Isn’t peeling wallpaper FUN! The sound of the 2″ strips just ripping off the wall sends chills through my spine in anticipation of the wonder beneith. Shit. The room in question is the old dining room next to the Little Kitchen, the green and pale green and yellowed dirty white paisley pattern had finally worked it’s magic on our brains and Kelly started and I soon picked up the task as well. Scrape, pull, rip, climb, scrape, pull, rip, scrape, rip…on and on for hours and up and down on the ladders to get to some of the more inaccessible locations behind water pipes and bizarre electrical thing-a-majigs…brother. A beautiful Saturday like this set to waste with this awful task, what is wrong with us?! Furry just walks into the room, it’s floor coverred with thousands of 2″ X 2″ peices of ancient wallpaper and looks around, up and down at it as if to say, “Why did you screw up my purr-fectly good sitting room where I can vomit in peace under the lovely grey chairs?! Why?” Because we are DRIVEN you useless furball! Driven!
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We grow ever closer to having the bottom story of the olde place recoverred if not entirely refurbished…at least it looks better to US than it did, whether or not we have gotten the sequence right or not, well that is a question isn’t it? Who knows, maybe we’ll have to pull some of our cover-work down and fix a leak pipe or two, or rebuild the wall or…who knows? It’s an olde place, it’s been here longer than you dear reader, I and Kelly PLUS our two cats have been alive and I suspect it will do as well FAAAAR into the future. Once we sell the little house and get that money into our hot little worn out hands (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130234244587&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=003 to see it and
MORE PICS AT http://flickr.com/photos/hnlute/ Go to SETS then click on DIX or go straight to the pictures of the house at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hnlute/sets/72157605912040170/ )
the roof will be assessed once again and a brand new INSULATED one will be installed by SOMEONE ELSE! Then what? Well, we have a plan to build a veranda structure between the two wings in the form of one of the lovely iron ones common in Paris. All glass and arty-like. We like the one we had built for us in Suisun a few years ago so much we’d like to replicate it here in sunny and warm Lignieres. We shall see what time tells us.
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What I wonder is how the hell we are going to get HERE next spring what with all the airline cuts. Booking the journey ought to be a thrill that’s for sure, big bucks and few flights with many more stops. Shit!
Archive for June, 2008
A Sunny Saturday Peeling Wallpaper
June 28, 2008The Day After
June 22, 2008Longest Day of The Year
June 20, 2008We’re BAD at finishing.
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The little house is a charmer though, I wish we could keep it but someone will love it and realize what a great value the place is. It’s a walled compound, walls on both sides and the back with a
lockable doored 30 sq/mt garage as well as a big barn (80 sq/mt + 30 sq/mt loft) to store things in. The house (88 sq/mt) is in wonderful condition as we repainted it and did a fancy paint job on both sides of all the doors, really French looking! The 120 sq/mt English garden was designed by a California landscape designer Marsha Pouget. It all works and we are including the refrigerator, dish washer, washer drier combo, and new oven/stove. It has city supplied water and sewer as well.
Lyon
June 15, 2008http://www.helpwithcooking.com/seafood-shellfish/how-to-cook-mussels.html
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Lyon is a wonderful city to visit though it’s approach from the south is industrial as all get out. Oil operations abound featuring long, black trains, the French Modern factory approach to urban planning rules the landscape. Once across the river though it becomes a lush, green garden on visual and gastronomic delights. Parking can/is a hasstle and though advertised as part of our one-star hotel’s (Alexandra Hotel http://www.hotelalexandra69002.fr/ ) amenities we decided to walk the short walk, pay the PAYANT machine it’s due and be done with it. Bonnie the Tom Tom GPS had gotten us to within a block of the hotel door and l’Viola! there was a space for us on the street! Amazing! So we unloaded our single bag with our 2 changes of clothes apiece and headed for the hotel. Once there 5 minutes later, we walked up one flight of stairs to the reception desk and signed in. Then off to our room on the 4th floor via ancient stone steps, 22 to each flight to account for the tall ceilings. Thank goodness for the single bag and few books. Once UP we openned the door to our suite in the clouds. Clean, newly painted grey and white with a view over the red roofs of Lyon. It was still early afternoon, about 3:30pm so we wanderred off thru Rue Victor Hugo a wonderful wide boulevard turned into shopping mall with stores of every kind and description. We spent the next while wandering the storefronts and sitting to watch the ever changing street scene. We headed generally north along the streets, taking our time headed towards the eventual goal of our dinner place L,Ourson Qui Boit at 7:30 when they were scheduled to open. Once found a lovely worker in the establishment informed us that they were full that night AND the next and since we had not made reservations we were out of luck. Durn it! Kelly had asked me too! So we lost our shot at the 16th most popular restaurant in Lyon by my not making a reservation. That teaches me! So we dejectedly turned about and walked back along the way we came looking for the nights meal along the way. Two miles later we arrived at our hotel once more and facing both the McDonalds (Nooooooooo!) across the street and the now pouring afternoon/early evening rain Kelly took another look at her map. A Chinese restaurant was nearby, in fact around the corner on Rue Franklin well…why not!? A small place, less than 20 seats and packed except for one booth which we occupied shortly. The food looked and smelled wonderful, a fusion of Vietnamese and Chinese then menu wasn’t so long as to be intimidating (you know those, we don’t go there anymore) but very interesting. We chose a veg, a chicken a beef dish with Cantonese Fried Rice and were soon greeted with the aromas we had been surrounded with coming from beautifully prepared and served dishes. We orderred two Tsing Tao chinese beers, delicious and ice cold too! Wonderful food by any measure, certainly the best Chinese we have had in France to date. It was so good we repeated the meal the next night!
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Trip Home – See image at top of the blog.
The way back was different. We decided to go north along the river to Macon (Mah_cahn) then over to Lignieres through whatever was there. So after a protracted leaving of Lyon through the back streets and alleyways past several open air marches (markets) we were on our way Saturday morning. The countryside of Burgundy was much as it is here in Lignieres, rolling, green hills and small farms, cattle, sheeps and a few goats. Beautiful verdant landscapes. Along the way we past a beautiful long barn, a half-timbered one from several centuries past with a checkerboard-like brick pattern evident. I wanted a picture so slowed down to find a place I could turn around in. Once about-faced I accelerated back the way we had just come and slowed as we past the barn scene looking for yet another place to turn around and park so I could take the picture I wanted. I slowly pulled first to the right off the roadway then turned toward a small road that presented itself across the main one and there was a spot to stop to get out and take the pictures I wanted. I turned slowly to the left and as I did I saw out of the corner of my eye a motion, a figure, a motorcycle coming over a rise in the road and through the shadow of the adjacent trees…oh my gawd, I cut him off! And I had, he was forced to make the descision to slide into me, steer around at speed or hit me. He chose the steering around but was faced with another car in the lane I had just vacated. He narrowly missed the oncoming car! Narrowly.
I sat there stunned that I had caused this entire scene and that nothing bad had happened. I stared at the rider as he slowed further down the road from where I had come just a minute or so ago. He accelerated back to me and turned around, I lowerred my window to appologize and tell him that I had lost him in the shaddow. “Desole, desole!” I said. This was a very close call for both of us, he just stared at me, then he nodded acceptance and drove away. I breathed a sigh of releif that I hadn’t killed him or someone else I didn’t even know. That’s how it happens with motorcycles. It’s the quick and the dead by the hand of someone driving a car unsafely, like myself in those few moments.
Digging progress
Weather or Weather Not
June 7, 2008 It’s NOT right now, oh the ACTUAL weather is nice, calm to 5mph, broken clouds, warm…about 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees F) BUT my weather station is down. Real down. Like I took the pole with the sensors down to find out why it was reporting 138 kph winds all night and no temperature readings at all. The pole is 40 feet tall and is a handful to take down and bring back up. I’ve devised a METHOD that will make it easier on me but Kelly might find it a bit daunting, we’ll see. I’ve tied a strong rope to the mast about 20 feet up from the ground and led it over to the house were a bar that goes over the window will serve as a pulley. Kelly can pull down with the help of gravity to aid me in my quest to raise the bloody thing. I’ve charged the batteries and remove the corrosion from the sensor cable (RJ45 telephone cable) where it plugged into the transmitter. Similarly I’ve now charged the batteries for the data collection/display and we should shortly be ready to test. I want to move the transmitter piece down the pole so I can reach it so I don’t have to raise and lower the damned pole each time I need to charge the @##$#! batteries. Seems sensible. Here’s a few of my reporting sites for your perusal:
http://www.kell12.members.sonic.net/lignieres_weather.jpg picture of the street and sky,
http://www.kell12.members.sonic.net/myweather.jpg Weather chart w/ small pic.
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Meanwhile my trusty mate Kelly is hanging cloth on the walls in the entry, matching patterns, measuring, snipping and shoving the ends into the wood strips I afixed to the walls yesterday and the day before. It is work she willingly does and she’s quite talented at it, the results are stunning. The olde girl (the HOUSE!) is looking very good these days, work has picked up with warmer weather and progress is being made. Kelly looks good too.
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I’ve dropped 16 lbs so far on this trip, I’m at a not-so-lithe 206 lbs as of this morning, hoping for more (less) as the summer begins. I refuse to diet, I just eat less and do more as the method I’ve chosen. Diets just don’t seem to work with me as I don’t respond fast enough and then lose the initiative, this way it just drifts ever lower and week by week my pants are getting looser.
Goodbye for now,
Lute
“>Link My AWEKAS Reporting Site click on dot in middle of France, check out the video cams too! …click on Weather Maps and then WEBCAM, just put cursor on top of camera icons . Good fun everywhere, lots to see!
Grass
June 6, 2008First before I piss off every one of my fine British friends let me say that I like lawn, it looks nice when cut low and tight around flower beds and garden walks, and spacious acres all flat and outlined with trees and flowers is certainly spectacular. I also admire the effort required to create these green patches, as well as the hard work necessary to maintain them in pristine-like condition. That said, I am simple uninterested in the latter effort and would not EVER under take the former. Why? I am too busy. The Brits, as a group, are certainly busy too…but MOST of someones BUSY, female or male (mostly the latter) is dealing with the meadows they have purchased and turning them into lawns. These lawns fight back if you hadn’t noticed, they grow with every rain and ray of rare sunshine here in the Berry. This place is more like Ireland than any French travel noveletta would speak of. It rains here an average per month of OVER 3 inches. A meter per annum, about what a good lawn here would grow in a month left to it’s own devices. Then one has to cut it back down after any extended absence or find someone who WILL. I won’t be doing this chore for you, too busy doing Other Things, namely painting, moving stones, building furniture, cooking, repairing chairs, chasing away stray cats (another blog coming on THAT!) and other misvelleneous chores assigned by the boss, her name is Kelly.
She is my wife. The observation is not lost on me that every single one of our British friends and compatriots have this same issue common to them, too much lawn to let alone for anytime to do anything else of meaningful gain. One fine lady from the north of the British Isles and who will rename completely nameless in this blog has a fine place a short distance out of Lignieres. A cute-as-pie French cottage she has completely decorated in an arty and beautiful way plunked right down at the top of what appears to be a meadow just about everytime I see the place. Why? Because the dear person is HERE, in this area about a month or six weeks per year. The lawn not so slowly becomes first scraggly, then taller like alfalfa then into a full blown meadow when left uncut for various periods of time. She struggles with this as she cannot deal with it’s height herself and so must get help periodically. The meadow must be struck down to allow for the parties and people she loves to have around her. A deal has been struck between another Brit with the same damned problem (MORE!) as she has but HE is here full time thus only spends 75% of his time mowing, weeding, planting, trimming, edging and cutting on his OWN spacious lawn-meadow so he can spend the rest of his SPARE time dealing with HERS! This is MADNESS! For the Love Of God, spare these poor souls there love affrair with GRASSES, so they can take care of their houses and ruins so as to improve their lot. Gad Zooks! I’d scrape out a path thru the meadow, down to the corner trees, over past the fruit trees and back, not straight, all curvy and pastoral-like, put down Loire River stone over anti-weed cloth and call it good. Clear an area of 10X10 for a bench and some chairs and I’d be set. Enough! The GRASS is Not Greener on the other side of the fence…it’s LONG and MEADOW-Like…they must be gone somewhere, maybe on a golfing vacation, they LIKE greens! It’s certain they’re Brits.
Cars and The French
June 5, 2008The day before yesterday we bought another tank, it is a memorable occassion as once completed your wallet is much lighter than it was before you started pumping. With prices at 1.45 Euros per liter that is 3.784 X 1.45 = 5.49 Euros per gallon and with our dandy USD to Euro exchange rate of 1.55USD to ONE Euro it is currently $8.50 per gallon. A fill up of our Toyota Avensis is 12 gallons or $102.05. Enough to keep you home! Most cars here are what we in the US would call SMALL, and several are smallER than anything you can buy in the US. There are many models of each major manufacturer’s cars. The prices are about the same taking into account the exchange rate. Used cars can be found in most towns with the major new car dealers having the larger lots. Used prices here appear to me to be quite a bit cheaper than we would experience in California. I would say most French people here are quite loyal to their own car industry in that they buy French cars by the droves and they buy them OFTEN. The prepoderance of autos seen are new or only a few years old, no smoking olde rusted hulks here!
Most cars seem to get 35-45 mpg as a matter of course seemingly without size restriction.
The system of auto inspection keeps the junkers and ill-repaired cars off the roads as a car that cannot be fixed MUST be scrapped. Annual, Bi-Annual inspections are mandantory for all motor vehicles. The cost of the inspection is about 65 Euros. The inspection is done at a special facility marked as Control Technique. They inspect using a series of very modern test equipment and are fastidious as only the French can be. Brakes, engine, tires, transmission, lights, turnsignals etc are tested and reported. If there is a problem it is documented and you are given a short period of time to repair the offending item and then the car is reinspected. Once passing the inspection you are issued a sticker which goes on the windshield for examination by whomever is interested, and they WILL look. The Toyata is scheduled to be inspected by the 8th of June, so tomorrow (the 7th) we’ll take her to St. Amand to the Control Technique for her bi-annual. She has new front shoes (tires), fine Michelin speed rated jobbies that hit us to the tune of 222Euros for a pair…they had died in about 18,000 miles! Why? Hell if I know, except the roads hereabouts are twisty lanes and she’s a front wheel drive beast. Anyhow we got a pair and with the exchange rate (1.55 to 1) that was a mere 344 USD for a PAIR of tires!
Yes we do see olde cars, at fairs and exhibitions which are very popular and some of the cars are truely rare, some are merely odd. Simca’s, Renault dauphines, old Pougeots, military trucks and jeeps from WW2 all make up a melange of wonderful voitures (cars).