Well, it’s a rainy day in France, so I can afford to catch up on blogs.  Also, I finally found an adaptor that will work with my computer’s 3 prong plug… forgot that it isn’t a 2 prong.

Friday, Estelle and I went to a “Stretching” class.  It was nice to exercise after a sort of start and stop couple of days of traveling and adjusting to a new time zone.  I enjoyed the workout, and I enjoyed that I was able to follow most of the French directions… so a good morning, indeed.  Next, we drove over to my house to see the state of affairs since winter tenants.  I don’t know what I expected, but my friends who were lovely tenants left everything in ship-shape order.  The garden hadn’t been touched since December, but we were able to clear the weeds in about half an hour.  Inside, everything was neat and dry.  The only really strange thing for me was that the furniture in every room had been rearranged.  Some of the changes were improvements, but it was just so odd to walk into each room having no idea what to expect.  The previous tenants had also left me various odds and ends so I have a new small dresser in the dining room for plates and things, a couple of new lamps, and a rather abysmal needlepoint picture… the jury is still out on that one.

Sadly, plumbing has been a curse at the house – so I discovered that both toilets were on the blink.  And it looked like the roof may have leaked in the upstairs bedroom, also an ongoing battle, but later investigation revealed perhaps the roof is ok.  Oh, I hope.

Friday night we headed to a young French woman’s house for a sort of housewarming dinner.  We were there with a couple from England who are actually going to rent my house this summer, and the young woman’s new boyfriend.

Dinner was an assortment of tapas which we weren’t sure if that was the meal or the entree into the meal.  Several hours and bottles later, we were to understood that this was indeed the meal.  I kept finding myself wondering if there was an In and Out anywhere on our route home because all of these little crudite bits just weren’t going to cut it…. no such luck.  That’s not to say the meal wasn’t delicious.  It is to say that I could have been more judicious with my libation intake.

I also spent a portion of the night speaking (in French – huzzah!) to the young (i.e. very young) boyfriend.  Now I am being teased terribly that I was a Mrs. Robinson of sorts, monopolizing this boy all evening.  And in my defense, let me just say… 1) he wasn’t even my type, 2) we were both stuck seated in the corner, and 3) he didn’t speak much English – which is what we were all speaking – so when he discovered I could muddle my way through a conversation in French, he wouldn’t let go.  This situation has been much commented on for the past few days…. hoping it will all be forgotten soon.

Saturday, we went to the morning at Sommieres – as did everyone and his wife, according to Estelle.  Parking took forever, we had to squeeze through the crowds, and there were enormously long lines everywhere!  We finally parked ourselves at a cafe and waited to meet up with my friends and former neighbors who happened to be in town from Cambodia.

Ach!  Have spent too much time on the computer, and I am being sought after.  Which means rain may have slackened and I need to go help with the hay for the horses.

As ever,

K. Quinn