Derniers Moments

Autumn still giving it a jolly good go. We wake up and it looks like this: and then by the afternoon it's up to 25C. 

Lish and I did some lovely walks in the countryside round about.

I kept trying to go to the little goat farm where there was apparently yarn to be had! - but we never quite got going early enough in the day to avoid the 'closed from midday until 3' nonsense that is a part of the  mainstream French lifestyle.

La sieste des vaches! 

A very good boy doing a very good job.

Cows have bells, goats have bells, sheep have bells, and they each are a different tone! so you can hear what sort of animal it is, even before you see it!

I love road-side mailboxes. We have these a lot in country Australia. They are always picturesque. 

A really well executed woodpile! Goals.

I dunno what this is, but if anyone's ever seen Over The Hedge,
it looks like one of the contraptions in that! 

Lish having to respond to an important text message from home,
out in the middle of absolutely nowhere 

A car repair business, out in the middle of absolutely nowhere ... 

Where the cars seem to have been there for a very, very long time!!! 

The entire area is filled with roads and roads like this. The speed limit is 80 km/h! 

I couldn't get enough of sunlight through crocuses 💜

Lish cooked a few times this week! - and I sous-cheffed.
So much fun working with them. 

This was a delightful tomato risotto, with roasted potimarron and yellow pear tomatoes. Sides of grilled chicken, and haloumi for the veggos. 

Credit: The Mediterranean Dish: Tomato Risotto

The amazingly creative Chloé has a project - she wants a library at school, with the rider that all the books have to be written BY HER. She and Lish had some wonderful sessions working on plot lines. 

Another walk - this one heads down our lane, then onto another side-lane, skirts the bottom perimteter of our property, curves around up to the top of the hill. 

Fallen chestnuts look like a convention of hedgehogs! 

Blue sky and bucolia, as far as the eye can see

We met some nice little donkeys

Fire hydrants have funny faces! And can be found in really unexpected areas.

At the end of our walk, we came back up through one of the fields at the bottom of the garden, and spotted this. 

Lish and I went for afternoon-tea with a couple that visit this area from America, for a couple of months at a time. We explored the village where they are staying. 

This sign made us giggle - what the heck did the chicken do???

(the word 'traiteur' actually means caterer)

the church in Monein

David and Ashley - a lovely couple! 

A simple dish of roasted-veg girasole, in a pesto and goat-cottage-cheese sauce, with toasted pine nuts

*   *   *

And then, just like that ..... 

It was all over.

As we were packing the night before our 24-day ex-Schengen trip, my host came to me and said Ah, sorry, as none of the projects that we brought you here for are actually anywhere near fruition, and we can't really afford to keep feeding you, we're going to need to rent your room out. Can you move in with Lish when you get back?

It appears that this had been discussed and decided between them that day, the day after we had just booked all our trains, including the return to Pau train ... 

I'm dumbfounded and crushed. Still processing. 

To give them grace, it may have been a very difficult decision for them to have to make; the conversation was always going to be super-awkward; he is always very direct and to the point; and maybe he just wanted to rip the band-aid off.

The flight - because it felt like fleeing - from there to where we are currently - was a very difficult and painful day. Nothing seemed to go to plan. Lish had to return their rental cello and rental car - the cello guy wasn't available til 2pm, the train tickets were at 3.15, we had to take first the cello, then the car, then get back from the airport to the train station, it was impossible ... we had to rebook the train tickets on the hop ... we were expecting to travel light, but we now have our enormous bags with us as well ... 

We staggered into Bordeaux quite late in the evening. I was looking forward to a shower and some room service. Room service was not on, on Friday nights. 

Lish, amazing Lish, arranged for Uber Eats and we had a bed-picnic of quite respectable poke bowls. 

The next day, it was better. Stay tuned.