Fall in Occitanie
A small disclaimer: Occitanie is the new name of our region. It was like renaming a state but France did it anyway. So Languedoc-Roussillon became Occitanie. Also, this is written over several days/weeks so it may not be absolutely current.
Weather
Our part of
France boasts 320++ days of sun every year. This fall, however, we have
destroyed that record. We have had about 7 weeks straight of clouds, storms,
rains and flooding not seen in 100 years.
Yesterday
was the first sun we had seen in two weeks. And rain 5 days out of seven.
Miserable to say the least. Even the Brits are saying they had better weather
in UK. Our sidewalks have turned green with mildew from the constant wetness.
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Green mossy sidewalks
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We
had flooding nearby that was the worst ever seen here. A friend had flood water
to 9 feet on her ground floor in what seemed to have been safe.
The vines
have mostly dropped their leaves except for a few varieties such as Grenache
which holds its leaves and provide the only red, gold, yellow “fall foliage”
seen here.
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Vines foliage |
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Mesquite beans |
Nothing like the beauty of fall in the south and east of the USA. It
is much like our roots in Texas where
no one drove miles to enjoy the fall
color of
Mesquite foliage.
The mesquite just has skinny yellow leaves which
drop in fall and sheds its harvest of mesquite beans. I vividly remembering
having to rake and sack the beans in the fall which my dad fed to the hogs.
Mesquite beans are very sweet with about 30% sugar in their crunchy ripe state.
Pigs love them.
Thanksgiving
France does
not observe Thanksgiving however they have adopted Black Friday fervently. We
managed a little Thanksgiving at a traditional turkey dinner with Ken and
Alison. We went to Domaine Roquelune and feasted on turkey, stuffing (not
dressing), excellent gravy (sans giblets), yams, Brussels sprouts, green beans,
mashed potatoes and finished up with pumpkin or apple pie. It was not quite the
same without family but we had 14 friends to share our table and went home wet
from rain but stuffed.
Gilet jaune (Yellow Vest)
You may have heard about the current
protests happening throughout France. Protesters have donned yellow vests
(which are mandated in your car in France) to bring about protests over
President Macron’s new social policies. He has started “union busting”; changed
the work week from 35 to 37 hours and is fiddling with the retirement age
already moving it from 60 to 62 years old. He is introducing other reforms that
are not popular. His latest target is the tax on motor fuels. The protestors
number in the hundreds of thousands and have turned violent in the last few
days. Burning, police fights, and blocking a lot of roads, refineries, and
supermarkets. Several deaths have been reported form motorists ramming
protestors at roadblocks. Obviously this has curtailed movement by car and led
to fuel rationing and grocery store closures due to shortages and blockades.
While it is going all around us, so far
we have not been impacted except for a limit on how much fuel you can buy.
Taxes on diesel fuel have gone up seven
euro cents (nearly eight U.S. cents) and are to keep climbing to about 40 cents
in three years. The tax on gasoline is to increase 4 euro cents. Gasoline
currently costs about 1.64 euros a liter in Paris ($7.06 a gallon), slightly
more than diesel.(the good news is euro cars get about twice the gas mileage as US cars) The stated reason in to reduce France’s dependence on fossil
fuels and use the taxes to develop alternative energy. Secondly, throughout
Europe there is huge concern about the environment. France will phase out
diesel engines by 2040 on environmental concerns.
Frigo (Refrigerator)
In August,
we went to Beziers to find a toilet for our other house at 46 Rue des Aires. Pam and Jeff had
reported a blockage so after they left we called the drain people out to clear
the line. While there they determined it was not the drain but the toilet
itself. We have a lot of calcaire (calcium deposits). These deposits had accumulated in the neck of
the toilet rendering it only viable for liquids.
But back to
the toilet search. The old house is 150 years old and needed an exact match to
replace the toilet. So, we went to a specialty distributor. The supplier didn’t
have (and couldn’t order) the toilet. But over in the appliance corner were
several refrigerators. Pat researched sizes carefully because in our house ( #2)
we only had 90 cm to fit it in. We found
one that matched size wise, came home and re-measured and placed the order.
So we went
to buy a toilet, but walked out with a huge 3 door Samsung refrigerator. We had
to pay extra for delivery because it was going to be fitted upstairs.
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It is a big one! |
The
delivery came on time and two husky men got it to our front door and I showed
the front stairs and the back stairs. Up the front stairs they started without
removing the packing. Now our stairs are wide and easy to climb by any
standard. But apparently not with an oversize frigo still in its box. They had
to rest on the halfway landing before tackling the second half of stairs.
Then
they went back to their truck and I thought they were leaving. No, just
resting, smoking and calling their boss. In a few minutes they came back in and
now decided to remove the crating. Smack in the middle of our landing with a
small pallet and scads of cardboard. Then…Another
rest.
So now we
start through the house toward the summer kitchen where the frigo is going.
There are three doors to go through. They never made it thru the first one!
They approached the door on the hand trucks but couldn’t use the trucks. They
then measured the frigo then the door then the frigo again. The measurements
were correct but when they tried again they got it halfway in and it jammed on
the handles. Another measurement clearly showed it wasn’t going to fit. They
told me to cut the door larger through solid brick. Not likely!
Call the
boss. The boss says remove the handles. “Pierre” and “Francois” couldn’t figure
out how to remove the handles.
Call the
boss. Boss says remove the doors but again the boys couldn’t (or wouldn’t)
remove the doors. Call the boss. Boss screams and the boys get PO and depart
rapidly leaving the frigo blocking the main passage on the second floor. So
here we are with a 300 pound refrigerator that can’t go down because of the
stairs and can’t go in because of the door.
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Stripped down and ready |
Then….A
little rest for us. After 2 minutes searching on Google and I found a video on how
the remove the doors. Three screws on each upper door and the bottom drawer
unit just slides out. After our little break, we had the doors off in less than
10 minutes. (Who needs Pierre and Patrick when you have Google and a screwdriver
operated by a half-crippled old man and a youngish blonde?)
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Sliding into position |
Now it will
fit through the door but Pat and I are no match for such a heavy object. We did
manage to get it onto a floor dolly which got us through the first two doors.
But the last door had a large threshold and we were thwarted again. This time
the frigo is smack in front of the TV! Not good!
Fortunately,
our neighbor stopped by and we begged him to help. Actually, he had little
choice because it was also blocking his access to some work he was doing on our
terrasse.
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Reading the destructions |
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Where does this piece go? |
In another 30 minutes we had water connected and the frigo pushed into position
including doors and drawers and shelves.
A lot can be said for American refrigerators like this. I am finding
that certain conveniences are well worth the extra cost as convenience is the
most used every day.
La Aigle (Eagle)
Forgive me
if I’ve told this story before but early one Sunday morning we heard a rapping
on the front door. We have a bell but for some reason some people insist on
using the door knocker. We jumped out of bed wondering who could be rousing us
at this hour. The last time it was the Gendarmerie and Pat was shocked beyond
belief as they spoke in rapid-fire Francais asking her if we had a little red
car. She acknowledged we were driving Robert’s Renault 5 and they told her to
get it out of the street. It was the victim of a botched joyride and they left
it straddling the main drag. The gendarmerie and voisins were not happy.
Anyway,
we made our way downstairs flung open the door but there was no one there. But glancing
down we saw this BIG eagle sitting on our stoop. I have heard of “the eagle
landing” but this was ridiculous. We got it inside and I went up and down the
rue looking for the “culprits” but not a soul to be seen at that hour.
It wasn’t
until late afternoon that we got an explanation. Our friends Derek and Margaret
stopped by to tell us the story of the eagle.
It goes
like this here:
And it came
to pass that the United States Embassy in London needed some renovations. Out with
the old and in with the new. There was a construction dumpster out back to
catch the “old” to make room for the new. The story gets a little foggy here as
Derek said he found the eagle in this dumpster. Now, exactly what Derek, who is
a second cousin to King Midas, was doing dumpster diving or how he just
happened to be out back of the United States Embassy is to this day unknown. Anyway, Derek
captured the bird and took him home.
Margaret tried
for several years to find a suitable place in the London home to properly display
such a lofty piece but gave up and brought the bird to le Sud de France. They have
a holiday home here that renovated several years ago. Hardly a bolthole, they
did a masterful job and the house enjoys a privileged location in the center of
the village. Margaret tried again to prominently display the eagle but French
village houses don’t have much space to spare. She told Derek to take it with
the other trash to the dechetterie (dump).
It was then that Derek thought of
the Americans in the village and decided to bless us with the eagle which
indeed owns a piece of American history. So on his way to the dump, the eagle
landed at our door.
We are
extraordinarily pleased to have him and he sits proudly perched above our
summer kitchen and conservatory. No more dumpsters for our noble bird.
It had to happen....
We tend to
brag about French food in general and fine cuisine can be found in the smallest
of villages. Our Department (county) boasts 3 or 4 Michelin star rated
restaurants. Food here is always fresh and cooked to order with a different
menu each day. The portions are just enough to satisfy and nothing is left over.
No “to go” boxes here.
Now there
are exceptions:
So we
invited our friends Hannie and Bert to a special lunch at the prestigious
Domaine Paul Mas. We had been there several times and knew the food and ambiance
to be fitting for the occasion. Bert likes Viognier so I searched the wine list
only to find limited selections and at Bordeaux prices. But it was a special
occasion so we splurged.
It was
the most expensive meal we have had in France and the very least we have ever had to eat.
It had to happen,
that classic opinion of haut cuisine that is the view of French cuisine. And now
we know….
Terrasse update
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Original barn area |
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Barn |
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Barn window |
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Cleaning off 180 years of dust |
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Making a new home for the original cast iron sink |
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Planning the glass wall |
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Hoisting the beam |
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Setting the top rail |
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Creating a column for interest and to cover electrics |
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Coming together |
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Three layers of crepi |
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Painting le hauts |
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Adding a brick border |
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Rendering crepi on the kitchen walls |
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Terrasse painting |
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terrasse getting new paint |
The after.....
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Our summer kitchen |
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Summer kitchen |
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Toward the frigo, laundry and bar |
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Jambalaya night |
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Madame de la Maison |
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A bit of the terrasse |