The Wandering Walters

What a difference a week makes. The sun has been working overtime with temperatures nearing 80 degrees, and the impact that's had on the landscape is undeniable. Everything is blooming . The wisteria and bougainvillea are in full display, the irises and roses are trying hard to keep up with the peonies, and even my herb garden is taking hold. Although the warm weather is a constant reminder of the work we have yet to do removing the old, woody shrubs and scrub, and planting new ones in their place. I started by adding 8 trellises along the wall behind the pool, and Bill planted some shrubs in front of them. I'm going to add some clematis that will hopefully continue to climb beyond the trellises and up the walls. Last week, we hosted a "Meet & Greet" party for expats in the area around Moissac. Because most of the population does not speak English (and we have a long way to go before we are able to speak French), we wanted to bring those that did ...

It's hard to fathom that we were under water restrictions last summer due to drought, because it rained all winter long. I grew spoiled from the limitless sunshine in Arizona, so I'm happy to see that Spring has finally sprung in France. We actually had quite a bit of flooding in Moissac last month-- although not nearly as bad as some of the nearby communities. But that's all water under the Moissac bridge now, because now that the wisteria and magnolia have started to bloom, it's easy to forget those wet winter months. We've been busy with paperwork--moving to another country, especially France, creates mountains of applications, permits, documentation. For one, our retirement visas need to be renewed every year (after 5 years of renewing, you can choose to apply for residency instead). We also needed to exchange our driver's license for French ones. Some states have an exchange program with France: Illinois does, Arizona does not. Since we still o...

We had a lovely little Thanksgiving in France, despite my mushy stuffing. I met another American a couple weeks ago and he joined Bill and I for dinner. It took some effort to pull the meal together since its not a holiday that France celebrates. I had to roast the pumpkin in order to make the puree for the pumpkin pie (no canned pumpkin here) and we had to drive to Montauban to find a turkey breast. But it was worth the extra effort, as we have so much to be thankful for this year. And, it was especially nice to spend it with new friends. My sister came to visit in December, so we took the train to Bordeaux to check out their Christmas market, and then again to the Marche de Noel in Toulouse. Bordeaux is a very elegant city, with it's neoclassic architecture, wide boulevards and expansive views of the Garonne river. And its very easy to navigate, as you can grab a tram right outside the train station that takes you everywhere you need to go for less than 2 euro. Unfortunately...

I have a friend that's visiting us from the states, so we took time out this week to explore some cities and villages in the Southwest area of France, in and around where we live in Moissac. We toured side by side midevil castles in Bruniquel--voted one of France's most beautiful villages. The first castle was built in the 13th century, but due to a family dispute the son was cut from the will and a cousin inherited the propérty instead. He had a second castle built in the 15th century--directly beside the fueding family's castle--and erected a stone wall between them so they needn't ever see each other. Such epic drama, considering it takes hundreds of workers atleast a decade to build a castle. One of these castles, Château Vieux, continued to be occupied until the death of the last Viscountess in 1980! Lauzert was next on our list (and also on the list of most beautiful villages). Very little is open on Mondays in this area of France--which we knew...