Back on the blog finally!

The past 2 weeks have been very busy tracing family ancestry, cooking new and exciting dishes in the kitchen, meeting more new friends (whom I am sure come for the cooking!), tasting wine from diverse regions, talking to many of our wonderful Australian family and friends, and enjoying the sunshine and the beauty which Spring brings to France.
No wonder we are behind updating our blog…..

OK! Firstly thank you for the gifts that we have received in the past 2 weeks. The look on our faces when we received Twisties and Aussie chips was priceless. Sorry, you missed it! If you think we passed these on, well………
Thanks to Pat and Wally who graciously sent 2 parcels. Merci beaucoup!

Today we had a Paella lunch, cooked by an English/South African gentleman called Mike and we shared this occasion with our Moroccan friend Karim! The picture says it all! Mike lives across the road from us.

If you enjoy and Oyster or 2, they are sold outside the church here every Sunday and they are so fresh. Shucking is an art, and finally we have mastered how it is done, thanks to our Moroccan friend. You can buy a dozen, based on the size from 3 to 5 Euros.

We had the opportunity to visit a vineyard about 1 hour North of here that produces wine, which does not have preservatives, and is delicious. We travelled there with our very dear friends Noël and Suzanne whose primary language is Dutch. So.... here we are at the Vineyard, Noël is speaking to the owner in French, talking to his wife in Dutch and translating to us in English some of the French we could not quite pick up. A remarkable man! We felt like we were at a Tennis Match and we were the BALLS! After an hour of wine tasting we walked away, (OK!OK!, so we wobbled away), with 30 litres of wine. Well!, we have to taste the wine before we introduce it into the bar..
We also visited their Dutch friends who have a holiday house in that area. Interesting time, whilst we listened to Dutch, conversed in French and English and wandered around their property in Baugé.

We now also offer a babysitting service for dogs. Babysat Virgule the Dutch dog, who responds to Dutch, French and English. Even the dogs are multi-lingual!

No news on our ‘working permi’ as yet. However we are still confident it will happen.

Classic quotes of the past weeks:
Ö Pete, would you like a strawberry in you wine love? “Why? do I have an apple in my beer?”
Ö Our dear elderly friend David had to go for a medical and a psych test. The Doctor asked him, “what day is it today, David?” David looked bewildered and replied, “how the hell would I know?” That’s life in Gourgé, and you don’t have to be elderly!!
Ö We received an email from our very pregnant daughter who lives in London. She is a Speech Pathologist who specializes in working with very young children. This is one of her wonderful stories. “So many funny moments with the children as I am getting bigger, and they all start remembering about the baby when they see me. Even some of the little 2-3yr olds see me and say "Angie…baby" pointing at my belly! So sweet…. I am yet to convince a few of them that I can't 'open' my belly to show them the baby and that I didn’t swallow the baby.... hehehe. They all now have to see my actual stomach and feel it, or put their heads up to my skin...it's so funny to watch their faces. Only a couple have asked how it comes out...hmmm how to explain that to some language disordered children!!”

Jusqui’à la semaine prochaine
Peter and Donna

An eventful week (Une semaine riche en événements)

Thank you to all our wonderful family and friends who 'rose to the occasion', answering our pleas for help, by sending Australian items to us in France. Let me explain......

There have been many people in this village and surrounding villages who have given us so much support and help over the past months, in an endeavour to get this café/bar opened. Included in this long list are Mayors, Solicitors, Directors, Teachers and people of diverse Nationalities. All giving of their time and energy, and not asking for anything in return. Our small way of saying 'merci beaucoup' is to give something from our wonderful country. In a nutshell, we are having problems with the French Consulate in Australia acquiring our working card, which allows us to run a business here in France. The French here are doing everything they possibly can within their jurisdiction to help us 'fight the good fight'. Too long a story to go into now....... Anyway, we are very thankful for these gifts, and for them to keep coming, as there are many people to thank:) We are in the paper again, in regards to this issue! Attached is the copy.

Besides the endless meetings we have had in the past weeks, we have managed to fit in our scheduled French lesson, speak with most of the family in Australia and the UK, work in the garden, as Spring is upon us, drink coupious amounts of French wine, come to the rescue of a mature age gentlemen who fell off his horse. OK! this one I will explain.

The horse was spooked by a dog and reared, hence his rider fell to the ground. All we saw was this horse galloping across the Roman Bridge without a rider. So, as you do, we ran around the back of our house to find this man lying on the ground in the middle of the road. Panic kicked in when I realised that I might have to ring the ambulance and try and explain to them in French, what the problem was and where we were. OK! OK! think Donna...Right, I knew what to do! Banging furiously on the window of our next door neighbour Jean-Michel, and yelling come here!, come here!, was the better option (in French of course).Anyway, I then decided to go chase the horse. What I was going to do when I found him, was not in my train of thinking at that stage. YES! I can ride a horse. It is getting on the horse that I have a problem with! Anyway...Jean-Michele came to the rescue and the gentlemen was able to get in his car (thank goodness, he was not injured too much) and they went off to find the horse. My sister thought it was hillarious that all I could say to Pete was 'I will get the horse, you save the man!', considering the horse was not in sight? Well!, the man was worried about his horse!

We also managed to have our first Bar-B-Que (pictures attached), which was a classic, I made strawberry and walnut muffins and took them around the neighbourhood, Pete put his welding gear on and fixed the neighbours gate and bell, plus we met another Aussie who is here for 12 months.

Jusqu'à la semaine prochaine....(Until next week)

Peter and Donna

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