House Update

 In less than a week, we will have nine people staying in our little house in the south of France. Yep, it's going to be close quarters, but we're trying to make sure everything is as comfortable as possible. The only guest from outside France we've had come to stay with us was Tucker who arrived in October 2019 when the house was still a construction area. And Grace and Jack who stayed for five months last year during Covid as we continued to work on the house. 

Now, most of the rooms are not just livable, but comfortable. 

The kitchen has been our favorite room since it was initially finished. We gather here with guests most of the time, the scene of much delicious food and camaraderie. One thing that changes in the kitchen is the artwork as it gets updated based on items we find in France or in the States. 

Our homey kitchen

From the other corner, looking into the living room, with Louis Catorze featured in the center

The living room is getting more comfortable with two leather couches, a bookshelf, and the television attached to the wall now. 

View from beyond the stair case. Louis again!

Our downstairs half bath, that's what we call a bathroom that has a toilet and sink, but no shower or bathtub, is completed. There's no getting around the electrical box in there, but it looks 100 percent better than it did now that it has shiny gray and white tiles on the floor, a corner sink and a niche for decorative items. 

Don't put on too much weight to fit in this toilet!

The tiny sink and the table with hand towels. The electrical box in the way. 

The bedrooms and guest bathroom have been finished for quite awhile, but they both were missing artwork. As we moved art around in the kitchen, we relegated some items to the upstairs bedrooms. We also found some French-type art in the Troc in Carcassonne. One painting reminded me of the book Madeline "In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines...”

The guest bedroom ready for our guests, now with artwork. 

The guest bathroom from the vantage point of the shower!

Looking the opposite direction. That's not Louis rolled up by the shower, that's a rug. 

Our bedroom with French doors that lead to the office

The office where I teach and the French doors that lead out to the terrace. 

The terrace is perfect for breakfast for two. 

With the artwork hung in the bedrooms, Earl spent a few days cleaning the room at the end of the house that we call the cozy room. It ended up with a lot of the construction debris, myriad paint cans, tools, copper pipe, frames for dry wall and one unused radiator. He emptied it out and we plan to put a curtain over the fireplace so the things we're storing inside won't be so obvious.  

The cozy room has a futon, but it also houses our washer, dryer and water heater. 

So two bedrooms and a futon, that's 2, 4, 6 places to sleep, a double mattress on the floor in the office, there's 8 and someone can sleep on the infinitely comfortable couch in the living room. 

The stays only overlap by three nights as Tucker and a friend arrive July 6 and leave July 11. Grace, Jack and friends arrive July 8 and leave in shifts in the coming weeks. But they'll all be here for the Tour de France as it ends in Quillan on July 10. 

I try not to picture people uncomfortable sleeping on mattresses on the floor, but instead think of us gathered in the garden around the table with raucous conversation as we introduce our kids and their friends to our life in France. 

The garden

The gladiolas are blooming in coral, orange, purple and white. 

The wisteria has begun its second bloom

I must remember to breath and enjoy it all. 

Sightings in the Wild

One of my friends from Ohio delights me with her messages.
When she sees my boys out on the street or at a soccer game, she'll take a picture and send it to me.
The most recent one was Tucker on a bike ride. He stopped for a photo and to greet Leah.

Keeping good social distancing

Of course, I text with my sons throughout each week and we Facetime every few weeks, but there's something thrilling about getting a glimpse of their lives while I'm so far away.
Spencer and his girlfriend Kaitlin have moved in together. Leah documented them on a walk with their Starbucks cups.

Spotted on a walk

Sometimes she sees our old house and takes a picture of it. 

It's nice to know that you're thinking of us Leah! And we do miss our friends and family in Grandview Heights. 

Before Coronavirus, Leah was likely to run into Tucker at a Columbus Crew game.

Digging those sunglasses, Leah. 

On a chillier day with Tucker on the right side of the picture and his friend Tyler

So if you see my boys in the "wilds" of Columbus, snap a picture and send it. Or, starting next month, if you spot Grace and Jack in the depths of Dublin, send it. 

The hardest thing about moving to France is leaving family behind, and the pictures make it a wee bit easier. 

Social Butterflies

This morning, my husband said, "So we have fish & chips tonight?"
"Correct," I replied.
"Then the night market for dancing?"
"Yes."
"The party tomorrow?"
"Right, and on Sunday we're meeting Marie and her family in Carcassonne, then coming back to play cards with Jack and Jules at the pool house."
"Monday?" He cocked an eyebrow at me.
"Dinner at Claudine and Ray's. Then don't forget the Knud and Stella are cooking a rabbit for Jack to try on Tuesday."
"Please tell me Wednesday is free," he said.
"As far as I know," I replied. I didn't mention bellydancing class which Grace and I would go to. He could stay home and rest.
Looking at the schedule, I was thinking of all the nights we don't have to cook dinner, but he may have been picturing just a hectic life.

Grace and Jack, both introverts, have let me know they are fine with a pared down social schedule. 

When we lived in Columbus, we had friends whose company we enjoyed, but we didn't have people over very often, and we didn't get invited to people's homes very often.
We might meet friends for book group or go out together for dinner.
Life in France is a whirlwind of social activities.

Just love this picture of Kris and Rosie headed to our house about 10:45 after the gathering had broken up. 

I often wonder if it is because people are retired so they have more time to get together. Maybe if we stayed in Ohio, it would have been the same.
Maybe it's the cheap wine. We can all afford to gather and drink wine.
Maybe it's the life style that we moved for, looking for a life with more connections to people.
I'm looking forward to some busy evenings with friends in the coming days, but my mornings are still clear if anyone wants to meet for coffee.

Living in Quarantine

The events in France happened quickly, as I'm sure they have all over the world. Restaurants and bars were closed on Saturday night. Then word came that President Macron would make a speech Monday night.
I'm generally a Macron fan, but I think he botched things by announcing that he would make a speech and not giving people the details. That caused a panic on Monday that filled all the groceries and will probably cause a spike in coronavirus cases.
On Monday around noon as I was teaching, Earl came upstairs to say that the rumor was Macron was quarantining everyone starting at 8 p.m. and no one would be allowed out even to get food. We tried to logically think whether this could happen. It didn't seem right, but we didn't know. Would they deliver food to people in little boxes like when the train is delayed?
Grace, Jack and I had been planning to go to LeClerc, a Walmart-type store with groceries and many other goods, when I finished teaching because Jack needed some IT supplies and the only stores open were groceries. I didn't think it would be bad, because I hadn't seen widespread panic in France.
But the announcement of a coming announcement with no one knowing what would be said sent everything into overdrive.
The parking spots were few and the shopping carts were fewer.
We agreed to separate, I went to get some staples while Jack and Grace went to the tech section of the store. There was toilet paper. Noodles were completely gone, but I was able to find several boxes of soup -- they do boxes instead of cans here.
The only onions were red onions, which Grace is allergic to so I couldn't get onions. I found some chocolate bars (priorities) and headed back past long lines that stretched from the cashiers at the front to the middle of the store, line after line of people.
I had somehow missed the paper towels and I was retracing my steps. When I found them I started toward the front of the store knowing Grace and Jack had gotten in line and saved a place in the mass of people.
Perhaps because I was not near the grocery section, but down near the beauty products, I found a line with only two people in front of me and I stopped moving. Grace and Jack were in a longer line and came to join me.
The picture of the people in line doesn't begin to show the craziness,

I don't know why the lines were so much worse farther down the line of cashiers. 

but as we saw all the people clustered together waiting to pay, we predicted that many people were exposed to the virus that day, and that's where Macron went wrong. If he'd let us know we will be allowed to go out for food during the quarantine, people wouldn't have panicked.

We also noticed that there were people in line, at least two that we saw, buying trees.

People in line buying trees because "quarantine."

Who says, "well, it's going to be a quarantine so I better buy a tree?"
That night, Macron announced the quarantine. People had to stay home unless they were going to the grocery store, the doctor, the pharmacy, to take care of someone who cannot take care of themselves, or to exercise alone. And if they were out doing any of these things, they needed to carry a paper called an "attestation."
I made a joke about "papers, please" as in Nazi Germany. And the next morning as I headed out on a run, my French neighbor asked if I had heard the news?
I said I had and he went on a bit of a rant about "papers to run, papers to eat, papers to go to the grocery!" I could tell he was not happy about the situation.
I said perhaps it would make the situation better and he gave a French shrug.
Tuesday, our first day in quarantine, was kind of normal except the builders didn't come, leaving us with a ceiling that is boarded for drywall but not mudded yet, and walls with support beams and no boards. It may be weeks before they return so we have arranged things as well as we can.
I taught from 9:30 - 2 and then had to work on my online class for the university, so it was just another work day for me.
Earl went to the butcher and said that the small grocery store in town was only allowing in two people at a time. The post office wasn't taking any mail, so Earl wasn't able to mail his absentee ballot to vote in Florida's primary.
Our friend Derrick, a loquacious Irishman, wondered how he would stand being quarantined. I suggested that he text me when he heads to the market and we could stand in line together, but I guess that defeats the purpose.
Grace, Jack Earl and I had dinner together and played cards. Jack and I lost 10-9 so it was a close match with no one feeling they were slaughtered.
I went for a regular run this morning. These horses seemed to know about the quarantine as they both stared at me, wondering if I had my papers, no doubt.

Today we spent some time cleaning our small yard, pulling greenery that has decided to grow in what was once a concrete patio or in the cracks of our house.
As I was sweeping, I found two empty snail shells and a Bueno Kinder wrapper.

Sweeping up in the garden

Earl is busy tackling the "cozy room" which has become filled with construction debris as we continue to work on our house.
After a few loads of laundry, Grace and I settled on the veranda with some sweet drinks -- menthe a l'eau.

Mint syrup and water, plus Grace's knitting.

No one wants to be quarantined, but hopefully it slows down the virus, and we're lucky to be in a warm environ today where we can sit in the sun and sip green drinks the day after St. Patrick's Day.
How bout you? Has your life changed since the virus arrived?

Home in France - Our New Old House

It filled me with joy and relief to return to our home in France.
The house is not magically completed and free of construction debris, but some of the rooms are really coming together and we are focusing on details to make our house a home.
Sunday when I arrived was my birthday, and I enjoyed dinner in La Gallerie, a local restaurant, with some true friends.

Dinner with friends

Plus, Earl had made me a birthday cake. Some of our meals included dessert, but (since my French is better than most of us English speakers) I asked the restaurant owner if we could bring the cake in. He said, of course and he would serve it. He even gave Earl a thumbs up as he served it, so maybe he tried a bite.
He served the cake with whipped cream and a celebratory stick,

Cake and whipped cream

 then placed a giant flame in front of me as they sang happy birthday.

Thanks, Steve, for taking the picture

To top it off, since we didn't eat dessert, he took a carafe of wine and our aperitif drinks off the bill.
So my birthday behind us, we could focus on getting our visas for the coming year and working on the house.
I have time to go for walks again in the morning, since I am not teaching at 5 a.m.

The river Aude runs through our town

While I was gone, my friend Jules put up a kitchen backsplash for us. There are a few tiles yet to be finished because we have to tile around the electrical outlets. And we just ordered a couple more cabinets, one to go between the sink and the refrigerator, and the other to go on the opposite wall.
But you can see the progress.

Yes, Delana, that is your goat cutting board hiding the missing tile.
Flowers on the window sill from my husband after he stole them from my friend Jules. 

The kitchen remains our "finished" room where I grade papers and we hang out with friends. But the guest bathroom is almost complete.
There was only a master bathroom upstairs and a toilet room downstairs. (I won't even call it a half bathroom because there is still no sink in it).
Our friends and builders Kris and Jason, stole some space from both bedrooms and created a full bathroom that will serve guests, like Grace and Jack who arrive in two weeks.

The shower and sink. A marble ledge is yet to come where the hand soap is. 

The bathroom is small but serviceable and hopefully will make anyone staying here more comfortable, and us too.
The sink is tiny, so we removed this medicine cabinet and put a flat mirror there. That way people can spit into the sink without knocking their heads on the medicine cabinet.

The toilet and towel warmer. A cabinet will go above the toilet for more storage. 

The bathroom still needs a door frame. I'm trying to pin Kris down to creating that when he returns from England next week.
Earl is still working on heating for the house, slowly painting radiators and then attaching a heating unit to each one. The electrician is coming tomorrow and will hook up the one in the kitchen, living room and guest bedroom. The one in our bedroom is already plugged in and keeping us toasty at night.
Today, I'm finishing up my three classes and my schedule should be a bit freer since I'll only be teaching one university class, plus all the Chinese students who I'm meet online every afternoon.
Before you know it, we'll be ready to start sprucing up the exterior of our house.

Flying Home

An Australian friend recently said he tricked me I to saying “home” when talking about the States. Even though we own a house in France, the States, the place where my kids and my parents are, will probably always be home.

A bar in the hotel lobby. "In wine, truth. 

As I write this, we’re sitting at the airport waiting for our flight to board.

We made it to the airport, walking less than 1000 steps to the airport tram, which brought us to Terminal 1. 

Far luckier than yesterday when we tried to visit Paris for the afternoon. 

The view from our hotel window as the sun set. 

After teaching in the morning, we had a leisurely breakfast then walked to the train station to ask about tickets to Paris. 

The ticket clerk assured us that RER B to Paris was leaving in 40 minutes. 

But what about coming back? I asked. I wouldn’t risk being stranded in Paris after spending two extra nights at an airport hotel. 

Trains come back every 23 minutes, he assured us. 

We went back to the hotel room, got coats and hats for the blustery, rainy weather and returned to the station to buy tickets. 

Usually tickets are 10.50 euros each way, but since we were returning the same day, the man gave us a ticket good for the whole day. The total was 35.80. 

Cheaper than I expected! I told him. 

We waited with a crowd for the train to Paris and clambered aboard. We watched the lighted stations tick off over the doors, counting down the stops to Paris Gare du Nord. 

When we arrived at Aulnay-sous-Bois, the train was terminé. 

It’s hard to understand announcements even in English. In French, it’s even more difficult. 

We saw buses that said SNCF, the name of the trains in France. 

We figured out we were supposed to board the buses to go on to Paris. We headed toward them, out the gates when I pulled Earl aside. 

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” I said. “Sure maybe we can get to Paris, but will we get back?”

Earl agreed and we followed directions to the train that would take us back to the airport. 

A train was waiting. We boarded and watched people equally confused climb on then climb off. After about 5 minutes, the train left. Several people got off at the next stop because the train wasn’t going where they hoped. 

But we got back to the airport train station. And I returned with our tickets clutched in hand to ask for a refund in my best French. 

And the clerk gave it to us! You could have knocked me over in surprise. 

Earl suggested they would say “but you rode the train twice, so you used it.” But she merely entered the numbers from the ticket and returned 35.80 euros. 

That afternoon, we napped, we’d been awake at 2 am to watch American football. Then we took a local bus to Roissy-en-France again for dinner. 

This time, goat cheese salad followed by crepes (galettes). We met a nice American couple, chatted and exchanged emails. 

One last night in the airport hotel. It’s kind of nice to be in a hotel airport with nothing to do except read a book, have a drink in the lobby, or watch Saturday Night Live. 

Now we wait for the flight and by the end of the day, we hope to be in warm Florida. 

Life in France is complicated, but if it were easy, everyone would do it.