A beautiful afternoon, overflowing with autumnal sunshine and culminating in a mild evening with a 97% full moon, gave way to a cloudy sky on Monday. Monday’s 99% full moon should have progressed to a smashingly stunning proper Full Moon on Tuesday night, but the weather gods decided to give us rain instead. Or, as my British […]
Read more "Moon over the Arch"Saturday evening we dined al fresco on the veranda, watching life play out in front of us on Quai de la République, the river Charente and Place Bassompierre on the opposite bank. It wasn’t the brightest of summer evenings, but still comfortable and very pleasant in an overcasty way. That was no longer the case […]
Read more "Ode to the Indefatigable Tourist"In large part thanks to the aid of automated translators, I routinely write emails or post on Facebook in either English, German, French or Spanish, with a smidgen Italian thrown in now and then. I’m only fluent in two of those languages, happily guessing my way through the others, killing grammar right and left as […]
Read more "Electronic Lunacy"The last two weeks have been decidedly unpleasant, filled with disconcerting news from Costa Rica, compounded by upper respiratory trouble and a case of food poisoning, unpleasantness galore! More about some of the gory and at times frightening details sometime down the road. Today on the other hand was a beautifully sunny, warm and pleasant […]
Read more "Spring Has Sprung For Good!"We spend this Valentine’s Day busily doing household chores and running errands. After we were finally done, a last quest took us to the chocolatier. Not just any chocolatier, but our very own neighborhood chocolate maker “La Chocolataise” on Cour National, the main road through town just two blocks from our house. True to form […]
Read more "Studio Portrait of a Shopping Bag"On the bright and sunny morning of New Year’s Eve, we walked over to the market to purchase the ingredients for a festive meal for New Year’s Day. Our butcher’s wife, Mme Besson, gave us the first hint, the first indication that New Year’s Eve in Saintes has more of a carnival atmosphere than Shrove […]
Read more "Saint-Sylvestre with Gilles & Clowns"Unexpected Santons right here in Saintes!
Read more "The Plywood Saints of Saintes"So, how did we get from an abysmal (sorry, Longhorn fans, it was horrible!) football game to fish heads? Well, it happened like this. I few days ago I prepared dinner after a recipe in the German lady’s journal ‘Brigitte‘, from which I receive a daily recipe by email. This one was a simple affair, consisting of […]
Read more "Accidental Fish Soup"In a day and a half or near then, we shall be on one of four flights needed to take us from our home to our home. From the nightly view above, to its partner below. In Saintes the plane trees will be bare now, the tourist boat safely in dry dock till the following […]
Read more "Bemeddled Musing"Watching our swans on the Charente river.
Read more "Adieu My Little Cygnets"
NOT IN A STRAIGHT LINE by Photolera Claudinha 