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!
