A statue in front of the Luçon Cathedral shows more "Family Values" propaganda from the Catholic Church
After Christine’s mom’s house was somewhat under control,
I learned that there was to be a limited family reunion at
Christine’s family ranch called “La Foye.” The plan was to drive
to Luçon, spend the night with Christine’s cousin, and then
drive to the ranch the next day for the reunion and then
either head back to Saint Gilles, or stay another night in
Luçon.
Christine’s cousin and her husband bought an old warehouse
that used to be across the street from a Shipping port. I’m not
entirely sure about the details, but what I understand is that there was a canal maintained from the ocean in-land that was allowed to dry up or was filled in. Again, not entirely clear about the details, but here is a map so you can see… And maybe more information (well no actually, I googled Luçon and came up with nothing, so if you feel like searching and you find more information, let me know.) As I was saying, they bought a warehouse that had partially been converted into a residence, and over the past 18 years and three children later, the house is pretty amazing. I know I would have made some different remodeling decisions, but all in all the house was very large and nicely arranged. We received a tour of the property and then sat down to a large French dinner of mussels, wine, cheese, bread, Pasta (for those of us not so hot on the mussels) and the other usual suspects. After dinner I put on a short slideshow for the family and we retired to rest up for the next days festivities.
The gentleman in the front center is Maurice. The family Patriarch that reminded me of Papa and of Don Vito Corleon. This guy is 95 years old and a lot of fun at a party. We all had drinks before our drinks (in france this is known as the aperitif, which is meant to prepare the stomach for some serious macking, although it seems to me to be the best time to catch a buzz before your stomach is full of food.) After the aperitif, and the meet and greet, we sat down to a large multi-course meal with just as many wines as dishes. After lunch various parts of the family wandered off in search of different activities around the farm. I went on a walk with a group of Christine’s family in search of a plot of land held by Christine, her brothers and uncle. It was a nice walk through the country, though I was never completely sure that the plot of land had been found. After the walk, there was a short tour of the bread oven, where Christine took ill from the overwhelming smell of Bay leaves left in the oven. While she was resting I took a short walk around to take a few pictures.
After my walk around the farm some of the men decided to play a game called Pallet. I’m not sure if I spelled that correctly, but is was pronounced ‘Pallay.’ Basically it was sort of like bocci ball, except that it was played with steel saucers on a sheet of lead. I thought my experience with disc golf would help me out, however, the men were determined to correct my form. In Pallet, you are supposed to angle your steel saucer downward to grab the lead to stop your disc. I had some good throws, but I’m fairly sure my team lost in the end. Well folks, the meter on the car is running out, so I’m going to wrap this up now, and say goodbye.
I received a few email’s about the blog, and will try to address some of the difficulty by changing the first page a little. I thought is was a little odd that so much of the blog would show up on the first page, when to really read the issue, you had to click read more. So this time I will change it so that it is more clear that you need to click “read more” to read any of the blog. As far as the font goes, I’m sorry, but since I chose this stupid cartoon theme, I can’t change the font without messing up the page. I may change the theme to something different after I get to Aix, but on the laptop, I’ll just adjust what I can to make it easier. I hope you are all well. . .
Take care,
-G