Back in Kentucky

We flew back to Kentucky yesterday (I say "we flew", that's an oversimplification). Had to get up early, drive to Bordeaux, return the car, take a plane to Paris (Roissy CDG), change terminals, walk several miles, take another plane to Atlanta (10 hours in a sardine can), go through immigration and customs and go back through security (third time for the day) but THIS time I unfortunately had a small bottle of water I'd purchased at CDG, and then we flew to Lexington, Martin met us and drove us home. It was a long day, but I read Sarah Waters's book The Little Stranger on the flight. The airlines seem to have thought of yet more ways to get money out of people. First, it turns out that Air France will promise you a seat with actual leg room on a flight if you pay them an extra 50 euros. Second, it appears that Delta has reduced the weight you are allowed, even as a Medallion flyer--I suspect effective July 1--as what we brought back actually weighed LESS THAN what we took, and we got hit with a 50 euro overweight charge.

And THEN, to add insult to injury, on the translatlantic flight, they are no longer allowing free booze in economy class (aka "Sardine" class). You can have either one can of beer or one glass of wine with your meal without paying extra, but spirits and extra beer or wine comes with a hefty price tag. They do still let you have water without paying extra.

I shouldn't complain; the flights themselves were uneventful and they didn't lose any of our luggage.

A followup to the wedding: Jim Krupa seems to have hung the big sign that says "Drop off location for wedding" (or whatever exactly it is) in the barn at the door to the biggest chicken coop.

Back in Kentucky it is typical July weather: hazy, hot and humid. People in southwest france complain when the humidity gets up over 50%--it does get very hot, but always seems to cool off so sleeping is comfortable--and I always tell them they should visit Kentucky in the summertime.

Lillie

Night market, Cadouin, July 27

So we went to the night market at Cadouin again tonight. Lots of fun, good food, although the oyster guy has apparently lost his lease on his spot because of problems with his source or problems with its lack of germs or something (sob...I did want oysters...). so I had moules frites again, some wine, the local plonk (e.g., Bergerac rose chilled and Bergerac red, not chilled). It is, I must say, not a bad way to spend an evening. Ken and Val Day were there, as were Paul and Pam. None of the other usual suspects. Phil had this dish that is a piece of pain de campagne (country bread) with a disk of goat cheese, a couple of walnuts, and a drizzle of acacia honey on it, heated up in a microwave (micro-onde, sounds better in French, but what you'd do in another setting is put it in an oven or grill over a fire). I had to settle for a crepe with Grand Marnier, which I guess isn't too bad (the bread/goat cheese/walnut/honey concoction was gone by the time I wanted it, and I did NOT want a whole one, so....)

Tomorrow will be crazy. Gotta go to the bank and sort things out there. Phil has to stay here and sort things out with the technician who will deal with the sewer (I hope; Phil knows quite a lot of French but doesn't communicate all that well with the locals who speak Occitan; I don't either, but it's a bit easier for me, I must say, so maybe he won't get here until after I get back).

Have to get some more bread, to make smoked salmon sandwiches for Wednesday (Delta flight, NOT Air France, we leave from Bordeaux at 1:30 p.m., go to CDG, and leave there at 4 something, on Delta, need FOOD...). These will go along with our pate en croute from the boucherie on the square in Lalinde, e.g., the one with the wonderful meats in it (almost certainly pork and duck, along with pistachios and Lord only knows what else) and the foie gras down the middle. If you have to suffer on a trans-Atlantic trip, you might as well eat well, I always figure.

And then we are going to Ken and Val Day's for lunch (12:30 for 1:00, as the Brits always say...), a swim maybe, and whatever. I need to get a great deal done before we go there, because I probably won't get much done after we get back. So there.

The weather has been gorgeous. Hot in the daytime, but not too hot, and what they consider humid here is NOT what I consider humid (although 88 and 65% humidity is a bit uncomfortable, but it's been that hot only ONE day since I've been here, and FOUR days since we've been here, what with me and Martin going to England and all that). Nothing like the HHH days we get in Kentucky (hazy, hot and humid), and NOTHING AT ALL like the dreadful heat and humidity in Texas. It has NEVER been so hot and humid at night that it was hard to sleep.

According to my sources (all British), it is lovely here until usually late November, when it gets cold and damp. Like you can eat outside in the evening in September, October and some of November. So there. Does anybody out there want to come over here with me later (but not much later) this year?

Do I want to teach this year/next semester/next year? Don't know...life is short, and I fear I'm not bored yet...

Best, Lillie

sewers and other chores

It seems they are going to put a sewer through our street here, sometime this fall. Jeannette told me I needed to go have a chat with the Mairie about it; I have been putting this off because I HATE having to talk business type things with people in French. Turned out, it wasn't so bad. I went in, finally got the lady there to understand what I wanted to discuss, and she said, oh, it'll happen, November or December, you don't have to do anything. They will put a tap-on line (but she called it something else) in for you; you don't have to do anything. And then I said we won't be here in November and December, and this put it in a bit of a different light. So she went and got a "technician (some big guy named Jean)" and told him, and he asked where I lived. I told him the name of the street and said I was between Mme. Dumas and M. Esteve, and he said ah, in the little house up at the top of the stairs, and I said yes. So he is coming to have a look tomorrow morning. I assume he will show up.

And then there are the keys. Which are expensive, and one of them didn't work, so I had to take it back to get it re-ground. Fortunately I dealt with a guy who shall we say seemed more competent than the one last week. We'll see if the bloody thing actually works.

miscellaneous monday 27 july

We have to leave on Wednesday. I did (some) chores today. Turns out the bank is closed on Monday, so I have to go tomorrow. I need to take one of the keys back and get it re-done. I do hate that hardware store. Went to the post office to get them to forward our mail (about 1 bill/month, 2 max). It'll cost 100 euros, so I've got to go to plan b. The cartridges I bought for the HP 4280 printer we brought with us won't work, although it says on the box that they are for the HP 4280. And P can't find the set-up CD for the printer, I guess we're out of luck.

Had along chat with Jeannette yesterday. She's been keeping a low profile because she has sciatica. I understand completely; it's the pits. She was also telling me all about our neighbors across the street (in rapid Occitan/French, so I didn't catch a lot of it), and it is juicy. I am not going to disclose it here. I also commented that the lady does more laundry than anybody else I've ever seen, considering that it's just the two adults living there. To which Jeannette said, it's not all laundry; she always has a sheet or blanket positioned down there so Jeannette can't see into their kitchen. It's true; she showed me. He's been out a lot lately in his new "quad", which is basically a motorcycle for old men, with four wheels.

Our flight across the Atlantic on Wednesday is on Delta, not Air France, so food is in order. We're taking some of that wonderful pate en croute from the butcher in Lalinde, and also some smoked salmon sandwiches. For lunch today we had leftover new potatoes, lentilles de Puy (from the butcher) and stuffed tomatoes (also from the butcher). We're going to the night market at Cadouin tonight, and I do hope the oyster guy is there this time. Last time I had to make do with moules frites. Sad, isn't it.

I still have to visit the Mairie and tell them to include us in the sewer when they put the line through, and go get this key redone. And wash more clothes. And pack. And finish cleaning out the fridge. Ugh. And buy some Reblochon (for Martin) and Roquefort (for us) to take back to the US. I decided not to try to smuggle fresh foie gras into the US.

York

So it looks like I totally forgot to say anything about our two days in York and Kenilworth. Martin wanted to go to York, and I wanted to see Peter and Sylvia Hogarth, our friends from the sabbatical year in York way back when Martin was only one year old. And we had to figure out how to get us to our respective airports (Heathrow and Stansted) on Wednesday morning. So, we drove Monday from Lincoln to York, a 1.5 hour drive, and went directly to the Yorvik Museum, the reconstructed street (Coppergate) from the Viking village they unearthed when they were building the shopping center above. It's been renovated and updated, and was much more interesting than I remember it. I'd gotten reserved tickets for 11:00 a.m., and we were of course late, partly because I missed the Park and Ride place and ended up parking actually in York (9 pounds 20 pence for four hours! or maybe it was 9 pounds 10 pence...it was a LOT). But they let us go to the head of the queue at the museum anyway, and it was good; I have a couple of decent photos from the visit.

After we left the Yorvik Museum, we met Peter and Sylvia for lunch, and then we visited the Minster, after which we left for Kenilworth, partly because our time was up at the car park. The photo just up there to the right is the Shambles in York, and photo below is the Minster with Peter and Sylvia in front of it.

Last saturday in Couze, for the time at least

I am trying to decide how to waste my day. I did clean the bathroom on the main floor. Took a stab at the cobwebs and the floor in the living room. I would love to clean the crystals on the light fixtures in the living room, but that requires something dependable to stand on; for some reason, they bother me more than the floors do. It's a lovely day, dry, sunny, not very hot. Tomorrow is supposed to be a scorcher.

I think I may go shopping. We need some more of those "hairloom" (heirloom) tomatoes. Am going to cook that foie gras I bought the other day at great expense, and need to do something different with this one. (it's raw, shrink wrapped, rather than canned).

later, lillie

Friday, July 24

So today we decided to go somewhere, and since we've been to all the chateaux around here, and I didn't really want to go to another prehistoric cave, and I NEVER want to visit a gorge, we ended up going to Figeac, which is, according to the guidebooks, interesting. The guy who discovered the Rosetta stone came from Figeac. The real one is in the British Museum, of course (they stole almost everything), but there is a reconstruction that is HUGE in Figeac. It's a trek from here, though, and by the time we got there, it was lunch time and I was demanding food. Our first impression, though, was that it looked like Bergerac. It isn't like Bergerac. Much more interesting.

So the Tourist Office is 13th century, and just

behind it is a shop selling regional products

, e.g., foie gras, etc.

I realize the positioning of these photos is pretty bad, but hey, I'm doing the best I can.

So then we went (as I mentioned earlier) in search of food (and drink, at this point, as I have lost my green water bottle with the good lid). We ended up at a place called the Sphinx, where the menu looked interesting, and we could eat in the old market place. After a bit of a wait, however, which we spent thus:

We both had the salmon tartare (with both raw fresh and smoked salmon), seasoned with basil and olive oil, and served on a salad, for a first course. For the second course I had the tuna (overcooked), and phil had the sausage, both served with saffron rice garnished with some veg. A pichet (small jug) of the local red wine, plus some H2O. For dessert he had the lemon tarte, and I had sorbet cassis, to which I am addicted. And then coffee. And time for a nap, except we had to tour the town. So we followed the indicted circuit, except we went up to the top to the Eglise St. Puy first, as then we were able to basically go down hill. All the buildings (at least many, many of the old ones) seemed to have three or four floors (ground floor, two or three upper floors for living) and then a top open but roofed terrace. I've seen those before but never sort of all over a town. And clearly original. Don't know whether they were used originally for eating out when the weather was warm, or what. It appears that people eat in them now, and also use them to dry laundry, etc.

The town started out as an abbey town, with the Abbaye de Sainte Saveur as the cornerstone. Huge church. Took 300 years to build. Building styles clearly changed while they were building it.

I got tired. Demanded that we leave.

After we got home, it became clear that we would have to eat something for dinner, so cheese (brie, au lait cru, of course), bread, heirloom tomatoes, sliced peaches with Armagnac and creme fraiche, the red wine left from last night (Ste. Estephe). Not bad for leftovers.

Lillie