Routines

Being at rest is a difficult state for me. I am endeavoring to slow our new experiences to an adagio so that life's sweet musical notes anchor in my being. I may be slowing my pace but I am a big believer in movement which always helps my restless spirit.

French geography lesson

France is divided into 18 regions, 13 located in Europe and 5 overseas-outside Europe. We are in the Occitanie region.

The regions are then divided into 101 departments, 96 in Europe and the 5 overseas (which are both regions and departments). We are in the Gers Department. There are further divisions into arrondissements, communes/cantons. Ok so far?

To simplify this lesson Fourcés is a commune, where our property is located, in the department of Gers in the Occitanie region in the Republic of France within the member state of the European Community.

Fourcés is a commune of 257 inhabitants in a medieval bastide where houses were built in a circle for defense. And if I haven't already lost your attention, we are located in the hills between 2 of the most beautiful villages in France, as defined by Les Plus Beaux Villages-rural towns with rich cultural heritage.

The address:

Lieu dit Le Terme,

Fources 32250

FRANCE

Historic French properties outside of cities have names, ours is called Le Terme.

Lieu dit means "place called" so everything is addressed to Lieu-dit Le Terme. The place called Le Terme.

Our property entrance is a wisp of a road that is easy to miss, long, winding straight up, then right and right again until you get to the rusty gate with the chicken and pineapple welcome. Voila!

Most small town in France invite the inhabitants in January for the yearly Mayor's speech to meet the constituents, talk about past successes, future plans, challenges to be faced, introduce the cabinet, introduce the newbies (us) to the community, offer a beverage and hors d'oeuvres to seal the deal. A nice tradition.

Routines

Routines are the structure in our lives imparting a feeling of orderliness, safety and accomplishment. Some routines remain the same, others are situational. We add and subtract to adjust to our surroundings.

The distinctive, colorful, French, outside wood shutters are opened every morning and closed every evening. Shutters serve to buffer the inhabitants from the elements: wind, rain and intense summer sun. Which is why some villages look empty because the shutters are closed.

Starting a fire in winter is another routine which involves cleaning the ashes from the wood stove, adding paper, starter, wood (chopped by Youssef in the barn) with logs added every hour throughout the day to keep the warmth going.

Wood is easily available with all the surrounding forests, a main source of heating in rural areas with the high cost of electricity. The war in Ukraine has greatly affected the energy costs in Europe.

Trash pickup doesn't come to us like in the big cities we used to live in, we bring our trash to the "Tri" which are the big bins to recycle.

Cold nights bring back memories of my childhood and the frigid Minnesota bed at night. One solution to the cold would have been my grandmother's trick of putting a warm baked potato or two inserted into my father’s bed at night to help ease the transition into ice cold sheets.  

Lack of good fuel sources outside of wood burning stoves gave the potato status outside of a filling carb on the table. Mothers would slip baked potatoes into children's pockets as hand warmers. Double duty-heat and snack!

We have also learned first hand to park on hard ground so we don’t get stuck in the mud and keeping an eye out for wild boar and deer as we drive the wine country roads especially at night.

4 legged neighbors

We had 3 horses on the property where we are currently abiding, Biscuit (stallion), Tomahawk and Utopia.

They give our lives great joy viewing their ongoing grazing outside our window. Talk about a strong vegan eating vegetables all day long.

An occasional apple slipped into their soft muzzles from time to time, brings a whinny when they see us. "Neigh-bor, how are you" they inquire?

Horse loans seems to be a la mode in France. Biscuit the stallion is on loan due to some past transgression in his owner's pasture. They are hoping Utopia the mare is pregnant, if the stallion is following his purpose in life. Tomahawk, the third mare was loaded into a trailer this week to be loaned out for another horse's companionship.

Tomahawk's swift departure was an unsettling adventure for the two remaining horses and they spent the afternoon running amok and demanding answers.

Pottery

We also have the good fortune to be living on a property with renowned potters. Maryvonne is the artisan, Erich the glazer and master of all things mechanical like kilns, and potter's wheels. Maryvonne's range of pottery is delightful to view and her geese are very popular and pass for the real thing.

Maryvonne and Erich, (71 and 81) respectively, went to care for Maryvonne's 98 year old mother in Brittany and left Youssef and I in charge. What fun we had filling in as horse guardians, being creative with clay, making a life from small daily pleasures.

The potter's wheel lesson will need further practice, sculptural forms were more fun at this point forming wild boar, geese and Youssef's bookends.

Rugby

The French football (soccer) team The Blues (Les Bleus) is world renowned but in the Gers, Rugby is the game. Jake and Sandra have helped us get beyond the dummies guide to understand Rugby Union rules.

We were invited to a Rugby match between Toulouse and Bath, UK in the Toulouse Stadium with friends from Guizerix, Jake, Sandra, Laurent and Laurence.

Much as I was supporting Bath, they lost to Toulouse.

Final Documents and Signing

Notary papers signed for home purchase with Christine the owner, paperwork for our

carte de sejour approved for another year to stay in France, Youssef passed his French written and driving test and our shipment from the US arrived. All just in time, talk about a couple stellar weeks.

Our shipment arrival did have a few glitches. The load almost ended up in the ditch. Delivery trucks were required to offload the semi and shuttle up the long driveway. The driver strayed too far in the muddy embankment on the side of the road requiring a cinch to pull his semi out delaying the offloading. 7 hours later, everything arrived to be stored in our house for a future date when we can unpack.

There's a Sears Roebuck catalogue of things to be done on the property, certainly more than we had envisioned. Foolish idealists that we are, we have embraced it wholeheartedly.

We met Lucien Castela a very colorful character and the previous owner of our property. He had been the French cultural attache to Buenos Aires and Madrid. He was saddened to be leaving the home he had owned for 25 years but happy to know we had bought it and have the energy to love and care for it.

He also left a plethora of trash, treasures, libraries of Spanish and French books for us to sift through. Some look like real keepers and others we need a barge to remove.

Working in the stable area, Michel, one of the locals, is assisting Youssef to sort and haul. First signs of spring are starting in the Gers with the Calendula.