April showers continue in May

Our friend Bill from Amsterdam came again at the end of April for a visit. After we picked him up and lunched, we went to our kitchen store to pick up the kitchen faucet and under-cabinet lighting that will one day make their appearance in the kitchen, then stopped at a hypermarché for a bit of shopping. On the weekend we went to the Phoenix Association booksale in the Dordogne. Bill came out with a big sackful of books (€1 each) and several tombola prizes. We managed to leave with only a handful of books, so we actually make a net reduction in book population this time round, counting the box we left there.

On the way home, we stopped at Perigueux for a bit of sightseeing. This is a very interesting town, well worth sometime time visiting. There are a very few Roman remains there (no photos this time) and a lovely medieval city center. We first visited the 12C Cathedral of St Front. In the form of a Greek cross, it was the first domed church on the old Roman road. It was restored in the 19C by the architect Abadie, who used this restoration as inspiration for his design of the Sacre Coeur in Paris.

There is an incredible baroque carved wood altarpiece that's rather jammed into its corner.

And a hard-working character holding up the pulpit.

Walking around the cathedral area we found some interesting architecture.

 

And admired shop windows, including this butcher's shop.

And watched a restaurant cat drinking from a fountain.

We were lucky with the weather that day, because the cold and drippy weather has continued through most of May. The rain makes the grass grow like mad so any break in the weather means it's time for mowing.

Work on the kitchen continues apace. The wall behind the sink is largely finished; only the plumbing needs to be finalized. We've taped plastic up to protect the new wallboard. It's supposed to be waterproof, but there's quite a bit of water splashed up from the sink. The cabinet to the right of the sink had been moved back into place, making it much easier to make tea and coffee again.

Work has now started on the wall behind stove, where the old paneling has been removed. You can see the hole for the old exhaust fan and the elephant nose for the new one. This area of wall is much simpler; the shape is simpler and there's no plumbing here, only a bit of electricity to deal with.

To see more of our commune, you might want to read this interesting post that includes lots of pictures by a more ambitious blogger in the area who recently made a walk in Mazerolles.