Lazy Sunday (Dimanche paresseux)

As the sun rises on Sunday, July 17, all is calm here in Bellac. It is just over two weeks since I arrived here in France, and we have been to the Tour de France, three different performances at the Festival, two football games at the pub and had neighbours over to watch Bastille Day fireworks from our balcony. I have tamed the back garden by clearing out many of the weeds and vines that overtook large areas. I have also added some colour with some bedding plants and a hydrangea while Steve continues his work in the attic to get the extra room ready for our next visitors. (In fact we now have two bookings for next year already!) The hydrangea was looking a little ravaged at the garden centre, but the woman at the store ensured us that it was just a few escargots that had their way with it. With a 4 euro discount and the fact that it fit into our shopping bag so we could carry it home, it became ours.  

Just writing about it makes me tired, but interspersed with the many improvements we have made to La Maison, we have had time to enjoy the village with many walks and time to sit in the park or on church steps and soak in the atmosphere. The weather has been great with nice warm temperatures and other than a brief shower, there has been no rain since my arrival. We are entering a hot week with highs of 35 predicted later this week. The thick walls of the house do their work by keeping it quite cool. Downstairs in the kitchen you sometimes need a sweater. Along with the sunshine, there is usually a nice breeze which moderates the temperature. Il y a une brise agréable aujourd'hui. 

There was a kids' wading pool stored down by our garden shed that we brought up to fill with water.  We cleaned it and fixed a few cracks in it and hope it will hold the water. Also, la picine municipale will be a retreat from the heat. This year there will be no pictures of us in our bathing suits. (see my blog post from last year : "Quand en France").  

We have booked a week away next week to Carcasonne, an ancient medieval village about 4 hours south of here. Along the way there are many villages and attractions to stop at. We might even find time to canoe along the Dordogne River. It is a little touristy, but will be a nice break from the historical villages we will spend the rest of our time visiting.

Another wonderful meal

Before that we have one more quiet week here in Bellac. If it is not too hot, we will do some painting in the attic, and we have the electrician coming on Wednesday to install an extra switch in the attic so you can turn out the light when you are upstairs instead of coming down stairs and then going back up in the dark. The things we do for our potential guests.

This evening the pub below us is bringing back their "concerts". A group is playing this afternoon at 5pm. It will be nice to walk down and have something refreshing and cold and watch some live music. Dinner tonight will be moules et pâtes avec sauce pesto. A vin blanc should go nicely with this. 

Well that was then this is now. We headed down to the pub a bit early with the thought of a nice pre-drink walk. Well the band was warming up, so we headed to get a good seat and began with a pint of cider each which we needed to be refilled not long after. 

Sunday at the Pub.

The duo played the Eagles, English drinking songs, Sonny and Cher and..... It was a great way to end a lazy Sunday afternoon. We came home for an incredible meal as mentioned above. It was even better after a few ciders and white wine. The pain ordinaire topped off the excellent meal. After dinner drinks were had on the back deck with the view we will never tire of. As the sun begins to set, I watered my bedding plants and the vegetable garden and we retired to the house to Skype with family back in Canada. On coming home, we found we were recorded in the Cafe Pont de la Pierre Bellac's video on their Facebook live video feed. Check us out. 

We will republish with pictures tomorrow, today for some of you, yesterday for others.......

Bastille Day

We sit here on the afternoon before Bastille Day, July 14. I was busy in the garden this morning clearing out even more weeds and overgrowth. I think our neighbour was getting upset with our weeds seeding his vegetable garden. It was a big improvement out there, but you can't really see the difference. The "lawn" area is still not centre court at Wimbledon, and probably will never be, but each day there are a few less weeds to go to seed. The gardens are looking better and our vegetable garden is showing some life now with our cucumbers and lettuce beginning to sprout. It won't be much of a salad bar, but it is the first time I have tried to grow vegetables. Friday, I will buy a pack of wild flower seeds, to fill in the back garden with some more colours. 

Le Lavoir in Alloue

It seems quiet now in Bellac, as the Euro 2016 is over, too bad about France losing to Portugal, as is the arts festival. With this in mind, we began to plan a few trips away. Also, now that my brother Harold and his wife, Tanya are off the to Caribbean instead of the Mediterranean, we have some time on our hands. Carcassonne, a medieval village and then Narbonne on the Mediterranean for a few days. Later in August, we are off to Bayeux to visit the D-Day beaches along the English Channel. 

For the past two days we rented a car from the local grocery store. Monday brought back memories of our drives through the French countryside discovering quaint and interesting villages and towns. Nanteuil en Vallee, Confolens, and St. Germain de Confolens were great stops with different ambiances to offer the tourist. We started in a village called Alloue. The town has a great little pâtisserie where we got a pastry for our picnic lunch. All of this was within about 50 kms of Bellac; new and interesting places to visit.

Steve and hollyhocks

We also used the car to stock up on the heavy and bulky types of groceries such as two cases of Steve's infamous sparkling wine (champagne) for 1.32 per bottle, a few boxes of wine, case of beer, just the essentials. We bought a few new chairs, some glasses and a fire screen at the Maximum, a used furniture and house.We finished the two days with a trip out to the east of the city and discovered a new local chateau

and an artist village, Rancon. We had been through the village before, but never have stopped. There are several artists studios and a new bar. 

Chateau Drouilles

An update to a March story, I

just got back my bank card which was eaten by the local bank machine on the first time I tried to use it. Credit Mutual has a great web site where you email your bank manager, and the team got me the new card, and my new PIN number which I got correct this time and all is good.

Tonight we are hosting a fireworks party. Linda and Andrew, our neighbours and house sitters are coming over along with 2 of their friends. Here in Bellac they have the fireworks on Bastille Day eve, around 10:30 tonight. It was a great show and one a major city would be proud of, and not just a small town in central France. Even better it was all right off our balcony. A great night was had by all. Plan now for next years spectacular by booking with us very soon. 

 

Not just another day...

Now that the blog is cleaned up, thanks to Steve, and we are back home with Blogger it is time to get into some routines. Writing, gardening, staying out of the hot sun, eating, drinking, walking, just to name a few will all need to be fitted in to our days. Also, we have the attic, (le grenier) to work on. We discovered a carpet rolled up in the street a few days past, and dragged it home. On inspection, it had one small stain which we think will come out, and a frayed corner, but otherwise it will work great up dans le grenier. It is amazing what you find piled up on the streets around here. We also found the legs to our coffee table for the living room in the street, so we finally were able to get rid of the toaster oven box. We left the stuffed heron wear it laid, as it has seen better days. 

That's me on the left in the France t shirt.

Once a month, you are able to put out your dead stuff for collection by whom ever and what ever is left is picked up by the city trucks. It is quite green here, the garden clippings are picked up every Wednesday morning, and there are several recycle centres near by for the glass, plastic and paper. 

Alexi Evans

There is lots to do here in Bellac at the moment. We are in the middle of the 63rd Festival National du Bellac, that has concerts each night at the theatre, and then free concerts later in the theatre's garden. We went to see Alexis Evans on Wednesday night, an R&B trio which put on an excellent 90 minute show. Last night we skipped the theatre so I could watch the France/Germany football match in the pub at the bottom of the hill. It is amazing to sit outside by the river in the shadow of a 12 century church watching the game on a big screen tv, cheering along with the French fans. Allez Allez

Later on Friday, there is a market down by the river and of course the 10 pm concert. We saw Bukatribe perform. They are 4 guys singing a cappella with beat box. We weren't sure whether we would enjoy the show, but it was another great evening at the festival as enjoyed by a large crowd. Sunday will be a busy day here as the festival takes over the river park with a day of family entertainment, then we have the Wimbledon final with Raonic and Murray and then finally the final of the Euro 2016 between France and Portugal. Gee I have to go back to the pub. 

Bukatribe in concert

Being without a regular car this summer, we thought we might take the train into Limoges to get a car a few times to get away. Now we have discovered that our local grocery store, Carrefours, which we knew offered rental trucks like U-Haul does, also has a car to rent.  We will try it out on Monday and Tuesday. We need to pick up a few large grocery items, and do some touring to some new near-by villages. If it works well, we will try it for a few longer outings.

We are also learning that insurance companies don't make life easy for their clients. I am trying to fill in the forms for Steve's dental treatment, but they want everything translated, and copies, and , and...... of course we don't have a printer, and they want paper copies and not digital. Also trying to claim a few incidentals from Air France to make up for ma valise being 4 days late, (well only 3, but we had to go to the Tour de France instead of wait for the delivery). Here's hoping the applications go through. 

Steve editing my blog

The time just rolls by with visits to the market, walks to neigbouring villages, the grocery and hardware stores, reading and what ever else strikes our fancy.  I can now really be a gardener as the first of my cucumbers have poked their heads out of the soil, Hopefully the lettuce will not be long behind. We are looking forward to entertaining for the first time next week as we host nos voisins for the Jour de Bastille fire works on Wednesday night. They are launched from the park just below us, so we have a great view if last year was any indication. We will be serving some escargots that we bought at the market today as an snack. Also, we stopped by the swimming pool to check on the hours for the summer, and that might be a great place to cool off very soon as the hot sunny weather continues. (not as hot as last year, but very pleasant) The metéo predicts no rain at least for the next week and highs up to 30. 

Our little oasis

We have created a nice shady backyard retreat for ourselves on these sunny afternoon. Notre terrasse has shade for most of the afternoon. It does get the sun again around dinner time, but who can complain.

Oh ohhhhh, Trouble in Paradise

Oh ohhhhhh, owwwwwwwwie, so woke up Friday with a bit of a mouth ache, I’ve been known to grind my teeth at night, but, by Saturday I realized this was an actual tooth ache, a back molar, sore to bite and chew on, hmmmmm, what to do. Google it of course, looked for local dentists, maybe English speaking????? Nope, but at least there were several french only speaking clinics within a 10 minute walking distance, but what were their hours????? All closed on weekends, nearest emergency dental clinic a train ride plus bus ride away, how bad was the pain, hmmmm. Decided to hold out, fortunately Vern insisted I pack some heavy duty painkillers (with codeine) just in case, because you never know.

With a quick call to my dentist in Coquitlam I was able to get some info on my teeth, problem tooth was a root canal done 15 years ago, OMG, root canal, how bad can that be, I have extended travel insurance, so any expenses would be covered. How much is a trip to the dentist, x-rays, drillings, root canals, stay calm, stay calm. Well thanks to the painkillers (side effects of constipation, nothing a few croissants with butter couldn’t help), I was able to hold out until Monday morning, with a plan of attack, I started with the closest, Unfortunately not able to see a dentist until Tuesday at 9:30am, could I do better, headed to next clinic, no appointments until the following week, hmmm, it seemed 1 more day was indeed lucky. So how did things work out, terrific, my assigned dentist spoke no English but I realized I was able to understand most of what he was explaining (some charades were involved). In the chair, a few pokes, a few instant digital x-rays, and we were able to diagnose/see an infection (une infection dentaire) surrounding said root canal tooth, his smile was more than enough to convince me that with a week’s worth of antibiotics, some anti-inflammatories, some dental floss sticks and medicinal mouth wash (solution de bouche) after every meal, that I would be much better by next week. So after another booked rendez-vous for the following Wednesday, he seemed to assure me that the infection should be gone and my tooth no longer aching (mal aux dents). Fingers crossed, I’ll keep you posted. So what did it cost, well using my Superstore credit card, the dentist was 23.00€, the drugs+dental products+laxitives 24.00€, plus pain relief, priceless (inestimable)!!!! So far :-}

Off to a Busy Start

It it now Wednesday, July 6 just before 9hr. (9:00am) It is a beautiful morning, and I enjoyed my first morning coffee on our balcony overlooking the village.

Petit déjeuner

Steve and I have been busy since my arrival on Saturday afternoon. Along with trying to track down the missing suitcase, and arrange delivery, we have been gardening, and putzing about.

The first big job was the garden. I began to clean out the overgrown vines and weeds along our fence with the neighbour. You couldn't see that I had cleaned up the garden, and edged it back in March when the hyacinths were in bloom. It is amazing how nature takes over, its just too bad it doesn't take over with wild flowers or other attractive growths. I worked down the fence towards the "garden" area. The previous owner had covered the patch with black plastic, so I began to pull back the blanket. There were a few roots, but the plastic had performed well, with the exception that it didn't keep out the ants. I uncovered quite a nest. Using every tool in my shed, I got a small plot of the garden ready to plant. I probably should read up on how to plant lettuce and cucumbers, but it will be an "adventure". I do have a neighbour, and tried to emulate his garden at least in looks. If the seeds fail, the plant store had lettuce plants I could always transplant. The ants seem to have found new accommodations, so I don't have to use the ant killer, which probably wouldn't have been a wise move in a vegetable garden.

Along with the vegetable garden, I took and cleaned out the flower pots and planted some impatiens, geraniums and petunias. I also bought a lavender plant, since we are in France, so now the deck looks a bit better. Some day we will have to redo it, but it works just fine. Steve and I also tried to fix my rain barrel. The facet leaked, leaving no rain water in the barrel. We will add this to the ongoing repair list, as the first attempt failed.... back to Brico Marché (the local Home Depot).

Along with work in the garden, the past few days have been topped up with walks through the village to the grocery, garden and hardware stores. Also, we stopped by the pub on Sunday night to watch France defeat Iceland.

Yesterday, the Tour de France passed through Le Dorat, the next village along the train line. Eleven minutes later we wandered up through the village to find the course. Being such a small village, it wasn't hard to find, also the loud music and racing cars of the "Caravan" gave away its location. The Caravan is a very quickly moving parade of the sponsors of the Tour. They pass by tossing out advertising souvenirs to the crowds that have gathered early along the road way. The family next to us were chasing down anything that came their way, and filled the shopping bags that other sponsors had already tossed out. You had to be aware of incoming flying souvenirs, as most tried to toss them to your feet, but others were at face level. I was able to catch a France flag with BIC advertising on one side, and a squishy cow key chain from the official cheese or milk sponsor. The elderly woman sitting next to us looked longingly at it, so I offered it to her. A few items fell and bounced off Steve, but they were quickly scooped up by an gentleman standing next to us. All is fair in love and Tour de France "stuff".

With time to kill before the actual race, we headed back to the village square and enjoyed a beer or two before returning to our position at the intersection of the D4bis, D675 et Rue Robert Laypayrière.  Near the estimated time, the front 4 cyclists raced past our location accompanied by their entourage of cars. This was followed very soon by the peloton. We had our cameras ready, but it was an event where we should have just witnessed and not tried to record it. The peloton moved by so fast, that all I really can remember of the event was the rush of air they generated. But looking back at my pictures and video, it was an amazing, but short lived event.

Steve in the Fountain Square

After the race we spent some time wandering the village again before the train trip back to home. In the brocante shop (flea market) Steve found a pair of binoculars at a great price. It was a perfect afternoon out. On our walk back from the train station home, we stopped by another second hand store to see if they had any curtains for us to use in the attic room to break up the space. We found 4 panels for only 15 euros. A great deal considering the Eco-mart had one panel for 10 euros. You never know what you will find in Richocette.

So today, I have updated this blog, updated my I phone, done some laundry, went for a nice country walk, and now we still wait for ma valise. During the phone call on Monday we arranged for delivery on Wednesday after 2. They were going to deliver it yesterday. So what started out to be delivery on Sunday, turned to Tuesday, and we had to postpone it to Wednesday. I still won't believe it until I see the bag..... and now I see it. It was a great relief when the delivery van arrived with the suitcase. As I had broken a few rules such as having my prescription pills in the bag, ( I did have enough until Saturday with me), and I meant to take a picture of the bag, and ensure my name and address were inside the bag in case the luggage tag went missing, but one gets busy.....