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