Ready to Move On

Friday, September 14, 2007
Verderonne

Today I merited several “ooh la la’s” when I brought out the dessert of crepes with applesauce and crème fraiche, after our lunch of frittata and salad. Four friends of Caroline’s arrived around 1 pm today, while Caroline was on her way home from Paris, and we finally got to eat around 2 pm, after Caroline called to say she was in a traffic jam. She had called earlier to tell us that these friends were coming and to wait to eat lunch when she arrived. At least 3 of the guests are Spanish, and they are very nice, speaking very slowly so we can try to understand in French. Caroline arrived toward the end of the meal so we held dessert until she had caught up, while we listened again to the story in French of WWOOFer Sally who wouldn’t eat potatoes or tomatoes and who walked out of watching Being John Malkovich because the wife was betrayed. La histoire du jour, Caroline said; I wonder what she will tell her friends about us after we go?? But now I am getting so tired I don’t care so much about the ooh la las; we WWOOFers are getting restless, annoyed with meals always being held for the lady of the manoir when the lady is always late. Her friends will forgive her anything it would appear but we WWOOFers are less tolerant. I especially am reaching the end of my cooking creativity, trying to put meals on the table for a group when there is no chicken, no fish, no beef, etc. Leonard says he likes to have more of a schedule so he is not sure how long he will stay, but I feel sure he will do well at Chateau de Sacy with Hermine, whom Walt and I met yesterday thanks to Jack taking us over to have tea at her invitation. Leonard was supposed to come but we couldn’t leave the house unattended because Jack didn’t have a key, so Leonard was stuck at home. We are considering that when we return to France in April that we will go to Hermine for a few weeks at least, so that we can have a quiet, pretty place not too far from Paris in the spring. I am kind of glad we ended up coming here first instead of Chateau de Sacy, because I think I will appreciate Hermine’s quiet, particular personality more than if I hadn’t experienced Caroline first. Chateau de Sacy has a lovely garden and potager; the house is big but much smaller than this manoir, and it is in a small village as well. Reed loved the garden and I think the house will be less spooky for him, too.

Jack said no one ever checks visas and such when you are white and not getting into trouble; the only difficulty would be is if we were African or something. He himself has lived here for decades without ever having a visa. And now I realize, that when we entered the country in Paris at the airport, the man looked at our passports, but did not stamp them. So. There is no record of when we arrived. We could have gone to Italy this winter as we had planned, or stayed in France, or whatever; no one would mind. But I feel sure we will enjoy Northern Ireland and I am not sorry we are going there, where we will have a quiet house of our own to enjoy. But now I think we should come again and do as we originally planned, and go to Spannocchia in the winter, or house sit in the Abruzzo, or …?

Tomorrow we plan to take the day off completely and go to Chantilly to the chateau and park, since it is “Heritage Days” and entrance to the grounds is free. The train ride is 13 Euros for the 3 of us, and we can walk through the town to get to the chateau, buying some food for a picnic lunch along the way, I’m sure. When Walt and I came to France in 1999 and stayed with Caroline Chantefort, she drove us to Chantilly from her home in Claye-Souilly, and although the chateau was closed, we were able to visit the horse museum there, which was amazing, and the chateau park was absolutely beautiful. I look forward to seeing it again, and getting a better look. Then, Sunday morning, we get the train for Retournac, and our next WWOOFing situation. I am looking forward to the change, and am hopeful we will be able to communicate with our hosts, who only speak French. Good practice for us, and hopefully not too frustrating.