Our version of March Madness and April Fools

Well, it has been a very pleasant few days down here in Le Sud du France. Pleasant as in sun, sea, Syrah and serenity. We wish you were here to share this beautiful situation with us. My apologies for breaking my promise of frequent posts but we have been quite busy with the renovations (a post yet to write) and our spring Holiday to the Balkans yet another to write and sort through about 2500 photos we took in 12 days. I will try harder.

A lot of this is of course why we stay busy....

The Dance

he lost the election

About the 10th of March, our neighbor Manola invited us to a “fancy dress” fete at the salle des fetes Fancy dress usually means costume party here.

the red head from hell

pastis for all

Who said redheads aren't fun??

The sheik from Alignan 

Having not much in the way of costume, I summoned the kilt from storage and Richard dressed as an Arab sheik and off we went. It must have been a big joke because only we and a couple more fools dressed for the occasion. But we danced until the wee hours and staggered home loving every minute of it. There were two mayoral candidates there and they danced like no one was watching.

The parade with no name

Several times a year, we get an impromptu parade usually fun but sometimes serious. The serious usually are historical, the last on the 8^th May for VE day. These photos are from a fun parade that came down behind our house from the cave turned up “Main Street” in front of our house and continued to the Place de Mairie where it stopped abruptly and the adults started drinking at the café and the kids continued their own style of mayhem. We couldn’t find out the purpose but we enjoyed anyway.

The MGA and Container



Amid a great clamor of drama, our container arrived on April 1. Coping with French customs is a very exciting but stressful experience. Once our ship arrived in port, our representative started demanding all sorts of documents describing the contents. Even though we provided a detailed inventory in the US, now the French want another one. We provided that and they then turned to my MGA and started demanding documents that actually did not exist: 1) Original date put in service, 2)original manufacturers certificate, 3) original title, 4) original registration, 5) original bill of sale, 6) insurance certificate from a French insurance company. I had some of the docs on hand but the original bill of sale was a problem. Turning quickly to google, I quickly learned how to age modern paper and prepared an original bill of sale complete with names, dates and addresses. The finished document looked very original from 1983 complete with typewriter font, wrinkled edges and coffee cup stains.

I sent them everything I had by FEDEX and crossed my fingers. Next morning, he asked for an attestation that I would live in France for more than 6 months per year. Google. France provided an example and I carried it to our city hall and had the mayor sign off. I sent it via email but he wanted corrections to say this was our ”principale residence”.  Corrections made and sent and “voila” they released the shipment and provided the necessary customs release to register the car here. We were very pleased since we had only provided about half of what they demanded.

Then I had to arrange for a wrecker to offload the car. The man came about ten minutes after the container arrived. All three of  us were a bit peeved to have this early morning stress thrust on us. The wrecker man clearly had had a bad night and the container driver had better things to do and both were scowling at me. but when we broke the seal and popped open the doors on the container, we all broke into broad smiles to see the "little red" still in one piece.  

 Robert plus Hannie and  Bert were on hand to help download the personal items and boxes which was greatly appreciated. particularly since I blew out my back in March complicated by Pat and I took turns falling down stairs and weren't in the best of condition.

Pat's Birthday 

Suzy and Pat

Peter and Pat

bon amis

Pat celebrated the annual anniversary of her 43^rd birthday a little early this year. She and Suzy Cole share April 10 and Suzy had us over for dinner on the 3^rd. I think there were 14 there and we laughed until midnight. 

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Spring Holiday 


We went to Croatia, Slovenia Bosnia and Montenegro on our spring holiday. We started in Trieste, Italy a couple of days early before joining the tour in Opatija on the 11^th.  Trieste is a beautiful city that doesn’t get a lot of mention among the more popular Italian cities. It is still Italian even though about 40 km form Slovenia and Croatia. The food was great and very reasonable and there was a very unique wine of the region that was great. We went to the Castel de Miramare which sits directly on the Adriatic. It contained the most intricate and beautiful woodworking on the walls, ceilings and floors that I have seem. Craftsmanship unseen nowadays with virtually everything inlaid with exotic woods and 3 dimensional at the same time.

 The castle was built around 1850  by Ferdinand Maximillian in concert with the Hapsburg empire. I will write another blog post on the trip which could be lengthy by itself. We went to Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Slovenia in 10 days.

The French and American good times 

When we returned from holiday, we met Claude and Mary Pottier who were staying in Peg and Eric’s number 29. Peg had asked us to “look after” them as they were looking to possibly move to le Sud de France. Claude is French and Mary is American who now live in New Jersey. They are restaurateurs whose restaurant was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. They sold the restaurant and are looking for a place here. We showed them 2 houses here and pointed them to 4 others to explore on their own.  Nothing seemed to suit but they became very involved in the village. They will return in the fall for more exploration.

Aperos pour nous Voisins 

On Saturday the 26^th, we had an apero night for our French neighbors. We had been planning to do this to meet more neighbors in a social setting and the timing seemed right. We made our usual spread and had about 26 here mostly French or French speaking at least. About half were “new” to us and we really enjoyed getting to know them. It is also fun to watch the neighbors since they don’t do much of this sort of thing.  Claude and Mary fit right in and the new neighbors seemed to enjoy it as well.

and it waass a good time...

fleurs from nous voisin

le carte

Fun on May Day

The following week there was a do at the Salle des Fetes that we still don’t quite understand. It was held on Thursday the 1 ^st of May. While it was the European Labor day, there was no outward indication of any connection. It was organized by the senior citizens club and is the only function I have attended where you were carded at the door and had to be at least 55 to get in.  We had eight at our table but the hosts had split us up and it was a bit of bother to get it sorted.  It was organized in the usual manner with aperitifs, followed by dancing, followed by entrée followed by dancing followed by main plat followed by dancing followed by dessert followed by dancing followed by coffee followed by dancing. We started at noon and left at 6 pm totally tuckered. But we had a blast with this format. The dances they do are extremely organized and very precise. Tango, cha-cha, samba, Paso doble, Madison, and many more I’m sure.  People come from all around to find a band playing this style and it seemed we may have had a couple of professional couples in our midst. The rest of us just had a good time.

very good dancers

No more Pastis, Richard

old folks 

Alison and Manola

The following week we went to the Pezenas Brocante  Market. This is one of the largest high quality markets and is held spring and fall. It stretches for about two miles with vendors lined up on both sides of the biggest street in Pezenas. Pat bought a couple of small items but the quality (and prices as well) is usually above what we want to spend. But there are some absolutely stunning items on offer so well worth the visit.

Aperitif Volonte 

Maurice and Jacqueline rang us on Monday and invited us to Aperitifs on Wednesday soir. No problem as we had become much more familiar with them since we showed their house to Claude and Mary and they had been to our apero evening. There were eight of us and Jacqueline (pronounced Jacqleen) sat us down at her table covered with a modest spread of olives and tapenade toasts and poured us a glass of Oporto. But then,  she brought course after course after course of the best hors d’oeurves, tapas, snacks, fromage and sweets. We stayed until after 11 and she still had food to present. At our aperos evenings, it is usually a stand up affair with come and go motif. For Jacqueline, you come, you sit and you eat and drink. Not bad, I kinda like it!

Garden Party

Last Tuesday, Richard and Alison christened their garden with a cold supper dans le jardin. Pat made a Cobb Salad, Claude brought a moule salad, Mary brought a tarte ( besides Claude), and Alison brought salade de crevette and bread. We all brought a bottle of Alignan’s finest and we sat in gale force winds (although they died a bit after sundown or was it the wine?) and had a great time. Richard hooked up some music courtesy Ipad and Bluetooth and Jake had a grand time in their large garden.

Poker Night 

Wednesday was poker night and it was my time to host. I had planned a beef bourgonion and Claude (the professional French Chef) insisted on preparing it for me.

Claude et Moi

Bouef  Bourguignon

So I got a lesson in French cooking as well as a great meal for the poker chaps.  I hadn’t hosted so I got a real eye-opener on all that was required. The meal is very important as are the snacks during the game. Providing the support for all the drinks e.g. space for the beer, ice and setups for whatever else they drink, e.g. Pastis, wine, liquor, etc.  Then I found something as simple as the table playing surface had to be considered. Pat’s bright and colorful table cloths

Colorful but busy for cards 

would have been a nightmare to play cards on. After all was done we could have played on just the wood table but with the table extensions a covering was necessary. We had seven players which is the max poker will allow at one table. It was good to see some of the other guys win after extended losing streaks. I broke an extended winning streak by losing about €10 although I won about ¾ of the first ten hands and I was beginning to get those looks.

On Thursday, we had a farewell meal at the Auberge de la Chateau in Margon for Claude and Mary and saw them off on Friday. They swear they will be back in October so we can look forward to that. Meanwhile the summer arrivals are beginning to trickle in. We welcome Margaret and Jeffrey back on Monday and Alex and Margaret soon after. Mick and Yvonne, Marie and Tim, Doug and Sonya, Dex and Sue among others will be arriving soon for a summer of fun.

Today we are off to the Fete de Venice Carnival in St Adrien's Gardens.