A pousse-café and a flood party

Busy weekend. Some neighbors have invited us over this afternoon (Saturday) for dessert, café, and un petit pousse-café. Other neighbors will be there too, I think, including the one who has had her run-ins with Bertie. I haven't see her in a while so it will be interesting to hear her take on the situation now.

Do you know what a pousse-café is? It's an after-dinner drink, either an eau de vie (brandy) or a liqueur. That kind of drink is also called un digestif — the alcohol supposedly helps your digestive system deal with all the food you ate at lunch.

Tomorrow we are going to drive down to Preuilly-sur-Claise, an hour south of Saint-Aignan, to attend an Australian flood party chez Susan and Simon of Days on the Claise. They are going to pop open a bottle of sparkling Vouvray, the local bubbly wine, to celebrate the end of the flooding in Queensland, where they used to live, near Brisbane.

The party starts at 9:00 in the morning! If you read Susan and Simon's blog, you know about it, but I'll tell you anyway. Last year, an Australian family came to visit Saint-Aignan, Preuilly, and the Loire Valley. They are a couple with grown children, and two of the children were traveling with them.

The daughter is Kirstie (her blog is Thirsty Kirstie — she works as a sommelier) and her partner is Michael (he's a cook). They live west of Brisbane too, and they suffered significant damage and the fright of their lives during the recent floods down there. Kirstie has declared the month of January null and void, and is having a Happy New Year party in Australia tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. Queensland time.

So you see, that's 9:00 a.m. in France. Susan and Simon have organized a simultaneous party in Preuilly-sur-Claise. I'm not sure how many people will be there, but it should be fun. (All our best to Kirstie and Michael.)

The weather is pretty cold — below freezing this morning — but there's no snow or ice that I've heard of. The bread lady said the roads are dry. It's actually supposed to be sunny in Saint-Aignan for the next few days.