Home again, again

Last Monday evening we got back from an exhausting US visit. It was a sunny afternoon when Sally picked us up at the train station and we made a brief grocery stop for food on the way home. It was very nice to be home again. It reportedly rained quite a bit while we were gone, but the house was dry — hooray! Ed got the fires going and turned on the hot water heaters, while Kaye rustled up dinner.

The next day we went to pick up Pogo and Sophie from the kennel where they enjoyed a little vacation. Pogo was bouncing with excitement when he saw Ed.

Although the day we returned was lovely, the gray and drippy weather has returned. We've been drying our mountain of laundry mostly inside. We wonder how so many dirty clothes accumulate while you're travelling. 

The conservatory floor has been finished now and looks quite nice. We'll wait on doing the shed floor, hoping that the watertight ceiling/floor will solve the problem with dampness there. 

Ed's been busy sawing logs and cutting iron plates to size for the interior back and ceiling of the wood-burning stove in the kitchen. These panels were already cracked, but split completely early in the week. 

Since Ed has still not gotten is carte vitale for medical care, Thursday we paid another visit to the CPAM office in La Rochefoucauld. The CPAM folks must have at least five copies of our birth certificates and marriage license now, since we have to leave these every time we go to make a request. Ed is covered by Kaye's card, which is no problem when we're together, but when we are separated, as we will be when Kaye returns to the US shortly, then one of us is without the card. Luckily Ed can use one of our old attestation papers in the meantime, but we hope the forms for his carte vitale will arrive soon.

Saturday we went to a book sale in the Dordogne (the department below us) for the Phoenix Association, the group that rescued Sophie and Pogo. Lots and lots of English speakers there, but only a few American voices. In spite of our resolutions to cut back on books, we did our part to increase their "take" from the sale.

The Dordogne is a lovely area. Although it's just a short drive from here, you can see a difference in the architecture. The towns and villages are probably the best-kept that we've seen in France. Everything looks very tidy and in good repair. You don't see nearly as many fixer-uppers as you do here. We also noticed lots of strawberries being grown under plastic. Although the scale was smaller, it reminded us of The Netherlands.

We spent the night at Moulin du Columbier, a lovely chambre d'hôte (B&B) in an old mill that was renovated by a Dutch couple who have been there for twelve years. At their recommendation, on Sunday afternoon we had a really outstanding lunch at the Auberge Lou Peyrol for Ed's birthday. The weather being cold and rainy, we decided to come home rather than spend another night. This was our first trip with Pogo. He's a pretty good traveller, and didn't complain about all the changes in his routine and enjoyed exploring new territories.