Long time, no blog

Sorry, sometimes we have trouble getting ourselves together to spend a few minutes writing. But here we are again.

At the beginning of each year, in communes all over France, the maire (mayor) hosts a gathering of the community, to present his or her best wishes for the new year. Ours was two Saturdays ago. We got a rundown of the big happenings in the commune, four deaths (including our neighbor and the 90-year-old ex-ex-mayor with whom we've eaten at recent meals), no births, and two new residents. People could (and did) ask questions, including one about why most of the commune still doesn't have good broadband access. (We've only recently realized that we are quite lucky to have this; a large part of the commune has only dial-up access. Internet via satellite should arrive in the next months.) We all had some bubbly (Vouvray, not champagne) and some Three Kings' brioche, and lots of chatting.

We've started taking long (long for us, 6k+) dog walks several times a week with a neighbor who's walking dogs. This gives Pogo a chance to do some doggy socializing and us a chance to explore more of the area. We've discovered several nice walks nearby and are looking forward to walking to our local restaurant, La Bellone, for lunch one of these days (although we may contrive to have a ride back).

The "pack" we've joined has an elegant, but elderly, lady boxer, who can't always make our walks, a young daschund, and a young and very energetic border collie. Our first walk started out in mayhem, with Pogo whimpering for reassurance. He's greatly intimated by the boisterous young'uns, especially the border collie who just wants to play, while poor Pogo doesn't get it at all. Things are settling down a bit now and when two new dogs joined us on Monday, Pogo was happy to ignore them and hang around with his two old buddies.

We had a morning with no electricity, while updates were made to improve the supply. This seems to be an annual event.

Last Saturday morning we attended a bird walk organized by our closest tourist bureau. We visited a bird reserve with a hide on a nearby lake, as well as several other spots. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very cooperative. It was seriously cold and the wind was blowing hard. Brr... Kept the ducks down also. We saw cormorants and widgeons and grebes, all things that were very common in the Netherlands. Most birds had the good sense to stay in a warm, sheltered place, unlike the people out looking for them.

Yesterday we walked up to recycle glass in a bit of drizzle and returned in a bit of snow. That was all the snow we got, although more was forecast. Seems like we're having normal winter weather right now. We hope it stays like this, although Kaye wouldn't mind a day that stayed below 0C so she could defrost the big freezer more easily.