The Village of Castillon

After work on Friday we enjoyed my favourite meal so far: raclette. We all sat around the table together with the donkey and dog owning neighbour, Tobias. Adrien gave us a cute and long-winded explanation of how to put our choice of cheeses, meats—including duck—quail eggs, or vegetables onto the little scoops and place them inside the raclette grill to cook while we talked to each other or ate what we last cooked. Since we were taking Saturday off, we got to have the same meal for lunch, but this time we ate in the sunshine on the terrace. Both times the meal started with everyone saying, “Bon appétit!” Traditionally, meals are also supposed to be served first to any female guests, then male guests, then women, followed by the eldest male, and then the next in age, and so on.

Chappelle Saint-Pierre on the top of the hill, and the village of Castillon

The former market street with it's intertwined trees

On Saturday Dale and I spent the morning in the nearby village of Castillon, which was only a twenty minute walk down hilly country roads. The former main street has knobbly old trees woven beautifully together across the road. The market used to be held underneath the intertwined branches, but it now takes places on the street at the bottom of the hill. We went to the hairdresser armed with a note from Amy asking for the haircut Dale wanted, but it turned out that the salon wasn’t open. Instead we went into the tiny grocery store, the 8 à Huit, and picked up some sour candies, Kit-Kat bars, and wine, none of which lasted the week.

One of the only places you shouldn't drink the water, and Dale did

The village from on top of the mountain

After the long, delicious raclette lunch, Alexis and his brother, Nicolas, as well as the two kids, got in the car to take us to a hike nearby. The road was very rough as we made our way up the mountain, but the kids were enjoying a paper fortune-teller we’d made that Adrien turned into an “Eye-Spy” game. The kids struggled a little with the hike, Alexis alternating carrying them on his back most of the way, but they were delighted when we found snow. Before long we had to make treks through it in our inappropriate summer clothing. By the time we had almost reached the second lake, as opposed to the lower one we visited the last Thursday, we came across two other hikers who said the way was completely blocked. We emerged to see the valley practically glittering in the sun behind us, and then a grey stony peak covered with mist directly in front of us. To the right was a snow drift larger than any I have ever seen. This was what blocked the path to the lake. Underneath this, however, was a little stone house. We went inside to find a kitchen, complete with a fireplace, and a ladder leading up to the sleeping area upstairs. Leaning against the cabin was a little hut fully stocked with firewood for anyone who might like to stay overnight. We ate some cookies there at the highest peak we could reach, then turned to head back down. The snow was much more difficult to manoeuvre through on the way back. Dale went ahead and skied. I ended up sliding down the hill less gracefully and had everyone laughing all the way down. Finally back at the car, I enjoyed a lightsaber fight with Adrien before we returned home.

A break at the peak

The cabin and snow drift

We worked on Sunday to make up for the day we took off to go to the lake on Thursday. I enjoy the gardening for the most part, and am not even very surprised by the strange French spiders. Most of the ones I have seen are no bigger than an inch, often brown, and carry a white sack of eggs behind them. The temperature, even when the weather is grey, has been gentle; the hot days are usually paired with the coolest breeze to make them perfectly comfortable. As we work, we can hear cowbells chiming constantly from the cows in the nearby fields, and when it isn’t the cowbells, it’s the church happily chiming out the hour.

On one of the days this week Alexis had to play a phone message for us that he received from Tobias. After his greeting, Tobias hesitantly said, “So…umm…I seem to have…uh…lost my donkey? If you see it…” It was clear that he knew how ridiculous it was going to sound, which just made the rest of us even more amused. The donkey was gone for a few days, but Dale and I saw it back in the driveway with the dogs today. It seems to have just gone off for a bit of fresh grass and alone time, and is now back with his playmates.

Nicolas went home this week, so now it is just us, the kids, and Alexis and Amy. Plus, occasionally, the English gardener, Julian. One day I overheard Alièna, while watching “Frozen” say to her mom, “I think Nicole would like this…” When I saw that she wanted to ask me to come watch it with her but was too shy, I went over and joined her. She explained to me that the characters were, “trouving” Elsa. I love the combination of French-English that she speaks, which I can generally also understand. She clearly has a good grasp of the English language if she knows to add “ing” to the end of the verb, even if it isn’t an English one she’s coming up with. Later in the week I made some cut-out paper dolls with dresses for her, which she decorated creatively with stickers—some sparkly stars, and some zucchinis.

What a suck-up

On this week’s grey Tuesday, Dale and I borrowed some bicycles and went for a ride. We crossed the highway and headed up some steep hills. We didn’t last to the next village, unfortunately. I was disappointed to find that I was not enjoying myself. Every time the bike rode over mere pebbles I thought it was going to skid out, and going down the hills felt far too fast. I was constantly holding down the brakes. In the end we turned back. I’m hoping when we get home to Canada I’ll be able to ride my back on the flat ground and remember how much fun I used to have before breaking my cheekbone. We returned for dinner, had a nice crusteau for dessert, which is a thin, flaky apple pie topped with sugar, then went to bed. As I was reading I was very happy to find the two-year-old black cat, Lucky, poking his nose into the room. I coaxed him over so I could pet him, and eventually he curled up at the very end of the bed. By the time morning came around, he was curled up behind my legs.

Last night both cats came into the room. Lucky was up on the bed, and Riley, the shy one, came creeping into the room. I heard him crawling around on the wooden cupboards where our clothes were nicely laid out and decided to get up in case he thought it was a good idea to pee on them. He ran from the room, which I felt bad about, but couldn’t do much to remedy. The next day I realized he had done exactly what I’d thought, before I could get to him. We had to do two loads of laundry, spraying vinegar on all the disgusting clothes before washing it. Luckily, the smell seems to have gone.

A road to Castillon

A Wall Lizard

On the hill next to the chapel

Dale and I walked to the village of Castillon again, hoping he would get his haircut this time. The shop was a tiny white room at the bottom of a three-story building that opened onto the small sidewalk. Since everyone seems to take two hour lunch breaks here, we went up to the overlooking church, the 16th Century Chappelle Saint-Pierre. There was a beautiful view of the village from its perch, and the church itself was stone, with a flat old saint carved next to the door. I wandered up high wooden steps to peak into the bell tower, but all the doors were locked. When we went back down to Castillon, we found out that there were no available appointments with the hairdresser. Or, at least, that’s what we thought she said. I had to resort to saying, “Lundi, Mardi: Monday, Tuesday?” and the hairdresser said, “Oui! Tuesday.” Now Dale has an appointment set up for his French haircut. We sat on the wide tiered steps by the fountain and the interlinked trees as we read our books for a while, thinking the 8 à Huit would be open soon after the two hour lunch break. Fifteen minutes after it was supposed to reopen there was still no sign of anyone, so we returned home for lunch. While I was digging in the fridge, Riley came quite close to me, and, realizing I wasn’t Ami, hissed three times. Annoyed, I hissed back. Then, slightly abashed, I realized that that was probably the end of any potential relationship with that cat.

The village of Castillon from the chapel

Hiking to another chapel

One of the cabins

Dale and I started our walk towards another chapel on a nearby hill, and found that it was more of a hike than a walk. Naturally, we got lost. There were forks and forks in all the paths. Eventually we started stumbling on crumbled, ivy-covered, one-room stone houses. Out of the forest, we even found barns. In one particular meadow there was a house and barn that had been left unlocked. Much like the cabin on top of the mountain, there was a kitchen down below, and a sleeping area up top. Alexis and Amy told us that families often herd the cattle to the mountains in the summer and make a trip of it. We surmised that these houses were waiting for their summer occupants. We didn't make it to the church this time, but by the time we returned home it was after seven. We ate dinner on the terrace with a glass of wine each, and watched the sun set over the mountains. Then, as I put down “World Without End” in the living room later, Riley surprised me by wandering right over, purring, and rubbing his head on the laptop. I guess he needed a little tough love! I’m still not letting him back in the bedroom though.

Inside the cabin

Worth getting lost over