Chateau Kermezen6 minutes from the house, it has been
inhabited by the same family since 1438
Bad News
Yes, this is a crappy way to start this month's newsletter but I may as well get it out of the way.
After getting some blood work done and a biopsy, Janice found out that she has breast Cancer, again. I can make this quick because as of now, we know little or nothing as to where we stand. Will she need surgery, chemotherapy, radiation or perhaps all three? We don't know yet as we are a week away from meeting with the specialists. What kind of Cancer? How aggressive is it? Will we have it treated here or fly back to the US?...We don't know yet until we meet with the specialists.
After getting some blood work done and a biopsy, Janice found out that she has breast Cancer, again. I can make this quick because as of now, we know little or nothing as to where we stand. Will she need surgery, chemotherapy, radiation or perhaps all three? We don't know yet as we are a week away from meeting with the specialists. What kind of Cancer? How aggressive is it? Will we have it treated here or fly back to the US?...We don't know yet until we meet with the specialists.
We were 3 days from the start of this years European road trip to 9 different countries when it all came to a screeching halt. We have our Canadian friends Wayne and Barb here visiting with us and we will still drive down to Gordes in the South of France for a week before returning home since we will not be able to meet with the Cancer specialists until then anyway. The rest of the trip, including a week in Vienna that we planned to spend with Mandy had to be canceled so we can get the treatments started.
Van Gogh returns
For years, Janice has enjoyed being the family artist. Much like her mother, she is seriously skilled at drawing and all manner of painting. She has had a few fits and starts at doing more of it but time, opportunity and inclination never quite jelled.
Until now.
We recently meet a few new couples who, like ourselves, happened to be Americans living in the area part time. The fellas are retired from working for the state department, ‘foreign affairs’ kinda stuff. One of the ladies was taking a painting class and Janice needed little encouragement to join her. Now, 3 times a week I become the artist’s widower, having to fend for myself by serving the pre-cooked meals she leaves me and doing all the things I am not allowed to do when she is home.
Like it or not, all the kids will soon be flooded with moms art, reminding me of when we put all their best work on the front of the refrigerator when they were young.
She is having a blast!
Just having fun
In January I mentioned that we had friends here that bottle their own wine. In fact, I took a crack at it and helped with about a hundred bottles. While this is not a monthly event, I took another shot at it again this month with about a hundred more. I did however, fail to mention that this is a premium Bordeaux wine from a ‘classed’ vineyard. They are only allowed to sell a limited amount of that pressing but that does not mean that is all they produce. Au contraire…They can sell the rest as an unlabeled wine, which about a dozen of us get together and order hundreds of gallons of this ‘red and white nectar of the gods’ and bottle them ourselves for pennies on the dollar. Imagine, a fine Bordeaux wine for the price of a Coke.
My apprenticeship as a cider bottlerThe main event this month though was bottling apple cider. I missed the fall harvest and the crush where they mashed about a ton and a half of apples and allowed them to ferment in oak casks for a few months. Last week we gathered at Chateau Kermezen (photo at top of page) over 3 days for the traditional annual event. Again, this is not a huge production but we managed to fill 1600 bottles, so they are not quite goofing around either.
I would be remiss in not mentioning that the current occupants of this Chateau are only the most recent in a long line, as the chateau has been occupied by the same family since 1438. They have a private chapel on the property that has buried every family member within its walls (actually, under the floor) since then. The latest was buried just 3 months ago, a daughter who passed of cancer.
The flood
As we arrived the water level was to the top of
the raceway to the left, with the river to the right
the raceway to the left, with the river to the right
We have friends who live in a mill house that invited us over for lunch. This was a day after a rather big storm you might have heard about that caused a lot of damage in France. Naturally, being a mill house, they live next to a tidal river and as we arrived I mentioned that the water level seemed threateningly high but they assured me that it was fine. Our area has the highest tides in Europe and to complete this perfect storm we had a full moon.
Within minutes the water was flowing over it's banks
10 minutes after this picture was taken,water poured under the doors
We got through lunch just fine but before we could serve desert, the river had overflowed it's banks and water began to pour under the door. Naturally, we all went into full emergency mode, with the women starting to carry lighter pieces of furniture upstairs, while the guys got shovels and started barricading the bottom of the doors with logs, gravel and dirt to slow the water's flow into the house.
Houston, we have a problem!
More furniture, books and household items were moved upstairs as we attempted to keep up with the flow with a large wet / dry vac. The garage and bathroom were quickly submerged in 6 inches of water being at the low point of the house. The irony is that these folks are the same people who had invited us over for a New Years Eve party last year when her father passed shortly after we left. (The Epistle, January 2009) We are still trying to figure out if we are a curse to them or their rescuing angels. Either way there is always a lot of drama. Next time I am taking a fire extinguisher....just in case.
Houston, we have a problem!More furniture, books and household items were moved upstairs as we attempted to keep up with the flow with a large wet / dry vac. The garage and bathroom were quickly submerged in 6 inches of water being at the low point of the house. The irony is that these folks are the same people who had invited us over for a New Years Eve party last year when her father passed shortly after we left. (The Epistle, January 2009) We are still trying to figure out if we are a curse to them or their rescuing angels. Either way there is always a lot of drama. Next time I am taking a fire extinguisher....just in case.
Wayne & Barbara
Wayne and Barbara
at Chateau La Roche Jagu
Oyster harvesting
A commercial oyster bed
Every white blotch is an oyster
A few days ago we had our Canadian friends Wayne and Barbara show up for a two week visit. Having visited last year, they apparently did not get their fill so we were thrilled that they decided to come back. We saved some of the best local spots to visit. These guys are not exactly high maintenance guests as they did the lions share of the cooking and are a breeze to entertain.
Wayne and Barbaraat Chateau La Roche Jagu
We spent a part of the week having some of our french friends meet them and we will spend a week in the South of France at a home exchange we set up in the medieval city of Gordes. We left on that trip this morning so I will have more on it next month.
And the winner is...
Mandy!For the past several months, daughter Mandy has been participating in regional competitions for wanna-be-lawyers in both client counseling and mock trials. The object is to represent 'clients' and to guide them through the process. It obviously provides great experience in thinking on your feet and emphasizes the importance of knowing your stuff, or at least being able to blow smoke...a skill she developed at a young age.
With real lawyers providing the coaching, she crushed some teams, bamboozled others and outwitted the rest. She will be back in action in Vienna at the end of this month where she is scheduled to represent her school at a mock trial competition.
With real lawyers providing the coaching, she crushed some teams, bamboozled others and outwitted the rest. She will be back in action in Vienna at the end of this month where she is scheduled to represent her school at a mock trial competition.
Having won the national competition, she was recently chosen to represent the Netherlands at the Hong Kong International client counseling competition. It seems ironic that an American student won the top spot to represent the country in this international event. You go, girl!
Oyster harvesting
In the 'what did we do for fun' category for this month, this was a first as we were invited to join a group to harvest oysters. There is no danger of these slimy, stomach turning, revolting things ever crossing my lips, (here they eat them raw) but I know that some people think they are a delicacy, it being the second most expensive item on a restaurants menu. That's probably because they have not tasted buttered popcorn. Ha!
Being the open minded millennium kind of guy that I am, I volunteered to join them and give them away to those with a less developed palate.
Being the open minded millennium kind of guy that I am, I volunteered to join them and give them away to those with a less developed palate.
A commercial oyster bedWe picked a day with extraordinarily low tides where you can see the commercial oyster farms above ( hundreds of these stadium sized oyster beds line the surrounding shores) The 'seeds' are put into these heavy plastic netted sacks where they will grow for 3-4 years. We on the other hand, pry them off the rocks on the shores where the escapees have clung to the rocks. There is an unlimited supply available without any license requirements.
Every white blotch is an oysterProjects, projects, projects!
This month was wind down time for projects. I did little odds and ends like building a cabinet with a sink for our master bathroom / dressing room with a matching one on the opposite wall planned for next year. What-dy-a-mean "is that all"? I told you it was wind down time...
This is not SPAM!
Every month I send out our little newsletter to our friends and family via email. Recently I noticed that when I include myself in the recipients list, it occasionally arrives in my SPAM box, so it occurred to me that it might arrive in yours also. If you are not receiving this on the 15th of each month, it is not because I have not sent it to you. If you want to see the blog you simply have to identify my email as not being SPAM and to check your junk mail folder if you are not receiving it. On the other hand, I have done a little research on the subject myself and will ensure that I only send it out to a few people at a time further reducing the chances that it is identified by your ISP as junk mail. If you don’t receive this, just let me know… :( (!)