11 May — Servian

Grammar book

Our double bed is REALLY crowded and poor Toby fell out of bed last night!! I think we are going to move upstairs to the bedroom with twin beds that are pushed together. There will be more room in the middle for the dogs which is where they sleep every night.

I’m turning over a new leaf! We have 6 weeks left here in France. I am not going to whine about language problems anymore; I am going to master as much French as I can in the remainder of the time we have left. I will look at this language difference as an adventure (not a pain in the derrière). I will laugh at my mistakes and barrel on without any embarrassment. So what you think of that!

In that vein I spent about a good bit of time today writing out a message that I need to convey to Marie by phone; and practicing words and phrases to be used at the hairdressers tomorrow. (We REALLY need haircuts!) So tomorrow will be a test of my resolve: I must call Marie and in the morning go to the hairdressers located at the supermarket complex. Whew!

I’m not sure if I’ve described our “home.” It is perfect for our time here. We have accommodated 4 other friends at one time and I think everyone has been comfortable.  It is a 3 story “village” house–we are located in the town not in a rural area out of town. There are lots of stairs to negotiate every day. There is a flight of stairs to the second story from the street. That brings you to the front terrace and the main floor. On the main floor there is an open plan with the VERY nice kitchen,

The Kitchen
The Kitchen

dining area and living room;

The Dining Room
The Dining Room

plus 2 bedrooms, a hall bath and one en-suite bath. Then there is a flight of stairs to the second story: 2 bedrooms separated by a bath and a “great” room with TV, computer desk and a couch with a fold-put bed and a bathroom that is only separated from the great room

The Great Room
The Great Room

by a wall; the toilet and shower are hardly private.

On the second story there is a second terrace in the back.

The Back Terrace
The Back Terrace

Then a staircase to the garden. There is a BBQ, a nice table and a beautiful garden with an apricot tree I hope will ripen before we leave. There is a trampoline in the corner of the garden! The only brave person to try it has been Ron Grunow.

My bad knee I think has adapted to all the stairs. It still creaks (my knee not the stairs) but I can do it. Lucky needs to be carried up and down the stairs but he’s hardly a burden.

We’ve planted basil and parsley and watered the thyme and rosemary back to life. There are lots of plants that need our attention: a climbing jasmine on the front staircase; a potted orange tree and has been blooming and incredibly fragrant; ice plant in flower; and a hydrangea that is just now starting to bloom. The plane trees the surround the street in front of our terrace have leafed out since we arrived so that now we are nicely shaded when we are on the front terrace.

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