August 17, 2009
Dognen
Ok, a little perspective. Dognen is a small group of ancient farm houses (not really a town, though there is a church, but not one business except a few lodges marked by a small sign on the house or wall "Gite.") separated from the nearest city Navarrenx by hundreds of acres of corn in full tassle.
The houses are huge - stone and concrete walls sometimes covered with stucco painted grey or a faint pink/orange color. Very nice. Most of the houses are built right up to the edge of the road and cars move down these lanes very quickly.
This morning a herd of cows came down the lane across the front of our house being herded by a dog and a fellow on a bicycle. The dog ran up to me, sniffed my hand quickly, gave a very quick wag of his tail and then got right back to work. The cows tried to nibble as much of the vines and flowers growing along the wall but the dog or the man hurried them along with a nip or a swat on the back with the fellow's bamboo stick.
I drove through Gurs to a store on the outskirts of Navarrenx that sold hardware, books and school supplies, food and wine and cheese. I bought sugar, salt, grapefruit juice and two kinds of cheese. Then I drove into the old town of Navarrenx - surrounded by an ancient wall - and bought a few chocolate croissants - brought them home and put them on the dining room table. I was sure that Kaaren and Brittany and Arden would be impatient and waiting for me, but now it is past 11 and they are all still sleeping. So, I may go out again - this time toOloron which is not too far down t he highway past Gurs. I stopped in Gurs to take a picture of a small hotel that was probably the most romantic building I've seen here so far. A fellow was standing at an open window upstairs brushing his teeth; a woman in another window looked at me - I waived and she waived back. In Navarrenx I asked a fellow with bread in crummy French where the Bakery was. He replied that he only spoke English or German. So we conversed in both. He was British and his wife was Irish. They were pulling a camper on a 6 week vacation - camped just outside the town with an Irish and English flag flying over the campsite. We could visit them if I could find the campsite. Didn't see it on the way out. Found an internet connection in a restaurant - St. Jacques - for 1Euro for ½ hour. I'll come back. At the house, I was dismayed to find I had not brought along my photo memory card reader. I want to post my photos and a few words on the family web site.
It is overcast and last night we got quite a bit of moisture - not rain really, but the "wet air falling" that Kaaren describes in Portland. So it is humid and cool and quite pleasant.
I enjoy being out early tramping around in the car. Too bad the "girls" need to sleep so long. They will only have half a day at this rate.
August 19, 2009
Dognen
This morning is foggy, pleasantly cool and light, with a little sun burning through the clouds. The cows have gone by twice at least. Kaaren and Brittany are in bed.
Kaaren and I drove to Orthez to visit the market and walk around the ancient town. It was really fun to try to negotiate for bits of fruit and cheese and vegetables. Kaaren finally found some duck confit - basically canned (in this case bottled) duck meat - and served it for dinner with a fresh salad of tomatoes, onions and lettuce that we bought there. Still unimpressed with the bakeries here - no full grain bread or even dark wheat bread is to be found - but the bagettes are decorative and there are a few confections like croissants and varieties thereof that are, of course, French perfect. We bought an apron. On the way back, we stopped the car to watch a group of cattle with a flock of egrets living together symbiotically. Kaaren's presence, though, frightened the birds away. They rose and fled in a huge coordinated white flock.
I spent most of the afternoon and evening trying to establish an internet and email connection. I took Brittany into Oloron with me to replace her intercom power supply and use the cyber café. There were no end of obstacles with software blocks and very awkward French language keyboards that reduced me to hunt and peck. We finally gave up on the cyber café and at the hosts suggestion drove over the McDonalds which has free wi-fi. There I could download and send email but not use my gotomypc program to work on the office computer - it would not let me use an executable program. Britt needed to get Arden home for her nap so I drove them home, then went back again to finish up and took hours. I tried to reset Kaaren's email settings to match the new google system Skye set up for us a few months ago, but couldn't find the passwords, called Skye and she couldn't help because she was in a doctor's office - today I'll try again but am ready to forget the whole thing. Talked with the office on the phone late in the evening and also talked with a client who called on my cell phone - problems getting that to work and it finally does - and also talked with Bryce and Courtney about things they are doing for us - taking care of Molly and showing properrties that are for rent.
Kaaren took a bike ride yesterday and was invigorated. I will try to get a bike working for me today. We are going into the Navarrenx market this morning when Kaaren emerges.
Having some problems with my back adjusting to the softer mattress - lots of back pain during the day - but much improved when I sleep on another one that is quite firm. There are two single beds upstairs in an attic dorm room, three queen beds in three bedrooms and a bathroom with a small sitzbad with hand held shower on the second floor; the living room with grand piano, dining room and kitchen and some closets are on the main floor. The main floor is tiled, the others are 12" wide wooden planks (very squeaky - no sneaking around in this old rectory/parsonage house); there is a huge fireplace with oversized hearth in the dining room (has a wood stove installed in it; a fireplace in the living room and fireplaces in the two larger bedrooms upstairs. They are currently unused but are charming and bespeak of days gone by when this place was built over 250 years ago. Massive shutters cover the windows when no one is here or at night (as local etiquette dictates).
Kaaren sat in the garden and painted the house and church tower in the background. It is a nice painting (I took a picture of the same view, same perspective a few days ago) that she intends to leave at the house as a gift to Nuala.
August 20, 2009
Aren
This is small village with it's own castle - very cute. There is a popular beach on the Oloron river here and I am sitting on the beach next to Arden on a blanket. Brittany is courageously inching deeper and deeper into the cold glacier runoff over an overcast day. No one else is in the river. Across the river is a stone house that sits on the edge of the river and partly in it. The house is accessible from a small village across river by a stone bridge. I will take a picture and include it in this entry. Wow!
Today we all slept late - until about 11 am. I took Brittany to the store to pick up coke, diapers and baby wipes, cereal and some other things. Then Kaaren took us to lunch in Navarrenx. We ate at the St.Jacques - a famous stopover for pilgrims - as is the whole town a famous stopover for pilgrims on their way to the St. James cathedral in NW Spain. The pilgrim routes are even marked on the maps and have been used for centuries. What surprised me was to learn that there are more pilgrims along the routes today and in any of prior recorded history. While we were eating our lunch, we saw two groups of pilgrims - walk by. One was a single young girl with a back pack and walking stick. The other was a couple - 30's I would say - also with back packs and walking sticks. This is a new sight for me - people on a many hundreds mile spiritual trek. In this area, and in Oloron - also on the pilgrim trail - we see many lodges with a clamshell sign on the outside - which means they offer reduced prices for pilgrims.
Arden is amusing herself with a cloth bumble bee that vibrates when she pulls on a ring attached to a string. (It spooks me to feel the bee vibrating). She is lying on a blanket next to me on the beach while Brittany swims.
Dognen
Back at the house, we are playing a game of scrabble. I am tired and losing badly to Kaaren, so I've turned over my whole hand of vowels to Brittany to finish.
Brittany and I started out meaning to drive to Monein, but took a wrong turn and ended up in the most delightful village with a very ancient and impressive church. I took pictures of the fantastic interior. Outside was a tower ruin that was actually now on a private property. The owners drove under a rock gate to get to their house. I would be worried that the tower may fall on the house - very tall and picturesque. We walked around the town admiring the architecture and use of wonderful color in the building stucco, balconies, planters, etc. Brittany asked, " How come every one of these towns are so picturesque?" We gave up on Monein but considered outselves luck to have found, Luque de Bearn, I think. We also drove through the town on the otherside of the river where Brittany was swimming earlier today - there was a house built right on the river with a stone bridge leading over a stream to the house. It may have been a mill in ancient times. See the photograph.
Arden is sick. Probably has the cold that Brittany has just recovered from. This will be a hard couple of days, I predict, and would stress me terribly to have a sick 4 month old baby overseas with no insurance.
Kaaren and I made dinner tonight - Britt bought some fish that Kaaren breaded and fried. I shredded some stale bread to make the stuff. I also steamed carrots and boiled potatoes and sliced tomatoes with basalmic vinegar. Kaaren made a dessert of peaches and strawberries in a cobbler with creme fraiche. Delicious!
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