Roman Holiday

Wednesday March 9, 2011 Day 252

The loud ‘THUMP” you heard is us falling off our low-carb diet. We boarded the train at 5:30 this morning for Italy, sans breakfast. By the time we got to our first train change, I was starving. We were 10 minutes late getting into Valance, and we were only scheduled for 20 minutes to change trains. However, our outbound train was late as well, so we still had 20 minutes. I left Roger on the platform and went upstairs to get something to eat. The only choices were carbs or carbs or carbs. I chose carbs. I got a blueberry muffin for Roger and a chocolate croissant for myself. Cappuccinos and an orange juice completed our breakfast - probably 30 or more carbs apiece, and that is my whole allotment for the day! But we already agreed that we would not try to go low-carb on the trip - Italy without pasta? Impossible!

We changed trains in Lyon, heading east toward Italy. Then we changed again at Chamberty and yet again at Torino after passing through some lovely snow-covered alps.

The Italians getting on a train are very different from the French! After three legs on French trains, we got on a train in Milano which was bound for Roma. It was almost empty and we had four facing seats for the two of us. I napped a bit. When we arrived in Milano Centrale, the car filled up entirely. The passengers laughed and joshed with each other, even though it was pretty clear they did not know each other. Indeed, the car was full of chatter all the way to Rome.

Roger looks out at the scenery of Italy. Note his reflection in the window

We arrived at our hotel as always - with a little bit of extra walking because we were not properly oriented, but we found the street for our hotel without problem. We did stop and ask a waiter who was standing outside a restaurant where the Montecarlo Hotel was, and he told us we were walking the wrong direction, that it was a few blocks the other way. We were hungry by the time we checked in, so we returned to the restaurant with the helpful waiter and had carbs, carbs, carb! I had tortellini with meat sauce, spinach a glass of wine and tiramisu, and Roger had a proscuitto pizza, salad, wine and cheesecake.

Roger's new mouse

Tuesday March 8, 2011 Day 251

We skipped the market this morning - we are leaving tomorrow for a week, and there is no point in buying food. I ran out this afternoon to weigh myself. I shrank a centimeter and gained a pound since Friday’s weigh-in. I wanted to know what I weighed before we left for our vacation. I did have Roger pick up a dozen eggs on his way back from chess. I want them to age a week, then I will boil them when we get back. They peel so much more easily if they are aged before boiling.

Surprisingly, there was mail in the mailbox when Roger checked it. It was a new wireless mouse for Roger’s computer. His netbook mouse pad is maddeningly frustrating for him, and a year or more ago I bought him a wireless mouse for his birthday. He really liked it. The transmitting mechanism was in one of those thumb-sized drives which plugs into a USB port and, of course, sticks out from the computer a couple of inches. Apparently he has bumped it one time too many against the sofa or his body or the table or whatever, as the drive is a bit wobbly in the port and doesn’t always connect properly. Disappointed, he gave it up, offering it to me to use if I wanted. I asked him if he wanted me to order another one, and he decided not. This did not prevent me from looking online to see what is available now, however, and I found a new one for only 19€, or $25. In this one, the drive which plugs into the USB port is tiny - only about the length of a thumbnail or less. Technology is getting smaller and smaller! I talked him into it and ordered it for him about 5 days ago, and did not expect it in for a week or more.

I did not paint today. With all the preparations for getting ready for Italy, I did not have the time. Although I try to limit my paintings to 60 minutes (or sometimes 90), the actual painting process takes an additional hour or so, by the time I decide what to paint, make a couple of preliminary sketches, wrap a cutting board in foil for a palette, squeeze the paints onto it, fill a couple of cups with water, then clean up afterward. I try to paint in the afternoon light - starting around 2:30 after Roger heads off to chess club. Fortunately, as the days get longer, there will be more light in which to paint.

Art supplies

Monday March 7, 2011 Day 250

Our outing this morning was to the art supply store. Aha! I bought three tubes of paint - two browns and a good red - to supplement those paints I already have at home, I also bought five brushes and an acrylic pad, along with a palette knife, two pencils and a kneaded eraser. While at the art supply store, I signed up for a single art class in a couple of weeks. It will be a watercolor class, and the subject will be the flowers of spring. The 50€ includes equipment - the clerk told me there would be a box of 12 watercolor paints, a pencil, some brushes and watercolor paper - Arches, I hope.

This evening I produced another painting, this one a still life from the kitchen. It is better than yesterday’s - the colors I have to work with are so much better, as are the brushes. I have line control with the new brushes, so I was able to produce the basket and the dark spaces with much more precision. I called it The Lawyer and the Avocado, which is a play on words, because the French word for avocado is the same as that for lawyer: avocat.

Shopping for beer steins

Sunday March 6, 2011 Day 249

We took the blue tram out to Mosson today and went shopping at the flea market for some beer steins. We have company coming, and we have very little other than wine glasses in which to serve them drinks - primarily iced tea. We covered the entire grounds and only found three beer steins. The vendor wanted a Euro apiece. I tried to get her to let me have the three for two Euros, but she went into a long and unintelligible explanation of why she couldn’t let me have them for two Euros. When she finished, I forked over 3 Euros without having understood anything she said. She put them in a bag for us and we went on.

My painting this afternoon was of some steps leading up into the tiny village of Les Martelles. I thought yesterday’s painting was poor, but this one is even worse. My brushes are cheap ones from the 2€ store - more than a dozen for that price! But I have no brush control with them, no line control, and as a result the painting is the worst one yet.

Happy Birthday to Eric

Saturday March 5, 2011 Day 248

Happy Birthday to Eric - our firstborn!! It was such a grand day 34 years ago! We were such proud parents.

At the market today, we saw Anne again. I gave her a sample of the strawberries we had just purchased.

My fourth picture - it is rather crude, but I sort of like it. My brushes are SO poor, I have almost no brush control. Therefore, there is very little opportunity to get the fine detail work that much of this calls for. I try to limit myself to 60 minutes per painting. These are just basic exercises to see if I recall the fundamentals of drawing and painting, and I find that sometimes I do, and sometimes I don’t.

Getting ready for Italy

Friday March 4, 2011 Day 247

We went for a walk this morning to visit the SNCF boutique and the pharmacie. Roger has been planning our Italy trip, and bought the tickets online last night. This morning we printed out the codes to drop into the boutique and print the tickets. There is a nifty machine there which allows us to enter our codes and get the tickets printed up without assistance from SNCF personnel. Today we hit a snag, however. The machine told us we would have to have an SNCF agent print the Italian portion of our trip. So we sat and waited a few minutes for our turn. I started out the process in French, but quickly switched to English when the agent indicated he spoke English. I can get my questions out without too much difficulty - probably not accurately as far as syntax is concerned, and perhaps tense, but I can make myself understood. The difficulty lies in understanding their responses. I sat and listened to the questions the agent asked customers previous to us, and knew I would be much better off in English. So we proceded in English and got our tickets. We leave Wednesday for Rome, then on to Pompii and other venues.

After we left the SNCF store, we walked up to a pharmacie to check our weight. Roger remembered that, in Paris, he saw a scale in a pharmacie, so we dropped into the nearest one on the way up to the SNCF store, but it didn’t have a scale. This second one did. I took off my purse, coat, and scarf and handed them over to Roger. Then I slipped off my shoes, stood on the scale and deposited 50 Eurocents. A moment later, I had a slip of paper with my weight and my height, along with my body mass index and a chart showing my ideal weight and BMI. It didn’t show my ideal height. Roger did the same and we walked out clutching our statistics.

I tried a painting from a photo of a park in Milan today, and the results were less than spectacular. It got muddy in the middle, and the entire lower third of the picture totally lacks texture. The lamp and the park bench look as if they are afterthoughts and have no dimension to them.

Painting - day 2

Thursday March 3, 2011 Day 246

I was so excited about the prospect of painting that I could not go to sleep last night - I lay there planning my next painting instead. Thanks to all my Facebook friends who were so receptive to my first picture.

I knew before I fell asleep what I would be painting today. I love the tile roofs of Europe. Do you know, we never seem to see shingles - everything is tile. So picturesque when you have grown up with shingles! But I knew that I wanted to get the play of light and shadow across the rooftop behind our apartment in the mornings. It came out pretty well, despite the limitations of the paint and canvas. I really should go ahead and buy a canvas paper tablet. Then I could treat my acrylics more like acrylics than watercolors. But maybe I should be in watercolors instead.

It is heady stuff reading the Facebook responses to my paintings. They inspire me, spur me on. Now when I walk, when I sit around, when I try to sleep, I am searching for and planning my next painting.

Starting to paint

Wednesday March 2, 2011 Day 245

Today my brother is 53 years old. Happy Birthday, Jimmy.

The AWG book club meets Friday, March 11. I borrowed the book from Anne on Monday, but I haven’t gotten far enough into it, and Maggie is next in line for the book. She is leaving tomorrow for a week and wants to take it with her. Roger and I are discussing going to Rome, which means we will probably not be here for the book club. So I emailed Maggie to let her know that I would give her the book and asked where we should meet. The city center is not the most convenient place for most people to get to. Roger had already been talking about taking the red tram out to the end of the line and walking around a bit for our morning walk, so we agreed to meet Maggie at end of tram line, which was quite convenient for her. She had calculated that we would be there by noon, but we just missed the tram, and the next one didn’t come along for 15 minutes. Fortunately, her errands took her longer than she expected, so she was not there at noon either. We did finally get together and I handed over the book. Afterward, we explored Jacou a bit, then came back home for a late lunch. Roger left for chess about 2:30 - later than he usually does. He is often chomping at the bit for departure at 2:00 p.m.

Beautiful mimosa tree near Jacou

A very modern fountain in Jacou

I painted today. I haven’t painted in ages - I did try a drawing or two several weeks ago, to very little success. But an on-line friend suggested that I close my computer and walk away for a couple of hours this afternoon, and when I sat there trying to decide what to do, I hit upon trying to paint again. The anemones we bought the other day were still so pretty, and they called to me. Actually, lots of things call to the artist in me. But I got out my paints and a plastic egg carton as a palette and water well and got started. The paints were a trial - the red is called Primary Red, but it is not like any red I have encountered before! It is rather a pinkish red, not a true red. I need a good cadmium red, or perhaps a pyrolle red. I told myself that if I paint four more pictures with these paints, then I can buy myself some quality paints. When I bought these, I wasn’t sure I was going to paint, and didn’t want to invest much money if I wasn’t. I will have more of an idea that I am going to paint if I can produce four more paintings. I will also let myself buy some better paper - my canvas here is just a simple art pad - no texture, no water resistance. And my brushes are terrible, too. I got a package of about a dozen at the 2€ store - that’s the quality I am working with. I find I have insufficient brush control Those, too, I shall upgrade if I truly start to paint. Hold your breath. I am not there yet!

The anemones we bought yesterday

Tapenade

Tuesday March 1, 2011 Day 244

Today is my sister’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Jane.

Market day again. I have often seen tapenade for sale, but I know very little about it. Today there was a new vendor at the market, and he was pressing us with tiny bits of bread topped with tapenade. He had four flavors - green olive, black olive, garlic and sun-dried tomato. He managed to sell me 16€ worth of tapenade - I hope I like it! It violated our diet to eat the bread, but they were tiny pieces, so we indulged. Surprisingly, the tapenade itself is quite low-carb, consisting mostly of olives, anchovies, capers and oil. He had some garlic and some dried tomato tapenade as well as the more traditional green and black olive flavors.


Tapenade rainbow



Flower market

Monday February 28, 2011 Day 243


We went for a walk to the Comédie but there was not much happening. We went on to the grocery store from there, and on the way back, we paused at one of the flower stalls and bought some anemones. They are so pretty.

A walk along the Lez

Sunday February 27, 2011 Day 242

This morning we went for a walk along the Lez in downtown Montpellier. On the way back, we came to a market and spotted two of the vendors from our own Arceaux Market at this one.

Arch along the Lez

We also came across a church with some lovely stained-glass windows. From the outside we could not see the color, but their shape is beautiful.

In the evening, we Skyped first with Ronnie, Shelli and Brennan, and later with Alicia and Peter. Brennan is beginning to coo and grin on demand (well, sort of!). He is so cute. And such a handful! 

Bonne Anniversaire!

Saturday February 26, 2011 Day 241

Happy Anniversary, Ronnie and Shelli. Six years! And now a baby to add to the wonder!

We had arranged to meet Anne for a book on the way to the market, so we paused at a café across the street from it and found her enjoying a cup of coffee. We visited with her for a few minutes, then collected the book from her and headed on to the market. Today it was again large and crowded. There was even a furniture and violin maker there! Can you imagine buying a violin at an open-air market?

We saw a young man playing a steel drum, and the sound was wonderful! It reminded me quite a bit of a harp. I took his picture and donated a coin, which I always feel is obligatory if I am going to take a street musician’s photo.

Love the pants, too!

AWG walking group

Friday February 25, 2011 Day 240

This morning, I experienced more nausea, followed by the loss of my breakfast into a large bowl. Sigh. We had planned to go to the AWG Walking group excursion, but I wasn’t sure I would make it. Roger also had some nausea, but he did not vomit. I blame it on the soy milk which, when I poured it down the drain, had lumps in it.

After I returned from the toilet, I realized I really felt quite okay, and we packed a lunch and got ready to go on the walk. I did check the soy milk in the refrigerator, and found that it had lumps in it, so I threw it out. I packed a yogurt-like dairy product and a small spoon in order to have something to eat if I got hungry before lunch. As it turned out, I was starving before we ever started out on the drive to the walking point, so I ate the yogurt in Maggie’s car and felt much better. The walk was nice, with Maggie, Jan, Mariannick, Roger and myself. It was a mild, sunny day, and we shed our jackets shortly into the walk. By the end of the walk, I was exhausted - too much up-and-down for me. I am beginning to feel like an old lady!

Check out the snowy peaks in the distance

Fool the eye

Thursday February 24, 2011 Day 239

This morning after breakfast, I experienced some nausea. I am not sure why. It did occur to me to wonder whether the soy milk is going bad, but I did not taste any difference in the tea, and I dismissed the idea. The nausea passed after a short while, and I forgot about it.

Troy told us about another tromper l’oeil, so this morning we went out for a walk and checked it out. It is, like the others, amazing. From a distance it is so lifelike that it is almost impossible to tell that is a trompe l’oeil. It truly fools the eye. Near the door is a fire hydrant sign, which I had to touch to discover that it is only painted on!

On our walk, we came upon a smaller trompe l’oiel on the wall of a school.

I went for a haircut this afternoon, returning this time to the same English-speaking hairdresser who cut my hair in December. Again, as with every French haircutter, she cut it shorter than I wanted. I do not know how to communicate to them the length I want my hair, which is rather short on top, not much off the back. Boy, did she cut it short on top!! There is barely enough to wrap around a roller or curling iron!

A guest for dinner

Wednesday February 23, 2011 Day 238

I went to Cook & Eat this morning. Ours was a Vietnamese meal today, with pho (beef soup with cellophane rice noodles) and a green-papaya salad. Both were quite good, but I don’t think I will be cooking that sort of food any time soon. It wasn’t so delicious as to send me into transports, and it involves lots of specialty foods available only at oriental grocery stores. It also involves more work than I want to do. The salad is not low-carb, nor are the noodles, although the rest of the soup probably wasn’t bad, carb-wise.

I arrived home around 2:00, and Roger was already at chess club. I put the pork roast into the oven and made some tea. Roger got back around 5:30. Near the appointed hour, he began keeping an eye out for Troy, and at about 7:00, I heard him call out to “Troy” into the street below. He then pressed the buzzer to unlock the door, and a young man soon appeared in our apartment. Thus I met Troy. He is probably in his mid-to-late 20s, tall, and very nice. He is taking art classes, although he came to France to attend seminary. It was not clear to me whether he is still in the seminary. He shares an apartment with at least one other guy, and also has an art studio, I think in or attached to a church. We talked art a lot, and chess a lot, and the U.S. and what we miss, and he enjoyed the barbeque, salad, pasta (which I forewent), the iced tea, and the raspberries in cream for dessert. After dinner he showed me his art work on his website, and we discussed art some more. I introduced him to Raoul Dufy. I already knew he and Roger had connected through chess, but I didn’t realize how much he and I would connect through art. He was truly a delight to have over. He left around 10:00 and Roger and I cleaned the kitchen and went to bed. How nice to have him over for dinner!

I want this one!

Tuesday February 22, 2011 Day 237

There was a nifty-looking motorcycle parked on the sidewalk across from our apartment this morning. I think I want one of these!

More tulips

Monday February 21, 2011 Day 236

There is still only one tulip up, but a second one is trying to poke its head through the soil, and has almost managed. The tips are much fatter than I expected, given the size of the bulbs, which were only slightly larger than a walnut.



Hmmm . . . I can't see the second tulip in this photo, but it is there!



Spring is coming

Sunday February 20, 2011 Day 235

This morning we arose late and went to the grocery store for a few items. Then in the afternoon, it was bright, sunny and not too cool, so we went for a walk in the botanical gardens near our apartment. Unfortunately we forgot to take either camera. The walk was lovely - the earliest of the spring flowers are just starting to open, and a couple of trees were in bloom, although even they looked as if they had opened only yesterday. Clearly, spring is coming.

While in the gardens, we could hear drums beating, so on our way back we climbed the hill and entered the Peyrou, where there was a 10-piece drum line practicing with drums whose names I do not know, as they were not familiar to me. A couple of them were the rough equivalent of bass drums, but were upright and with only one head. One girl played a cowbell, another beat a tambourine-looking instrument but without the shakers on the side. Their beat reminded me of the drum cadence for parade marching - complex, with rhythms that were not repeated often. They were a nice reminder of Mardi Gras, which I don’t think is celebrated with much fervor here.

Tulips are up - or one, anyway!

Saturday February 19, 2011 Day 234

Roger looks as if he has been losing weight on our low-carb diet. I suspect he has lost more than 10 pounds, but we do not have a scale to check our weight. On the other hand, I see few signs that I am also losing weight. I will be falling off the diet on Wednesday when I go to Cook & Eat. But I will get right back onto the wagon until we decide to go somewhere or until the first of our visitors arrives.

Roger came home early because it had begun to rain at chess. He really surprised me by telling me he invited a chess-playing friend, Troy, to dinner on Wednesday night. Seldom in our entire marriage has Roger invited someone home to dinner! Troy is a New Yorker living here and taking art classes.

A tulip finally pushed through the soil today. It is large and healthy, so I guess I have just been in too much of a hurry. My only experience has been in the warm soils of the southern U.S., where we plant tulips one day and in less than a week they are two inches into the air!

I seem to be getting seriously into farming in the apartment. In November, we bought two African violets. At one point in December, a few leaves broke off, so I set them up to root in a glass. Most of them died off, but two survived. When we returned from our cruise, they had sufficient roots to plant. One died, but the other seemed to just sit there in the pot - not growing, but not dying either. Yesterday some tiny leaves appeared at the soil line! Yay! Further, the two African violets I bought originally have multiple crowns - one has two, the other three. Today I separated them and I now have five African violets plus the new baby. In the process of separating and repotting them, I broke off several leaves, so I am working at rooting them as well. Maybe I can give each Garden Club member an African violet as a parting gift.

Happy 60th Birthday to my Dear Husband!

Friday February 18, 2011 Day 233

Happy Birthday to Roger! We got up late, and after a leisurely breakfast, went for a walk in the sunshine.

As usual, Roger headed for chess after lunch. Today, he gave himself a birthday party at the chess club. He told the host that today is his 60th birthday and he wanted to buy everyone tea or coffee. He forked over a 20€ bill and the server, who is also a chess player, brought trays of tea and a few coffees, and gave those present their choice. When it was gone, that was it, but everyone who usually plays chess there got a cup. There is a guy who hangs around the chess tables a lot, but doesn’t play chess. He asked if he was to be included in the refreshment, and Roger told him “yes,” so he got his cup of tea as well.

In the meantime, I went to Carrefour for pork roast, as Roger wants pulled pork for his birthday dinner. We managed his dinner while still holding mostly to our low-carb diets.

We check the mailbox almost daily, and most days it is empty. Today, however, there was an envelope containing a Valentine card from the three Richards and a birthday card for Roger from Brennan, signed with an incredibly smooth-looking “X.” That kid already has a really steady hand!

Fixing the chess pieces

Thursday February 17, 2011 Day 232

We had soy milk in our tea this morning and, while it isn’t the same as cow’s milk, it is a nice addition to the English breakfast tea we habitually.

While I was sitting around this morning, I cut out small circles of felt for Roger’s chess pieces. The pieces are weighted, and some of the weights have loosened. They press against the very thin felt on the bottom, and some of the pieces of felt have loosened and the weights have come out. Our plan is to glue pieces of x-ray film (nice, sturdy plastic - at last we have found a use for those x-ray films we walked out of our health exam with!) onto the base, then glue felt over that to provide a smooth, durable base. We intend to do all the pieces, not just those that have loose weights, as the Roger glued most of the loose weights into place last week.

This afternoon I rode with Mariannick out to Maggie’s house to see Frida, story of Frida Kahlo, an important artist in Mexico at the turn of the last century. For January, the book club read The Lacuna, which is the story of Frida as told by an imaginary cook in her household. I missed the book club meeting because we were in Texas, and didn’t read the book either, but it is on my list.

It was cold all day, and rainy as well. When Mariannick dropped me off, I still had a 10-minute walk to get home. It was drizzling slightly, and as I walked past a tea shop, I realized how good a cup of tea would be. I called Roger, told him I was five minutes out, and asked him to have a pot of tea ready for me when I got home. He, of course, obliged. How good it was!!!

The plan for the chess pieces was to do them on a Saturday evening or Sunday, since the chess club does not meet on Sunday. This would give them 24 hours to dry before putting pressure on the glued-on x-ray film and felt. However, there was no chess because of the rain, so Roger spent the afternoon gluing on the film and the felt, and the pieces looked very nice.

American Library in Montpellier

Wednesday February 16, 2011 Day 231

It was apartment cleaning day, so we got that task out of the way and went out for a walk for a bit - no place special, just around our neighborhood in the city centre. When Roger left for chess, I went out to find the newly-reopened American Library. It is near the train station, in the back part of an old building. It is an interesting walk to the library itself once inside the building - I went upstairs and was greeted by a clerk for some business. I told her I was there for the library, so she led me down a hall, turned to the right, another long hall, a threshold over which we had to lift our feet because it is probably two inches high, then through a kitchen area, then another long hall, then she pointed to a door down a ways, and indicated “a droit,” so I went in the door on the right. There, an English lady was helping another lady check out a couple of book. I asked “Are you Patricia Robb?” and she asked how I knew. I told her that I had looked her up on the schedule. I browsed while she finished helping the other woman, then we chatted a bit and she explained some of the procedure. Some of the books are for sale for a Euro or two, others are available for checkout only. I selected three books for Roger and one for myself. Patricia told me that, while the books are actually due in two weeks, there is no penalty and no pressure to return them promptly. She indicated that, if I wanted to check out a book, I must be a member, and that the fee is 25€ for a family. I joined, and checked out the books. I asked several more questions about procedure, then left.

At the grocery store the other day, I saw some soy milk, which is very low in carbohydrates. So I went from the library to the grocery store and bought a dozen eggs and a four-pack of ultra-high-pasteurized soy milk. From there, it was a short walk to the chess area, so I went to see how Roger was doing. He was not playing at the time, just watching. We talked for a few minutes, then I left him and returned to the warmth of the apartment.

When he got back after chess, I asked him if I could give him his birthday present early. He said “of course,” so I did. He seemed puzzled about why I was giving him a canvas bread bag, but seemed pleased that he would have something more substantial and sturdy to carry his chess stuff in. Now if only it didn’t have pictures of talking bread painted on the front of it!

Feutre

Tuesday February 15, 2011 Day 230

Saturday when I went looking for felt, I dropped into one fabric store. When the clerk told me he did not have felt, I let the matter drop. Today I went to a different store, went in and asked for “feutre.” The clerk asked me something about “tissue, which is “fabric” in French. I wasn’t sure exactly what she said, but I gambled and told her “yes.” She took me back and showed me a marking pencil for fabric. No, I shook my head, feutre. She insisted that the pencil IS feutre. We bandied the conversation back and forth for a moment, then Roger stepped forward and tried to explain that we wanted felt to go onto the bottom of his chess pieces, but this just muddied the conversation. I looked around for a moment and spotted a sewing machine set up for sewing classes, so I went over to it. I tilted it slightly and indicated the little feet on the bottom of the machine. It turns out they were rubber (!) but that conveyed the idea. The light bulb went on in the clerk‘s eye, and she turned and pulled out a box. Opening it, she displayed squares of colored felt. Voila! We selected a green square and I asked her what it was called in French. She told me, but I didn’t get it. Nevertheless, we walked out happily with our green feutre.

From there we went to the market. I have realized that one of the things I like about the market is the opportunity of flirting with the vendors. We have our friends, who have come to recognize us from one time to the next. We carry on a light flirtation in a combination of English and French. The cheese guy is particularly amusing because he mocks us slightly in both English and French. The olive and nut vendor always tells us “taste, taste!” and so we do - a couple of nuts one time, a certain stuffed olive another, and a dried date or mango still another time.



Our cheese vendor, clowning for a photo

 We bought flowers for belated Valentine’s Day - some daffodils and a red-flowered plant similar to a gloxinia, but without the velvet leaves and with smaller flowers. Speaking of flowers, I still have no tulips in the window boxes.

I did make a woman smile at me today. Roger and I were on our way to the market, and she was on her bicycle. We were crossing the street and she was coming down it. He was ahead of me, already almost on the sidewalk. I hesitated, sort of in the middle of the street, trying to decide how to avoid her. She was still many meters away, trying to determine what I was going to do. At my pause, she let up just a bit and considered swerving right around me. At almost the same time, I reminded myself that, for my safety when bicycles are approaching, I am better off continuing on whatever path I had set, so I moved on across the street. But for a few seconds there, she and I did a little dance in the street. When I grinned at her in passing, she returned my smile.

Valentine's Day

Monday February 14, 2011 Day 229

Valentine’s Day. Neither Roger nor I got a card for one another, or anything else except good wishes. We are getting to the point where we need to do that for all those gift-giving occasions - nothing or almost nothing.

Rain is forecast for today, but that does not stop Roger from heading out to chess. We have learned how unreliable the forecasts are. In fact it did not rain at all, so he stayed until he got too cold.

While he was out, I went out for a bit myself. In my wanderings, I went to the Two Euro store, where I bought Roger’s birthday present. I got him a bread bag. Really! I carries his rolled-up chess board and chess pieces in a plastic bag designed to carry two bottles of wine, one with a divider in the middle of it. However, the divider has pretty much given way, so now it is just an ordinary bag, although perhaps a bit taller than many shopping bags. I saw this bread bag, made of canvas, and realized that this would be perfect for toting his long roll of chess board with plenty of room in the bottom for the chess pieces. That’s almost nothing, isn’t it? And you can’t beat the price! Someday I will probably paint a picture of a chess piece on it, but for now it is adorned with a picture of a dancing baguette!

French reserve - no, it's not a wine

Sunday February 13, 2011 Day 228


There is no sign of the tulips yet. I did expect to see them, but I could hope! It has been more than a week.

We Skyped with Alicia this afternoon. She was getting ready to go to Seed & Feed band practice, but we had a nice half-hour chat nevertheless.

We went for a walk later. One of the things I have noticed about France is that, as strangers, they are closed to us. In the U.S., I could walk along the street, smile and say “hello” or “good morning” to total strangers. Many would generally return my smile and nod or return a greeting. Not in France. First, most people do not meet my eyes on the street, and those who do quickly avert them. If I smile at someone in the street, he or she does not return my smile. There is little or no bonhomie among strangers, not even those who share a situation, such as standing in line or waiting at the airport, or traveling in an airplane or on a train. I miss that easy camaraderie

Market conversation

Saturday February 12, 2011 Day 227

“Bonjour monsieur. Avez-vous du feutre? No? Merci. Au revoir.”

          Hello, sir. Do you have any felt. No? Ah, well. Thank you. Goodbye.

“Bonjour, madam. Je voudrais cinq cent gram du dix-huit moins de compt fromage, sil vous plait. Ah! Merci pour le goute, c’est bon. Merci. Au revoir. Bonne journee.”

          Hello, ma’am. I would like 500 grams of the 18-month Compt cheese, please. Ah! Thank you for the taste, it is good. Thank you. Goodbye. Have a good day.

“Le turbot, sil vous plait. Ah, merci! Au revoir. Bonne journee.”

          The turbot, please. Ah, thank you. Have a good day.

“Je prende deux, sil vous plait. Combien? Ah, voila. Merci. Le meme a vous”

          I will take two, please. How much? Okay, here. Thank you. The same to you.

“Je voudrais ce sac a main, sil vous plait. Oui - ce le meme a moins, ah, oui, merci.”

          I would like the handbag, please. Yes, it is the same as mine (with pockets as he was describing). Ah, yes. Thank you.

“Vous-etes prochain?”


         Are you next?- this to a young man who was leaning casually against the corner of a vendor’s trailer. I wasn’t sure whether he was standing in line or just waiting for someone or something.

A typical market day at Les Arceaux

And so I made it both in the market and in the fabric store - all in French. Slowly but surely I am coming to understand some of the conversations and many of the questions. I do need to listen harder, though. I often anticipate what a speaker is going to say, and when he doesn’t say what I was expecting, I am lost. But at least I am making progress. All this does NOT stop them from calling after us “Have a good weekend!” or “Goodbye” in English! I have no disillusions about sounding like a native speaker.

Book club

Friday February 11, 2011 Day 226

I went to the AWG Book Club meeting today, where we had a good discussion of Cutting for Stone. A few of the members were grossed out by the descriptions of some of the medical procedures, believing that they could have been left out entirely without compromising the story. I’m not so sure. It is the fascinating story of twin sons born in Ethiopia to a doctor who then deserts them. One of the twins becomes a doctor in his own right and sets out to find his father.

We took a walk this afternoon, and in the street which runs in front of our apartment, there are some huge drainage or sewer pipes waiting to be installed. My engineer husband could not resist inspecting them.

My motorcycle?

Thursday February 10, 2011 Day 225

I spent a good deal of today reading Cutting for Stone, in order to be ready for the book club discussion tomorrow. It is a compelling book, hard to put down. It takes place primarily in Ethiopia, a country about which I know very little.

This afternoon I looked out the window and saw this excellent vehicle. If I were going to ride a motorcycle, I would want it to look like this!

Cutting for Stone

Wednesday February 9, 2011 Day 224


I went out for a walk this afternoon and stopped by the English Book Shop for Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. It is a rather large book, and I almost put off reading it until too late. The book club meets Friday at 2:00! Needless to say, I spent a lot of the afternoon and evening reading the book.

High-definition engines?

Tuesday February 8, 2011 Day 223

Market day - we didn’t buy much except for some ham and a few vegetables. There was a vendor there whom we had not seen before. She had some interesting items for sale, including these tassels:




On the way back from the market, we saw this car, apparently in need of repairs.
Are they making engines in high definition now????

 When I got the AWG newsletter last week, I noticed a piece about the American Library in Montpellier. It is only open on Wednesday afternoons from 3-6 and is staffed by volunteers. I emailed Kim, who is in charge of it, and told her I might be interested in volunteering. She sent me back a reply with the schedule for the next several weeks. There are no openings until March, but I may try to sign up. I suppose I need to find the library first, however.

Post-Superbowl Recovery

Monday February 7, 2011 Day 222

Okay, I didn’t stay up to watch the entire game. I gave up some time in the third quarter. Roger stayed up for the entire game, coming to bed around 4:00 or so.

We didn’t get up a whole lot later than our usual rising time, given that we stayed up so late - 8:30 as opposed to our usual 8:00. We were pretty tired during the day, and Roger napped a bit. I stayed awake until around 10:00, then dropped into bed. We were both too pooped to do much, including blog or take photos!

Superbowl Sunday

Sunday February 6, 2011 Day 221

Superbowl Sunday! Ronnie fixed a nifty front page to the sports section of the Dallas Morning News yesterday. He also sent a photo of his snow creation - a Lombardi Snowphy.

We lazed all day, then went to be about 11:00 for an hour or so of sleep. I don’t think I slept particularly well. Then the alarm went off, and we got up to watch the Superbowl, thanks to Ronnie’s Slingbox.

Daffodils and depression

Saturday February 5, 2011    Day 220

The market was quite large and very crowded today. We saw Caroline Grassette there, she who hosts the AWG Cook & Eat. I introduced her to Roger. She was buying cheese and made a recommendation which was quite good. We bought olives for the first time - two different kinds. One is a pitted olive which I plan to stuff with cream cheese. The other is pitted as well, stuffed with dried tomatoes. I also bought some sprouts - two different kinds. The guy selling them has about 10 different kinds - I didn’t know there were so many!

This afternoon I went to the English book shop to buy Cutting for Stone, the AWG book club selection for Friday. I have almost 600 pages to cover by then. Should be a snap if I could let Evony go. I am addicted to an on-line game. Sigh.

I bought some daffodil stick-ons for decorating our door and stairwell. I am trying to spruce up the place a bit and to get out twice every day, both of which will lift my mood and help with the depression. Man, I hate writing about this depression. But I hate having it even more! I have had it enough times to understand a lot about how to manage it, even though I have no medication. Today was sunny and bright and almost warm - into the high teens Celsius. I was overdressed in my lined sweater and scarf this morning, so I went out in just a cardigan for a wrap this afternoon and was quite comfortable. The warmth and sunshine help. The longer days will help, too. The tulips will help, as will the new décor, for a while. Then it becomes ordinary! Sigh.

We fixed three pots of tea today. Nothing from the tea goddess. She may be lurking in the shadows.

I broke my low-carb “code” today - I used some golden syrup (1 teaspoon!) in an endive recipe. For two weeks now, no sugar, honey, syrup, flour, rice or pasta have passed my lips.