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.

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.

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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

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

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

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

Water Wars!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To The Wall(s)!

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

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

Nansulate Applied!

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


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

A Red Letter Day and 108 Euros!

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




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

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.

Another Sunday

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

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.,
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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!

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.

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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!

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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!
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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!

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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.

Another BIG win on eBay.FR

Another Godin woodstove is ours, where this time? North of Troyes in NE France. It's a ways, a little over 200 miles sorta outside Paris a bit nearer Belgium than anywhere else. Condition of the item is unknown, nothing in the seller's description helped but it was CHEAP! 42 Euros worth of cast iron and rust. We take a chance you know, the sports we are. Like betting on horses cause you like their tails. It's a bit smaller than the one we won a week or two ago but is similar in style. Fingers are crossed.

Found the wallpaper for the guest bedroom today, trois in shades of grey, fanciful design full of wild animals and angelic people. Will go well in the room with black accents and bright colors. We'll start hanging the paper sometime next week.

Our buddies A&R dropped off about 1/2 a stair of firewood for us this morning, it's a secret where it came from but it is dry and ready to go. Surprisingly we still need heat in the evening as the temp drops into the 40's at night and the house gets chilly. Payment for said wood is in the form of a computer repair I'm doing for them after a power supply died a while back. The supply is on order from Amazon.fr and should arrive in the next few days. They probably need new surge protectors as the French power grid is NOT the best thing for these switching power supplies. The surge protection gizmos go to hell after they protect a device once or twice (if you are lucky) after that they are gone and no longer protect anything. Replace once a year to be absolutely safe, even then...it happens so often here that might not be often enough. And buy good ones, cheapies are worthless.

Is There Ever A Day Off?

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

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!

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

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

Back to the Rockpile

This section of the rockpile was the dining room in an earlier iteration of 35 Rue whatshisname. We don't know what it is now besides one very complete mess. We have been AT this room for at least 6 weeks and there is no end in sight. First it had to be sealed as the interior of parts of the outer wall was lying on the floor as dry red dust, horsehair and lime. Rot. Lots of rock rot. Upon inspection I decided the best course was to do as little as possible to retain the existing wall (no longer 18" thick but a mere 14") and by hook and by crook create a semblance of a flat surface once again. So I used the fibreglas mat material that is used here to prepare rough walls for paint and glued it over the existing hole's border...a vertical trampoline sort of. Then I fastened the chaor rail across and glued it to the fibreglas matting as well. It started to act and look like a wall! Then I glued thin strips of pine that I ripped from the finest French knotless pine 40cm X 70cm X 2.4meter board(s). This took some doing as my Ryobi Table Saw while quite powerful has a blade wobble problem that makes it take a wider cut than you may want on a particular pass. Several trys were made before I could create the necessary pieces.
Grrrrrr. Lot's of sawdust. Lots. Then I took these strips back into the dining room and edge and back glued them to the top and bottom of said chair rail. Now there was a place to staple the material to when we got to that step in this nearly endless project. I tested my construct with one whack of the electric staple/nail gun. Oops, that won't work, too flexible still. Blast! So back to the drawing board(s).
So I drilled a 10mm hole thru the thin wood strips and inserted and glued 10mm dowels to the rock surfaces below as a way of getting the stiffness I needed, sort of Viagra for the fibreglass mat. If all of this seems uncraftsman like well...it is but it is THERE now and while the dear reader would rather have torn down the entire three hundred year old, 17 tons of rock, lime, horsehair and common mud I chose not to. One day I MAY have to rebuild that wall and I know it but in the meantime it's what it is. Good enough. Just.
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Today more itching, aoutat again on all (well not ALL) tender parts. We tore away the sheets, pillow cases and washed them in hot water trying to eliminate these invisible bastards. Remade both beds and sprayed them with finest French Perfume...Insect Killer! Sprayed self with the Aoutat Repellant we bought at the Pharmacia downtown and lied down for a nice peaceful nights sleep. Sure.
2 am, huh? What the hell?! Flash, KA-BOOM! Lightning, thunder, repeatedly and nearby.
Then a downpour and the sound of wind ripping through the house! Uh oh...up and turn on the lights, no lights, electricity is out too! Merde! Oh well just another summer storm in the foothills of the Massif Central. Then I feel an itch, oh noooo...oh yes, my left forearm has a thousand bites in it! What? Large reddened welts, awful, hot and boy do they itch! Damn! Salves, creams, oil and grease, fingernail polish (yes) to the rescue. All it does is lube me up, something I do NOT like! Back to bed after finding the downstairs dining room window flapping back and forth while torrential rain pours down the walls. Boy isn't this fun!? Grrrrrr.
Asleep now dreaming of AOUTATS crawling over me, eating freely of my precious skin cells...ohhhhhh. Awake at 7. The aforementioned bites on my arm are GONE! What? There were a thousand of them!? Wrong diagnosis by my addled brain? Not Aoutat? The cats have them too...that's why we changed out the linens last night and sprayed enough French Perfume to drown most insects. Gads this IS complicated. So maybe NOT Aoutat? I itch under my arms allong both sides, I lift my T shirt to show Doc Kelly and she says Ooooh. Oh no...more bites! Good greif but where are the ones that were on my arm? now I have a thousand on each side of my precious body instead.
HIVES! I have HIVES! So off to the computer to GOOGLE "Hives". Cool! And sure enough while the EXACT cause is unknown it can be set off by INSECT BITES! Anto-histamines are recommended for relief. Don't you just love this stuff online?! GOOGLE to the rescue again and again!
By for now, I have a wall to attend to.

Lyon

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

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Digging progress

#94 Sundai School in Chezal Benoit

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

Off to China...

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

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

Une Petite Francaise SVP

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