Visitors from Houston

Installing the kitchen cabinets has come to a standstill, waiting for another trip to Bordeaux to pick up the missing bits. The cabinets that can be installed are in place and have doors, drawers, and some clever, temporary handles improvised by Ed. We decided not to unpack into them further, and just make do with what we have until the full set in installed. Today we see that the part that wouldn't be delivered until July is now in stock, so we'll be making a trip to Bordeaux before too long.

For a week there, the weather was roasting hot, with daytime highs around 32C/90F. Ed was happy, Kaye was hot. The heat wave finally broke on Thursday. It was gray and breezy, and we opened the house up to cool it off. Thursday afternoon we picked up our friends Cindy and Rob and their son, Ray, from the train station in Angoulême; they arrived that morning from Houston. Ray is on is way to a snowboarding camp in Zermatt, so the whole family came for a visit.

Friday we made a visit to the Roman baths in nearby Chassenon, in other times the Roman town of Cassinomagus. The baths are very well preserved and still being excavated. This is one of the hot-water baths.

Saturday morning we went to a bric-à-brac in our closest market town, Montembouef, where Ed found a chainsaw and Cindy found a pregnant Barbie doll. That evening, we had a 4th of July barbecue, the first time in a long time that it hasn't rained on the 4th! The daisy umbrella is covering our bowls of potato salad and coleslaw on the side table that's a bit higher than our dinner table.

We sat outside until late, watching bats zoom around and (some of us) listening to insects chirp. As we cleared up in the dark, we noticed a large bug waddling on the ground at our feet. This turned out to be a female stag beetle. (You may remember that Ed brought in in her suitor a few weeks ago.) Her pincers have a bit more force than the male's. Here she is on Ed's sleeve.

Sunday, after lunch at a nearby restaurant, our friend went on their way to Paris, Berlin, Zermatt, and points south. And we got started on the laundry.

This evening Ed picked up the broom in the kitchen and found this little fella. He'd found another one in the sink earlier and thought it most have come in through the window. Now we're not sure. Anyhow, baby lizards are cute.