Christmas 2010 wrap-up

I really think the Bishop should have used a sermon different from the one he did on Christmas Eve 2009. It was okay once, but TWICE?!?

Had a lovely time with the Curtz crowd in evening Christmas Eve, notwithstanding a couple of irritations: a friend of Brenda's (also a volunteer at the Alzheimer's day care or whatever they call it) and Ben's sister Lillian started rhapsodizing about the 1930's and '40's, talking about how wonderful the clothes were, the culture was, Hollywood was in its heyday, things like that. Clearly neither of them had a parent who was a sharecropper during the Depression. AARGHHHH!

Christmas Day was lovely, although I ended up seriously whacked. Made cassoulet, which was REALLY good, according to all. Basically followed the recipe in Joan Nathan's book about Jewish cooking in France, involved duck leg confit (and now have a new, better, and EASIER way to make the stuff...), lamb, the usual Tarbais beans (although her recipe claims it takes an hour to cook them, after they've been soaked overnight...mine had to cook ALL DAY before they were tender enough to declare edible), sauce to which I added not just a bit of red wine but ultimately a bottle and a half, and sausage. Couldn't find any duck (or other kind) sausage or sausage recipe that had no pork in it, soooo, I sorta used the basic sausage recipe in my Charcuterie cookbook, but made it with ground veal, duck trimmings, seasonings, lots of red wine, and some goose fat instead of pork fat. Turned our really, really well. Need to write all this crap down.

Also cooked a goose; it wasn't as successful. Glazed parsnips (good); red cabbage cooked with goose fat, onions, apples, lots of red wine again, etc., and chestnuts. VG.

Sarah's cookies were dessert, along with a trifle brought by Rees's mom.

I cooked sorta all day; it was evidently all good; and I'm whacked. So there...

Sarah, Aaron and Barry all left today; more snow; and I sorta almost wrecked the Buick getting it back down the drive at the farm. Phil did manage to get it out and into the garage; I managed to direct it into a snowbank rather than into the nearby tree...

Cheers to all, Lillie

Random Thoughts on Christmas week

We've been making LOTS of cookies and things; problem is, we seem to be eating them as fast as we make them.

Also we seem to be knocking of large quantities of latest bread, the no-knead kind. That stuff seems to stay moist for an incredibly long time.

According to an article I read, email is passe, the only admissible electronic communication these days being Facebook, IM-ing, and Twitter. I am far too long-winded for tweets. I suppose this means blogging is also yesterday's communication.

Oh, how I hate the 21st century.

Still treacherous in our drive but at least it isn't as frigid as it has been.

Aaron's brother coming tomorrow.

Will be 15 here on Christmas Day. That's a lot for me.

My d'Artagnan order hasn't arrived; it's supposed to today. We may not have foie gras.

Lots to do. Not in the mood for more wrapping.

Lillie

The Week Before Christmas

Sarah and Aaron are here; arrived without incident (for a change) on Saturday. Lessons and Carols yesterday, Sunday, was lovely. Today too much shopping.

With luck, cookie-making, etc., little shopping (e.g., little time spent fighting traffic in Lexington), will dominate tomorrow. Weather bad, not getting better, evidently.

Christmas cards? Not clear...

Don't like (!) political crap going on either in DC or evidently next month in Kentucky...

Made veal garlic sausage after a fashion today. First it had too much salt, added more veal, garlic, wine, pepper, and it may actually turn out okay, notwithstanding the fat problem (raw duck skin and fat, plus goose fat, no pork) and the fact that the second effort (after adding more veal, garlic, fat...) is sorta, hey, too peppery, the freshly ground black kind. Maybe it'll be a good substitute for French cooked garlic sausage in cassoulet, anyway.

Christmas dinner projected to be roast goose and accompanying dishes, along with cassoulet. We'll see.

Martin thrilled about new car, his red 2011 Ford Fiesta...

Hairdresser Michael, who is gay, and has a long-time partner, named (I think) Bill, has interesting things to say on the topic of gay marriage...he is, it appears, to the right of me, which is shall we say surprising...

I hate politics. Am in one of my moods where I refuse to read anything political.

Weather bad...and far, FAR too early in the winter...This sort of weather isn't that unusual, but it sorta never happens until January sometime, February...this year it started late in November...

More later...

Cheers, Lillie

Christmas is near

I do love this time of year...weather has been truly awful this year, though. It's not even "winter" yet, but the pipes in Martin's cabin have already frozen twice. Things a bit better today. I have only fallen once (drive in front of garage being a sheet of ice...but hey, I fell on my left side for a change). It gets this cold here, not uncommon, however, not this early. Usually January and February.

Sarah and Aaron arrive tomorrow. Need to quit watching TV as Congress still in session. Got a lovely, lovely box from Mary Elizabeth with a pillow in it that says "My Other House is in France" (yippee!!) and a couple of towels her mother sent her years ago, hand-done with cross stitch, and scenes from France. Lovely.

Looking forward to Christmas and better weather (not much better, though). I think I probably need to read some sort of "trashy" novel, a John Grisham or something. By "trashy" I mean mindless mystery, actually...

Hope the next week is lovely...

Lillie

Weather

Nasty, nasty weather. More mornings when the temp in the kitchen in 50 degrees; I didn't look in the pantry (there's a thermometer in there, too). Lows in single digits. Got up to a balmy 20 degrees this afternoon, in anticipation of yet another winter storm, arriving tonight, couple of inches of snow, turning to sleet and freezing rain tomorrow morning. aargh. The driveway evidently thawed a bit this afternoon but was solid ice when I got home, and guess what...although I was very very careful and had on shoes with tread, I slipped and fell, fortunately on my left side for a change. Elbow, left hip, back hurts, but could have been worse. Not going back out today or quite possibly tomorrow, either. HOpe I don't run out of Scotch. Maybe it'll be warm enough in the kitchen to cook...

On a more cheerful note: finished Christmas shopping this afternoon. Phil went to J-B after his haircut, told me on the phone he couldn't find anything interesting for anybody. I told him to quit and come home: no need to buy books just to have something to wrap...so there...

Cheers, Lillie

question

I'm not a lawyer, much less a judge, but I do have a question. It's evidently not unconstitutional to be compelled to pay for Medicare and Social Security, which most people, those who benefit and those who do not yet, seem happy to do. Why then would it be unconstitutional to be compelled to get health insurance?

'

That's all...

Weather bad. Getting worse. More snow, sleet and freezing rain tomorrow. I wonder if the airport is closed already; maybe I should make an emergency trip to Texas.

Cheers...

parties, family, and Christmas

Sarah and Aaron arrive next Saturday and will be here until the 26th; we're all really excited about it.

The lab party was last night (Saturday, 11th), and the weather had been so bad most of last week that the heat pumps weren't working, which meant it was 50 degrees in the kitchen, and below 40 in the pantry. 58 or 60 in the den. And I'm supposed to cook for an indeterminate number of people in this? In the end, it warmed up a bit, and I basically got it done. And then, instead of 40-50 people expected to arrive about 7:00 p.m., the weather started turning nasty again, Phil hadn't gotten any sort of reliable headcount, and by about 7:20 NOBODY had arrived. Jim and Rees showed up (with baklava), and nobody else came. I announced that if they were the only two who came, there would be two outcomes: (1) I would have a better time than I expected to; and (2) this would be my LAST lab holiday party. Then about 8:00 a bunch of other people showed up, about 20 in all I think, so I had three big trays of pastitsio left over (and it's a bit dry), and one big tray of the shrimp dish with tomatoes, feta, etc. Not to mention some Greek salad. And eggplant, which people were raving about, although it was a mistake; I cooked it (slowly, at least) about 3 hours rather than 30 minutes. Didn't seem to hurt it, though. What happened there was that I checked it, decided it was ready to turn off, but didn't manage to do it, and went out for a couple of hours to do errands.

It appears that we're expected to get the tail end of that blizzard making its way across the midwest, followed by yet more frigid weather, temps in the single digits....argh. I did buy one of those radiant or quartz or whatever it is heaters that is supposed to be seriously energy efficient. So when the heat goes out in the kitchen, I will be able to (I hope) keep it tolerable, so long as the electricity doesn't go out, too...

Cheers, Lillie

stuff

So it's a bit of a problem posting here....

It's been SERIOUSLY cold in central Kentucky, basically, it feels like Michigan in January or February, NOT Kentucky in December. We're talking here about the hight being sorta low, like in the teens (Fahrenheit)k the kitchen being 50 degrees, the pantry 40 degrees (not as much of a problem, shall we say, as cooking being problem)...These projects sorta assume that kitchen should perhaps just retreat from the ensuit drammatllllll''Take it carlll

Kentucky and it's winter

So November is FINALLY over. I always have trouble with November, and it was especially tiresome this year. I always manage to desperately miss Daddy in November. This year there were two more deaths, one an elderly relative, the last of Mother's cousins she was so close to, Curtis Reagan. The other was sort of a tragedy: Josh Williams, who used to be the short, fat ugly but o so cute kid in the choir with the curly red hair. He was 28, and both Martin and Sarah (as well as me) had known him for 20 years. After his voice changed he sang with the men. Proximate cause of death was peritonitis; in truth, he drank himself to death, which is hard to do at 28. It was truly sad.

But now it's december; it's been snowing for two days; I've started cooking for the lab party this weekend, and I've decided to stop being depressed. Just have to clean up the house this week; all the papers are still on the dining table from when I did taxes in October. aarghhhh...

Cheers, Lillie

not actually in couze

Am actually back in the US of A, just in time for the election last week (argh, the nutcase Rand Paul, who seems to think there's no drug problem in Eastern Kentucky, among other things, won, and Andy Barr refuses to acknowledge that he lost...he's a nice kid I've known most of his life, but his main claim to fame is that he's old family Lexington, with LOTS of coal money backing him).

Went to Germany and spent a lovely week in Marburg with Evelyn, Olaf and Johannes Korn. Great time, unfortunately, though, they live on the third floor (2nd if you're in Europe), up LOTS of stairs. Lovely small town though. Has all the necessities of life: good food, a castle, a cathedral, other old churches, too, interesting shops...

Am back in Kentucky, and at least summer's over and it's fall and Brenda Curtz is back in town (I've missed them). I'm trying to catch up. Also joined (again) the YMCA and enlisted a personal trainer, who will in the long run cost less than the PT for my knees. Also, I like her, and she's in Paris, so I don't have to drive to Lexington.

We moved most of my office stuff down to the den, so I don't have to do the stairs to get to it. This should ultimately be an enormous improvement and (I hope) I'll manage to get stuff actually sorted out. Also moved my ancient sewing machine downstairs, to the dressing room (the one with the wardrobes), so I won't have to go upstairs to use it.

One of the guys from the choir died last week, and I'm about to go to the memorial service. Josh Williams. He was 28: I've known him most of his life; Sarah and Martin have known him most of their lives; he was one of the guys Martin goes out with after rehearsals on Wednesday. It's baaaad, and we are all sort of shattered. Bruce Neswick and Jeffrey Smith, both former organists and choirmasters, have both come in to town for the service.

Gotta run. And, of course, drive to Lexington (again).

Cheers, Lillie

caves

So today everybody but me went up to Les Eyzies, at the T junction up the Vezere where all the painted caves seem to be. After yesterday and the trip to Sarlat, which was lovely and fascinating, actually, I just wasn't up for climbing a mountain. And visiting Le Font de Gaume, the best painted cave you can still actually visit (in small groups, only a few a day), requires basically climbing a mountain to get the entrance to the thing. I stayed here in Couze. They were able to get tickets for Font de Gaume, but not until 2:00 p.m., so were able to visit a couple of the other pre-historic places up there, too. There's a Museum of Pre-History in Les Eyzies, but P and I have been, and IMHO it's underwhelming. Sounds like it was a successful trip.

Had bouillabaisse tonight for supper, after a first course from the book Judge Wood gave Sarah and Aaron, which was melon marinated for awhile in Monbazillac, served in a glass with sprigs of mint (we have it in the garden). I don't make the bouillabaisse from scratch over here; I buy jars of fish soup, heat it, put some more EVOO in it, add chunks of various kinds of fish, cook them, and serve it like bouillabaisse, with toast, rouille and finely grated Gruyere. The rouille I buy in a jar, as well, HOWEVER, I soup it up with plenty of finely chopped fresh garlic and espelette and/or Tabasco (maybe it's esplette but it's Basque). The soupe de poisson in jars is rather less work than making fish stock, and then making the bouillabaisse base, and then finishing it off. It's still a PIA.

Martin didn't like it, of course. But he had calamari. I bought that with the fish.

We went to our favorite brocante looking for some dining furniture for Sarah and Aaron; found some, now have to find out if it's practical to ship the stuff to San Francisco.

May have found a bookcase thing we could use here in the living room.

I am really glad they all made it to those caves. They are incredible. You can't visit Lascaux any more, only a reproduction. Humidity, etc. from visits were damaging the paintings. We've seen the reproduction, and it's pretty amazing, too. But seeing an actual 15,000+ year old painting on a wall is pretty incredible.

Cheers, Lillie

Couze, Thursday, October 14, 2010, markets and Sarlat

I have photos, but haven't had time to do anything with them. Sarah and I went to the Lalinde market this morning, spent a bundle of money on food, a wool hat for me, etc. She "met" the guy with the vegetable market that I like so much, the one who doesn't like Germans. He's a hoot, though. And we needed eggs, which I insisted we buy from my walnut oil lady. She's an old Gascon who may be a witch if you get to know her, but I think she's great. Some cheese. The hat is burgundy sort of and looks very "twenties", with a wool flower or something on the side, I think you call it a "cloche". Since it's "twenties", it must mean I'm 110, which is not far off from the way I feel I look sometimes. Except my hair still isn't gray.

Had a lunch of a "salad compose", with the rest of the duck confit from the other day, a great deal of goat cheese, veg, etc., bread, wine in a water bottle from the place where you pump it like it's a gas station. Then we took off for Sarlat. Up the road from Beynac, so you go all the way up the Dordogne, and turn left past Beynac (which means you get to drive around that cliff that has the chateau at Beynac sort of growing out of it...). Sarlat is basically very touristy, mostly Renaissance, but started much before that, winding cobblestone streets, these bronze geese at the site of the medieval goose market. In the summer it is fun to visit, but so touristy that it's cheesy. This time of year it is quiet, calm, you can find a seat at an outdoor cafe (by the time we got there, it had warmed up and sitting outside, albeit in the sun, was not just okay, but good...). We took photos by the bronze geese. Maybe I'll actually get them uploaded one of these days, and edit this...did a bit of shopping. Found a really neat statue I'd never noticed before (quite possibly because of the crowds) of somebody I'd never heard of. More photos. The light is very different in October than in the summer, so everything was not just calm and quiet and less annoying, it LOOKED different. The place was lovely.

Came back to Couze and had pizza at the place down across from the fancy restaurant we went to last night. Very good pizza, although a bit of a bizarre menu of toppings by both American and I am certain Italian standards. Owned by a woman from Brittany named Brigitte; she seemed to be the only person working, as well, unless you count her cat. Has a wood-fired pizza oven. Great stuff; not cheap, but a lovely meal.

Cheers, Lillie

food, etc

So Aaron's most recent boss, Judge Wood (Woods?), a federal appellate judge in Manhattan (I THINK she's a federal appellate judge, at least), gave Sarah and Aaron several books to bring with them, one of which is WONDERFUL, and I MUST have at least one copy of it, probably will give it to some people as a gift, as well. It's written by an American who has visited and fallen in love with all the places and food in the Dordogne like I have. It's also well written, not to mention beautifully photographed. I have other travel and/or cookbooks for the region, but the one in English that is the "last word" or whatever you call it is by an English woman whom I will not identify, and has some good stuff about the local food, but is seriously badly written (although it has been a serious commercial success, Lord help us all...). I have several others, the sort of thing you pick up in tourist offices, with some legitimate regional recipes, either all in French, or the ones that are along the lines of "Recipes from your grandmother..." in French on one side of the page (printed in a fake handwritten script) and an "English translation" on the facing page. I put that "English translation" bit in quotes because the translations tend to be pretty sorry. If one can't also read and understand the French recipe, the English translation turns out to be not just sorry, but hopeless. "Egg" turns into "egg yolk". That's just the tip of the iceberg, as it were.

This book that Judge Wood gave to Sarah and Aaron, however, seems to not just describe these places around here that I have grown to love and adore; it ALSO has all these recipes (with versions that are not just legitimate but appropriate for the American kitchen) I have been trying very hard to copy and adapt. YEA!

Tomorrow evening we will have the melon marinated briefly in Monbazillac and served with mint as a first course.. The book has a lovely recipe for confit de canard (preserved duck legs, e.g., duck legs seasoned, and then cooked for a VERY long time in duck or goose fat...) that should work at least as well as Julia Child's. Based on a couple of hours' perusal, it's a treasure.

WHEE!

Photos soon. I have to upload the stuff from the market in LeBugue...

lillie

back in Couze, October 2010

We arrived last Thursday to yet another disaster of a familiar sort. No phone, no internet. First order of business, therefore, was a trip to lovely, enchanting Bergerac to discuss it with the folks at France Telecom/Orange. Credit Agricole had struck once again (and this time, once too many) and failed to honor our prelevement from them (it's the order to direct-pay the bill), which we knew because the bills had FINALLY made their way to Kentucky, where I had immediately written checks and mailed them. Checked the bank account before we left KY, and the checks had of course been cashed. So, the word was that they could get the landline turned back on Friday, but it would be four days before we could get back on internet. This is of course not exactly what happened. We STILL don't have the landline but it will accept calls. Internet did miraculously start working on Tuesday as promised, notwithstanding yesterday's General Strike.

There's no place like France...

Sarah and Aaron arrived on Monday afternoon as scheduled, despite those ridiculous terrorist alerts. Weather is gorgeous. Chilly, foggy in the a.m., clears up well before noon. As usual, I didn't bring enough clothes.

They are bringing out the Chilean miners today. We are opening a new bank account over here, and will close out the old one; we've been told this new bank won't jerk us around like C/A. I had forgotten how much paperwork is involved in just opening a bank account; it's at least as bad as buying a house in the US.

I got taxes filed before we left (!); am disgustingly proud of myself.

Everybody else went to Beynac this afternoon to visit Richard the Lionheart's chateau there; it was one of the major players in the Hundred Years' War. Last Saturday we took Martin to Castlenaud, across the Dordogne from Beynac, and although I took the "easy route" called "circuit facile", it wasn't very facile, and my right knee has been reminding me ever since. I can hardly climb stairs at all. And going down is worse. So I stayed home from the Beynac trip to wait (ready for this?) for the plumber, as we have no hot water, for some unfathomable reason. However, he just phoned (at least he phoned!) and said he wasn't going to make it this afternoon, can he come tomorrow morning. Soooo, Phil gets to stay home from the Lalinde market tomorrow morning and wait for him, I've decided.

The cooker was sort of on the blink two nights ago, too; I couldn't get it going well enough to cook the veal AND the green beans AND the potatoes. Finally gave up and nixed the potatoes. I think I had somehow managed to push it too close to the wall and reduce the propane supply, because yesterday it worked fine. Or maybe it just didn't want to get back into gear immediately...

More later...cheers, Lillie

mayonnaise

So if anybody out there is actually reading these posts (it's not exactly crystal clear that ANYBODY is, most of the time...), I have made an important (!) discovery! For all of you who like/treasure/cook with and/or eat real mayonnaise (e.g., Hellman's), STOP. Beginning IMMEDIATELY you should quit paying twice what you should (or about twice, but perhaps it's three times...) for the stuff, and MAKE YOUR OWN. What you do is use the recipe in one or the other of the cookbooks by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays. The one I turn to (and they may actually all be the same!) is the one in "Being Dead Is No Excuse", which is actually a book you should ALL read.

Here is the recipe (to steal Sharon Thompson's entry, and Sarah will understand what I mean...):

1 large egg

1.5 cups vegetable oil (I use canola oil)

1.5 T apple cider vinegar

1.5 t Tabasco sauce (e.g., 0.5 T Tabasco)

1 T lemon juice (works with lime juice, too)

0.5 t salt

1 t. white pepper (works with freshly ground black pepper, too, which is what I actually always have and use...not as pretty and white, BUT....)

Assemble ingredients. Put the egg in food processor. Pulse for 30 seconds (or just process...), and the add the oil slowly, while pulsing (or while processing, but in a SLOW stream!). When the desired consistency is reached but actually when a bit thick, add the other ingredients and process until blended. They will thin it out a bit.

Keep refrigerated. It is GOOD. It is BETTER than Hellman's, and it is CHEAPER than Hellman's...it is also seriously easy! so there...

Cheers, Lillie

late september

I thought all the road work in lexington was going to come to at least a temporary halt while WEG is in town (WEG being the World Equestrian Games), but it hasn't. Some of it has, but an entire lane always seems to be blocked on North Broadway (US 68) even now.

Rand Paul now has a plan to rescue Medicare; it's got to do with huge deductibles, regardless of income. Great. Maybe enough people will actually listen to him to keep him from getting elected (this is only a minor and the latest of his ideas...the best is disapproving of the 1964 legislation outlawing discrimination on the basis of race...he has a problem with opposition to discrimination against the handicapped, too).

And now there's a reality TV show about a polygamous Mormon family in Utah. Four wives, 13 or so children, and the daddy doesn't think there should be any opposition to it...

Angels and ministers of grace...

Sunday, 26th September, I think

lovely weather. NOT HOT. Not only cool, but it appears that some (!) of the grass may come back green in a few days because of the rain we had a couple of days ago. It currently looks like south Texas during one of their all-too-frequent droughts around here. Went to church today, where there were a couple of surprises, mostly someone passed out from low blood sugar...lots of doctors in an Episcopal cathedral parish, though, so she received instant attention.

Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah, the best hymn today. I love it, but it reminds me of Mother's funeral; we wanted that, along with "A Mighty Fortress Is our God" written by Martin Luther, and "Amazing Grace" written by an Anglican slave trader. "Guide Me..." is a Welsh hymn, so NONE of them are of Baptist origin. Unfortunately, it's not in the current Baptist Hymnal, and it got canned.

Evensong tonight was lovely. The setting wasn't great, but the responses by Gerre Hancock are wonderful. The anthem was a winner, "King of Glory", and they sang the Talbot 150th Psalm in Recession, which mostly made anything else worth waiting through.

Had planned to make this Rosario recipe for enchiladas, but the sauce sorta takes awhile, and I confess that I ran out of steam...

WEG and things

So the World Equestrian Games start tomorrow, first time they haven't been in Europe (it's evidently sorta like the Olympics for horses) and some of us are seriously tired of all the hoopla that has been going on in prep for at least two years.

It's actually RAINING, but not nearly enough. It is supposed to cool off, though. Everything looks awful. Brown, cracked, kinda like texas in a drought, but the trees are taller.

I've been depressed all day, thinking about that woman (Teresa Lewis, I think) who was executed last night in Virginia. IQ of 70-72, 41, evidently conned by a boyfriend into leaving the door to her trailer unlocked overnight so he (the boyfriend) and a pal could come in and kill her husband and stepson, and all collect his $250k or so in insurance money. She pleaded guilty; all three were convicted, but the two guys who actually did it got life, and she got the death penalty. The boyfriend wrote a letter or something saying the whole thing had been his idea and at his instigation before he killed himself in prison. Yes, she was what my mother used to call "white trash", but she was also dumb, uneducated, gullible, and met an end that could happen to somebody at my house unless he had a support system and community that kept him on a very short leash. I am sick about it. And have been all day.

And it's the election silly season. The TV stations here in central Kentucky seem to have non-stop campaign ads, the national Republican party trying to get Rand Paul (not legitimately board certified ophthalmologist son of Texan Ron Paul, who claims eastern Kentucky's drug problem should be handled locally (!), Social Security should be privatized, mine safety issues should be dealt with locally, etc....) elected, after he defeated the Mitch-McConnell-anointed Trey Grayson in the Republican primary. I wouldn't have voted for Trey Grayson, but he's not scary stupid like Rand Paul. And Andy Barr has buckets of coal company and family money trying to get him elected to Ben Chandler's House seat. I don't much like Ben Chandler, who is pretty much a Democrat in name only, but I've known Andy most of his life. He's a nice guy, but I'm underwhelmed.

Maybe I'll go cook.

lillie

More Miscellany

So why exactly has it been HOTTER in central Kentucky ALL SUMMER basically than it has been in Goliad, Texas, e.g., where I grew up?

Another issue is, why exactly am I supposed to believe that in addition to the external temperature (and internal, sometimes, e.g., when the heat pump hasn't been working, which is far too much of the time), with the grass dead, the pond empty, everything looking awful, ground cracked, the way the grass and ground looks in a serious drought in south Texas, along with Greenland's glaciers melting, also the Antarctic ice melting, the polar bears having trouble figuring out where exactly they are supposed to go, another year with a zillion hurricanes, etc., etc., and I'm supposed to believe that climate change is a hoax? Also despite all (ALL!) the reports and warnings in the last couple of decades from the professionals who spend all (and I mean ALL...hey, I'm married to one of these researchers...) their time studying this stuff that this is exactly what has been going on and exactly what we could expect?

In case you haven't figured it out, I think it's far too hot up here in central Kentucky for late October...and the farm looks awful...

and the mower is on the blink.

and if it weren't (it's in the shop), Martin would be balking at mowing because of the dust, which is because it's so dusty and dry...

I hate dealing with taxes...

I managed to actually order a new lint filter to replace the badly damaged one we currently have for the dryer.

LOTS of spiders...

The most recent male tabby (Casper, although Martin wanted to name him Max, which would have made him the THIRD Max) seems to be a good mouser, also talented in catching moles. There are a lot of them around here, too.

If it ever gets cold (!) up here, there may be a shortage of firewood, which wouldn't be good.

Have been doing some serious cooking...

Bobbie Douglas died two or three weeks ago, and I watched Paula Deen's cooking show this afternoon. Everybody was right: Bobbie looked like Paula Deen. Much smarter than Paula Deen, however, and I'm certain, much nicer and more interesting, as well...

Only one (or two, depending on your perspective) political comment(s). I do not have a clue (A SINGLE CLUE) why ANYBODY is taking Rand Paul seriously, or WHY anybody intelligent would even consider voting for him!. And then, there is Andy Barr, who is not only running against, but also running ads telling lies about, Ben Chandler (these guys are both in Kentucky). I don't like Ben Chandler all that much, BUT what Andy Barr, whom I've known most of his life, and he is indeed a very nice guy (Andy, that is...) has said, is simply NOT TRUE....

And Rand Paul is a seriously clueless candidate who is spectacularly ignorant of the facts of life in Kentucky...so I will shut up...

Cheers, Lillie

miscellany september 2010

The political scene in Kentucky is getting ugly. I wonder how many people I've made furious/alienated with my yard signs. Quite possibly several. This is Bourbon County, Kentucky, don't forget.

It seems that it's going to be HOTTER here in central Kentucky ALL WEEK than it is in Goliad. Goliad, Texas, that is, southeast of San Antonio. Do you think this fact is going to have any effect on the climate change deniers I know? It's now late September, and the highs are in the 90's all week, everything is brown, dry, and awful. I had to fill up the pond in the back yard yesterday as it was nearly totally dry and I was afraid the goldfish would die...

More later...

Cheers, Lillie

The War, e.g., WWII

Am watching The War, the Ken Burns documentary about WWII. Aside from all the emotions it raises (given that I'm a baby boomer, and virtually all the fathers of my contemporaries were involved somehow, including of course Daddy and Frank...don't get me started...), there are so many effects evident and sentiments that appear in southwest france...occasionally, though, some Brit who's retired down there starts complaining about how long it took the US to get involved and pitch in to rescue Europe. And it annoys me greatly...

still more random thoughts

I'm sick: spectacular allergy attack, lost voice, etc., turned into bronchitis and evidently now an ear infection...the heat wave is back, and in a couple of days it's supposed to be even hotter here than in Goliad, TX...aargh...I'm on antibiotics now, and if my ear hasn't cleared up tomorrow I'll go back to the doctor. so there.

Martin and Phil are in Texas; Bobbie Douglas died on Saturday, lovely, beautiful woman, close friend of MA, the woman at the wedding whom everybody pointed out looked like Paula Deen, the Food Network personality, although I'm certain Bobbie was (a) much, MUCH more intelligent than Paula Deen, (b) much nicer, (c) much more talented, and (d) lovelier...I was going, too, until my ear started hurting, and I realized it was a seriously bad idea to get on an airplane feeling like that. Wish I were there, though...

Made the mistake of watching a bit of the local evening news while I was pampering myself this (after sleeping a great deal of the afternoon) getting a pedicure and manicure. Got myself a set of acrylic nails, a first, and am not sure I'm exactly thrilled with them, but hey, it's not exactly permanent. I had no idea how they did them. My nails look much shorter than they did before.

Problem with the tv, and it's going to be constant for the next few months...political ads...anti- Ben Chandler, pro-Andy Barr, or anti-Andy Barr, pro-Ben Chandler, really nasty ones anti-Jack Conway, only thing missing so far (at least, I haven't heard one yet) is anti-Rand Paul, put on by Jack Conway.

Am not a big fan of Ben Chandler, but Andy Barr is seriously underwhelming. I may have to put out some yard signs. And the anti-Jack Conway ads didn't have the courage to mention Rand Paul, who is a seriously clueless nutcase, whether or not you like Jack Conway.

According to Rand Paul, there isn't a big drug problem in eastern Kentucky; there isn't an education problem there, either, nor is there an employment problem. I will cease and desist; he's ghastly. It would be really, REALLY nice if one were ever able to vote FOR anybody.

Sarah seems actually worried about whether or not I will be willing and able to come visit her in California, given that I have been threatening regularly to move to France of late...have passport, will travel...

I have already done some serious cleaning up; nothing like the realization that I don't have to cook dinner for the boys. Maybe I'll get the place more or less under actual control with them gone for two whole days. Perhaps I should work on getting the two of them to leave for a couple of weeks?!?

More later...

Comments on late summer and a request

So folks, several things...

I realize you can't comment unless you have an email account and sign on to something or other, but please, PLEASE at least send me an email if (IF) you actually read my ridiculous posts and have a comment and/or opinion...

Secondly, should I actually care about Paris Hilton's cocaine (LATEST cocaine) arrest? and why exactly, PLEASE, is this news?!?

Who exactly is Paris Hilton? Is she somebody I should be interested in?!?

On a different note or in a different vein, WHY exactly does ANYONE ever aspire to run for or BE President of the United States?!? This appears to me, in my dotage (!), to be a seriously thankless job... Maybe I will wax philosophical about Presidents I have had opinions about (probably since Nixon, whom I thought was ghastly, hopeless, and inexcusable, despite his undeniable gifts, sorry about that, some of you out there...) in some later post, but right now I am sorta wondering why in the world anybody, and I mean ANYBODY, would actually WANT to be President. Life is short, and I strongly suspect it shortens it to be President. And I include here EVERYBODY since Nixon, both the ones I liked, hated, liked and hated at the same time, admired, etc...so there...

Kentucky in late summer/early fall is not, repeat NOT, a lovely place to be. One problem is that I, along with more than a few other people, tend to get sick. Not sure what all is the problem, but ragweed is of course one, but not just the only one. It is this time of year that I seem to be attacked by spectacular allergy attacks (is that redundant?!?), which leave me not only horizontal (all week, in this instance), but also unable to talk! Not a minor problem. I have been SICK all WEEK! This has stolen a week from my life. Yesterday I FINALLY acknowledged, when I woke up at 10:00 a.m. or so, that I couldn't face getting out of bed, yet again (hey, I've been sick all week, and it's a spectacular bore...), that perhaps, just maybe, I should go visit a medicine man. I did. He allowed as how I seem to have bronchitis, as well as a serious allergy attack that has rendered my upper respiratory area unable to function.

Having said that, Kentucky in October tends to be gorgeous, wonderful, etc. And Kentucky in late spring also tends to be gorgeous, wonderful, etc. But please, somebody, help me figure out when to LEAVE so I don't get SICK!...since I am "disabled", I should figure out when to get the **** out of Dodge, or Paris, Kentucky, as it were...so I don't get sick...

I am now on antibiotics, as well as the usual and boring drugs, plus some short-term prednisone treatment that will, theoretically, at least, help my right knee, which is a mess despite the surgery last November (which made it much, MUCH worse!). I was, however, supposed to start PT with one of these Pain & Torture PT people on Thursday, which I of course cancelled because I was horizontal...so there...go figure...I am only 62, but as I've been warned, getting old is NOT for wimps.

I do feel much better, and actually more or less cooked an actual although eclectic meal for the boys. The chicken breast in the fridge and the sole I bought yesterday at Meijer's were both shall we say past it. The dogs and cats seemed to enjoy them, though. Phil and Martin had those frozen breaded cod fillets you get at Sam's, and I gave the rest to the dogs and cats.

On various other fronts, I WISH I had already done our taxes for 2009. I wish I had filed all the stuff that I haven't filed. If I don't do something about it, our Lexington Herald-Leader subscription will disappear next Wednesday, September 1...the good thing is that you can deal with it now only once/year; the bad thing is that if you don't do it in July or August, on September 1, you get no newspaper, and Martin gets really, REALLY upset because he can't read the sports page.

The other good news is that I may actually be feeling better. Perhaps I won't stay in bed tomorrow until 10:00 a.m. or later...

Bad news is that Bobbie Mills Douglas died this morning (or maybe good news, given that it was a matter of time, just how long and how much suffering, we're all going to die, aren't we, and she had metastasized breast cancer, which had been treated 18? 19? years ago? not sure how old she actually was today...) but it's sad, and we loved her, and she not only had a serious brain, sharp as a tack, but was also lovely and gorgeous and gracious, looked like Paula Deen, the TV Food Network lady, but much, MUCH more interesting and intelligent. AARGHHH...

Yes, I know, I know, had she not had modern treatment, she (and we, and her immediate family) wouldn't have had the last 20 years, but it's still a spectacular bore, or something...

And also on another front, I also must comment that my mother had breast cancer in 1960,I think, I was in eighth grade, and a mastectomy, when I was 12 or 13, and a second when I was 15, I think, early in my sophomore year in h.s., which I guess was when she 46 maybe...No chemo; no radiation; no nothing except surgery. She died in 2000 of Alzheimer's...

More later and love to you all, Lillie

August in Kentucky--random observations

The heat wave has more or less broken. It is no longer hotter here than in Goliad, Texas. That's the good news.

I've started making the rounds of doctors, PT's, etc. Looking at a new round of x-rays and MRI's, etc. Am going to a new orthopod (for my knee(s)) tomorrow. My (unfortunately) new GP (Dr. Dassow moved to Chattanooga) agrees that my knees need more attention, and since I refuse to go back to the orthopod who "repaired" the meniscus on my right knee last fall, he's sending me to a different guy. It's riveting.

At least it's not so hot.

Anybody feel inclined to do our taxes for me? It's 2009 we're talking about here.

The fall election season seems to be ramping up. The Fancy Farm picnic was 10 days ago out in Western Kentucky (for you non-Kentuckians, this is traditionally the beginning of the Kentucky election season...for 130 years...it's a fund-raising picnic at St. Jerome's Parish out somewhere near Paducah...a dry county, although Catholic church picnic...lots of political speeches, heckling, EVERYBODY in Kentucky politics goes, etc...). Rand Paul put his foot in it again. He'd clearly never been to one before, arrived in a limo with Mitch, gave his 7 minute speech, and left immediately in the limo. He then told Sean Hannity on the air something to the effect that he'd had things thrown at him and was afraid he'd get drenched in beer, which of course backfired because (a) verbal heckling is encouraged, but if anything gets thrown, you get thrown out of the picnic and (b) there's little danger of being drenched in beer as the town is dry and the picnic is dry.

And then there's the drug issue in eastern Kentucky which, according to Paul, isn't much of a problem, certainly not one that needs anything more than local attention. And also mine safety (this just after that Massey disaster across the border in W. VA) needs less regulation, not more. I don't much like his opponent for the Senate (he's much too pretty, rich and perfect for my taste), but I'm going to have to vote for him. This guy Paul is a loose cannon or bull in a china shop (pick your metaphor) using his dad's Texas money to run for the US Senate from Kentucky, who clearly knows next to nothing about the actual state of Kentucky other than it's a good place to collect lots of Medicare dollars for his ophthalmology practice--he also wants to eliminate Social Security and Medicaid and estate taxes, repeal the recent health care reform bill, but NOT eliminate Medicare--it makes me want to hide under a bed somewhere.

And then there's the Ben Chandler/Andy Barr race for the 6th district seat in the U.S. House. THAT one is a choice between bad and badder.

On other fronts, the batteries in our phones, smoke detectors, etc. all seem to have died. I'd rather read another detective novel than act like a grown-up. What think ye?!?

Still in Kentucky, unfortunately

Tomorrow it's predicted to be actually HOTTER in central kentucky than in Goliad, Texas. And the low is supposed to higher than their low, too. There is no justice.

Phil spent two days working on the yard, which was, to put it mildly, a disaster. It's still bad, but is no longer knee high in the back yard. And the grass growing through the bricks by the side of the house is no longer ankle deep.

I'm gearing up to wade through bills.

The weather in Couze is lovely, according to my weather schedule (iGoogle tells me every day what's happening in NYC, Goliad, Paris, KY, and Couze--this is actually not a great idea as it has enormous potential to depress me). Can I go back right now? My passport is still valid.

I bought tickets for me and Martin to go to Celtic Woman tonight. This should cheer him up.

Chris (Martin), Cassoulet is indeed a winter dish. Have you ever had it? I know you mentioned that that French restaurant we went to in St. Louis only serves it in the winter. It's one of those stick to your ribs, needs to be drunk with lots of red stuff, and you need a long nap afterwards sorts of dishes. I've been working on it lately, and I always seem to end up with an ENORMOUS amount. Fortunately, it seems to freeze well. I'll end up with two big casseroles to put in the freezer and eat later, in addition to one to put on the table. It also sorta takes forever to make, what with the beans and the meats and the sauce and the slow baking, etc.

I would argue that I am a reasonably intelligent person, certainly well-educated by most standards. I have four university degrees, one of them a Ph.D., taught calculus at university level for more than 30 years, co-authored two published books, have several published papers, etc. I have been trying to wade through all this social security/Medicare/Disability stuff of late, for both Martin and myself. I have been officially "disabled" now for, I guess, a year and a half, and thought you were supposed to be on Medicare if you were "disabled", but only just got some stuff about Medicare while we were gone in July.

And Martin is getting all this stuff about Medicare, and I still haven't figured out how to get his disability checks direct-deposited. And I don't understand ANY of this stuff they are sending us, which is, they tell me, written at a 6th grade reading level, or below. It is all in (on the surface, at least) very simple English, but it makes absolutely no sense. What do most people do? How do they cope with it? I start reading it, and have to quit and find something intelligible like The New Yorker, or the NYT, or a novel, or a cookbook. It is driving me crazy.

And that's the way it is, Tuesday, August 2, 2010, the xxxth day since former President Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq (or was it Afghanistan? or both?)

Lillie

clarification, and cassoulet

Tarbais beans are the kind of white beans you're supposed to use in Cassoulet. They look like a cross between a white kidney bean and a lima bean (do NOT taste like limas, though), have thick skins and have to be soaked overnight before you use them in Cassoulet. I bought them in LeBugue from an old Gascon farmer who also makes his own walnut oil (bought some of that, too). He spent some time explaining to me why you treat Tarbais beans differently from Lingots, which are smaller and have thinner skins and are kinda like cannelini. Nice guy, interested in where I was from, and I actually understood most of what he said.

And I did a bit of research on saucisse a l'ail, or garlic sausage, which Cassoulet recipes tend to call for. The stuff I got last year from D'Artagnan had liver in it, not much, but I didn't like the taste. None of the saucisse a l'ail I found (and tried) in Perigord this year had liver in it. I guess I need to make my own. Another project. Great...

back to paris (kentucky, that is)

Came back to Kentucky on Thursday. On the surface it was uneventful (a blessing), but it still a real ordeal. Left Couze at 9:00 a.m., got to BOrdeaux airport at 11:00 to return car, check in, etc. They change the baggage rules monthly, it seems, and I think the AF lady at check-in was (a) nice and (b) tired of dealing with disgruntled people who got caught in the most recent change of rules, as she let us get by without paying extra for the bag that weighed 27 KG which is more than the allowed 23.

CDG was, as usual, an ordeal, exacerbated by passport control, where it appeared that virtually nobody had shown up for work that day. They had two lanes open (out of about 20), with HUNDREDS of people waiting to go through. By the time we got to the area of the boarding gate for our flight back on, unfortunately, Delta instead of AF, they were doing final boarding. Except it turned out we weren't the only ones with the problem. We ended up leaving more than 30 minutes late. Enough. 9+ hour flight, in sardine class, seriously hard on my sorry spine and legs.

The good news is that the customs agent asked why we'd been away so long, asked if Phil was a UK professor (he knows the area, although the lives in ATL now), and let us through without even reading the list of things we'd brought in, some of which were, shall we say, controversial. That's how I got my Tarbais beans into the country.

Weather bad (hazy, hot and humid); not sure Eula did anything while I was gone except cash her checks; yard and general condition of farm appalling, and I mean GHASTLY; unbelievable stack of bills, but evidently nothing has been cut off anywhere yet; politics in Kentucky depressing.

The good news is that there don't seem to be any real disasters, just lots of irritations. People in Kentucky are too fat. And Sarah has finished the California bar exam; this means I can talk to her again.

Can I go back to France? Cheers, Lillie

musings

Made the mistake of checking the Herald/Leader and Louisville Courier Journal for any updates on the House and Senate races in Kentucky. It's pretty depressing. Rand Paul is against farm subsidies but his father in law gets lots of support from them. Andy Barr is unapologetic about belonging to Idle Hour Country Club in Lexington, which historically has had a "no Blacks, no Jews" membership policy. Claims it's not discriminatory because now it has a black member (ONE), who of course is a former UK basketball star. Still no Jews. Also says we need to support the coal industry. Cut the deficit. Cut taxes. (Rand Paul is the tea-partier pseudo-ophthalmologist who is the Republican nominee for the Senate, the guy who beat up on McConnell's protege Trey Grayson in the Republican primary; Andy Barr is the kid who's trying to un-seat Ben Chandler for the House)

And they're talking about David Williams, the obnoxious idiot who controls the Ky. Senate, running for Governor. Steve Beshear isn't exactly a prize as Governor, but the thought of Williams gives me the creeps. I'll have to stay in France.

It's all too depressing. I really should avoid the newspapers.

Still Friday, last leg of the trip

So after we left Pujols, I decided we should go find the bastide center in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, park, find a cafe with a view, and get me something to drink. Trouble is, I did manage a decent photo on the way through, but we never found a way to park and go to the nice bastide square, assuming there actually is one, and I'm sure there is.

So we drove on to Monflaquin, which is up on another of those hills, and on the way back. We'd seen it (drove halfway around it, actually) on the way to Villeneuve and Pujols.

The place being seriously small, we were able to find its church, nice porch, nice square, good

alleys, lovely place to have some Perrier...at left is somebody's

garden down the bastide wall in Monflaquin. At right is one of the buildings we could see from the cafe in the square.

At left (at least, I think it's at left) is the view across the square. More lovely white stone...

Cheers, lillie

back to restaurant Lou Calel, Pujols

Okay, I can't figure out how to EDIT that post I have already made (two posts back, about our lunch at Lou Calel), so here's a photo I took inside the restaurant...

The place was pretty cool. And this is INSIDE (it has a beautiful terrace but was too windy for us wimps), and the view the other direction was down the hill, across the valley to Villeneuve-sur-Lot and beyond. It was a lovely place...

The rest of Pujols

So the village is absolutely gorgeous. Has evidently been restored and cared for and turned into a tourist and visitors' jewel in the last 50 years, and lots of people seem to live there, too. It is beautiful and pristine.

There's an old well in the middle of the main street (there were a couple of photographs of it, clearly taken long ago, hanging on the

wall in the restaurant) that was modified a bit some years ago so cars could get through the street. They turned it into a semi-circle instead of the original circle...

And then there are the flowers, and the lavender, and the views, and the food, of course...it's an

idyllic place...

Friday, 23 July 2010

To make up for Thursday, which is a day in my life I WANT BACK, took a trip on Friday. Original plan to drive to Villeneuve-sur-Lot and then MAYBE go to Pujols or to Agen was modified. These are down south of us in Lot and Gironde or maybe it's Lot and Garonne region, anyway south of the Dordogne, but not by much. Reputed to look more like Tuscany than anywhere else, and this is correct. All these volcanic hills with little villages perched up on them, white stone instead of the honey colored stuff common in the Dordogne area. Drove in to Villeneuve-sur-Lot which of course is a bastide town that straddles the Lot River. Lovely place, and I wish it were as close as Bergerac, as it is big enough to be a place to shop, and I hate Bergerac, as it is so dreary. Problem is, when you get to the middle of Villeneuve-sur-Lot and are looking for a place to park to get you to the old bastide center, you can see this village ahead perched up on this BIG hill that appears to be Pujols. Decided to start there. It was GREAT. It had been well after 11:00 when we had left, and yours truly was hungry, still in a bad mood from Thursday, and demanding food by the time we got to Pujols. Ate at a place I'd read about (which, fortunately, was the first place we stumbled on after we parked) called Auberge Lou Calel. I had their "formule" salad, main course, sorbet a glass of wine and a coffee, and P had their menu campagne, or something like that, three bigger courses, and we had a bottle of wine from Duras.

His first course was called "salmon mousse" and was great. It's to the

left there, and yes, I realize it needs editing, but hey, at least I managed to upload it, right?

the stuff in the middle here (yes, yes, I know it needs cropping, too) is the magret de canard (duck breast) with potatoes, cherries, and a ratatouille, fantastic sauce...Desserts were great as well. Creme caramel that was coffee flavored inside, and sorbet.

Then we visited the village proper. It was fascinating. First the road outside the wall...

And then, inside the square (another bastide town, of course) there was a HUGE gathering of people just standing around. They were going up to the church, where there was a table on either side of the entrance with a guest book on it, and were signing the guest book. We went inside the church, and all these people were bringing white flowers in and putting them up at the altar; a priest was milling round. I asked if there was a wedding about to happen, and was told no, it was a funeral. So we went back out (the church was nice, but not great, like a lot of the village churches in the area) and across to the tourist office, also on the square, of course. Asked for a guide to the village, and asked the person there why all the flowers were white if it was a funeral about to happen. Turned out it was a baby girl who was about to be buried. Finally a few minutes after the hour, several cars came driving up, one a van full of

flowers, one a van with the coffin and more flowers, and about three cars following. Everybody got out; the funeral guys took a lot of the flowers in to the church, and the priest and family went over to the hearse, everybody gathered round, and he said some prayers, sprinkled some holy water in the hearse, and they brought out this TINY white casket, which followed the priest, and was followed by the family and then the rest of the people who could fit in to the church for the funeral. There is no way all those people actually got in to the church. The church is interesting in that the bell tower is sort of in front of the church and over the gate in to the walled village, rather than being over the west end of the church.

We left to tour the village after the funeral began...

Thursday, 22 July 2010

Terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. Reasons boring. Refused to cook supper, even though had bought some fresh sole at the market; that's how bad it was. Went to pizza place down at the bottom of the hill:

And P had a "spanish" or something pizza with chorizo on it, and I made the mistake of ordering the salad (good) and half pizza combo with their seafood pizza (bad idea, not bad but mediocre...)

Next day HAD to be better, and it was

shopping

So it rained last night, it's sorta stormy today, and it's more than 20 degrees cooler than yesterday. That means it's only in the lower 70's, folks. I need to find tile for the re-do in the kitchen here, so dragged myself to Bergerac (lovely place, is Bergerac...). Guess what! I got there at 12:05, having forgotten that every single one of those places like Lowe's and Home Depot are CLOSED from 12:00 to 14:00. It wasn't a total loss, though, because I stopped in to Grand Frais (which was, indeed, "frais" inside, ICY in fact), which had just opened last year when we were here, and which several people have mentioned as the best place to shop for fresh produce. They were right. So I suppose it was not a total loss. Now I have to RETURN to Bergerac this afternoon for some more tile searching in that lovely, gracious, place (in case you haven't figured it out, except for about block's worth downtown in vieux Bergerac, it's really, really dreary).

Cheers,

recycling

This may be a repeat. They have clearly become very environment-conscious over here, and are serious about recycling. Last year you had to take all your recycling down to the communal bins by the post office, one for glass, one for paper, and one for cans, I think. Now you have to take the glass down there, but you have this roll of yellow bags which you use for recyclable metal, plastic and paper. You put the yellow bag out when you put out your trash to be collected, which is twice a week (and remember, Couze has the enormous population of about 800... or maybe it's 600, something like that). The yellow bags get delivered to some automated thing somewhere which separates them into plastic, metal and paper. You don't have to even wash out the stuff if you don't want to.

And just inside the entrance to the big supermarket in Lalinde, right next to the bars you walk through to get in, is a plastic box up on a pole at chest level to put used batteries in.

There's a (very modest) environmental fee to dispose of old appliances. I think it was 13 euros for the old fridge. This was tacked on to the cost of the new fridge, and the guys who delivered and installed the new fridge took the old one away with them.

Evelyn tells me they have the yellow bags for recyclables in Germany, too.

Checkers sit down at the cash registers (you might like this, Martin). There are no baggers, of course; you do that yourself. And nobody has to do carts: they have these stations outside where they are all chained together. You put in a 1 euro coin or a plastic token (keep them in the car), it releases the grocery cart, you push it into the store, use it, and put it back in the buggy place after you unload your stuff into the car, and get your euro back. They do this all over Europe, including England. And they have these buggy things organized like this in places like Lowe's. It's the same system. You can get somebody to help you with heavy things, of course (hear, hear...).

I think all this stuff has hit the radar screen and caught on and been embraced because it's basically much more crowded in Europe than in the US. Yes, there are large parts of the US where it is VERY crowded, but we still have vast expanses of wide, open space, so there's never been as much motivation to actually DEAL with trash over here, rather than opening another landfill. Also, governments over here are more centralized than is the US, so it's much easier to do something over an entire country. In the US, you couldn't get everybody in Congress to agree that today is Wednesday.

so there,

Lillie

I'm in love

This time, it's with a guy named (I think) Roberto Alagna. He's the Italian guy who's the tenor in Tosca that we're currently watching LIVE from some Roman coliseum thing down there in Orange, just north of Avignon. May not make it till the end, though, as it didn't start until about 10:00 p.m., it's 11:30 and the second act just started...but I'm in LOVE...so there.

The soprano is, I think, American, a red head with a VERY thick waist (possibly even thicker than mine), and she's a very good singer but not in the same league with this guy.

Never heard of him before, actually. but he's great. Can you imagine being at one of these things outdoors in one of these Roman coliseums?!?

Cheers, Lillie

Sunday 18th July

Watching what MAY be a live production of Tosca from the coliseum in Orange in the Vaucluse down south. On the telly. I have a couple of windows and doors open, and have been told that our neighbors may not be interested in listening along with us...but we had to listen to some of them during the World Cup, so I'm not really interested.

Went in to the loo a bit ago, and lo and behold, there were several hundred (I guess!) ants running around the wall, evidently had come in through the open window. Fortunately a new can of bug spray was handy. It was bizarre...

Gorgeous sunset. Somebody please explain exactly why (WHY) I have to come back to the US in just over a week...It's hot and muggy over there. There are some people I'd like to have around; do you think I could arrange to install them over here? If the jailbirds ever actually get their crap out of the old boulangerie, it will be vacant and either for rent or sale...I'll bet I can find plenty of other places for people around here. The English are staying away in droves these days, as the pound is down relative to the euro so it's no longer such a great deal and a cheap place for them to live. It's (trust me on this) relatively inexpensive to buy property, etc., around here compared to Lexington, not to mention the east and west coasts of the US. Even with the high price of electricity.

And I can help...I would no longer be terrified of purchasing an unfurnished house, which would need pretty much everything. Fridge, cooker, etc... hey, I've even managed to get a tv going here, right?

Told P this evening that if I/we were to be here permanently, I'd need to live somewhere else, because I couldn't manage here on my own. The stairs up to the house are too steep, and there's nothing we can do about them, since the bad ones down there were originally up to the old, currently non-existent, chateau. I can't carry heavy stuff up them; it's just too precarious. The place is pretty small, but that's much less of a problem than I would have expected. Fix up the kitchen, which I am about to do, and put in some serious bookcases, and a lot of the annoyances would/will vanish. But there's still that trek up the hill.

More later about our afternoon at P's French teacher's house....

Lillie

various comments

had pseudo pan bagnat for lunch today. No onions, no anchovies, no olives, just basil, tomato slices, cucumber, jambon sec (pseudo-prosciutto). Only had half a baguette that was near terminal because I was too lazy to go get some more bread this morning. So I split it, soaked it with olive oil and a bit of wine vinegar, and put this salad stuff on it. Called it lunch. Phil also inhaled some more of that camembert I bought the other day. It is RIPE, made from lait cru (non-pasteurized milk), just starting to run, but no maggots in it yet. He sorta lowers his face in it.

At least other people who come over here will be able to watch whatever sports are on tv. I can watch the news, CNN, CNBC, and BBC. Do I want to? I'll think about it. I ordered some movies from Amazon in the UK last night. We don't have any over here. US ones won't work, anyway.

If there's a cool day this week I think we'll go to Oradour up near Limoges. It's the village that was destroyed on, I think, June 10, 1944. Whether it was in retaliation for a Resistance group there killing a Nazi soldier a day or two earlier, or whether the Germans did indeed think Resistance in the village was hiding weapons in a barn depends on who you asked. It was also just after the D-Day invasion had begun. So they marched all the women and children into the church and locked them in, lined up all the men and shot them, and then set the church on fire. Only a couple of the 600+ inhabitants escaped. They rebuilt the town a bit away and just left the village as it was after the massacre. I've retired from doing things like visiting outdoor historic sites and castles when it is hot.

It is a perfect day today. Warm, low humidity, clear as a bell. It's tempting to sit outside under the umbrella and admire the house on the hill across the way, watch the big rolls of hay dry on the field below, admire the roses in the yard, fret about the dead geraniums, look in awe at the rosemary, ambitious things like that.

Am meeting with Robyn tomorrow to finalize plans for the kitchen re-do. AND, HEY, IMPORTANT DECISIONS HAVE BEEN MADE. Decided to paint it yellow. White woodwork. So how many kitchens have I been involved in painting and/or re-doing in my life? Four I think. Every time it gets painted yellow. This one will have some blue in it, too, this being France and all, on the tile around the counters. Kinda like the tile that's there now. Would keep it, but evidently that's not one of the options.

near disaster. P decided to turn on the tv to watch something, Tour de France, probably, couldn't get it turned on (it's still not), I went over, sat on the edge of the coffee table, and somehow broke the glass and fell through. Was seriously stupid; he was terrified as I could have been sliced up royally. Two cuts is all. Now the coffee table is even more dangerous, what with half its glass gone. And the tv isn't coming on. Wonderful. Brilliant.

a miracle occurred

We now have television. have we gotten it up and watched any? of course not. We are supposed to get the France stations, BBC stations, CNN and things like that. Sports. Only took two technicians and 130 euros to get it going. Not to mention the legwork by yours truly. Should have gotten the folks we bought the tv from to do the satellite installation in the first place.

Bought a sewing machine at the vide grenier, to Phil's chagrin.

Discovered that express scrips has quality control problems. one of my BP meds that got a 3 month refill about a week before we left is NOT going to last until I get home.

We found my rings yesterday ("we" being not totally accurate). I had them Tuesday and Wednesday I couldn't find them. All three of them. Nowhere to be found. Even tracked down the restaurant we'd eaten lunch at on Tuesday to make sure I hadn't taken them off and left them there. (these are NOT $15 rings we're talking about, comprende?). Last resort was to go through the trash, so we didn't take it out THursday evening to be collected, and Phil, bless his heart, went through it yesterday morning before it got hot.. Guess what!

Hard to believe we're going back to hot, muggy Lexington in a week. Back to the real world, after a fashion, I guess. Is it too early to put out my Jack Conway signs? I wonder if I can convince Martin to put a Conway sign on his truck. I'm not particularly fond of the guy, and he is far, far too pretty for my taste, not to mention rich, but at least he's not a nut case like the other guy. Who, incidentally, is an "ophthalmologist" who had some difficulty getting himself certified by the board, so created his own board. He works in Bowling Green. I'd avoid the guy if I were in BG and needed to find an eye doctor.

So there have been problems with the ICE trains in Germany (their high-speed intercity trains, the German version of the TGV). It seems their climate system is designed to work for outside temperatures up to 35 degrees Centigrade (that's 95 degrees for you gringos), as it NEVER gets that hot in Germany. Until it does. It got up to 38.8 degrees (about 100), and the systems shut down. Temperatures inside went up to 50 degrees (you figure it out; multiply by 9/5 and then add 32) and people started developing heat exhaustion, of course. The windows don't open, also of course.

Back hurts. Leg hurts. So what else is new. At least it's cooler today, actually had to put a shirt on over my dress, but it's headed back up above 90 in a day or so.

One other thing...it's more foie gras tonight, this time maybe with some of the apricot compote Jeannette brought over this morning.

Cheers, Lillie

food

So I realized I have a fresh "foie gras de canard" in the fridge. Shrink wrapped, but unless you can them or somehow or other preserve them, they sorta don't last forever. Its "use-by" date has passed, but not by much, so I got it out, dressed it after a fashion by removing the veins that were easy, and put it in a bowl with Armagnac.

For dinner we had salad greens with pear, Roquefort, lemon juice and walnut oil, along with green lentils (see Patricia Wells, Paris Cookbook...) with vinaigrette, this topped with seared foie gras. It was good, but rich. Red wine...so there...

Friday

Evelyn and Olaf left this morning to go back to Germany. Was great having them here, but I guess I need to catch up on some things like chores. Right?

After Wednesday's visit to the Bastille Day celebrations in Lalinde, followed by a visit to the Vide Grenier (also in Couze), lunch at home, followed by visit to Beynac to the chateau, and then on to Sarlat to do some serious sight-seeing, followed by dinner there at a restaurant that evidently was either a family affair, run by a guy (chef) and his wife or just by his wife (!) as there appeared to be only one seating, about 15 people, and it took more than three hours...we had some difficulty getting out of Sarlat because of the re-routed/diverted/whatever traffic. It was after midnight when we got back to Couze, and yours truly had a REALLY bad night. Sort of rather a lot of pain, pills didn't seem to help, and didn't sleep. and then about 7:00 a.m. I finally went to sleep, and didn't get up until about noon.

By this time, had missed the Thursday market in Lalinde, but Phil, Evelyn and Olaf had gone carousing, and in the afternoon they visited the paper mill and took the tour. I guess I should do that, too, sometime. Later went to Ken and Val's for a swim and aperitifs, various other carousing.

This morning Evelyn and Olaf left, and I actually slept last night for a LONG time, so did chores today. Looked for a farmhouse table for Pat and Melissa; internet addresses for realtors for Chris and Judy; retrieved the chair that the guy we bought the new kitchen table and chairs from had fixed (he's only had it for a month...but he charged me only 20 euros to replace the rung on it, and it looks like it's always been there...), found somebody to come out tomorrow to try again to get us online with the television. I am feeling obnoxiously efficient. So there.

Still want to visit l'Oradour before we go back to the US, and would also like to visit the Garonne valley/Tarn area. Sometime want to visit the Canal du Midi, the canal they dug to connect the mediterranean to the Atlantic, via locks, etc. Phil wants to visit another prehistoric cave. Time is running out.

I WILL post photos, quite possibly tomorrow...

Cheers, Lillie

15 July 2010

Would have been my mother's birthday. David Fischer's birthday. E-mailed him, and called him...

Yesterday went to the Bastille Day celebrations in Lalinde, with Ken Day doing his flat-waving thing. Nice ceremony, actually. and Evelyn and Olaf seemed to enjoy it a LOT. Turned out that Pam and Paul had gotten married on Tuesday, with rather a lot of his relatives here, and Ken and Val being their witnesses. That was evidently very nice.

There was a 'vide grenier' on Wednesday morning, as well, and I bought some stuff for the kitchen. We then ate lunch at the cottage, closed it up, and headed for Beynac. I let them out at the bottom of the road up to the chateau, and drove up to the top and parked there, met Phil, Olaf and Evelyn at the Tavern des Ramparts, at the top. Had things to drink, and then they visited the chateau. I've been there, several times, it's rather desolate, dreary and unfriendly, shall we say, notwithstanding the furnished "formal" rooms we saw. Looks like a very foreboding place....Stay tuned...

visitors, take 2 (or so)

Went to Monpazier today with Evelyn and Olaf, and it was great. They seem rather amazed at all the things you can do around here that don't take much effort. And I wasn't ever consciously aware of this, actually, but it's true. I think they expected lovely countryside with not much going on. But Issigeac is maybe 30 minutes away, and is all of a sudden a medieval town that reminds me a LOT of York in England (that was where we went to the market on Sunday morning).

Yesterday evening we went to the Marche Nocturne (night market) in Cadouin, which is a very old village, with an abbey, and an old covered market in front, and in the summer, night markets where you go to eat, drink and be merry on Monday evenings. They put out these trestle tables and benches, cover the tables with paper, and merchants come and sell food around the edges--all this on the town "square" in front of the abbey. There is usually some group making music, dancing maybe. Lots of people, and LOTS of fun. Olaf and Evelyn appeared to be seriously delighted.

Today I finally got up; they had hiked down to Port-de-Couze, which is the "village" at the bottom of the hill, across the river, and bought croissants at the bakery down there next to the appliance store. Had a croissant, a couple of discussions about plans, and drove to Monpazier... bastide town built as a defensive/defendable village during the hundred years' war. Lots of them around here, but Monpazier is, I think, the best-preserved. Also a World Heritage Site (UNESCO). Lovely place. Had a nice walk around, although I stayed in the shade as much as possible. And then we had lunch on the town square/place/whatever in some place that wasn't one of the ones I'd found in guidebooks, but had a lovely view. We had a lovely lunch, and then I bought a bottle of Aperitif de Truffe (truffle aperitif, have to figure out later how they make the stuff)...

Came back to the house, picked up the LiveBox to take to Bergerac to try to figure out why exactly the ****** TV won't work with the decoder, etc. This means dealing (again, for the umpteenth time) with some FranceTelecom/Orange office, which I did for far too long in Bergerac. Phil purchased a new pair of his Mephisto sandals, and Evelyn bought a swimsuit, all while I was waiting to talk to someone who tried to convince me that the problem isn't that the LiveBox isn't talking to the Decoder, but that I've (are you listening, folks?!?) "changed the password"...or some ****** thing.

Stay tuned if you dare. We have internet and phone via LiveBox that work, albeit at serious expense, a television, decoder so it will talk to the ADSL LiveBox, and satellite so we will theoretically be able to get French TV, BBC, and a host of other wonderful things. Except it doesn't work. I finally told P I DO NOT want to discuss it further; I promise to try to deal with it Saturday or next week, AFTER Evelyn and Olaf have left. So there.

Tomorrow? Bastille Day. 14 July. Quatorze juillet...Happy Birthday, Chauncey...going to the flag ceremony thing in Lalinde, at 11:30 or something, also a "Vide Grenier" in Lalinde in the a.m. I hope to find some useful things like serving bowls and platters for very little money. "Vide grenier" means literally "empty attic", and is a cross between a big community garage sale in the US and a Car Boot Sale in England. It'll be held in front of the Mairie (sorta like City Hall in the US) in Lalinde.

Stay tuned; I promise to upload photos...

Monday report

Actually, it is evidently Tuesday now, over here. I am still up, however, but everyone else is down for the count, and quite possibly will actually be up shortly after I finally go down.

Seriously stressful...so what exactly have we done? Well, went to Issigeac yesterday morning (Sunday) to that fantastic market. Bought important things like cheese, sausage, fruit, tomatoes, stuff like that. Lovely, lovely village, apparently un-touched by the Hundred Years' Wars, etc.

Came back, too hot, fortunately I got that umbrella thing. Ate for rather a long time on the terrace. Was seriously hot. Last night not so bad, nor today. Evelyn and I went in to Bergerac to buy me some shoes (she and Olaf walked down to Couze and across the river to Port de Couze and bought some bread and croissants for breakfast...), and some really important stuff like pillows and milk. And THEN we all went to the night market at Cadouin (aka "Marche Nocturne"), for dinner. I think Evelyn and Olaf really enjoyed it. They seem to have settled seriously in to the laid-back French lifestyle thing. It's sort of a stretch, or requires an effort, or something, to get P. Crowley to settle in to the local lifestyle. But I'm coming around to the point of view that it is seriously worth it.

And yes, yes, I know...I was the one who wanted to buy this place, but was it a calculated thing? HUH? Not just NO, but HELL, NO.

More later. Am having a bit of difficulty (or a "spot of bother"!) burning photos to CD's, and it's not interesting, shall we say...

Cheers, Lillie

more random

It's far too hot, but at least it's not humid like Thailand. Too hot to go outside, though. and yes, yes, I know, we're not the only people with a problem, and it IS July...

Jailbirds have their car covered up with blankets today.

Difficulties with photos. Downloaded stuff, and am having trouble making a CD, which I want to do before I erase the little cards (not your problem, but it's basically why I haven't posted any photos)

Going to Issigeac to the market tomorrow morning, which means I need to get my backside out of bed early so we can get there before it gets too hot.

So far, haven't been able to get reservations for Font de Gaume, but maybe in a day or two (painted cave, aka Lascaux, and still open to the public on a LIMITED basis).

I love having Olaf and Evelyn here; this means that Evelyn is helping with the cooking, and all three (those two plus Phil) are basically doing the cleaning up.

Bought some more of those potatoes that aren't as big as my thumb today, from the Gascon lady with the walnut oil. Dinner. Along with goose breast (was going to do this when Chris and Judy were here, but it was already 8:30 p.m., and I hadn't yet started dinner, so it was confit instead), enormous artichokes, and Evelyn has made tabbouleh or however you spell it. Between French and German and American, I'm confused.

Too hot. Leg hurts. Back hurts. Stay inside.

A votre sante.

Brits

I always seem to be hard on people, especially men whom I've decided are dumber than me, when they start explaining something to me that (a) I already know, especially when (b) they've got it wrong. And I've always revered England for its wonderful history, architecture, universities, writers, mathematicians, the lot. So when this English guy started explaining to me that Bloody Mary was Mary Queen of Scots, who was the first of the Stuart line of royalty, I wouldn't back down.

And in case you not only haven't quit reading, but also don't already know, Bloody Mary was the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, the one who restored the country to Catholicism after his son Edward died. We have her reign to thank for all those assassinations, Elizabeth I's imprisonment in the Tower, where Mary very nearly had HER beheaded. Then she mercifully died, Elizabeth became Queen, and they rest, as they say, is history. Mary Queen of Scots, on the other hand, kept getting herself involved in plots to put herself on the throne as the "rightful" queen since Elizabeth was a bastard. And Elizabeth finally had her beheaded.

I am not sure why it gets under my skin when people do this, but it sure does...

more random thoughts

I was asked to post photo or photos of the jailbirds' garden. Have taken some now, just need to spend some computer time uploading a bunch of stuff.

Evidently you have to have a gmail account to comment online. Does anybody want a gmail account? I love mine, and can invite you to get one if you want.

Chris and Judy arrived (Chris being Phil's cousin) this afternoon, seriously jet-lagged, etc. We plan to take them to the Marche Nocturne for supper if they ever get out of the shower. It should keep them awake for a couple more hours...

driving to the train station in Bordeaux is a real b****. Almost like driving through Bergerac cubed.

Lovely weather, warm, not humid, windy.

Are the jailbirds ever going to actually leave? I want P to clean up their garden...

a plus tard, lillie

random thoughts on monday

The jailbirds flew away, and then they came back, and now they have (maybe) left again, we all hope for good.

The good news is that the hurricane didn't hit the oil spill. The bad news is that the thing is still gushing. The other bad news is that it's no longer front page news. And the REALLY bad news is that the bandits responsible for the mess keep pointing their fingers at each other.

Hot but not so bad.

Chris and Judy should be in Paris, but haven't heard from them yet. This is slightly worrisome.

Weather better. Can get clothes dry.

I think I should take a photo of the jailbirds' garden, the one we always complain about; it's just below ours, and is a serious eyesore.

need to do housework. more later...

more drivel

Okay, okay, so I had already mentioned the orange umbrella for the terrace. But last night, while we had friends over for dinner, P finally figured out how to set the umbrella at an angle to actually (!) block the sun. WHEE.

And yes, I know, I know, it's summer, and it's supposed to be hot, and you're supposed to love it while it is, go to the beach or something like that (and down here, we COULD actually to to Arachon or somewhere near Bordeaux and eat OYSTERS!!!! good ones!). The problem is, whenever it gets hot like this, I feel like I'm back in Texas, and it won't cool off for months and months. And it's not true; we've had only three, I think, really hot days, and it's already cooled off a lot. But the fear of being hot all the time for months and months is something that I think sorta never quite lets go of you. I'm not sure it's all that different from the fear my parents had of not having enough money, or of losing everything they had at the bank, etc. So there...enough philosophizing.

Federer is out of Wimbledon. Martin was thrilled. And Federer was NOT gracious about it, so I've gone over to Martin's side about Federer. Nadal won today. The World Cup is chaos, and everybody over here is paying rapt attention. I don't care, I confess. I think it's nice that the USA team didn't do nearly as badly as expected, but basically, I don't give a s***. Sorry, folks.

I miss Gourmet.

And I promise to post more photos soon. I have to download them first...

Lillie

chores, chores, chores

Still unbearably hot.

Had to go to Bergerac today to do chores. There's AC in the car, after a fashion, but it's so hot. Bought some fabric to make some curtains for the sorta-skylight windows up in the bedroom. They are up on the roof, and it is REALLY hot up there in the afternoon. I've borrowed a sewing machine from Val, have some pressure rods so I can make sort of pocket curtains (otherwise they would be useless, as would just hang down, the the roof is at about a 45 degree angle). Bought thread and scissors...now I just have to make them.

Also bought two more fans, one for the kitchen and one for the bedroom in the cave, which seems to be taking on some water, although it may be condensation. aargh...Robyn, bless her heart, cleaned down there this afternoon.

Yes, I know it's summer, but this is unusually miserable. And yes, it probably won't last long. It's humid, though, and I HATE being hot and sweaty. Too much like the Gulf Coast.

In the meantime, I am refusing to cook, although we had some of the English ex-pats over for dinner last night. Do you have ANY idea how much G&T and wine four Englishmen (this includes women...I'm old-fashioned) can down? I'm off to re-stock tomorrow morning before it gets hot again.

I also picked up (bought rather) a thing called a Live Plug, which is two plugs you use when so you can put your "decoder" and TV more than 2 meters from the LiveBox, the ADSL thing plugged into the telephone line and the wall, and so you can get all the TV channels that evidently have been accessible to us for three years now. Only thing missing, well there are three things missing, but one of them was the presence of a television, and I also bought one of those this afternoon. It's a Sony Bravia, not all that big, but it has a built-in DVD player. And we have a Sony Bravia at home, so I figured it was a good bet. The lady at the shop (down in Couze...I'm shopping locally, figure I'm likely to be treated better, PLUS they deliver, install, etc., without extra charges...bought the fridge from them, too) was astounded when she said "this isn't your main TV, is it?" and I said yes. She said it's awfully small, but I said it's fine. They will deliver it on Tuesday unless I change it; this way SOMEBODY else has to carry it up that hill. Now I have to wait for the "decoder" to arrive (theoretically tomorrow or Monday, but we'll see, this is, after all, France) and for the guy I've asked to install the satellite, etc. to get here. His name is "Bob". After I did all this crap in this heat (nearly 100, even places with AC don't have what Americans consider good AC), I felt so virtuous that I went next door to the Orange/FranceTelecom place where I'd bought the Live Plug and bought some more COOL clothes, as the ones I bought the other day seem to need washing all the time. It's the summer sales over here, too...

On other fronts (I've been on a real tear...), I've bought a new umbrella for the terrace, which actually is very nice, and makes it tolerable to eat out there when it's hot. AND it was on sale...

Sunsets are gorgeous.

All of a sudden I realized that I need to pay bills in the US. So I've been online trying to deal with them today. The Internet we have here, when it's doing okay, is WONDERFUL, especially compared with what we have in Kentucky. I haven't been disconnecting it while we're back in the US, and we end up spending buckets less than we do there. I think it'd about 100 euros/month for land line phone, VoIP phone, broadband (and I mean FAST broadband, not like the Starband over satellite in Kentucky), AND cable TV with a zillion stations, including the BBC stations, and, I'm told, CNN in English. This TV stuff comes with the package, although we don't exactly yet have it, but there are no extra charges. What we've been missing is the equipment. So, well, 100 euros/month here vs. $100 for phone, $50 for Starband, and $100 for TV? And it requires TWO satellites in the US?!!?!?! and the internet is not as fast? and the only reason we have wireless internet in KY is because of the router set up that is internal? Here our internet is ALL wireless!

More later, and it's cooled off a bit, and the sun is down, and I've opened the windows and doors...cheers, Lillie