The Wandering Walters

We are in Moissac (again) to tour another house. We had lunch in a little cafe on the square and while trying to find out more about their menu, the owner's wife came out to help (she speaks English). And while touring the house for sale, the realtor brought along a collegue who had studied in America, to help translate any questions we might have about the property. The patience and assistance we've received since our arrival has been abundent, and I hope to start a french language course as soon as we're settled, so I can properly thank each of them for their kindness. Everytime we're here in Moissac, I'm more convinced this town is where we should put down roots--and we may have just toured the home that could make that happen. There are some concessions that I'll have to make inside the house, but the backyard oasis will certainly make that pill easier to swallow. And, having the town square right around the corner and the train station 2 blocks away, would ...

What a week its been. After pushing back the closing date on the sale of our Arizona house, the lender determined our buyer had committed bank fraud--forging documents and even having an imposter pose as her Charles Schwab representative--so the whole deal imploded at the 11th hour. The full story is much more involved, but I'll spare you the details, because the twists and turns of this real estate transaction could fill a novel. Instead, I'll jump to the final chapter, which appears will have a happy ending. We are fortunate to have the world's hardest working realtor, and she had us under contract with another buyer by the end of the week. In much need of a distraction after our real estate roller coaster, we set out to explore the town of Castres and tour a house that's for sale on the outskirts of the city. The highways in France are crazy, narrow-winding lanes that require you to hug the sides of the ditch when cars approach from the other directiion. As a passe...

 We spent a couple days house hunting this week--which in France means we were granted the sum total of 2 properties to tour.  Both were 2+ hours from our AirBnB, and on separate days. There are numerous holidays in France during the month of May, so the business climate is even more relaxed than normal, so we took what was offered, lined up a dog sitter for Murphy, and headed Northwest to see the towns of Moissac and Vic Fezensac. The later was lovely but paled in comparison to Moissac--which lies on the banks of the Tarn River. Its historic center oozes charm and its considerable amenities are all within walking distance. The town holds its place in history due to a large Abbey constructed in the 7th century--and its cloister is one of the best preserved in the world. The house we looked at was one block from the lively square at the entrance of the Abbey, with lots of cafes and shops lining the cobble stone streets. Unfortunately, despite its perfect location, and...

Wish I could say retirement got us out from behind the computer screen, but that's hardly been the case so far. We are still knee deep in the process of getting established in France. While I spend all day scouring dozens of websites looking for our new home, Bill is getting us set up with French phone numbers and bank accounts, car shopping and monitoring the exchange rate.  We went to Beziers last week and toured an amazing apartment on the Allees Paul Riquet that we just loved.  But, I think the cafe lifestyle may be out of reach on our newly retired income, so we have a few other properties we are hoping to tour soon.  Buyers don't have real estate agents here, and the homeowners are present when you tour their home, so we are at their mercy for scheduling.  We've also been slowly learning to navigate the grocery stores. Food I miss from the states (so far):  canned soup, diet Dr. Pepper and brown sugar for making cookies. Things I found in France that help ...

This morning we took a short drive to the tiny village of Camon. Roses are in bloom everywhere in this part of the country, and today Camon (population 150 residents and 400 rose bushes), held its annual Rose Festival. People were carrying out wagons full of rose plants to put in their gardens and lots of other flowers, too. The walls of the town houses had rose vines creeping up over their doors and the fragrance was intoxicating. Since we have no where to plant flowers (yet), we settled for a bunch of fresh asparagus and a pint of strawberries that were almost too beautiful to eat (almost). I have to say, Bill has taken to driving through these narrow and confusing roads like a champion-- a FRENCH champion (which is to say that they don't let the pedestrians hugging the curbside sidewalk slow them down, nor do the endless roundabouts and single-lane 2-way roads). But the real star today was the weather: 80 degrees, a slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately, s...

Today we packed up the dog and a picnic of snacks, and headed to Carcassone. The medievil old town includes an impressive castle from the 12th century, which sits on a rocky hill overlooking the Aude River. There are actually 2 separate walls that create the castle enclosure, protecting the houses and streets inside it's massive footprint. The inner walls have 26 towers, the outer walls have 19, and the entire enclosure is surrounded by a moat. I'm guessing there weren't many surprise visitors on these doorsteps.