"Two Cool" is Ours

The Adventure Begins……

It seems that after the saga/drama of trying to get and finally receiving our French Visas the getting here and closing on the “Ruin” was fairly simple.  Now the reality of actually owning a maison à rénover is setting in.  We toasted our good luck with Champagne at the Notaire’s office and we were reminded that seven was a lucky number…there were seven of us toasting our success.  Of course everyone but us was holding fat checks!  After leaving the Notaire’s office we stopped for a libation at the Ruin for another toast to ourselves and our new home.  Later at the local pub I told Jerry I was so excited I wanted to stand in the middle of the village square and shout “HI!  I am your newest resident! And I am so proud to be here!” Jerry thought it was a good thing that I didn’t since they would probably haul me off to the French looney farm.  Even though I was ready to start sweeping out, hauling off and going through the “stuff” left in the house, we came back to our rental …. Jerry is recovering from a sudden illness and needed a nap.

The exterior facade

We will use the phrase "Two Cool" as the nickname for our place. it is derived from the street name which means "Ice Vendor" in todays terms. Some time back the ice purveyor probably lived and provided ice somewhere along our street. Our street number is 2 as in 2 Rue de la Glaciere thus our house is "Two Cool"

To Us!

10 Sept 2011

Treasure!

Jerry and I actually started work on the Ruin.  There are years of dirt and dust and cob webs to sweep out and brush down.  There is even more “stuff” to sort thru and throw away.  So far Jerry has found sacks and sacks of different types of grape vine cuttings.  The sacks were marked with what type of grapes the vines would produce and how many vine cuttings were in the sack.  We even found some of the vines still in the sacks…too bad they were dry and brittle beyond even my inherited green thumb!  There are lots of gallon plastic bottles-- some empty and some full of chemicals to treat the vines.  Those will go to the déchetterie.  There are also lots and lots of wooden stakes and wire to use in the vineyard to hold up the vines, angle iron and of course those two large grape trailers.  He also uncovered a tin dipper, an old wine bottle opener and several old tools….and the place where the water meter will be attached to the house!  I was busy looking thru an old trunk and a large wooden box. The newspaper lining the trunk was dated 1952.  So far I have found three umbrellas, a woman’s tweed suit from the late 50’s or early 60’s, a man’s suit vest, one man’s shoe, an apron and a trench coat.   The “keepers” are the apron, three beautiful baskets, a tin cup, two old tin candle holders, two small crocks and two things I couldn’t identify.  At first I thought one of the items was a grenade!  I showed it to Jerry and he wondered aloud if it was a grenade.  We finally decided it might be a small pulley, but just in case we are handling it very carefully and will have someone else look at it.  The other item we could not identify was a tall slender metal container.  It was with the grenade/pulley and I did not open it …. Let someone who knows what it might be open it.  If it doesn’t explode I will put in on a shelf and laugh at it every time I look at it.

We also met one of our new neighbors yesterday.  As everyone here is she was very friendly and talked up a storm to us….in French.  She wished us "bon courage" and said "travailler très dur".  She showed us where she lived and we think she said if we needed anything to come on over….  I have decided we will probably be able to understand French long before we can speak it.

Our Street (means ice man)
we are at #2 thus "two cool"

Scenes de village

12th century church

We worked just a little over an hour, and decided we should come home.  Jerry is still recovering from whatever struck him down when as arrived and being in all that dust wasn’t helping his recovery.  We head back for more cleaning/exploring tomorrow.  At this rate we should have all the debris thrown away, the house swept clean and be ready for the artisans in ……2040! 

le village

11 Sept 2011

Jake in le Foyer

We started late today due to Jerry’s “frail” health.  He still isn’t up to snuff … I know that because he was still asleep at 9:15 am when I took Jake for a walk.  Jerry was up at 10:00 when we returned from our walk and we quickly had our petit-déjeuner.   

Debris beaucoup

Vine Cutting sacs



More Treasures

We started working in the Garage again.  We are still sorting thru fertilizers, insecticides and mysterious crystals that are added to wine to make the wine sweet, dry, etc, etc.  We have uncovered about 10 jute bags of clothing (no I haven’t looked at that…still wondering if I want to or not).  There were more old tools uncovered also.  Things like a homemade wood plane, homemade wooden mallets in various sizes, and large stoppers for wine kegs.  We even uncovered a pair of bedezos that might “unman” a rooster!  Yes, there is a photo! I have found tin cups, two large covered pots (one quiet decorative) and several glasses.  There is also an assortment of tin cookware that I am trying to figure out how to de-rust.  One of the items is a wonderful old tin coffee pot.  Jerry found a large tin water container, a coal bucket and a large metal pitcher and three more ancient door keys.  There were also two utility baskets full of more old tools and cookware.  I also found a cast iron thing that I don’t know what it could be.  Any suggestions back to me after you see the photos would be appreciated. I am excited about getting some of the stuff cleaned up so I can perhaps use it to decorate the kitchen.  Also, if anyone knows how to clean fragile old baskets let me know.  So far I have three!  We have also added to our decanting bottle collection.  The only trouble is I think they were beer bottles not wine bottles.  They make me wonder if you could take your bottle somewhere and get it filled up with beer.  The top is a stopper thing permanently attached with a metal thing.   I have also found another apron. 

At this point we have all the insecticides in a pile, fertilizer is in a pile and other “hazardous”’ material in a pile.    Jerry made a trip to the déchetterie this morning to make sure all that stuff would be accepted and sure enough it can be disposed of there.  When we get a fireplace up and running we have enough wooden stakes to burn the entire winter according to Jerry. 

OH LA LA!

We also found the doors to the wine caves in the garage! Now we just have to figure out how to put them on the caves. Everything has a learning curve I guess! It will probably take us the rest of the week to finish up the garage. No telling what kind of junk we will find on the top of the caves! 

Beer Bottles



Old Razor and case

More photos at https://picasaweb.google.com/117276896539446326193/TheOldHouseInFrance?locked=true