and assess our day. Tomorrow...the Godin!
____
In the morning I awoke before my duck at about 7 am, sat at the EeePC and read the news and emails. She woke at 8 and very quickly we got our stuff together. We headed out to see the local Gothic cathedral, have a coffee at a tabac nearby and local pastries from a boulangerie next door as is the way in France. Then off to Soilly, it being NW of Troyes in the low hills and verdant valleys that adjoin Belgium. Hilly country full of colza and the vines from which champagne are made, a regional production that produces the world's supply of the great bubbly wines. Colza's yellow flowers cover thousands and thousands of acres here as do the wonderful curvy vines. As we drive amazing vistas appear yellow upon green and light green of barley and wheat sprouting simultaneously. Beautiful. We take side roads thanks to Jane of Tom-Tom fame and witness the countryside in all it's glory from high on hilltops themselves covered with vines and colza. It is truly spectacular!
___
Jane steers us towards our goal, the stove we bought from the gentleman in Soilly. Once there we found the address easily enough and amidst the turmoil of multiple guests arriving at the same time we paid our debt of 42 Euros for the unknown stove and with his help liften and laid it down in the rear of the Avensis. It looked in amazingly good shape, all the castings un=cracked and not chipped either. Beautiful indeed! Once packed we were off again to head back to Lignieres with a fine wood stove in tow from yet again a new spot for us in the French hinterlands.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
The Warm Glow of Spring...
Who am I kidding? Cool and cooler nights are the rule here in the springtime, the days have the character they do, grey mornings, clearing to beautiful by noon or 1 pm then come the clouds, a rain shower or three and into the evening with light breezes and a disappearing sun. Amidst these facts we shiver at night in the 50 degree grande maison. Remember we lost the whole house heating system due to 8 cracked radiators from the -9C winter season. So my ever patient, curious and resourceful Kelly got into the wood stove search on eBay. A Godin... that was the stove of stoves for her and we were going to have one in some room of the house come hell or high water. Days of patient searches and hours of research online led to bids on some likely candidates. Prices were generally quite low but the stove, in many cases, lacked description of the grates and all important inner brick/refractory lining. One after the other was rejected as too small, too old, too risky, too large and, of course, too awful!
Eventually one showed up and seemed perfect for some room in this pile of rocks. A Godin about 95cm high with a few areas of light rust and we put in a bid via esnipe ( http://www.esnipe.com ). After a short wait, a day I think, while we mulled over this possible purchase, it,s time was up and we had won! Terrific! Now, where oh where IS this Godin and it's cousin freebee? In Chartre of course, about 150 miles north of us towards Paris. Oh. Well get out the trusty Tom-Tom GPS and let's go! The next day we had the address of a nearby L'Clerc market where the seller would meet us. Of course we had already entered his home address in the Tom-Tom, but hey...it's how he wants tyo do the deal, we willingly comply. So ff we went, up the A71 from St. Amand. Travel is fast on the A roads, speedy places that they are with few speed cameras to slow you down. The rain was falling briskly though and while quicker than we thought it did take us about 3 hours to traverse the countryside on that ribbon of concrete. Jane, the voice of the Tom-Tom was as accurate as ever and put us right on the L'Clerc gas station and his red, red scooter. '' Bonjours'' said, we followed our entrepid seller to his abode and the Godin of our desires. It was there in the garage, all 300lbs of her...Gloria is her name, all curvey cast iron and in darned good condition, ''bon etat'' as they say in the ads on eBay. We heaved and Hoed and with the able help of two African men from Togo that lived next door we shoved her towards the back of the Avensis and put her inside. The smaller stove was carried by the seller and placed along side. I closed the rear compartment and we went upstairs for a bit of celebrating with the seller and his wonderful and pretty wife. She told us that she had ventured to the US as a girl of 16. She had gone to visit relatives in Chicago...outside in the burbs but thats where she was and that was some 20 years ago! We had beers together and then out of the corner of Kelly's eye...a motion in a large cage like enclosure in a corner of the room. Ferrets! Oh my! Beauties, a white one that was pregnant and an amber colored one, the male. Kelly had never handled one but was soon petting the squirmy mom one and I had the male under tow...or he had me, one or the other. Terrific fun! And as cute as two animals could be!
Then goodbyes all around and off we headed homeward to the distant Lignieres. Rain poured down again but stopped as we got off the A in Bourges and headed across the countryside all aglow with huge fields of yellow colza.
Spectacular!
Eventually one showed up and seemed perfect for some room in this pile of rocks. A Godin about 95cm high with a few areas of light rust and we put in a bid via esnipe ( http://www.esnipe.com ). After a short wait, a day I think, while we mulled over this possible purchase, it,s time was up and we had won! Terrific! Now, where oh where IS this Godin and it's cousin freebee? In Chartre of course, about 150 miles north of us towards Paris. Oh. Well get out the trusty Tom-Tom GPS and let's go! The next day we had the address of a nearby L'Clerc market where the seller would meet us. Of course we had already entered his home address in the Tom-Tom, but hey...it's how he wants tyo do the deal, we willingly comply. So ff we went, up the A71 from St. Amand. Travel is fast on the A roads, speedy places that they are with few speed cameras to slow you down. The rain was falling briskly though and while quicker than we thought it did take us about 3 hours to traverse the countryside on that ribbon of concrete. Jane, the voice of the Tom-Tom was as accurate as ever and put us right on the L'Clerc gas station and his red, red scooter. '' Bonjours'' said, we followed our entrepid seller to his abode and the Godin of our desires. It was there in the garage, all 300lbs of her...Gloria is her name, all curvey cast iron and in darned good condition, ''bon etat'' as they say in the ads on eBay. We heaved and Hoed and with the able help of two African men from Togo that lived next door we shoved her towards the back of the Avensis and put her inside. The smaller stove was carried by the seller and placed along side. I closed the rear compartment and we went upstairs for a bit of celebrating with the seller and his wonderful and pretty wife. She told us that she had ventured to the US as a girl of 16. She had gone to visit relatives in Chicago...outside in the burbs but thats where she was and that was some 20 years ago! We had beers together and then out of the corner of Kelly's eye...a motion in a large cage like enclosure in a corner of the room. Ferrets! Oh my! Beauties, a white one that was pregnant and an amber colored one, the male. Kelly had never handled one but was soon petting the squirmy mom one and I had the male under tow...or he had me, one or the other. Terrific fun! And as cute as two animals could be!
Then goodbyes all around and off we headed homeward to the distant Lignieres. Rain poured down again but stopped as we got off the A in Bourges and headed across the countryside all aglow with huge fields of yellow colza.
Spectacular!
Friday, February 27, 2009
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!
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!
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Aw, what's the use?
WELL...last night went well UNTIL I brought a nice balloon glass of red upstairs to ease the evening into oblivion with my sweetheart and my computer. SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY RIGHT TURNED INTO WRONG and I crashed into said balloon full of the fine red juice of the grape and l'viola!, crash, bang, tinkle, tinkle...right into the keyboard and onto the floor. Nice (Not the French City). Shit! So clean up the myriad of broken glass shards, stem intact yet and use a can of air to rid the keyboard of it's 4 oz load...then off to bed, enough for one day don't you think?
Up in the morning, off to school! ...no...computer...to see a CMOS screen up and all sorts of random events happening simultaneously. Oh Shit! Keyboardosis! It was running amuck! Oh noooooo. So shut it down and took the keyboard apart to REALLY dry it out with tissues, dry air etc. No use, the whole bottom row is inert. Blast! So off to Champion to pick up a cheap replacement French keyboard (uhhhhh) with all the keys somewhere else...not a QWERTY one, something else entirely. Nope, none there. So remembering I had a small computer job to do for L I wondered if she brought the fine Scottish keyboard with her. So off \I drive to her house to investigate. She and lil' Nik are home and up and perky. We discuss the computer issue they have and I tell them of my keyboard disaster. They just want the data (images) from the HD, I can HAVE the bloody machine for spares! Yippee! They saved my skin! So Nik loaded the machine in the back of the Avensis and I was shortly homeward bound. Home I disconnected the keyboard of death and installed this one...it's only problem for me seems to be the location of the uppercase key and the keylock key...reversed on this one making me TYPE uppercase once in a while when I don't want to. Otherwise...fine now, just fine.
___
Downstairs I went to work putting up the fuzz on the wall in preparation of the cloth hanging by Kelly. I moved the mass of fuzz into the entry hall as it is such a pain in the ass to deal with all folded up in the parlor that I can hardly stand cutting it there. The mass now fills the entry but at least I can cut it fairly straight now.
Back to work.
___
Later: The doorbell rung, ding-dong! I went to the door expecting A&R or D&S...no...our friend from across the street from the house at Dix. With him were three others. Now our friend is deaf and now we know it (more about THAT later) and the other three with him are equally deaf, with or without hearing aids...I couldn't detect them no matter. They were all equally drunk, about 2 sheets worth...and all hands and gestures and explanations and re-explanations.
He wanted to ask if he could store his new car in my garage, he already has a key...I nodded yes, of course, and they all came inside. The tour was on! First the ooh and ahh for the dining room and the fuzz encombered entry, the small sitting room adjacent and them on to the new work in the old ding room. They were charming beyond description, and there was never a problem communicating in gesture Francaise...arms and fingers pointing at this and that, it all worked and worked well. They touched the padded walls and the new cloth and were surprised by the padding itself and the look of it all. Then they wanted to see the garden/courtyard...so I openned the back door and we all took a short walk. This entire episode was just easy and friendly as could be, no pain, no strain. One poor vocal American explaining his home to 4 deaf persons, each interested and open and gesturing their way through. All good, all charming all an amazing extension of our experiences here. je suis France! Je suis Lignieres!
Up in the morning, off to school! ...no...computer...to see a CMOS screen up and all sorts of random events happening simultaneously. Oh Shit! Keyboardosis! It was running amuck! Oh noooooo. So shut it down and took the keyboard apart to REALLY dry it out with tissues, dry air etc. No use, the whole bottom row is inert. Blast! So off to Champion to pick up a cheap replacement French keyboard (uhhhhh) with all the keys somewhere else...not a QWERTY one, something else entirely. Nope, none there. So remembering I had a small computer job to do for L I wondered if she brought the fine Scottish keyboard with her. So off \I drive to her house to investigate. She and lil' Nik are home and up and perky. We discuss the computer issue they have and I tell them of my keyboard disaster. They just want the data (images) from the HD, I can HAVE the bloody machine for spares! Yippee! They saved my skin! So Nik loaded the machine in the back of the Avensis and I was shortly homeward bound. Home I disconnected the keyboard of death and installed this one...it's only problem for me seems to be the location of the uppercase key and the keylock key...reversed on this one making me TYPE uppercase once in a while when I don't want to. Otherwise...fine now, just fine.
___
Downstairs I went to work putting up the fuzz on the wall in preparation of the cloth hanging by Kelly. I moved the mass of fuzz into the entry hall as it is such a pain in the ass to deal with all folded up in the parlor that I can hardly stand cutting it there. The mass now fills the entry but at least I can cut it fairly straight now.
Back to work.
___
Later: The doorbell rung, ding-dong! I went to the door expecting A&R or D&S...no...our friend from across the street from the house at Dix. With him were three others. Now our friend is deaf and now we know it (more about THAT later) and the other three with him are equally deaf, with or without hearing aids...I couldn't detect them no matter. They were all equally drunk, about 2 sheets worth...and all hands and gestures and explanations and re-explanations.
He wanted to ask if he could store his new car in my garage, he already has a key...I nodded yes, of course, and they all came inside. The tour was on! First the ooh and ahh for the dining room and the fuzz encombered entry, the small sitting room adjacent and them on to the new work in the old ding room. They were charming beyond description, and there was never a problem communicating in gesture Francaise...arms and fingers pointing at this and that, it all worked and worked well. They touched the padded walls and the new cloth and were surprised by the padding itself and the look of it all. Then they wanted to see the garden/courtyard...so I openned the back door and we all took a short walk. This entire episode was just easy and friendly as could be, no pain, no strain. One poor vocal American explaining his home to 4 deaf persons, each interested and open and gesturing their way through. All good, all charming all an amazing extension of our experiences here. je suis France! Je suis Lignieres!
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