Jours de chat de l'été...

Forgive me father.... oh, not really a confession, but I am sorry that I haven't been posting my blog lately. It just seems we are busy, but never seem to do anything. I have written bits and pieces, so now with less than a week to go for my summer, I will attempt to put them together in a coherent, entertaining prose.

vert provence

Back deck in prgress

I have been coming to terms with having only one week left here in France. I know I am very lucky to spend 9 weeks here each summer, but it is now time to gear down and savour the last few days. From our original to do list we still only have the back deck to finish. This was really only going to be a planning year, and find a contractor, but it has gone ahead. We have just heard from our contractor again and there are further delays as we wait for the wood and the deck will be done maybe on Wednesday? During construction, the chairs and table are all over the back yard, and we have to search for the little shade as the framed in deck sits in the shadiest part of the yard, but as the weather goes, we are seeking out any sun we can get... due to a unseasonably cool and cloudy early August. With the delay in the deck,  Steve has taken on painting a wall in the kitchen, as well as getting ready to paint the front window shutters, and our barn door, which we close up when we lock up the house each fall. We hope the touch of "vert provence" will enhance the "quartier".

Lac St. Pardoux

La Plage

We did rent the 'only car in the village' twice over the past few weeks and this gave us a chance to stock up on some of the heavy supplies. If you are planning a late summer visit, we have plenty of beer, wine, sparkling wine, sangria and sparkling water, but the way we are going through them, I can't judge how long the supply might last.  We have spent a couple of days at Lac de Pardoux. The large lake nestled in a forest is about 30 minutes away. It has several beaches, camp sites, sailing, water skiing along with a pool and waterslides. Our destination was one of the sandy beaches. Armed with our beach mats, towels and lunch, we were off.  The water was great, and the crowds were very manageable. After soaking up a bit of the bright sunshine, we retreated to the shade of the trees. Heading down for a quick dip every now and then was a great relief to the sunny days which have been in short supply this year. According to the locals, this has been one of the "worst" summers in a long time. On a different note, just a few days ago, our French friend, Laure, told us about the local uranium mining and how the lake bottom was contaminated and only tourists will swim there. Doing some research, it seems to be under control and all levels are within the "healthy" limits. There will be another test in the fall, so we will check back into it next year, unless we start to glow in the dark.

Last Wednesday, we were hiking in the mountains of Blond with the above mentioned our French friend, Laure and her daughter, Claire-Andrea. They took us to many of the famous "mégalithes" scattered across the mountains.  Now when they say Mount Blond, it is more of a bump in the road than a mountain as we know them, but still there is a fabulous view from the top of Mount Blond south towards Spain.  During our first summer here, we tried to find these sites on our own, along with friends, Sharon and Dennis. That year we were only able to find one of them, which turned out to be our final stop this year. Claire-Andrea had grown up in the mountains, so she was able to navigate the back roads to all of these very interesting pre-historic sites. These monuments date back as far as the Neolithic time through the Bronze Age. Now we have the map and the brochure, we are set to be better tour guides next time.

Fred and Ginger

Steve's "chatons" are doing well.  We have named them Fred and Ginger because Ginger is a ginger and white cat. The names are gender neutral as we think Fred is female and Ginger the male. They are growing quickly and are becoming less fearful of him and of our open kitchen window. I hope they will be ready to fend for themselves by the end of September when their surrogate mother heads for home.

Nazi Occupied France

Our good friends, Linda and Andrew had good news this week, as not only have they sold their house, the woman who bought it, has sold her house in England for cash, so the deal will move ahead quickly, well as quickly as things like this move in France. Other homes in the area have been on the market for years in some cases. They are off next week to view houses in southern Spain. We may be losing some great neighbours, but we are gaining a bedroom for Spanish holidays. They have already found a replacement for their services of keeping an eye on our place when we are back home in Canada. We are having a final dinner at their house on Thursday evening. We bought a bottle of one of their favourite wines, a very big splurge for $30.00 Canadian. (we could have bought about 10 bottles of a nice wine for that price or about 22 bottles of Steve's "vin mousse". They have told us stories from the war years here in Bellac, and the French resistance which was quite strong in this area. We heard about a hotel that was taken over by the Nazis which the resistance targeted with explosives several times.  This apparently angered the Nazis and it was not uncommon for them to take out their frustrations by shooting the locals. There are also tales of secret torture rooms that the resistance used when they captured Nazis and booby trapped safes. I can see a book in my future. ( I didn't say that I was going to write it, maybe just find an interesting history to read.)

Over the summer, we have been getting more adventurous with our cheese selections. We have moved from the basic cheese section in the grocery store to la charcuterie (deli).  We are able to buy just a un peu de cela and un peu de ça just in case we run into any type of cheese we don't like, which hasn't happened yet. On a recent dinner at Laure's apartment, we had a cheese course before the dessert, and tried a few cheeses that we wouldn't have been to fearful to try on our own. It will be hard to go back home to the expensive cheeses, but there is nothing quite like a nice old cheddar.

Sangria

As Labour Day draws near, I have my last to do list written, with the most important to do item is to enjoy my remaining time in Bellac. We have a concert at the pub tonight, which will be a great evening after a morning in the garden getting it ready for winter.  We have harvested the final tomatoes that were planted for us by Robert and Tric back in May. There are still a few peppers both green and hot spicy on the vine. With the deck construction, there are a few plants along the edge of the old deck that have seen better days unfortunately. So just a friendly reminder if you were thinking of visiting the house before we arrive, the Topsfields set the bar very high for getting the garden ready this past May for our arrival.

The final few days and the week ahead have seen a return to summer weather. We, like many French without air-conditioning have closed up the shutters and are doing our best to keep the cool inside. In fact we have been inside all afternoon on this Sunday with the exception of bringing in the laundry. We are planning on still heading down the hill to the pub for a couple of cold beers as we enjoy a final Sunday afternoon concert. At least the house will be cool on our return. And yes it was. The duo that was playing at the pub was a quartet last summer. They were ok, but too many self-reflective downer type songs instead of some up beat pop. I'm sure they play for tips and drinks, so we get what we pay for. After one drink, we were ready to trek back up the hill to home, with the vision of a cool beer out on in our jardin. If I'm lucky, I will find time during a busy week to post one last time next Saturday before my train to Charles de Gaulle airport. Enjoy the last week of "summer".