Penne d'Agenais, France

-
The weather is cooling down and the leaves are starting to turn colors. The Arizona desert was equally beautiful, but this is the first "sweater weather" autumn that I've experienced in the past 5 years, and I'm loving it.

We recently started attending French language lessons in Penne-d'Agenais. There are 2 retired British couples in class with us, and we go out for coffee together after our Friday morning lessons. This week, Bill and I stuck around the town after class for a little sightseeing. Penne d'Agenais sits on the Garrone River and is on the list of The Most Beautiful Villages of France, and its easy to see why. It has a midevil section of town that is now home to various artists' shops (painters, sculpturers, glass blowers, etc) as well as cafes and restaurants. There is an abundance of geraniums, petunias and bougainvillea spilling from the planters and window boxes around the storefronts--which added sunshine to an otherwise overcast day. We didn't have time to sit and enjoy the views on this particular day, because we had left Murphy at home and needed to get back to let him out. But, we will definitely arrange for extra time during our next visit.

As luck would have it, our new neighbors returned from an extended stay at their vacation property in the Pyrenees mountains, and stopped by the house for a quick chat. And later, one of the couples from our French lessons texted that they were in Moissac for an appointment, so they stopped by and we walked over to the square for lunch at one of the outdoor cafes. It was a such a pretty day, sunny and warm, and I loved being able to spend it with new friends.

Tomorrow morning I have my first haircut appointment in nearly 10 months. I have no idea if she speaks English, so I typed up some notes for her in French. But to be fair, I've been stabbing at my hair with my own scissors since we left Arizona, so by now anything she does will be a welcomed improvement. And, its all these little things--like sleeping in your own bed, painting rooms in the house, filling prescriptions at the pharmacy, establishing a hair salon, and meeting friends for lunch--that grows roots where there had been none before, and makes Moissac feel like home.

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments:

Popular posts from this blog

DIY renovations in full swing

-
Image
The moving truck with our belongings finally showed up, and after living out of a suitcase for the last four months, sleeping in our own bed felt absolutely amazing. We've been working hard from sun up to sundown(ish) ever since--unpacking, painting, wallpapering etc. The plan is to complete enough projects from our DIY list to put our own stamp on the house and make it a comfortable home, and then take some time off to explore the area abit before hitting the phase 2 projects. So for those of you who've been asking for some before and after pictures, here you go: We tackled the library first. This room used to have white/gray laminate floors that Bill had initially planned to cover with new flooring....until we found out that we'd need a plumber to flush our entire heating system to raise the 2 radiators in the room, so Bill could lay the new flooring under them--at a cost of 400 to 1000 euro per radiator! Definitely not in our budget, so we applied a paint wash on...
Read more

Moissac, Moissac, Moissac

-
Image
Our offer was accepted on the house in Moissac! It's still likely to be a 3-4 month process before the sales transacton is complete. We've asked the seller to consider letting us rent the property in the meantime--fingers crossed. Our shipping container has just arrived and is being stored in Belgium until we are in our own home--so the sooner I'm sleeping in my own bed the more money we'll save. The current owners invited us back to the home earlier this week, and asked their english-speaking neighbors to join us--which made conversation much easier. And they extended their generosity by allowing us to come back on Thursday, so I could bring my cousin, Kim, on a quick tour while she is visiting. Kim arrived from Nebraska on Wednesday, and will be traveling through Switzerland, Spain and Portugal before heading back to the states. Bill and I love learning about France and what our new life will look like, but having a visit from a kindred spirit is really the icing ...
Read more

Ready, Set, Go!

-
Image
It's been quite a journey just getting to this point: Research, research, research—our eyes blurry from reading articles, watching videos, and following blogs of those who made this journey before us. We sold our house and condo in Arizona, then sold or donated most of our possessions. The visa process required us to fly to Los Angeles for interviews. We shipped a few select belongings to France in a shared container and packed two suitcases that we'll live out of for potentially the next six months until we find permanent housing. We arranged temporary housing and rental vehicles while we house hunt and learn to navigate the local highways. Getting our 85-lb Labradoodle, Murphy, to France was another challenge (spoiler: his kennel is the size of a Volkswagen Bug)—which presented its own set of issues. But we're finally here: it's travel day! We're flying out of Chicago on Air France—a quick 8-hour flight, followed by a 7–8 hour drive to our Airbnb in Verniolle, Fra...
Read more