Well the busy pace of life continues at Les Battees. July is the holiday season in France and seems to bleed into August. The daily rhythm continues… dinners for guests prepared by Roy, ironing sheets, doing dishes, and making beds in the guest rooms while discussing important issues in life… like the origin of certain English words…which leads us to conversations about Canterbury Tales and the language of the time (14th century) used in the book… and ultimately somehow digressed into a conversation about the song Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and the muppet version of that song. To say things aren’t just a little bit “koo-koo” around here from the unrelenting daily work at Les Battees would not be the truth. But alas, so it goes.
The busy times has brought guests from the Netherlands and England. There have been French guests who have mistaken me for Roy’s wife and wondered why it was that I was so unfriendly not speaking a word to them… Unfortunately they did not understand my friendly American smile that I offered which means something like… “I come in peace… and I cannot speak your language!” Yes, it seems I have digressed into saying that I cannot speak French. My “foundation” of high school French has proven quite… inadequate… as mostly I tend to say “Je ne parle pas Francais” which is, of course, I don’t speak French. Part of the challenge I have found in speaking French is listening to and understanding French when spoken by a French person. A whole different ballgame. The other night at dinner there was a Dutch woman speaking French with the French guests so beautifully. I had French envy. Despite my challenges I still think it would be fun to speak French or another language in addition to English.
I remain “pampered” with the wonderful food here at Les Battees. I never tire of French cheese and my prior habit of eating little dairy has had to simply… go out the window. Roy continues to pull fresh vegetables from his garden, some familiar, and some less so. The other day he picked some green beans from the garden. They looked innocent enough until I saw the bright red beans on the inside. They didn’t look like any green beans I had ever had! Roy calls them runner beans and says that he thinks these are the same beans we use to grow kidney beans. He steamed them and served them up with one of his famous mushroom omelettes. Yummy!
We have another busy weekend ahead and then it looks like possibly a break…the first in weeks. When I am not busy with the Chambres d’Hotes lately I am spending my time busily researching for my “next step” when I leave Les Battees… plans still under development.
So in the meantime, still making my way. Ironing the sheets. Making the beds. And in between grabbing some sunlight and taking breaks in the fresh country air accompanied by the gentle hills surrounding Les Battees.
Gypsy Woman 