Auch

We drove to Auch by 11:30 today.  We went to a frame shop to buy matting and saw Pedro, a man we met at Weldom, a building supply store in Fleurance.  Pedro worked at Weldom until a month ago, when he changed jobs and went to work at the frame shop in Auch.  He was very helpful and it was nice to see a familiar face.  We walked to the marche, just a block away, and bought some fresh vegetables for dinner, along with croissants at Papa’s favorite “Auch Marche” boulangerie.  We walked up the hill to the historic center of Auch to have lunch.  After lunch, we visited the cathedral, a stunning site.

We drove from Auch to Gimont, to visit our favorite brocante shop.  We bought a nightstand then headed home.  Joy made dinner for us - pasta with fresh mushrooms and herbs with goat cheese sauce, salad, and melon.  It was delicious!  Papa hung the tapestry I bought at Lectoure’s Brocante Village on Tuesday.  We’ve had a busy week of buying things for the house - art and furniture.

Joy with Us

My friend, Joy, is visiting us from Sarasota this week.  We picked her up at the airport in Toulouse on Monday.  We had a late lunch at home, then walked about the village, went to the Summer Lundi Marche in Lectoure, where we bought all the ingredients for a fresh, simple dinner.  On Tuesday, we went to the Fleurance Tuesday Market.  Late in the afternoon, we walked to the Brocante Village in Lectoure, where I found two things, a framed 11x14” painting of the Notre Dame (before the fire), and a large tapestry for the salon wall.  Joy made a delicious chicken dinner for us and we opened gifts she had brought for us.  It was a fun party!

Today, we went to Francoise’s house to look at furniture.  She is the woman I bought the coffee table from on Saturday.  Her home was beautiful, in the countryside with amazing views.  I bought a pair of night stands and a bombe chest with marble top.  All are covered in marquetry.  Papa and I are happy to get nightstands for our bedroom!

We went on to La Romieu, known for its Collegiale St. Pierre, a 14th century church with a cloister.  It is labeled a Plus Beaux Village in France (the Most Beautiful Villages of France), and is a stop on the Way to Saint Jacques de Compostelle, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We particularly enjoyed seeing the mural paintings in the sacristy of the church.  We had lunch in La Romieu before taking winding one lane roads, with blooming sunflowers on either side, through tiny villages, including the castle at Lagarde Femarcon, back to Lectoure.  

Fun Week!

The past week has been a mix of fun and work.  First for the work - Papa has been tiling our 6th bathroom,  and the last big project of our renovations.  I’ve helped a bit.  It’s not the most beautiful bathroom, but “it will do!”  On Friday morning, a crew of three men showed up to work on our east wall and the roof.  They repaired a large hole in the stones on the east wall, then went on the roof to clean and reseal the structure of our skylight.  They cleaned the inside of the skylight too, plus they put metal plates on top of two chimneys that we don’t intend to use.  We still have a few other projects, such as painting the back stairway, but they seem small in comparison to the bathroom and the roof.  We’re anxious to be finished with renovations, so we can enjoy more village events and exploring the region.

On Wednesday of this week, we had lunch with our across the street neighbors, Dominique and Romain.  On Friday afternoon, we ran errands, to the decheterie, the hardware store, plant nursery, and the grocery.  We had an invitation on WhatsApp when we got home at 5:40 pm, to meet neighbors Deidre and Vladimir and Abby for a glass of wine on Rue Nationale at 6.  We unloaded the car and took quick showers, meeting them a few minutes late.  Abby moved to France with her husband in the late 1980’s and to Lectoure about 10 years ago.  Deidre and Vladimir moved to Lectoure 6 years ago from the US.  She was raised in Zimbabwe, went to university in South Africa, then to Michigan and UC Davis.  She founded an agriculture consulting business and travels all over the world all the time - Washington DC last week, South Africa this week.  Vladimir is a retired professor and author, born in Cuba to a Spanish born father and American born mother with a Scandinavian grandmother.  They decided to move to Lectoure after a 3 day visit about 10 years ago.  

On Saturday, we went to a vide grenier in Lectoure, at the Municipale Rugby Stade.  We bought a coffee table for our living room, and talked with the vendor, whose husband recently died, her house sold and she has lots more to sell.  We agreed to get together in a few days, so I can look at more things.  

Abby came for aperitifs in the evening, and we enjoyed sitting on our 4th floor terrace getting to know her.  We had various other encounters through the week, with people we’ve met and neighbors.  We rarely leave our house without running into someone we know.  We’re enjoying Lectoure!  We had a fun week!

View from Bedroom Window

This was my view from our bedroom window yesterday afternoon.  The grape vines growing on the arbor over our terrace, are reaching upward toward our bedroom windows and teeming with grapes.  My garden hasn’t filled in just yet, but it is growing.  The fields beyond are checkerboarded with crops of wheat, corn, sunflowers, and grapes.  

We had a nice lunch at Racine, a restaurant we walk, with our neighbors, Dominique and Romain.  They bought their home in Lectoure a year ago, so they are getting to know the area as we are.  We agreed to explore new restaurants together.  Yesterday was a beautiful day!

Summer’s First Sunflowers

I took this photo as we drove back to Lectoure from Agen yesterday, under cloudy skies.  In fields along the way, sunflowers are starting to open.  In French, sunflowers are known as tournesols - “turn to the sun.”

Day After My 65th Birthday

My birthday was a nice day, with calls from our kids, a Zoom call with kids and grandchildren, and calls and emails from friends.  All were a reminder of how fortunate I am, to have a wonderful husband, good children gainfully employed, wonderful friends, and a life that is challenging and fun.  I am blessed!

We had an interesting experience yesterday morning.  A woman we know was walking up our street as we were going to the boulangerie for bread.  She told us she was meeting the former owner of our house, the predecessor of the woman we purchased from.  We were interested to meet him, so turned around and there he was in front of our house.  He was with a friend, who is interested in buying a house on our street.  His name is Alain Vircondelet.  https://second.wiki/wiki/alain_vircondelet  He has written lots of books!  We invited him and his friend inside the house, and as we were in the garden room, he told me he wrote a book about our house, published in 2000, La Maison Devant le Monde, The House in Front of the World, because of the views.  I’ve ordered the book on Amazon.  His three children were born while he and his wife lived in the house, about 20 years.  They made happy memories and moved on while he taught in Paris and Bordeaux.  He is retiring and bought a castle just south of Lectoure, near Fleurance.  He asked if we would like to come visit his new house, and of course, we would!  We’ll stay in touch with him.  

We invited our French teacher, Thanh, and her husband, Jerome, to have dinner with us last evening.  I didn’t tell them in advance that it was my birthday, so that we kept the time more casual.  Thanh was born in Vietnam and came to France for university.  She married Jerome a few years later and they lived in Paris until the second year of Covid, when they decided to move to a small village in the southwest of France, which turned out to be Lectoure.  We enjoyed dinner with them, talking for three hours.

Every day brings new experiences.  We were invited on Friday, by our insurance agent, to go with him to his family’s melon farm.  We met his aunt and grandmother.  His family are “big farmers,” raising multiple crops, including melons.  We bought a flat of melons - cantaloupes.  In France, they pick the melons when they are ready to eat, and we cut one open when we got home.  It was delicious!  The aunt invited us to come to their home anytime this summer to buy more, as their price is a fraction of buying in the markets.   

We are having fun in Lectoure!  We’re enjoying our neighbors, the village library, walking to shops, the Friday Market, and our views of the extraordinary countryside.  We are happier than we imagined!

Most Unusual Doctor Visit

I walked to our doctor’s office this morning, to make an appointment for her to look at a mole on my neck.  When I arrived, the doctor was in her office, the first room from the front door, on the left.  Papa and I visited her office last fall but we saw a substitute doctor, as our doctor was on maternity leave for six months.  We are in her medical records online, so she pulled me up on her computer.  She asked why I came in and we started talking - about all sorts of things.  I asked about her baby - a year old next week, why her family moved to Lectoure - because of the schools.  She talked about how much she and her husband love Lectoure and how friendly people are.  She asked about my lung condition, and then she examined my neck.  She recommended a dermatologist and she made an appointment for me to drop off our folders of medical records next Friday at 8 a.m.  She asked if we have insurance - and we do, for emergencies only while in France.  She wrote a bill for her examination of my neck - 25Euros, standard price for General Practitioners in France.  

Several things were unusual about this visit - I talked to the doctor without seeing the receptionist.  She examined me as a walk-in, without an appointment.  She called up my medical history as given last fall, on her computer.  The cost was 25Euros, equivalent to $26.10 today.  Amazing!  I don’t remember seeing a doctor so cheaply ever in the US!  And the mole on my neck had no indication of anything she was concerned about.  All good!

“France offers universal health coverage for all citizens, regardless of age or economic situation.  France offers a high level of preventative healthcare, with available services including addiction prevention, regular medical check-ups, and the promotion of physical activity and healthy eating.  All citizens have direct access to specialists.  France’s healthcare system has been ranked the “best in the world” by the WHO.  France spends half as much per person as the US, ranked 37th in the world for health care systems, and #1 in the world for spending on health care per capita.”  

It’s interesting to see how other countries do things!

Making Memories

Audrey’s family arrived on June 3 and will leave on June 14.  We’ve made lots of memories, with daily trips to boulangeries/patisseries, driving the countryside to vide greniers and marches, eating at The Belvedere in Lectoure, visiting Lectoure’s Archeology Museum, working in the garden, Lauren and Taylor painting, Taylor playing with her snail, playing Yahtzee and Azul, going for evening walks around the village…. We’ve had a great time!

Exploring

We have spent much of the last week exploring within 35 kilometers of Lectoure, with Audrey, Lauren and Taylor.  We are constantly reminded of our slower pace of living in France, the beautiful rolling hills covered with crops, and hundreds to thousands of years old villages, castles, walls, and churches.  We’re having fun.

Hot Air Balloons

As we sat down for breakfast this morning, we noticed four hot air balloons gathered next to the rugby field, preparing to lift off.  Within minutes they were in the air, on a beautiful morning, with the Pyrenees visible in the distance.  

Auch Visit

We are staying busy this week, in slow motion.  Papa and I drove Dan to the Toulouse Airport on Tuesday morning, then drove home to pick up Audrey and the girls, and went to the Tuesday Fleurance Marché.  We picked up lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and visited a patisserie to get lunch.  Wednesday was a cloudy day with light rain off and on.  We spent much of the afternoon at Valvital, in the thermal pools.  We visited the bibliothèque and checked out games.  We played games after dinner.

On Thursday, we stopped at the déchèterie to drop off yard clippings and I got a kitchen waste bin.  We drove down to Auch for their Thursday Marché, a bigger market with everything from fruits and vegetables to kitchen utensils, clothes, and more.  We walked up the big staircase to the cathedral, explored the historic center of Auch, and had lunch at an outside restaurant.  We were home by mid-afternoon and worked in the garden.  We went on a walk around the village after dinner.  It was a good day!

Vide Greniers

We visited two vide greniers this morning, neither particularly impressive, but we always see beautiful old churches and vistas across the hills that seem out of a painting, and even enjoyed a live band playing at one of the vide greniers.  I picked up a Yahtzee game and two small framed original oil paintings, all for 6 Euros.  We had a late lunch of pizza and fruit, then spent time in the garden and walked to the cathedral in Lectoure. We picked up dinner at the boulangeries, then took it home to eat on our terrace.  We took a walk around the village after dinner.  A good day!  Papa and I continue to be grateful for the extraordinary experience of living in an ancient French village.