@QMS Posted some crossing Oregon bar videos on your thread, as I did that when I was married to the pirate years ago. I was a spectator, and a double Taurean going to sea in a small boat.

Got good at backing trailers and running the boat when we were fishing. As for rough seas, there were times I would ask how long until it's safer; close my eyes; and wait. And the pirate never drank before or during running the boat.

Your bubbly looks beautiful. Glad you are able to move back in. Hope your cats and dog bring you great joy. Thanks for the OT!

Petit a petit, l’oiseau fait son nid.

@Crazytimes @Crazytimes @Crazytimes We are trying to train ourselves to call the upper house level the cour or courtyard. It's fully enclosed except where gates are. Would love to build raised beds for bulbs and flowers. The lower yard is full of rodents and we just don't want to fight them. We mow for Prairie and are getting more and more wild flowers yearly.

If you have some favorite places we should visit, let me know. I hope you can return. We love Paris by train. We are ten minutes from a refurbished line to Lyon and forty five from Macon to Paris by TGV. We have stayed many times in B&B apartments and gotten to know some areas of Paris. Still looking for cocktails. I love them and they are not a normal French person's favorite drink.

From Wiki (more than you want to know)

There are more than one hundred Champagne houses and 19,000 smaller vignerons (vine-growing producers) in Champagne. These companies manage some 32,000 hectares of vineyards in the region. The type of Champagne producer can be identified from the abbreviations followed by the official number on the bottle:[29]

NM: Négociant manipulant. These companies (including the majority of the larger brands) buy grapes and make the wine
CM: Coopérative de manipulation. Cooperatives that make wines from the growers who are members, with all the grapes pooled together
RM: Récoltant manipulant. (Also known as Grower Champagne) A grower that also makes wine from its own grapes (a maximum of 5% of purchased grapes is permitted). Note that co-operative members who take their bottles to be disgorged at the co-op can now label themselves as RM instead of RC
SR: Société de récoltants. An association of growers making a shared Champagne but who are not a co-operative
RC: Récoltant coopérateur. A co-operative member selling Champagne produced by the co-operative under its own name and label
MA: Marque auxiliaire or Marque d'acheteur. A brand name unrelated to the producer or grower; the name is owned by someone else, for example a supermarket
ND: Négociant distributeur. A wine merchant selling under his own name

We have tried all sorts of Crements, which is the same grapes, just on the wrong side of the road. And the best are not as good as Champagne. I love the stuff. Veuve Cliquot is a favorite, for very special occasions. My SIL loves it too.

We went to Cognac and had a marvelous visit. We met a M Prunier who grows his own grapes; processes them into juice; casks the juice himself; bottles the Cognac; and takes them by the year. You can get bottled flights in different years. What lovely Brandy and a marvelous experience. We want to go back.

Here's croiser les doigts pour vous.

That is a very peaceful looking patio. I haven't been able to return to France since we moved home from Paris 4 years ago. DAMN COVID! My husband is dying to go back. He was able to visit with my older boys August before last, but I couldn't make it since we had a 6 month old at the time. Way jealous of the champagne, that is one of my favorite brands. We were able to visit Veuve Cliquot winery (champagnerie??) while we were living there. AMAZING!

The French countryside is quite beautiful and I am glad we were able to see some of it while we were there. Hope we can get back before long. After being home for 4 years, I have forgotten a lot of the language I learned. C'et la vie, eh?

@on the cusp I don't know, I'd like to cook in my kitchen, have a warm home, and not get dizzy from septic gases for a start. But that is the last bit.

I'm getting old. Especially for this kind of thing. Now worrying about having the ingredients for a good dish or my own cocktail, now that's the problems I want to solve. Hah.

Good to see you. We had to rescue those two. We've had them about one year. Ira, the sleek tiny little black Panther, is a force of his own. George is my hippie cat. They are keeping the mice down around the house, which previously was a real problem. They catch them, Teddy eats them (so gross). But They are all characters and we love them.

Have a great day. So good to see you.

You have come a long way with the home. Good for you and yours!
I didn't spend as much time in France out in the country, away from the large cities. I hope to go back eventually.
I just helped rescue a kitten, getting it to a shelter yesterday. Tough to befriend a little scaredy cat, harder to let them go.
The creek looks like a cool place to just walk, look, and find peace.
It has been such a long haul for your home repair, by the time you get to normal, it will not be normal.

@pswaterspirit hour east always a Portlander. Portland does not look good these days.

I was forgetting both conversations included comments on COVID. I was more struck by the nature of the interactions and some of the wide-ranging topics and depth.

Thanks so much.

I listened to the one with Peter Boghossian. I actually have met him in the real world when I lived down near Portland. It is very thought provoking and from my perspective spot on. One of the things that has mystified me the most is the violence leveled against people who for their own reasons choose not to get the vaccine. But it is only the most recent event with this sort viscous narrow minded dialog it has been going on awhile.

@dystopian I got behind on photos and the scheduler was messy. So I was late. But it worked out.

Love your new avatar.

Hi Dawn,

Love yer story... sorry too busy in day to get by usually. But what a great adventure! Hope the problems go away leaving you with the fun and bliss. And butterflies.

@randtntx What a nice Friday night surprise. Thank you so much. I was getting discouraged that maybe this topic that is France in general isn't what folks want to read about. It is really a foreign country. Things are different here.

I'm thinking ahead about subjects and I'm thinking about French Halloween. It's not the same.

Or why you don't give Chrysanthemums for house gifts on visiting a friend.

Or how we save electric power in our villages.

Not to mention oh, wines, or markets, or Cognac.

Thanks for leaving a note. Muchas gracias.

to read your post this morning. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yesterday I was running late and it's no fun to rush through something like this, (and like the beautiful bubbly) it should be savored. So I am very late with a comment.

You have chosen a huge project, but it's so lovely and seems to me to have so many ancillary positive aspects. I guess, as we all tough it through our huge projects with all of their setbacks, we just have to make sure we don't let the overwhelming problems overshadow the incredible parts.

Best to you across the pond DM