Dinner at Anne's - yum!

Monday, October 25, 2010 Day 117


Today I finally potted up several of my plants. I have had planter boxes and plants for several weeks, and I got potting soil last week, so I finally broke down and potted the plants. I fixed a window box of geraniums for each of the front windows, a window box of pansies for our bedroom window and a window box of miniature cyclamen for the kitchen window. They look splendid!

Roger came home from chess this evening quite elated. He had started at the top board, won the game, and successfully defended it several times before having o give it up. He later regained it but was again defeated, thoroughly romped on by one of the strongest players in the group. Unfortunately he had to leave a bit early – 5:00 instead of the usual 6:00, but overall he was quite satisfied with his performance.

At 5:40 we left for Anne’s. We just missed the bus at the stop on our street, but the bus route makes something of a loop to go by the train station. We were able to walk about four blocks and catch the same bus we had just missed after it left the train station. Indeed, the traffic was so bad that we had a six- or seven-minute wait once we arrived at the next stop. We got off near Anne’s apartment building and walked to her apartment. In France it is the custom to bring one’s host a bottle of wine. However, since our knowledge of wine is so sparse, we chose to bring a small potted Christmas cactus instead. Anne will be hosting the Christmas book club meeting, and it may be blooming at that time, although it could be that the blooming will be finished by then since there are already buds on this one. She showed us another large Christmas cactus which she has had for a while, and she told us that it hasn’t bloomed after the initial blossoms dropped more than two years ago.

We spent the first half hour or so working with her computer. Roger first adjusted the settings on her spam filter to send a great deal of spam to the spam box instead of allowing all into her inbox – a major frustration of hers. Then I showed her how to upload pictures from her camera and clear them from her camera. I also took her through attaching a photo to a message and sending it to someone.

After we finished with the computer, Anne served us a lovely dinner. We started in the living area with kir and finger foods – some spicy corn crisps, olives and pistachio nuts. Then we moved to the table and had a first course of peppers and a shrimp and crab salad with flavored mayonnaise. For the next course we had chicken thighs and mashed potatoes made with olive oil. We ended the meal with four different cheeses, grapes and sweet clementines. Delicious!

The buses stop running at 8:00 or so, and at 10:30, Anne brought us back to our apartment. There was very little traffic, and she said it is because very few people have gas, and those who do are conserving it for necessary trips only.