We had the pleasure of hosting two of Bill’s sisters and one niece on a part of their visit to France and Spain. It was a celebration of Jenny’s passing the first stage of her studies to becoming a sommelier, a specialist in selecting and serving wine, either on its own or pairing it with food. What better place to come than the world’s largest wine producing area to try out those newly-acquired skills? Continue reading “Well…Albi”
How can I tell that Bill’s happy living in Carcassonne? Just take a look at this poster from the city’s website. Although we’ve met the mayor several times and feel relatively integrated into the community here, we probably don’t yet warrant our own endorsement from town hall. This is actually an advertisement for a band called The Billexcited that’s playing tomorrow night at one of … Continue reading But is he happy?
With two UNESCO World Heritage sites here within a stone’s throw of each other, you might find it curious that I would choose to post a photo of scaffolding to represent Carcassonne. This is the city’s Fine Arts museum currently encased in piping and netting as repairs are made to its block-long wall that faces the busy shopping street of rue de Verdun. In this part of the city that was founded in the 1200s it’s only inevitable that repairs will be necessary from time to time. That’s exactly what’s happening now, all over town, with the big construction project aptly named Opération Grand Site. Continue reading “Under construction”
It’s not at all uncommon, especially in rural areas, for houses to have a plaque above the front door with a name; not of the owners but of the house. Examples we’ve seen include “Long Weekend”, “Good Times”, and “My Dream”. We were invited for lunch to a small village outside of Carcassonne with precise directions and the reassurance of “If you get lost just ask for the Tile House; everyone knows where it is”. We arrived without incident to discover that our hosts lived in a former tile factory, hence the name. With that inspiration, it’s time to name our new place and we think we’ll call it “Modération”. Continue reading “And they named it….”
When we first arrived in France we had our dog Heather with us so naturally we went on lots of walks. In addition to the necessary reasons for those outings we sometimes continued for hours along the river or canal just because she kept pulling us along. We still walk a lot but since we no longer have Heather, our footsteps now typically take us to the other house to work, over to the market for fruits and vegetables, or out to one of the supermarkets for anything we can’t find right here in town. In other words, although we’re outside a lot, it’s been for our own necessary reasons and no one has pulled us any further. We did something about that recently. Continue reading “Falling for fall”
The last time we had an octopus in the kitchen was…never except now, with the new house, there’s one there 24 hours a day and we couldn’t be happier even though it keeps us in hot water. Literally we have all the hot water we want, on demand, from this machine you see pictured here hanging on the wall in our kitchen. Anyone familiar with the old television game show question “Is it bigger than a breadbox?” will understand its size. Updated to our current location, it’s as tall as a baguette, as wide as a beret, and all of those pipes keep us toasty throughout the house. Continue reading “The kitchen octopus”
Despite the title of the Rolling Stones’ 1965 hit song (and today’s blog post), according to the lyrics, they were never able to get any satisfaction. Luckily that’s not the case with overseas visitors who settle in France, according to a recent survey I read about last month. In fact, we find ourselves in a country that ranks 4th out of 45 countries when respondents were asked about the quality of life, and we totally agree. Continue reading “Satisfaction”
