Aftermath

Thursday, September 13, 2007
Verderonne

Caroline went to Paris yesterday afternoon and so the rest of the household, just Leonard the Swede and Jack the American, and us, enjoyed a quiet, simple, and delicious dinner, thanks to Jack and Leonard’s trip to the store to get us cream, lettuce, and a fresh baguette. I made a green salad, and spaghetti carbonara. Leonard, Walt, and Reed worked yesterday to peel and freeze apples at Caroline’s request, and sometime today or tomorrow I’m going to try to make quince jam and crabapple jelly. We’ll see how it goes; fortunately I have good internet access here so I can look up recipes online rather than having to rely on the French cookbooks in the kitchen.

More progress made in the kitchen, too: I cleaned out the cupboard so I could see what was there, mainly to look for bouillon so I could make French onion soup for lunch yesterday. I found the bouillon, and more sugar, too, so I did make the soup with onions that Reed dug from the garden (and he loved the soup), and today I’ll make another apple tart, since we have endless amounts of apples and Caroline actually got lots of flour and butter last weekend when I asked her to, in contrast to the day before yesterday when the only things she got from the list I made were potatoes and oranges. No milk, no eggs, no lettuce. I do understand she has financial troubles but how can I cook without those basic things? We do have quite a supply of camembert, though, and there is a bag of frog legs in the freezer, so as I said, we won’t starve.

Also in the cupboard is confit de canard in a can. Jack explained that you warm up the confit in a skillet, then take out the duck, and then fry potatoes in the fat. We’ll have that on Friday night, I think, since Caroline said we’re having a little company and she also will be back from Paris that day.

The other day Caroline took us out to collect blackberries, only we couldn’t reach them because of a corn field planted too close. So we picked up fresh walnuts instead, which we could reach. We quickly filled all of our bags, and then Caroline offered to drive them back so that we could walk. Reed didn’t want to walk, so he went with Caroline in the car while Walt and I had a nice leisurely hour walk around a circle through the wooded country. We did find a handful of blackberries on the way, but mostly just enjoyed the solitude, and seeing a pasture of cows.

Today we’ll take it easy and Jack has promised to take us sightseeing in his car, so we can see some of the area. Hermine of Chateau de Sacy (our original WWOOF host for this time who asked us to postpone) has invited us all for tea at 4 pm so we can talk to her more and see the chateau, which she says is very small, not nearly as grand as this manor house. I’ve learned that Caroline’s grandfather used to own the Chateau de Verderonne and all the land around here as well as this manor house. This is the first time I’ve experienced the situation that I’ve read about in books and seen in movies, where someone from a noble family has a property worth millions but no money to buy groceries or fix the wiring. It is not a situation I’d want to be in, but I’m considering writing about it, it would be a good plot for a novel or a mystery. I suppose if I were Caroline I’d start by selling all the things that weren’t valuable at a vide grenier (empty the attic sale), then by inviting an antique dealer to pick out some things. Then, I’d make sure I had a couple paying boarders for income to buy food, and then figure out a way to get someone like us here to stay for a while to take care of the grounds and the house. But I’m sure it’s all easier in theory than in practice. The poor housekeeper who only comes once a week must never get caught up. I tried to help her yesterday by ironing all the clean dishtowels and pillowcases piled on top of the washer, and by folding all the clean towels. It’s tempting to stay on here to continue making progress but on the other hand, life is too short to spend dealing with someone’s else’s mess, right? Also, I have a feeling this room will be freezing when it gets cold outside; there’s only one small radiator that doesn’t look like it’s working. The bathroom radiator works fine but wouldn’t help this room much.

I realize I haven’t explained much about WWOOF. The acronym stands for Worldwide Opportunities (or Willing Workers) On Organic Farms. It’s an organization that started in England in the 1970s to help connect non-farmers with farms. You can join and then as a member you can access the complete list of host farms and their contact information. Usually WWOOFers are younger than we are, but it provides an opportunity for all ages, really. The deal is that you work in exchange for room and board. Leonard is 30 and he is here mainly to learn French. Jack is willing to give French lessons every day, so he’ll make quick progress I’m sure. We’re benefiting from that too but since we’re not staying the lessons will be short lived.

Reed made it through the big to do on Sunday with flying colors, running around and riding on his tractor and making art, and then fell apart on Monday, whining and crying all day as a result of being tired, homesick, and not well nourished. Probably the rest of the artists leaving after they got the spectac stuff packed up made him sad too. So I made sure to feed him well on Monday and snuggle with him quite a bit, and then got him to bed early, and that helped. He’s doing very well considering how long we’ve been away from home and how different each situation is. This house, for instance, is huge, with three flights of stairs up to our room. The stairs are very wide, with large landings, and tiled with octagonal clay tiles that must date back a hundred years or more. There are books piled on the steps and the landings, and overflowing bookshelves on two landings and overflowing toy shelves on the other, for Caroline’s grandchildren. At the top landing is a small open bedroom, the door to Leonard’s room where there are actually 4 beds (the children’s room, Caroline said), and our door, which leads into a barnloft-type room with sloping celings held up by huge beams. The cold masonry floor is covered with a hodge podge of oriental rugs. There are 3 very small beds, a double bed that lists a little to my side, a marble topped secretary desk, a wobbly table that I’m using for my bedside table, a very heavy dining table, two large antique armoires, and an antique cradle. There is a modern bathroom installed in the little room that from the outside looks a bit like a tower, that you enter through a small door. Walt has to duck through it but I just fit.