plus tard

Our two new friends.

Today is the first day we have woken up to rain. The weather here has been unsettled, but we have never had a day with steady rain. We have always been able to get out and about. Even yesterday we walked to the garden store and grocery store, did some gardening, cleaned up in front of the garage, and even went out for an evening stroll down to the river. It looks like a day to study some more French, catch up on the blog, some cleaning and do some reading. Not such a tough day since the sun will come out tomorrow. The kittens are getting bigger. While there were 4 of them when we arrived, we now only have 2 regulars for breakfast and again dinner. We hear that the mother has been run over, so they are orphans, but are part of a community here in the Chapterie.

After starting this blog earlier in the week, I can't even remember what day I was writing that first paragraph, but not much has happened since then. We have settled into our routines of nice simple daily life. The highlight of the week was our small dinner party with Steve's friend, Laure. We had an delicious meal starting with a salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese, followed by pasta with moules and pesto, and it was concluded with homemade and homegrown rhubarb crumble. The dinner was delicious but it was a lot of work, not only for Steve in the preparation, but the evening was like a 3.5 hour French class. Laure speaks a little English, and we speak a little French, so we all worked hard to communicate but we all learned a bit more of each other's language. We are getting together again in August at Laure's apartment to meet her daughter and enjoy another French lesson. Along with our simple daily life, Sunday was haircut day. Last year we bought a shaver for beard and hair trimming. While there are several hair salons in town, living the simple life calls for home hair cuts. My hair was growing quite wild, so I was the first in the chair this year. Sitting on the back deck with my shirt off, Steve was just getting started when all the neighbours came out into their gardens. Normally we see no one until the one time we would have liked to have the garden to ourselves. Needless to say we finished the trim in the bathroom. The results were surprisingly good, and I didn't even need to tip.

Popping its top!

As I might have mentioned we are awaiting our plumber to return tomorrow to replace our water heater. On Saturday we noticed that the top of the heater had popped up. The foam insulation inside has risen like a soufflé or it's like when you pop open a tube of Pillsbury cinnamon buns and the dough explodes out. We are just hoping that it will make it through the day. Talk about waiting until the last possible moment to replace it is sort of like when you are trying to find out where empty really is on your gas gage.
As a quick update, the new water tank is outside as the plumber/electrician tries to disconnect the old one. There seems to be a wiring issues. Just like on tv, something always comes up when you renovate old homes. congés d'été. I might not get to enjoy it until March on our return in the spring.

We have also heard back from the contractor who may do our new deck out the back garden but at €2000 ($3000) we might have to do some creative bookkeeping to create our grand plans. On checking on-line we fount that the quote is within reason for a 19 square metre or 200 square foot deck. That will be a late August project as the contractor is off to the Ukraine for holidays, and lumber yard doesn't open from

The garden from the balcony.

We have been busy in the garden as the tomatoes are ripening along with the peppers. We have bought a few more bedding plants for the pots, and we even have two gladiolas that are blooming later than the rest of the bulbs that I planted last year.

Now that we have reached the four week mark, almost half way through my summer, we have plotted our our plans for August, still leaving some time for you last minute travellers. Also for you last minute travellers, please pack a jar or two of green relish. Our supply is running out.  You might want to check out www.airfarewatchdog.com/ for some good deals.Yesterday we did stock up on a few things such as a box of wine and a box of sangria and barbeque meats for next few days. The goal is to not walk to the grocery store for the next 3 days. A chance to empty the frigo of all the left overs and odds and ends. We had homemade hamburger patties last night, and have beef and lamb kabobs and fish to add to the leftover moules. Needless to say we are not starving.

Ground cover

We have 5 days in Paris starting August 7, and we have booked the local rental car for two periods of time later in August when we return to do some local running about. Now that it is only €9 a day it is great way to have a car and get around. Walking is great, but the car gives a bit more freedom.

Looking back up to the house.

Garden and deck from the balcony

Garden

New plant in garden

The tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers

Steve's Hollyhocks just getting started. Tune back next summer.

Bordeaux and beyond

Today we are back at home after a short break away discovering new, at least to us, areas of France. We rented the only rental car in town and headed southwest to Bordeaux. Heather and Marion had told us of their adventures there, so it seemed to check a few of our boxes. It is an easy drive from Bellac but there are several areas where nice 4 lane freeways turn into 2 lane roads running right through small towns and then open up again. Since most of the freight in Europe is delivered by trucks, there are hordes of them on the highways. On certain highways their speed is restricted and they form a line in the right lane while cars pass by in the left. There is ongoing highway construction to complete these freeways but you are never quite sure what you will get, and now without a map, and relying solely on the GPS means having to trust virtual reality over my own instincts, which are usually pretty good. On our way home from this trip, we entered home into the GPS and told it to take the shortest distance, not necessarily the quickest, as we were paying ,20 €/km.

Sunflower Fields

 It took us off the main highways through picturesque villages, and alongside fields of sunflowers. On looking at the maps online when we got home, she did take us the most direct route home, so next trip we will trust her.

Bordeaux is La Cite du Vin and is on the banks of the La Garonne. The best way to describe the city would be to take best of Paris, and compress it into a nice walkable package. The only thing missing was a park like the Jardin du Tuileries or Luxembourg Gardens, but we must admit we didn't make it up to the Jardin Public.

Steve at the Mirror Fountain

 The fountains were wonderful, especially the Miroir d'Eau, which is a fountain you can walk through. It was an nice relief from the 40° heat. Considering the heat and our heart attack patient, we saw the major sites of the city in our day and a half, and enjoyed watching people from the river side pub with a happy few hours. Cutting through the heart of the city is Rue Sainte-Catherine which is the longest pedestrian street in Europe and has great shopping and eating opportunities.

From Place de la Victoire to the Apple Store in Place De la Comedie, Rue Sainte-Catherine offers something for almost everyone. At the far end of the core of the city was La Cite du Vin. A museum/wine centre for everything wine. Not only is it a museum of wine making, it also has tastings and wine appreciation programs. Not far along the river back to town, was an outlet mall and many restaurants. We stopped for an overpriced Frappacino from Starbucks, at least it was cold.
Away from the modern we stumbled into the Village Notre-Dame. It is an old neighbourhood with many antique stores and a stunning church.

Happy Hour

A picnic was held on the steps of the Temple Notre Dame.  With the heat and an all day tram pass we were back and forth to the hotel for some air conditioning and then back out for more exploring. Later that evening as we wandered looking for a place to eat, we both were taken with a back lane that ended at a small restaurant. We checked out Chez Marcel et Lilly. Here we had the best burgers we have had in a long time. The service was great, local beer was cold, and the burgers were delicious. It ended an excellent day. As we were heading back to the tram, the winds whipped up, and we were in the middle of a thunder storm. It was an abrupt ending to the heat, but the cool rain was a nice change.

Vern on Pont De Pierre

Port de Bourgogne

Place de la Bourse

Place des Quinconces

Monument aux Girondins

Sculpture in Bordeaux

Grosse Cloche

Saint-Andre

We left Bordeaux the next morning and headed to The Great Dune of Pyla, the largest sand dune in Europe. From the huddle of gift shops and restaurants, you can either hike up through the sand or take the stairs. We took the stairs and they were a workout in themselves.

The Great Dune of Pyla

 At the top of the stairs the dune kept going and going..... The views were magnificent of both inland and out to the Atlantic Ocean. The dune stretches out to the south, and we could see specks of people trekking across the top of the dune. We stayed closer to the stairs, and sat down to enjoy the views. Heading down the west side towards the ocean, we kept expecting to see the shore, but there always seemed to be another ridge blocking our view. It was an unexpected gem and well worth the drive and €4 for parking. Another surprise was the restaurant we picked on the way back to the car for lunch. The moules et frites were a wonderful treat. This meal set us up for the next adventure in getting to La Rochelle. The dune was a bit out of the way, and we had to retrace our steps back to Bordeaux and around the ring road to get onto the A10 heading north.

Great Dune of Pyla

 Up until this time, the GPS had all of our hotels listed in and so we didn't give it a second thought to check for the hotel in La Rochelle. As we were getting closer, there was not sign of it listed on the screen. Entering the suburbs of La Rochelle, we tried a hotel in the same chain of hotels and let her take us there. Driving in any city can be confusing and stressful as it is all new with ins and outs all over the place. Well we passed by the train station, and then down a main boulevard to wards the old harbour.

Harbour in La Rochelle

 As we turned into a square we saw the Ibis hotel, and luckily found a place to pull over. I got out to plead for help from the nice woman at the front desk. She pulled out a map and traced the route to our hotel, which included a stretch right through a normally pedestrian only block.

Grosse Horloge in La Rochelle, and our hotel in the background (green sign)

 The desk clerk said it would be fine since we had reservations at the hotel. Steve was hesitant, but I said we need to go for it, and with a few strange looks and a comment or two from the street performer on the high unicycle, we made it across to our hotel. The next challenge was to find parking, which can sometimes be a problem when you stay in the centre of cities. The parking lot we were sent to was closed for the set up of a festival or performance, so we kept trying further away. The main parking lot in town was full, and we kept going as our frustration level was rising.

Us in La Rochelle

 We finally made an illegal left turn and down the wrong way down the ramp into a large parking area, which at the time we thought was in the middle of nowhere. Trolling up and down the rows, we finally found one of the few empty spots. The next challenge was figuring out how to use the parking meter. You only had to pay for parking between 9:00 am and 12:00 and then again from 2:00 to 6:30 pm. Overnight was free. So I put in enough coins to get us through until 9:00 am the next morning. Then we headed back to the hotel on foot, finding that the walk was less than 15 minutes. Not so bad after all.  The next morning, I headed out before breakfast to check the car, and discovered that the largest part of the parking lot was free all the time, and at this early hour, there were a few empty spots, so we were able to solve our parking dilemma. So even though our introduction to La Rochelle was slightly tarnished by the parking issue, we quickly got over it as we discovered what a lovely town it is. La Rochelle is a harbour town that has been redeveloped into a tourist treat. Along the harbour front are shops, restaurants, bars, stalls selling tourist and artisan items and street performers. In the older part of town leading up from the harbour are more shops, boutiques and a bustling market place. It is a wonderful town to wander in.

Vern at the Plage de la Concurrence

 There is even a beach just off the main part of the harbour. Across the bay are two islands to continue a beach type holiday. We hear the aquarium is a destination, but it is not our cup of tea. We are so glad that during the endless parking lot search we didn't just keep going home in desperation.

Friday was departure day, and after filling up at the breakfast buffet at the hotel,  we were back up the same streets to return to the car. We enjoyed the scenic drive home and while travel is fun, it is always nice to come home. It wasn't long home that we were planning our next adventure, a few days in Paris in early August.

We have also had the first visit by the plumber who came by to fix our water heater. Well he did arrive, but he had recently lost his credit card, and didn't realized that he would have to drill a hole in the wall, and leaving for Blackpool tomorrow, he thought it best to postpone the new tank until next Monday. After a pot of tea and sharing travel adventures Gary was on his way, and we were back to writing, gardening, painting........ We will just have to keep emptying the drip pan for one more week.

Les Potins

As we continue to settle into the small town France lifestyle, we have come to a realization that a fair share of our conversations include our neighbours. Anytime we hear a commotion out on the street we are drawn to the window or doorway as if there is some sort of magnetic pull. Where is the neighbour's wife and daughter, are our other neighbours out for their morning or evening stroll with their dog, who are the new father/son in #1 Rue Andrè Brissiaud, who owns the two barking dogs down our street, even Barry and his wife, who haven't even arrived fit into our speculation about the Faubourg Chapterie. The small things in life our now what keep us going. The arrival of the new vacuum in the post today was a cause for celebration. We finally had the opportunity to talk to and introduce ourselves to Carl and Samantha, who live in the little house by the train tracks. He has offered his supply of tools if there is anything we need. We will have to sweet talk him as the two trees that are going to be obscuring our view are on his property. Hopefully he has a saw to at least trim the tops of them. Also, we briefly chatted with the English owners of the house we rented two summers ago, Janet and Chris. They are the ones are responsible for us making the leap across the ocean. Nice to meet them after only dealing with them online. After gardening, I was sitting out on the back terrace listening to Wimbeldon on the radio, who would have thought...

While not much happens in our small town, July 13 and 14 are one of the exceptions. Bastille Day is the highlight of the year. It starts on the eve of the big day with a big fireworks display and followed by the firefighters party. This year as last, we watched the fireworks from our little deck with our friends, Linda and Andrew. After the smoked cleared we headed down the hill to the party. With wine only a euro, we continued where we had left off back up in the house. It was a great evening as we we bumped into Janet and Chris  again, and they introduced us to their friends, Audrey and her husband, who introduced us to a Canadian, Christopher and his Irish wife Barbara and his mother, from Cambridge, Ontario.  Our circle is becoming larger. We will see Christopher again on Sunday afternoon as he is performing some of his music, along with cover tunes at the pub. The evening continued with several glasses of euro wine and dancing and just a whole lot of small town French fun. We returned home for a night cap and a late bed time.

Night Cap

Friday started a little slowly. After a night of wine drinking, we were both a little under the weather. But after a lie in and we got out for a walk through the farmers fields to a mill site just out of town. We found a place in the shade overlooking the river and a small homestead. We watched the farmer feed his donkeys with a little orphaned duckling following him where ever he went. He came out to ask us if we had see un chat gris who I guessed hadn't return home. The day ended with more drinks with our neighbours before they flew back to England. We are turning into quite social butterflies.

Saturday was a day with a mission. We needed to get to the bank to order more cheques because we either misplaced the few we had left or forgot them back at home. This wasn't a difficult job, as the young man at the bank's English filled in any gaps in my French.

Sitting down by the river.

The difficult thing was we needed a cheque right now. He understood and was able to make out the cheque. Success. The cheque was important as we had reserved a car at the local grocery store for next week. They require a security cheque be left until we return. Since we had already booked the hotel rooms and it was too late to cancel the car without a penalty, the cheque the bank wrote for us was well worth the service charge.

A quiet country lane.

We are off to Bordeaux for a few days, only about a 2.5 hour drive from here. Then on to the largest sand dune in Europe, as we head north along the Atlantic coast to La Rochelle for a two nights in a seaside town. On Friday morning we will head back here to Bellac to get caught up on any gossip, potins, that we might have missed while we were away.

As we put the final touches on this week's blog, we realize that we will have to do a better taking pictures, so just be patient with us.  We also want to publish a new blog at least every Saturday. I think if I set a deadline, I might actually get something done. Which reminds me, the plumber is coming next week for the water tank, and we found a contractor who is going to look at what he might be able to do for our back deck so there will at least be some pictures of our short trip and of the new water tank to look forward to. The tentative date for the new deck is sometime in August so for those of you planning a visit next summer, it will be already for you.

A local farm.

Steve's latest purchases

Sunflowers

Riv Vincou

La très bonne vie!

We had four goals for our summer of 2017.
1) repair the water heater leak
2) plan what to do with the back patio/yard/deck
3) eat out a bit more
4) speak more French

My Lunch in Montrol Senard

Well we are well on our way to tackling #1 and #3. Yesterday,  Gary, our plumber, came by to look at the water tank leak and made a diagnosis of its future or lack of a future. We will be leak free in a week or so. He is like a typical contractor and we can't pin him down to an exact date but there are only so many English speaking plumbers in this part of France, so we don't rock the bateau. As with #3, we have had 3 excellent lunches out with our guests, Marion and Heather. The first lunch was at Le Palais right here in Bellac. Even though Google rates it only 1.5 stars, we had a very nice lunch with salads and croque-monsieurs with an excellent side of frites. They were very good and the service was good as well. It was a nice shady lunch on a hot day. Day two was a step up at La Table du Lavoir in Montrol Senard, a small village near by. This was a bit of a gourmet lunch with excellent service and delicious food. We wish we were hungrier, as we only had an entrèe, the plats looked excellent, and the lemon pie was a bit hit. Wednesday took us to Limoges and the heat drove us into Le Versailles restaurant. This air-conditioned restaurant was typical French, and we had the 3 course menu, gazpacho or patè for the entrèe, beef or fish for the plat, and then chocolate mousse or a soufflé wrapped in a crepe. It was a delicious treat. 

Steve's Dessert

Our gourmand tour continued on Friday for dinner. We have heard about the Creperie du Vincou since we have been coming to Bellac. This was our first venture inside. We now wonder why we waited so long. The selection went way beyond crepes, and we discovered that they are famous for their meats. Steaks and lamb were cooked to perfection and served with either your choice of poivre or bèarnaise sauce and of course avec frites. The quiche entrèe was mouthwatering and the tarte au apricots was a big hit. Steve tried a crepe with cheese, ham and potatoes for his entrèe and it was a hit as well, but just a bit too big for an entrée. We left the restaurant feeling full and satisfied but still very hot.... With each meal the deliciousness increased as did the temperature....

As with all good things in life there must be change. Well our change was our guests had to move on. Marion and Heather left on Saturday morning for Mont St. Michel, Caen and then Amsterdam and we were left eating on our own.  These two excellent guests set the bar very high for those of you who follow. We thank all of our guests who brought a small token gift from home to leave as a reminder for us of their visit, and so far the gifts have been very practical, and some we're not sure if they are new or our age is showing :-).
We love the Australian mugs (for our morning coffee) and plates, the wine tumblers (hope we don't wear them out) and the stylish shopping bags.

Steve, Heather and Vern

Marion and Steve

Heather and Marion

Their departure did allow us to take care of a few things, like get a new washing machine. Steve had done some shopping on line to get some ideas and prices, but our neighbour recommended a stop in the local appliance store before we did anything. Well later that same afternoon, we walked our of the shop proud new owners of a lave-linge. When we got home we had to get ready for the same afternoon delivery. This meant taking out the old machine. As we took the hose off the machine, we realized that someone turned off the water, and then it struck us that this might be the problem. We quickly called back the shop to hold the delivery, and ran a quick cycle with the water on, but the same problem. So it was back on the phone and told them we were ready for the the new machine. The young man was quickly here with the new machine, which we carried down the hall into place. He set it up for us, and in our Frenglish he explained the workings of the lave-linge. Not only did he deliver the new machine, he took away the old machine. Great service and if you are ever in need of an appliance in this neighbourhood, we would highly recommend Pulsat.

Now with a few loads of laundry cleaned, dried and put away, the storms rolled in. Saturday's l'orage was more le tonnerre and l'eclair, while Sunday's had beaucoup de la pluie aussi. I did get into the garden to begin the weeding amid the storms and now we have a better idea of what we have. The tomatoes are coming along very well, ready to pick one or two that are ripening on the vine nicely. There are many more right behind. We have figured out how to pick lettuce and the stems left behind are now filling up with nice leafy greens. There are some peppers, cucumbers and strawberries growing well. Our next challenge will be to discover new ways to harvest and preserve the vegetables of our labour. Thanks to Rob and Tric for getting it all started back in May.

Our plans are for a short getaway next week to Bordeaux, highly recommended by Heather and Marion, and then a day at the beach in La Rochelle. We just have to make sure we work around our plumber's busy schedule. Like the soup Nazi, we don't want to upset him. We are also having our second annual Bastille Day fireworks party on Thursday evening. There is an excellent view of the feux d'artifice from our balcon.

So la bonne vie passes slowly and peacefully here in Bellac. Steve is just out the door for the first of his country walks, and I sit here writing but the weeds won't wait.....

Nous sommes ici!

Steve at the pub.

Well it is now Sunday, July 2 at just after 8:00 in the evening, or should I say 20 h et nous sommes ici. Not only are we here, we have prepared the house for our guests who arrive tomorrow, chatted with our friends, Linda and Andrew, who also keep care of the house while we aren't here, had a few pints at the pub, and enjoyed the concert of a duo playing an eclectic mix of music. It doesn't take much to slip back into the life of Bellac. We even had a nap this afternoon, but that might have something to do with the jet lag. 

The jet lag was a result of a Canada Day from hell. I left Port Coquitlam around 10:20 am on Friday and took a bus, sky train, another bus and then Canada Line to get to the airport. Steve left Waterloo about the same time 1:00 pm, with a 2 hour drive on the 401 on an Airways van. His flight was Air France direct to Paris and I was on a KLM flight to Amsterdam and then a connecting flight to Paris. We spent Canada arriving in Europe. While I breezed through


customs and on to my connecting flight, Steve spent 1.5 hours waiting in the customs line in Paris. This cut down on the time waiting for me, but my connecting flight was 20 minutes late. We met at the luggage carrousel through a hole in the security wall as if I was in prison. I gave Steve the details of our rental car, and by the time my bag came around the carrousel and got out to the cars, he had the keys and we were on our way.  Planes, Trains, Cars, Buses, and Vans II. 

So now it is almost 3:00 pm on Saturday, and we  up the GPS, and were on our way for the 5 hour drive to Bellac. You have to remember that Steve had no sleep on his flight, and I think I slept for a few hours, so the prospects of sleep were quite real. We made it out of the airport, and found the A104. By the time we passed the first gas station pull over, we pulled over for a quick nap, well Steve napped and I got a drink and some chips. The next stop, we changed drivers and with a snoring passenger, I set off. Later I started feeling a little sleepy and at one of the many rest stops, aires, we switched drivers again. Further down the toll highway, Steve needed a nap and we both slept for a while. After waking up, surprised that I even fell asleep, I asked the GPS where the closest motel was and programmed the stop. Before setting off, we went into the shops, and realized that Red Bull and a coffee might be the answer to our problems, and what a solution. This took us all the way for the next hour and a half to Bellac. A less expensive choice to a hotel room, and we did get home safely to sleep in our own bed.

Our first day was spent getting the feel for the house again, and waiting for the store to open. We discovered that our washing machine was making all the right noises, but not going through any motions. The towels we heavy with water after several spins. This meant a trip to the laundrette where we meet a nice Scottish woman who showed us how the French run a laundry. We chatted about washing machine repair with her, and this might be an option. We apologize to our guests who might have found the washing machine quite ineffective when they tried to use it. We are presently shopping for a new washer during the summer sales. 

After a nap for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

(Sorry but blogger and my computer are acting up, and so is my back, but I wanted to get something up and running. Keep checking back as I hope I can remaster how it all works very soon....)