Enfin!

Yes, we have been malingering blogwise. There have been lots of little things happening, but not too much major. Biggest news is that today the new kitchen counters we delivered. These cover the peninsula and the little cabinet to the left of the stove. This is not the best picture but the color is truest, cherry red. (What looks like a TV on the left is reflection of sunlight (!) off the woodburning stove.)

Order in the rest of the house has largely been restored now. In the kitchen, there are some minor tasks remaining, mostly lighting and finish work. The major task is the tiling that will go behind the sink, the cabinet left of the stove, and the space at the end of the peninsula. We think we've decided what we want. We just have to make the definitive plan, count tiles, order and install.

So far we've been too cheap to go to the Circuit des Remparts on the heights of Angoulême each September, but we made it again to part of the old-timers rally this year. At noontime, there was a luncheon for the drivers on the grounds of the chateau at La Rochefoucauld. This MB was a favorite, since Kaye's father had a cream-colored version of it in the late 50s. You can just see the marquee for the luncheon in the background.

The week after this, Ed spent a little spell in the hospital for minor surgery. 

Ed's second choir (in Rochechouart) had a lovely concert in mid-October at a church, St Michel des Lions, in Limgoes. The lions on the doorstep are a bit worse for the wear. This is a lovely church inside and we plan to visit it again as tourists before too long.

The fête du vin at St Sornin was largely rained out this year for the second time, not cancelled this year, but the weather was a major damper on the festivities. Earlier in the day we went to the marché du goût in La Rochefoucauld and got seriously rained on there, so decided not to risk the fête. There was a tragedy this year. A marching band, part of the entertainment, sheltered in a barn where wine was being made. The young band members were fooling around the vat, one was overcome by the fumes, fell in, and almost drowned on the spot before being pulled out, but died several days later. Sad.

Last weekend Europe went off "summer time," a week ahead of North America. Sunday afternoon, our commune offered a lovely lunch to the local old-timers (i.e., over 60s). The menu was offered as a kind of burnt scroll thing, not sure why. Quite a lovely meal, although the café et son chocolat was a bit underwhelming, just a small piece of chocolate wrapped in foil. We left as the serious after-dinner drinking started, having had more than enough pineau, white wine, red wine, and champagne with the meal.

About the time we were thinking that it must be about time to take the cover off our hexagonal pergola for the winter, we had a big windstorm in the night. The pergola was uprooted (it had been pinned to the ground) and knocked over, doing major damage to two of its legs. We're not sure yet if it can be repaired or if we'll need to replace it next summer. 

Beyond all this, we've been to several concerts in local churches. The pellet burning stove has had its annual cleaning. The weather has been variable. Lots of gray and rainy weather, with brief periods of sun. The cranes have been migrating through quite early, so an early winter is predicted.