long time no posts.....

So here we go...a recap of our 5 days in Chenedouit (it seemed like longer, it's amazing what a five day weekend can do for you).Sebastian and his cousin Zoe...resting their feet at a brocante (flea market) that we did together on Sunday. Sebastian scored on four transformer DVD's and a dinosaur book all for the low low price of 3,50 euros. Hard to beat. They followed the treasure hunting by an order of french fries.
Friday we finally stopped at this marsh (marais) area a few minutes from our place. We had driven by many times, and we finally had the time to stop. It reminded me of when I was a kid duck hunting with my Dad and the duck blinds at Whitnal park.


At the end of our visit, I heard some rustling in the woods. I looked and saw something rather large bounding towards us. Instead of thinking badger or wild boar, my mind for some reason made the jump to..."It's a lion that's going to eat my son." A split second later a realized it was two free running dogs, no leash, no owners parading around a protected marsh area. Leave it to those dogs to ruin my moment. Just glad it turned out not to be a lion.

Yes....wouldn't be a spot about our house without mentioning the bats. After staying up late enough for nightfall, we snuck outside at 10:30pm just in time to see a swarm of bats debarking from the overhang of our roof. Up until now we had always thought we had "a few". Well after seeing them coming out, we realized that our problem was a bit more sever than that. There must be a hundred or so up in "the colony". We thought maybe we'd register with some bat association in the area. We can start charging people to come and see the sight at nightfall.
They leave us alone except for the occasional one that peeks out to our upstairs..hence the above bat in the net. They are tiny....their body (not including wings) is about as big as my pinky finger. So after catching our breath after seeing the exodus of bats, realizing that trying to rid them by us "city folk we're here a few weekends a month" vs. the country bat, "I've been tucked up in your rafters for generations" is going to be something. Better than roaches or a mouse infestation I guess, at least we never really see them. See how my mind works.....

Sebastian after taking a shower in the wild great outdoors. Yes, it was just that warm.

Cherries....hand picked by me. Our neighbors also graced us with a sampling from their respective trees. We are loving them.