April springs upon us

Sophie and Oscar were exposed to cat flu while they were at the cat spa. (Just like people flu, the shots don't always work.) Just when we thought they'd avoided it, Oscar started sneezing. The same day, Sophie came in with a cat bite on her bum. (Seems like she didn't run away quite fast enough.) The treatment was the same and when Sophie started sneezing a few days later, it was just a couple of a-choos and a quiet day, but poor Oscar was really down for a good week. Both are better now.

The highlight of the month was a visit from our niece, Brette, who is doing a semester studying in Morocco. Thursday afternoon, we met the train she was supposed to be on, but there was no Brette. We went home to rescue the lamb leg that was roasting in the oven, and finally got in contact with her. Her flight out of Casablanca was delayed and there was no wifi at the airport. When she finally arrived in Bordeaux,  there were no more trains to Angoulême. We put the lamb out of cats' reach and made a quick trip to Bordeaux pick her up, arriving home very late. The next day we went to lunch and to see the Roman baths at Chassenon, only to find the baths closed while having a new roof put on. (In the next day's paper, we saw that the new president of the Charente, a conservative, wants to stop the funding for this project.) After a walk around the grounds, we went to get some cheeses for our supper and stopped to see a cattle fair. The next night Brette got to experience fish-and-chips and Irish beer, while one of our local rock-and-roll cover bands played. On Sunday we took her to the train station to start her return visit, so she didn't miss that experience.

Otherwise, it's been pretty quiet around here. The weatherman says April was sunny and dry in most of France. Our memory is that there was lots of gray and rain, but enough dry spells to make the grass grow.