Le Mois de Septembre

Hello - I'm back.  We have spent the last three weeks in the US of A visiting our daughter Chelsea and catching 10 of her field hockey games.  It was a great trip but boy are we happy to be back in France and not living in hotel rooms or eating the nutritionally challenged meals that abound there! 
After having our winter coats and boots on in the US, it was a nice surprise to find the weather here in the high 20's - although luckily we missed the high 30's just last week!  So variable here - not something we are really used to.  We spent the majority of the time in and around Chicago where Chels is based but also managed trips to Washington DC (on the weekend of the anniversary of Sept 11 - not great timing!) and Vegas with some road trips as well.  Just this last weekend we drove from Chicago to Michigan State for a game then on to Penn State for another game before heading back to Chicago for our flight home to France on Sunday night.  Nearly 3000 miles done in the rental car over 9 days - crazy.  But Chels and her team are going really well with 10 wins and 4 losses at this stage and are ranked around 16 in the nation which is great for them.  Hopefully they can keep it up and make the national championships for the first time in ages.  Chels also broke a couple of her schools all time records for goals and points that have stood for over 20 years while we were there so was good to be there for that. 



Pic of us three on the day Chels broke the record (hence the flowers) - Photograhy by roomate Claire! x

Chelsea and her boyfriend Hunter - we went to all you can eat sushi in Chicago - was goood too!

Anyway 3 weeks and several kilos later we are back in France and nearly ready to get stuck back into work.  We got in at about 9 last night and went straight to bed as we hadn't not really slept on the plane from the US - but of course we woke at about 1 am - luckily both got back to sleep again but I woke with a jolt at about 10.30 realising it was nearly too late to pick up the cats from the cattery as they shut at 11 - but I ended up getting there in time and the boys are very happy to be back chasing rabbits and mice - Will sat with us at tea time tonight tossing a dead mouse around he had just caught - lovely..  Hopefully we can sleep through normally tonight and not have too much hassles with jet lag. 
Paul is a bit grumpy tonight which is understandable as his flooring that he laid before we left has all shruck and left gaps much larger then he would like! So much for the timber being seasoned and dry!  Is very frustrating as he likes to get things as good as possible which it was when we left.  Can't really pull them up and do again either as it has been 'secretly' nailed so will tear the grooves if pulled up again.  Oh well - lots of floor rugs should do the trick.. The only other problem is that we have about 1/4 still to lay as the timber merchant didn't have any in just before we left so we got some more today but now Paul doesn't want to lay it until it has been left for a few weeks to make sure it is dry.  This could delay the gyprocking of the attic which will delay all the other work that needs to be done up there.  The joys of building/renovating I guess!



Paul unloading the last lot of boards today for the attic floor.

 I spent a few hours this afternoon picking walnuts from our tree.  There are thousands and a lot have fallen on the ground which is fine but since we have a lot of ivy growing under the tree heaps are basically hidden
and you have to ferret around a bit for them.  They are very tasty though - I don't know why but we really get ripped for the quality of nuts in Australia - maybe we have to import them from somewhere and we get them when they are too old or something but a walnut or pecan in France or even the US tastes nothing like the ones in Australia - ie they are amazingly crisp and not bitter like in Aus.  I made a walnut and basil pesto and used it with some pasta for our dinner tonight - was yummo.  A meal without some form of animal fat was also good to have after our last three weeks - however I am sure it won't be long and I will be missing ribs and Paul is probably missing Chipotle (mexican burrito chain) already!  I brought some canned chipotle chillies back with me to make the barbacoa beef in the slow cooker - will wait until it gets cooler though I think.  I also brought back some proper maple syrup which might come in handy to make a walnut pie.  So much for dropping those extra kgs!

Well this Thursday we have to make the trek back to Toulouse for our immigration interviews.  I will spend some time tomorrow making sure all the paperwork etc is organised.  This is the final process of formalising our visa although after re-entering France last night I am not sure why I have been so worried about it all - we had a stopover in London and no-one checked our passports - then in Toulouse there was only a very quick check of the the passport - quick stamp and we were in.  I guess we don't look too much of a threat to anyone!  Anyway Thursday entails of a medical interview and chest xrays and also an 'integration' interview which may or may not entail a language test.  If you fail that then you are enrolled to do 400 hours of language classes.  These are paid for by the government so may not be a bad idea but it depends on how long you have to do the hours - 400 hours within a year is a lot a week!  It will also be a pain if they don't offer them locally to here as I suspect they may be in Cahors which is about 40 minutes away.  Will have to wait and see.
Anyway I am off to bed.  Sorry not many photos this week - I took my camera to the US and took a total of 10 photos - pathetic. Ha - talk next week - hopefully with something to report re the renovations!