Waltz of the Wild Plum Fairies...

Our wild plum trees, aka ‘mirabelles’, are causing us work in the form of how to gobble all the fruit before baskets we’ve gathered of the little red and yellow plums can rot before our eyes. Creatively, we’ve eaten them fresh from the tree, baked them in traditional ‘clafoutis’ (somewhat like cobblers), used them in tarts and as the main ingredient in ‘A to Z’ bread, and finally in a plum and apple chutney that is simmering as I write. We’ve also packaged quantities up in pretty little gift baskets and given them away. Next, I fear, comes jam and perhaps – if we maintain our stamina - some kind of wild plum liqueur.

    

Bastille Day (14 July) came and went uneventfully for us as we worked all day (just as we had on the Fourth of July) even though Francesco was abed the night before with a terrible migraine. I was able to complete a trellis-making experiment but because of Francesco’s headache we were forced to miss the little fete and fireworks display orchestrated by our tiny neighboring village of Ajat. (How I would love, someday, to see the grand Bastille Day parade on the Champs Elysees and to witness what must be one of the world’s most thrilling fireworks displays bursting against the Paris night sky. We would have had that opportunity had we not vacated our Ile Saint Louis apartment and headed for the country – c’est la vie.)

We are still waiting for ‘real work’ to commence, expecting our first contractor (the roofer) on July 25, but continue to do what we can by ourselves. We have dismounted all the shutters and doors of house #2 and Francesco is patiently sanding them and repairing rotten woodwork so that I may take over and paint. We now are turning our attention to planning for that house, as it will be the first to undergo renovation, having been uninhabitable when we purchased the property. All that is needed are completely new electric, plumbing, and heating systems, a totally new network of interior walls (with insulation), a re-do of the roof, and a complete rebuilding of the long porch and studio room on the garden façade. (!)

We still haunt flea markets for bargains – such as one yesterday at a beautiful small chateau at Campagne en Perigord - which the only way we can afford this project. In addition to a spectacular early 19^th-century kitchen lamp that we purchased at an antique store and that we’ve hung in our ‘Giverny’ kitchen, recent yard sale ‘finds’ include a pair of handsome art nouveau kitchen shelves, destined for house #2, three old metal lanterns for the long porch, a leaf-motif hanging lamp (for the breezeway that houses the four au pain), a double-width brass & iron bedstead, a large work bench with good strong metal legs, an antique door with nicely carved raised paneling, and a white enamel ‘country style’ kitchen sink. Total outlay for all these flea market finds was a stingy 168 euros – just the right amount for our ever-stretched budget.