Arcantis Hotel Heritage Cognac

My drive back up to France was mostly uneventful, although I appreciated the mountainous and green scenery for the first hour or so as I worked my way from Urretxu up to the border. I will say that driving along the highways of Europe is a much more orderly and smooth process than in the States. No driver uses the left lane unless he/she is passing, and does so very quickly, returning to the right lane usually after passing just one car. Also, when moving into the ...

... going to be writing letters and emails and making phone calls to anyone who might be able to help me secure employment.

10:26 PM

What an interesting and informative day! Now, as I sit on my bed listening to a compilation of KRCW's Today's Top Tune (the world's greatests radio/internet station!!) I am going over the lesson in website optimization

5:48 PM

The sun has been playing "hide and seek" today. One minute it looks and smells like rain (at this moment) and the next you're scrambling for hat, sun block, and/or shade! We had our French lesson with Celine this morning from 10:15 AM to 12:15 PM. I kept asking her to speak more in French as this is basically the only organized opportunity we have to converse. My fellow guests/volunteers have been expressing the ...

8:42 PM

It was hot today and will be hotter still tomorrow: probably about 90 F. I spent the day doing a variety of jobs, from updating my blog to sweeping floors and helping with the laundry. Dinner, grilled hamburger patties and sausage with fixings (no cheese, alas!) is almost ready.

We have another new guest/volunteer, Charlotte (Charlie) from Britain. There's a Russian applicant, Julia, who’s been having trouble securing her visa and ...

... On the walk home, we each took turns reading aloud and Louise pulled out a dictionary to help us with translating once back at La G.

I hung out with Dave, Tracy and their daughter Georgia, played with the dogs and even read Anthony Adverse in the hammock for a while. There were a few sprinkles but that just made an already lovely day more interesting.

... thank goodness!). My pommes de terre a la LiLi were rather tasty, merci. Made with leftover, two day old mashed potatoes, some grated mystery cheese, milk, a bit of sauteed onions, ham, and garlic, a little olive oil and a lot of trepidation, with a topping of herbs de provence and more grated frommage.

I also helped with the clearing and cleaning, answered the phone, replied to La G program emails and cleaned & ...

... so much by the music as I was by how thankful I was and am to be right here, right now. And I was feeling sad for the many people who at the same moment were dealing with war, hunger, poverty --- the harsh side of life. I wished that more people could know the amazing beauty, the joy that I experienced during that concert in such an ancient and holy place. Sounds a bit precious, eh? Seriously, though, I am very aware of how blessed I am.

... abounded before we had to stop scaring ourselves!

Next day (Friday 10th) Christine and me went to Barbezieux, a town 20kms from here to do more shopping, this time in bulk. Got lost trying to get there, bear in mind we are travelling around in Paul's beat up Honda, sans sat nav, air con or radio! Stopped off at the side of the road to take a few sunflower photos, these are for my nephew Joe who is currently ...

Its been pouring with rain all day which is why I've been able to finally update this blog, we're in a car park that has a little station where we can hook up and get electricity (woohoo!), a toilet (which is really horrible, has a hole in the wall and no seat, had to pee whilst lots of builders could see my very white bum...oh well ...

Cognaci piirkonda kuulub suur osa Charente piirkonnast kuni Atlandi ookeani rannikualadeni ning mõned piirkonnad Dordognes ja Deux-Sèvres. Kindlasti sealsed 19 500 elanikku on suured konjakisõbrad - kogu kohalik tööstus on koondunud konjaki tegemisele. 80 000 hektaril asuvates viinamarjaistandustes kasvab 15 000 istikut, mille produktidest toodetakse konjaki tarvis valget veini. See aeglaselt küpsev ...