Nothing

The bird died. That's it for today.

Lazy Walks Around Bergerac

Today was just pretty laid back with not much to do which is fine with me. I went for my morning walk around town where I just walk fast and let my feet take me where they want to go. Even though the streets go every which direction I still haven't got lost. Usually, somewhere, I'll be able to look around and find the main church in town and I can always steer myself in that direction until I find something familiar.

Daniele wanted everyone to see that I am wearing short pants.

What'd you call me?

After that walk, I got Daniele and Kellie up and we took an easy walk to the center of town. It was market day so we just wandered around the streets of Old Bergerac then on up to the center of town around the Church where the majority of the market takes place. You can find just about anything in these markets from tools to tomatoes to shoes. The fresh vegetables usually look very tempting and mouth watering.


































After returning from our walk, we had lunch then Daniele's sister dropped us off at Aqua Park, a sort of water park, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. Daniele and Kellie went swimming while I found a shady place to sit down and read my book I've been working on since we left. A little barbecued lamb for dinner and voila, there was the day!

Kellie coming down the slide

Hiding out in the shade. I'm still burnt and starting to peel from when we went to the beach.

Bird update: He chirps all day long. We give him water from a spoon and feed him small pieces of bread and meat. He comes to the edge of his cage and sits there with his mouth open waiting for us to feed him.

Castle - Bastide - Abbaye

Well, the morning started out with Kellie getting up and complaining that some bird kept chirping and woke her up several times during the night. Of course, I didn't hear a bird until she said that. When I did hear it, it was really loud and sounded like it was in the house. I looked around and finally opened the door to the stairs going up to the attic and there it was at the bottom of the stairs. Just a little baby. It is now sitting in a cage in the kitchen. I don't know if it will survive because they put water and dog food in there and who knows whether or not it will self feed.



Today, we took a little drive out into the country and found this castle. We went up the hill to see it but it is private and I suppose someone is living in it. Afterwards we went to a Bastide, a fortified city, where we walked around the open market and then went to a restaurant to eat lunch. Afterwards we drove further down the road to an old Abbey which dated back to the late 11th Century. There was a place there where Kellie spent time learning to do calligraphy and the fancy first letter that the monks always used.















Anyway, it was quite a pleasant afternoon. It was just Bernadette, Kellie, Daniele and myself who went so it was quiet. Hopefully we go out on few more sorties like this one because this old stuff is quite interesting. I am always amazed at how people back then could build castles and churches like they did without the use of heavy equipment to do the lifting, placing, digging, stone carving and so forth.

Eyesight Gone Bad

Yesterday was a laid back go to church type of day so we didn't really do much of anything. Actually, it is kind of nice to have a day like that around here because someone always wants us to do something. So, as I was musing upon what I would write today, a friend of Bernadette came over to visit. We met her the last time we were here and she is a really nice person. Anyway, Daniele's mom comes in and says hello to her and does the two kisses on the cheek thing. Now, notice in the picture to the left that she wears some pretty hefty glasses in order to see. Well, she didn't have them on. She was able to recognize Bernadette's friend but then she saw me across the table. She paused for a moment then held out her hand and said "Bonjour, Messieur." in a real serious tone. Now I thought she was being facetious or something so I just said "Bonjour, Madam" back to her and shook her proffered hand. Everyone in the room was watching this strange encounter then everyone realized that she hadn't recognized me and took me for some stranger that was with Bernadette's friend. Well, she was thoroughly embarrassed but had a good laugh as did all of us. You just never know what's going to happen around here but I can tell you it is always a surprise and it is non-stop.

Family

Yesterday, we had most of the family there. The only one missing was Michel and his family. It was crowded and noisy but we had a good time together.

Strawberries and Cars

Here is Casey's food picture of the day. We have had some of the best strawberries I've tasted since we have been here. This is the batch that they went and picked yesterday. Sweet, juicy, tender, and yummy. I must have eaten half a bowl by myself, yesterday.

Kellie has discovered Gallette Bretons, the butter cookies that they make here. Actually, they are one of my favorites. I bought some yesterday and I think Kellie has had about 10 of them already. Most of yesterday was just sitting around waiting for Catherine to arrive. I fixed a few things around the house and I went on a couple of walks during the day. I think I put in about seven miles of walking. I skipped dinner for one of my walks because eating two big meals a day is getting to be a bit too much. I haven't gained any weight, though.

So, just how many ways can a hatchback be designed? Everyone drives a hatchback. And they are all teeny tiny. Imagine sitting in the backseat of one of these for two hours while you drive to the beach. Your knees get stiff and your rear-end gets sore. Ah well, I suppose that when gasoline costs about $9 a gallon, you don't go for big and fancy.

To The Beach!

Well, after waiting for the girls to get out of bed and then a two hour drive, we made it to Biscarosse la Plage (the beach) around noon and spent the rest of the day there until about 7:30 that evening. Another two hour drive (actually a little longer because we came back by a different route) and we had dinner around 10 pm. I left with my normally lilly-white body and returned with shins that could serve as stop lights in town. However, we had a good time. Kellie thought she was a fish and spent a lot of time swimming in the Atlantic. They would only let swimmers in a small area and there were so many people in there at times that it was hard to keep an eye on Kellie especially when she would dive under a wave then come up somewhere else. We ate lunch when we got there. We had lots of good french bread, sauscisse, and a tabouli that Bernadette made. Of course, by later in the day, most of the food wasn't very good because it had sand in it. That was always one thing I hated when I was a kid in Southern California. We'd have an outing to the beach and always end up with sand in our food. French bread is much better without sand in it. So here are a few pictures of the day at the beach.

TV and Radio stations like to set up entertainment at the beach for the summer.

Bernadette and the Grandparents heading down to the water.

Kellie the Fish. Is that the U.S. I see on the horizon?

This was before I got my sunburn. We were actually sitting in the shade. Enjoying my tabouli.

The Grandpa

So there we have it. Tomorrow, I may muse upon how many ways a hatchback can be designed.

A Title and a Movie for Jeff

Not much time today. We are going to the beach in a few moments but Jeff wanted a title and some video so here they are.



Also here is a picture of Kellie and I at the open air market.

French bread, pain aux raisins and chocolatines. Now that is the essence of French life. I mean, this is what it is all about. You just can't get bread and pastries this good in the United States. I went for two walks this morning. The first one was to get a good workout and the second one was to go to the bakery. Daniele mentioned, yesterday, that Kellie hadn't had a chocolatine yet so I decided to remedy that this morning and voila! Anyway, I enjoy walking around this place. Bergerac is an old town dating back to the 11th century. It is always interesting to wander around streets and wonder what the people were like centuries ago that wandered the same streets. Of course most of the buildings are different and the streets weren't paved back then but still it is interesting to wonder about such things. Anyway, the old city is really old and the streets are narrow.









Bergerac sits on the banks of the Dordogne River. There are several bridges which pass over it. My little walk, this morning, took me over both of the bridges. This morning was the open market which we just got back from. There were all kinds of things to buy but the best was when Kellie and I broke off to walk back to the house. We stopped and got a couple of the juiciest, tastiest peaches ever and munched them on our way back. Well, I'm being kicked off of the table so we can eat, again. Until tomrrow, then...

Casey wanted pictures of food so here is the first of many to come. We spend a lot of time eating and the weather has been nice so we eat out on the patio. Today, we had french fries. French potatoes are much better than the ones at home and the fries come out really good. Of course, there is lots of bread and other stuff too. One of my favorites is the paté de compagne which I finished off for lunch today.

Yesterday, we went to Castillon la Bataille, site of the last battle of the hundred years war, where Daniele's parents lived before coming out here to Bergerac to live. We went to check on the old house which they are trying to sell. While we were there, I went across the street to visit the neigbors. It is an old couple. The dame is about one of the funniest people ever. She has something to say about everything and is full of stories. She laughs a lot. Her husban, meanwhile, is very quiet. A couple of years ago, he lost a leg for some medical reason or another so he is confined to a wheelchair. It was fun to visit with them. I really like the look on her face when I came into the yard to visit. Her eyes went real wide when she realized who I was. Here is a picture of them with Daniele's father and a picture of the house in Castillon.

Well, we finally made it over here to France. The direct flight from Salt Lake City to Paris was pretty nice. I slept most of the way and the trip seemed to be pretty short even though it was about 10 hours worth of flying. The picture is of me sitting on the train. We took two trains to get to our final destination. The first was a TGV and we were nice and comfortable in first class. The second train was a 'milk run' train. Old; slow; hot; frequent stops. By the time of the second train, we were getting pretty tired from the long trip. Kellie was really tired and not in a good mood.





As we were leaving to go to the airport, we got a phone call from Daniele's sister. She was surprised that we answered because they had been to the train station twice to get us. This is about the third time this has happened. We always tell them that we are leaving on such and such day and will arrive the NEXT day at such and such time. For some the reason, the 'next day' part just doesn't ever seem to register. It was a good thing that they caught us on the phone before we left. The quiche was still good, however, even though it was a day old...





Yesterday, we went to church in Bergerac. Church is held in a rented rooms at a hotel/restaurant. They only have two rooms so priesthood and relief society meet together while the kids used the other room for primary. Sacrament meeting was in the room used by the primary. It was kind of funny to see a cappuccino machine in the room where church was held, though. Remember, this is a restaurant/hotel and we were in a meeting room. Anyway, here we are in front of the 'church.'

It is the day before we leave to go to France for three and a half weeks and this is about the way I feel. Seems like there are so many things to get done before we leave and then, of course, there is the anxiety of leaving the house, all my stuff, and the cats. Last time we went on vacation, Rosie, one of the cats, disappeared and we were only gone for a week. After about two weeks, I finally wrote her off as gone for good so I got another cat to replace her. Of course two weeks later, Rosie shows up at the door looking really annoyed and demanding something to eat. She was especially annoyed about there being another cat in the house. Seems that if she can't come spend some time in the house during the day, she feels abandoned. I have no idea where she disappeared to for over a month but someone was feeding her because she looked fatter than when we left. My niece, Samantha, is supposed to come over every day and feed them and let them in for a bit and hopefully that will help. So, I worry about things like this before going on a trip. I'm also trying to lose a little weight so I also worry about where I'm going to work out and what I'll be able to eat. France is not exactly the best place to try and stay on a regime especially with the bread, cheeses, yogurts, pastries and paté. I used to be able to go jogging when we would go over there but my knees won't support that activity anymore so I also need to figure out what I'm going to do for exercise. I know, I know. Rough life, you are saying...

Dustin sent this photo of Tavin, my grandson, yesterday. He went out and bought the little steps so that Tavin could get up to the bathroom sink and brush his teeth while looking at the photo of all of us which is in the back corner of the counter top. Tavin is doing well now that he is back in Delaware with Dustin. He goes to daycare while Dustin goes to work at the Dover Air Base. Evidently there is a girl there about his age that likes to kiss him all day long so I guess Tay has a girlfriend at the age of one and a half. I miss having him around the house because he is a lot of fun.

So... I'll try and keep this updated while we are in France. I imagine that I should have the time to do so.

Quit yer whining!

O.K., everyone is complaining that I haven't posted anything since I started this so I'm going to make a post.

Today is Wednesday. There. I'm glad to get that off my chest.

Oh, and this is where I'll be in a couple of days...