C'est la fin des grandes vacances! On my way today.

Moi, at the thought of packing up and leaving 'la belle France'!

The mess of packing. Leaving loads of stuff here.

Moi, at the thought of seeing my girls and the rest of the fam, friends & colleagues!

Some of said fam!!

Duh

Hi Ken & Judy,
I really wish I knew how to reply to posts! Haven't really gotten that far!
Yes, I am going back to the US today, as a matter of fact, will teach for a few more years as we still have our youngest daughter in undergrad university.
I've had a great 8 weeks here, I'll come back in April for 10 days, then back again for the summer in 2013. Peter will stay here until October then come back in April and stay solid through October.
Hope you guys are well!
Jane [fennovaux@yahoo.com]

La petite maison est presque prête!

 So we’re about set with the little house. Need a few more dishes and bits & bobs, but otherwise it’s ready to rent! We’ve been busy taking photos so we can put it on a couple of rental sites this fall for rental in May. How exciting! Hopefully someone will want to come!

Champagnac-la-Rivière

 Champagnac-la-Rivière is our local town. August 15 is a national holiday here (Assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven). Our town had a ‘fête patrimoniale’. There was a ‘vide grenier’, a market/garage sale sort of thing, various activities for kids. Then an evening meal and fireworks. We got a few treasures at the market, then did some stuff at home and then had a concert rehearsal.

 Then we were back in Champagnac for the 8pm dinner. It was held in the local salle de fête and we were seated with a couple groups of very gregarious, jolly English folk, The menu was: A Kir, with ‘amuse bouche’. Then a deli plate; pâtés, ham, sausage. Accompanied by red wine and baskets of crusty baguette. Followed by the main course of roast ham, roasted potatoes, hollandaise sauce, green beans. Then a cheese and tiny salad course.  Ending with a fruit trifle type dessert and coffee. Total price: 15€, or about $19. Then off to the firework celebration at 10:30! A very fun evening!

Shop bedroom about ready!

Bedroom is done, except for a bit of mudding & sanding. Floor came out nice!

Another good day.

Sue, Alex, Peter & I had a lovely day out the other day. We went to ‘les Grottes de Villars’, caves which are about 40 minutes from here. They are spectacular caves, amazing formations dating back millennia. There are some visible cave paintings, from Cro Magnon times, about 19,000 years ago. The caves were only discovered in the 1950s and were awesome. We then drove on and saw the Chateau Puyguilhem, (a lovely castle which Peter will visit with his mum & sister when they visit later this month) and some amazing ruins dating back to the 1100s of the Abbeye de Boschaud. It still stuns me to find such massive, amazing ruins, over 800 years old, in the middle of a farmers’ fields. Gorgeous.

First room sheetrocked!

Peter has completed his first wall of French sheetrocking, which wouldn't be a big deal, but they use lightweight metal rails instead of wooden studs. So it was a learning, occasionally worrisome, experience. But it's done. Now I'll do the floor, then Peter will mud & sand. He will actually use this bedroom when he has fam. coming from England later this month. On we go!

Châlus: Fair day

Here is a different view of Châlus from overcast jousting day. Many towns have a weekly morning market, they also often have a larger market, called a 'foire' or fair once a month. There are usually more vendors of clothing, etc, in addition to the usual food vendors. It was  gorgeous hot day. I wandered around and also took some pictures of the other medieval ruins, which are in addition to the chateau. Châlus is about 6 miles from our house.

Richard coeur de lion

 Richard Coeur de Lion: you see signs for the route of Richard the Lion Heart all over this area. He was king of England although I think he only spent about six months of his reign in England (and didn’t really even speak English, he was the son of Eleanor of Aquitaine of France). He is famous as a medieval warrior and his exploits in the third crusade are legendary. When he returned to Europe from the crusades, he spent his time in France. He fought and died near here, in the castle town of Châlus, in April 1199. There was a large festival this week celebrating the history of Richard and the area. There were three parades of knights on horseback and others which retraced some of his routes across this part of France. Each group marched for five days and finally converged in the town of Châlus on August 5th. there was a celebration, with costumed ‘King Richard’ and his mother ‘Aliénor d’Aquitaine’ (who is an even more interesting character in history), complete with jousting, swordplay, music and other knightly recreations. It was really fun!

Glad to speak French.

I feel very fortunate in our village of choice, happy that the majority of the inhabitants are French speaking (there are a few very nice British scattered around, but not that many). This morning I went out for a little run and had a nice chat with a French woman from a house a road over (road is really not the right word, lane?- very quiet!) who is up for a vacation. Then I was walking up the road, warming up, and I overtook an elderly woman out for a walk, and again had a nice little chat. She was doing a loop and pointed out a grassy path that she was turning off on. Peter and I later went for a walk and took the same path, and what a gorgeous walk it was! Under some beautiful canopies of trees, past a lovely field complete with a deer, past a kind of creepy deserted house & barn, then through a canopied, grassy trail that led to a collection of houses, a tiny hamlet, I never knew existed. What a fun discovery, all from a conversation I was able to have with a kind, local French person in our village.

Concert at the Château Chabrol in Châlus

FAVA
We had a lovely evening last night; we attended a concert of Opera Airs by French composers performed by FAVA (Franco American Vocal Association) [http://favaopera.org/EngHome.html]. The concert was held at the Château Chabrol in Châlus (known as a major site in the Richard the Lionheart story).  The chateau is privately owned and consists of a private section where the family lives (they’re Dutch) and the great hall where the concert was, the keep and various sections of wall, arches and other ruins in the grounds (which are open to the public) It was a gorgeous setting and there was much wonderful music (and a very civilized glass of wine in the castle grounds during the intermission). FAVA looks to be an interesting organization. They offer a 6 six-week program, have approximately 35 students, nearly all from the US. I had a nice chat with some of the students, who range in age from 19 to 25. They stay in a dorm in Périgueux and walk to the conservatory where they work/practice/rehearse sometimes 7 days/week and have a series of performances, of different types, at various venues around the area.