Annie and Jean Visit - Day 10

Loud knocking at the door of our gite where everyone assembles for breakfast made me awaken with a start, jump out of bed and rush downstairs. We had painted the front doors of the gites the previous day and the paint seemed to be sticking the door, preventing it from opening. I took the stairs two at a time to get Dave to come and open the door. By this time Dave had pulled on some clothes and was on his way downstairs when I took another look at the alarm clock only to find it was 6.30 and not 7.30 as I had originally thought. Sacre Bleu! I had been dreaming. Once the hearts stopped pounding we lay down again and tried to recover the vestiges of the night's sleep.

Later that morning, Annie and Jean came for coffee on their way to see their little great-grandson. I took the opportunity to do two things, practice my French with Annie, whom I knew would be very patient with me, and enquire of Annie as to whether I was using the correct flour for my crepes. I was pleased to learn that I was OK with the flour, and I was delighted that Annie was willing to share her secret ingredient to add to crepes, which grew nearby. She didn't swear me to secrecy but I'm keeping this one under my hat.

The afternoon work session was well under way when Patrick dropped by on his way back home on his bicycle from the village. I took the chance of showing Patrick my prize purchase from the vide grenier and asking his opinion - Patrick knows about these things. He gave my purchase his approval which pleased me immensely.

During Patrick's visit another car arrived in the road outside bearing an older couple with a dog. I tried in my best pidgin French to explain that M. Paul would be with them shortly. However, I managed to take from their reply that they hadn't come to see Paul, but to let their dog Nina visit Sidney! Well I never!. Sidney did his best to oblige with a short romp around, but he was a bit off colour and perhaps didn't provide the usual frantic courting his paramours have come to expect.

Later Sidney needed to visit the vet who tested him for various ailments and decided he had eaten something he shouldn't. He had two injections and was put on a water-only diet for the following day. He's such a good boy in every situation. From the vet's we went on to the supermarket, stocked up on supplies and retured to a lovely meal cooked by Ryan and Simon.

Good news today. Word of the work at La Giraudiere is spreading. The mayor is interested in looking at the work to date