Fall is in the air

Before we went north to visit Gien, Giverny, and Chartres, we could already tell that fall was a-coming. Now the equinox has passed, the days are rapidly getting shorter, there's color coming in the trees, and the weather's getting a bit nippy. It's a lovely time of the year.

Even though the legislation raising retirement age from 60 to 62 was passed, there continue to be strikes. Last Thursday there were a lot of actions in the towns around us, including a group that tried to occupy the lobby of the Angoulême train station and another that blocked a nearby highway. More strikes are planned, but it's hard to see the point right now.

We've been taking it pretty easy in the last days, catching up with laundry from our travels and recovering from colds. Ed's been playing in the yard with his chain saw. He took out a shrub in a corner where we want to put a tree. Now we have to find the tree and dig a hole. That area, to the right outside the kitchen porch, now looks huge where it was closed in with shrubs. Our weigela seems to have died. Ed's cut that way back and we're hoping it will send up new growth in the spring. The curly willow near the house also died in the summer and needs to be removed. We have a giant pile for a bonfire now.

We don't seem to be any further with Ed's Carte Vitale. Kaye called again and was told that we just needed to wait longer for the card. We find this rather doubtful, but will wait another three weeks before calling yet again.