End of Book Chaos

Thursday everything (text and images) for the book will be submitted to the publisher. AltaMira Press has scheduled production to begin on July 10, so no more putzing about. I am furiously working on scanning slides, inputting illustration numbers in the text, and writing captions. There is still lots to do but we WILL make this deadline. It has not been easy to have lost my office space because of the house renovation, but such is life. The renovation work is scheduled to be completed by next Tuesday. So within one week all pressing work will be over. Cleaning up and moving stuff back can be taken at a leisurely pace.

Summer is Here

The market was brimming with all of the veg and flowers that signal summer. Tomatoes finally taste like a summer tomato, the beans are thin and delicious. Our garden has produced so many beets we can't eat them fast enough. The onions and shallots are ready to harvest. It is very hot and there has been no rain for weeks, so the seeds we planted to take us through to the fall have not yet germinated despite the fact that we water regularly. We are very lucky to have a well. RXC fitted it out with a pump so we just have to turn it on and get water that is off the meter and therefore we can use as much as we want. However, even the water level in the well is lowering. With this dry heat, the grapes are very happy and thriving. If summer continues like this, the wine should be excellent this year.

The Quilt Group Wraps Up for the Summer

Our quilting group suspends meetings for the summer. Thursday was the finale in which we all made a picnic tote bag for the plates, silverware, and glasses that one takes to the various food events that define life in the French countryside. We had been given the pattern so we could select and cut out our fabrics in advance. There were cutting tables, irons, and sewing machines set up to work. People brought the quilts they made during the year some of which you can see here. We of course had our own food event eaten outside. We had poulet basquaise from a local traiteur and members brought appetizers and desserts. There was wine bien sur. I am about halfway done with my picnic sac which I need to finish before the weekly evening dinners start up in Ste. Foy and I need to make a second one for RXC.

le Paysage

I have been trying to get out on my bicycle, away from the noise and dust of the renovation work and away from the book. On that front I am inputting images and writing captions. We are close. Mostly I cycle up to town and back which is about 20k. But there have been some trips such as at the weekend when we cycled with a friend and tried to get to St. Emillion. A restaurant waylaid us about 2k outside of our destination. The countryside in this area is beautiful as the small roads we use for cycling roll in and out of the vineyards and suddenly you can come upon a windmill, pigeonnier, chateau, or some other lovely stone building.

On to Phase Two

Sunday we finally moved back into our bedroom. The bedrooms and hallway are finished and the new bathroom will be finished as soon as RXC can finish up the tile work. Right now the plumber is installing the sinks and shower panel so he can't get in there. Sunday we put together the Metro racks for the walk in closet, finished the floor tiles off with an acrylic sealer and slowly moved our furniture back. I think I had the best night's sleep that night, that futon/mattress arrangement in the living room was getting old.

The next job was to shift all of the stuff we stored upstairs in order to empty out the bedroom side of the house to someplace else. With some of the bedroom furniture moved, there was room in the dining room for fragile things like the Christmas ornaments. However, at least 20 Rubbermaid tubs of stuff sits out on the terrace. We had to leave my loom upstairs, at least it is still in its shipping box. But at least we had the staircase to make the move this time.

Enfin l'escalier

Much to our surprise the staircase arrived this morning. They brought it in pieces and then assembled and installed it little by little. By lunchtime, Dante was able to perform his inspection. So on June 16, 2009 more than 10 years after we bought the house, the loft is accessible by something other than a ladder. This is a milestone!

Construction Update

It has been awhile since I posted something about the progress of our renovation. Things are wrapping up. RXC finished tiling all of the floors except the shower in the new bathroom. We have the painters here and by Friday we are supposed to be able to move back into our bedroom. We will certainly set up our bed, move the dressers in and fit out the walk-in closet but we may not be able to sleep there yet. French paint is full of VOCs and it is taking a long time for it to off-gas. The new bathroom is pulling together. That has been much more of a challange than we hoped. We did not order enough tiles the first time out, so we are waiting for more. The small mosaic tiles that usually line the floors of showers have been difficult to lay. We had one failed attempt but hope to succeed in setting the shower floor later today. The one hold up is that we still do not have the staircase to get to the loft, making working up there very difficult. Hopefully it will arrive this week. Once that is installed we will move all of the stuff we stored up there to somewhere else, so that the walls can be painted and the floor stained. At that point we will declare victory for now and make a fast exit for the boat.

La Journee de l'amitie or A Day at the Beach

My Patchwork Group sponsored a day of friendship with another local patchwork group. Our members decided on a theme for the day, provided fabric, patterns, irons, and food. We sat around tables to stitch a square, visit, and eat some very good food. The theme today was the beach and we made squares that resembled cabanas. There was a small quilt expo and a small square of beach. Each table had 8 quilters and had to produced 24 squares. At the end of the day there was a raffel and one person from each table from the invited club took home a project to finish.

As this was my first time doing anything like this, let lone in France I was curious to see how the day would be organized. People came early enough for petit dejeuner if they wished. The club members provided everything and came with electric kettles, baguettes, jams etc. At lunch there is a tradition over here to travel to such events with your table setting. At 12:30 when we broke for lunch people brought out beautiful plates, cups, Laguiole flatware, etc. I was most impressed. Lunch began with the apero (vin rose with grapefruit sirop, moved on to both fish and meat platters, salad, cheese, dessert, and finally coffee.

It was great fun and I completed my first patchwork square. I will post more photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/petillant tonight when internet traffic is slow.

French-Scottish Cultural Exchange

It is not uncommon to find villages sponsoring evenings in which one cultural group (here it is the Scots) join in with the French to share aspects of their culture. Last Saturday we enjoyed an evening in Beaumont en Perigord (a British Bastide town) in which there was a demonstration of traditional Scottish dancing, a dinner featuring Scottish food a la francaise, and music. There were two principle singers, a French woman who sang in the tradition of the music-hall and a man who sang from the thistle tradition. It was a fun evening shared with French and Scottish friends.

First Try at a Group Cycle

This area is great for gentle rides through the scenic countryside. There is a group of women in the region who hope to get together and cycle and have a coffee a time or two a month. Yesterday was our first go....and only 2 of us made it. We met midway, in a small village south of Bergerac with this lovely church where we parked the cars. Then we struck out from there. Despite the call for rain and storms, they held off until the afternoon, so we made a good start. Hopefully, others will join us next time.

Paella chez nous

The ready to go paellas in the market look so appealing, but we have never bought any. For the most part, I think it is because we enjoy cooking and would rather do it ourselves. Here is our first attempt at trying to make paella at home. The shellfish is so delicious here, I always have fish stock in the freezer, and we are up to our eyeballs in peas. We used clams, mussels, and large shrimp along with the traditional red and green peppers (sorry Karen), onion, garlic, paprika, saffron, and rice. A satisfactory first attempt.

We have all Gotten Far Too Comfortable with Chaos

Six weeks into camping a la salle de sejour, we have lost all discipline with the cats. The workers found it impossible to understand that they are indoor cats. Does not exist in France. Besides Dante is so outgoing and friendly he can charm anyone into anything. And we have no doors inside the house (they are being worked on) to keep closed and thereby keep cats away from workers and the outside. And the noise has been deafening at times, terrorizing Calypso. So for the past month, they have been outside all day long. At the end of the day, Calypso takes her place high up on a box spring in the living room, legs akimbo, Belle is blatant in her pushiness for people food, even dessert, and Dante is just king.

Garden Bounty

A short post as we are still working way too hard. This morning I harvested les premiers artichauts, lettuce, peas, and beets. There is chard, fava beans, shallots, and spinach that are ready to harvest as well. The tomatoes and pepper plants are in full bloom. It is very hot and sunny and we really need some rain.