Our commune held its annual old folks dinner just in time for Bill's visit. We arrived to find the tables elegantly set and the hall gaily decorated. (The sheets on the right set off the caters area.) Again we had an excellent meal, starting an aperitif of pineau; followed by little verrines (glasses) containing a purée of peas on a purée of smoked salmon; then a velouté of champignons (cream of mushroom soup); then the fish course with grilled eggplant slices wrapped around a terrine of tuna and shrimp; then a bit of raspberry sorbet as an entremet; finally the main, rolled up strips of magret de canard (duck), accompanied by mashed potatoes and grilled cherry tomatoes on the stem; then the cheese; and finally a cake forêt noir (black forest) with crème anglaise; all accompanied by ample alcohol, white and red wine, pineau, cognac, cassis, etc. Somewhere near the end of this feast, as is the tradition, various members of the diners got up to sing for their supper, mostly popular songs we don't know at all. We arrived at noon-thirty and got home after 5:30, with no need for further food for the day.
We took advantage of Bill's visit to take ourselves for an overnight trip (courtesy of Groupon) to visit Futuroscope, one of those places we've been meaning to go but never made it too. We were expecting a lot of hands-on science-related attractions, so were disappointed to find mostly 3D Imax cinema shows with few things to "do." After seeing enough of the films, this was one of Ed's favorite attractions:
We were lucky with the weather, though, since the rain held off until mid-afternoon, when we'd had about enough.
On the weekend, Bill and Kaye went to visit a safranière, the Domaine de Villeneuve. France produces about 20 kilos of saffron each year; the largest producer, Iran, produces 100 tons. After a lecture on the business of saffron, we visited one of the fields, which looks like bare ground as you approach but turns out to be filled with blooming saffron crocuses. Twice a day flowers are collected and carefully counted, since reduced production indicates it's time to replant the field (every 5-6 years).
Then the pistil with its 3-part stigma is carefully cut from each flower using manicure scissors. It's cut out in one piece to help ensure buyers that it's real saffron.
This is all very tedious hand-work so you can understand why saffron sells for €30,000-40,000 per kilo. Again we were lucky with the weather. Sprinkles started as we left to return home.
That afternoon we were supposed to go to a food fair in Limoges, but were rained out. And the next day the Fête du Vin in nearby St Sornin was cancelled because of the rain. But during a break in the rain, we went to the sparsely attended Marché du Goût in La Rochefoucauld. We came home with a sackful of goodies, which did not include pigeons.
The next day we went to an afternoon concert in Angoulême, part of the Piano en Valois festival. As we left, we were treated to a display of brightly colored clouds all around us, with yet more rain in the distance, toward home.
The day Bill left we finally had a typical fall day, warm and sunny. We ate lunch on a terrace in La Rochefoucauld. One of our favorite sights there is this post that's being engulfed by a plane tree (sycamore). Another post stands next to the parked car.
And we've been to more meals, concerts, a quiz (where we were solidly in the middle group of teams), and a charity book sale.
On the home front, work is progressing on our new woodshed. At the end of September we picked up the kit that we ordered in March. The 3-meter by 4-meter shed fit into a borrowed trailer.
While Bill was here, the slab for the shed finally got laid.
Ed used this last break in the rain to start the assembly.
After two days, it's ready for the roof.
But now it's getting ready to rain again, so that will have to wait (a week?) for another dry spell. Whenever it gets done, the wood that's covered by the blue tarp below and black and green tarps on the terrace will be stacked inside, with room for the sacks of pellets for the pellet-burning stove. We hope.
With the last dry spell, the weather turned quite cold. We've had some light frosts overnight, but nothing as bad as our friends in the east of France who had snow up to their window sills.
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