Stranded

Well, here we are — stranded. Poor us. There are no flights in or out of Paris (or anywhere else in northern Europe). The French trains, or a good number of them, are on strike. We can't go anywhere. I guess we'll just have to make the best of it.

Despite all the news about a cloud of volcanic ash and dust floating over all of Europe, we are having beautiful weather here in Saint-Aignan (and all over France, I think). Walt mowed the grass for the first time yesterday. Today I'll do some planting in the garden.

Red cowslips (coucous rouges) have come up again,
out on the edge of the vineyard.

We are enjoying a couple of days of peace and quiet, since the construction crew took the weekend off. There was talk of rain tomorrow, but Walt said the forecast has changed and now we can expect bright sunny conditions for the beginning of the week.

A nice walk with Callie yesterday morning early, in full sun

That means we can do some more work in the garden and yard, and it means the Vélux windows might very well get installed tomorrow or Tuesday. That will really transform the new upstairs room. It's going to be fun to move back in when the attic conversion is complete. We are getting a new three-story house.