A few days...

On Tuesday Lauryne and I walked through the backyard of the Godon’s home to reach her yard. 

Her house is the furthest roof behind the bushes and wall. The unpleasant neighbor is the tall roof in the background on the right.

This is the current entrance to her home, typical for this area of Burgundy. For most houses the ground floor is usually the actual ground and used as a basement.  

Lauryne feels uncomfortable about this entrance because the unfriendly neighbor can keep track of when people come and go on these steps. The new entrance will be out of the neighbor’s sight.

The next picture is looking down from the current entrance to the future entrance. The open space will become the living room. The enclosed space to the right is for wood storage with a door to the outdoors for stacking the wood and an inside door for easy access.

The glass shower wall doesn’t take up much space.

The living area is upstairs until the first floor is finished. At that time the upstairs will turn into 2 bedrooms.

I find it fascinating that the roof tiles can just sit there and be waterproof. Lauryne explained why the size of the older tiles varies. Apparently they were formed over the thigh of the tile maker and not every tile maker had the same size thigh.

 On Wednesday I needed to practice driving BB again. I took Marie-Annick to the post office in Cluny after picking up bread at the boulangerie. Behind the post office was one of the yellow mail cars.

That evening we were to eat with Elisabeth at her place in Blanot. Since we couldn’t take wine, her son is a wine maker, Francis and Marie-Annick brought an orchid. Francis had never before tasted Nicholas' wine and was quite impressed. 

Thursday morning I again drove Marie-Annick to Cluny in the BB car. Shopping in Cluny requires walking. There is no room to park on the streets. 

Marie-Annick seems to know every-
body so while she was talking to one of the shop clerks, I found a nearby table with 2 chairs. 

While I was sitting there, a gal who had just opened a shop across the street joined me for her cigarette break and we had a pleasant conversation, mostly in English.

That afternoon I followed Marie-Annick into Macon. She led me to College Breart where Francis teaches and then went shopping.

Lauryne met me at the gate. Security is tight. Even parents can’t just walk in.

I spent an hour with Francis, Sylvie and about 18 students. They asked questions in English and I answered, speaking slowly. I had taken in the skunk puppet and told the story of Francis and Marie-Annick thinking the puppet in my mailbox was a real skunk. The puppet was a big hit.

Driving home I was on my own. I was proud of myself, noticing all the landmarks, until suddenly I was on a main highway heading back to Macon and I knew I was in trouble. I was smart enough to not take the exit onto the toll highway. I know what peage means so at least I avoided that exit! 

I exited into Macon…otherwise I was heading for Geneva, Switzerland! At each rotary or round-about I just kept looking for signs of places I knew would be near Sologny. Once I was back in the countryside I asked a local man the way to Cluny. I didn't understand his words, but I did understand that I was headed in the right direction. Obviously I made it home, just had a scenic ride. It was good for laughs that evening.

The nice thing about driving on my own was being able to stop for pictures of this hedge. It’s a common sight for everyone else, but I wanted to capture the colors since, for me, it was unusual.

During this time I caught Marie-Annick's cold. Today I'm not as stuffed up and drippy as I have been, so I'm looking forward to the weekend. I need to pack because in a couple of hours Lauryne and I will be taking off to visit Pauline Annecy.