19 December 2011

Collateral damage

Some American friends of our own a house out in the country about 10 miles south of Saint-Aignan. They don't live here at this point — they just come over and spend a month in the summertime. We went out there and watched the Tour de France cyclists race by last summer.

Our friends weren't so lucky with the recent storm. They got a report from a contractor who checked their property Saturday saying that one of their chimneys was blown off by Joachim's high winds on Friday.

I made a yogurt cake with shredded coconut one day
last week. Guess who was interested.

I'm going to drive out into the country this morning to meet the contractor, who is a stone mason. I'll give him the keys to the house so he can get in to patch up the damage and then do a permanent repair this winter. It's supposed to rain tonight.

I took a walk in the woods late yesterday afternoon with the dog. There are a lot of trees down, especially small spindly ones. I had to step or even climb over a few that were lying across the path — Callie scooted under most of them. I think we'll have to avoid that path for the next few months, because a couple of big trees are leaning precariously and risk falling on anybody walking through.

11 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about your friends chimney. They were indeed unlucky, as there doesn't seem to have been much damage to buildings at all from Joachim. Mostly it's been flooding around here, with people evacuated from Montrésor and le Louroux. Your friends are lucky though to have you on hand to help sort it out. These things can be a real headache if you or someone you trust isn't on the spot.

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  2. Yup, good friend you are, that's for sure :)

    Is the rest of the flavor of that cake chocolate?

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  3. Your friends are lucky that you're around to help them sort things out. I imagine it would be so worrying if you don't have someone you know around who can help when you're not there.
    As Susan says it's been flooding.

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  4. Antoinette and Niall, about the pintade, I've never tried a chapon de pintade or pintade chaponnée before. It'll be interesting. I know I really like pintade in general.

    I hadn't heard about the flooding, Susan. I was near Montrésor this morning.

    Judy, no, no chocolate. Just flour, sugar, eggs, coconut, and yogurt.

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  5. Callie is saying: "don't forget me" :-)

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  6. I hope H's house will be OK. It's such a neat old place.

    LOVE Callie's adorable face looking up at your cake. I know just how she feels!

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  7. Hi Ginny, H's house will be fine. I went out there this morning. The damage is not severe, and the roof over the living areas is not affected. Some tile will need to be replace, and the chimney for the boiler.

    Callie knows how to work the crowd, for sure. N'est-ce pas ?

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  8. That storm must have been frightening. Glad your friends weren't in the house at the time!

    And I LOVE that picture of Callie and the cake!!!

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  9. Ken, that shot of Callie and the Cake is marvellous.... a typical BC mindbender look. Tim reckons that all BCs have the ability to look pathetically hungry at the smell of food.

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  10. Some dogs can look 'pathetically hungry' at a 'fridge or pantry door!

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  11. Sorry about your friend's bad luck.

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