Things that have to go

On veut du changement. It's time for changes. One thing that has to go is the living room window. A window installer has ordered us a new double-glazed panel to replace the old single-glazed unit. The new one will be air-tight; it'll be nice to have less cold air seeping into the room in wintertime.

Too bad, but this window has to go.

The new window, which won't have divided lights (as they are called) or what in French are called petits bois (little wooden frames around panes), will change the look of the room. The window faces north, and having big slabs of glass instead of little panes (which are a pain to wash) will maximize the light coming into the room from that side.

Another thing that has to go is the tall, unproductive row of hazelnut trees on the north side of the yard, near the vegetable garden. The trees are overgrown — too tall and bushy.

Down will come the tall, bushy hazelnut trees. Or are
they shrubs? In French, they're arbustes, not arbres.

Besides, we never get any hazelnuts from them. The ones that the birds or squirrels don't steal turn out to be wormy. We didn't come here to be hazelnut growers.

The gardening contractor who came by the other day to give us an estimate on all the yard work we need done (mostly trimming that long, long bay laurel hedge) said he could cut the hazelnut row down to a height of less than four feet — just over a meter. His crew will go at them with their tronçonneuses (chainsaws). Then we'll be able to keep the bushes under control without having to climb on ladders, risking life and limb. The yard will have a cleaner look.