The view from my window

The view from my window
The view from my window

Sunday 5 July 2020

This and that!

It's been a quiet weekend and I have to say I've really appreciated it, after having the roofing guys here all week. They've finished laying the insulation but one guy is coming back tomorrow to finish up the sealant on the part of my roof that they missed. It was an easy mistake to make as they thought it was part of my neighbour's roof, so tomorrow, hopefully, will be their last day here. While I was chatting to them I mentioned that in amongst the old insulation that they were stripping off I saw what looked like little clusters of yellow grapes. Yellow because they were covered in insulation, but small clusters the size of grapes or olives. They told me it was bats and they come across them quite often! Eeek! I had a wasps' nest removed from my roof many years ago and I personally set a burgeoning hornets' nest on fire more than once, but I never thought of bats, although why not? There are plenty round here in the evenings.


My friend drove over on Friday and it was so good to see him. It's the first time I've seen him since around February/March. We went to eat at the one-and-only restaurant (one-and-only anything to be honest) in the village and had a really nice time together. I love that restaurant because the view over the mountains from their terrace is just fabulous and it brings back lovely memories of going skiing with our neighbours when the kids were little and then stopping in at La Fertire for a fondue afterwards! They were happy days!

Later that evening there was a knock at my door and my neighbour handed me a piece of paper saying that they had decided to hold our homeowners' association AGM in the middle of the island on Friday night. Philippe is the President of our association (because no-one else wanted to do it) but I'm not sure he was ever up to it from a technology stand point because he'd printed off his convening email and was walking round handing out paper copies of it! I know they're looking for a new treasurer as the lady who has had that responsibility is selling up so I might volunteer, just to show willing. I doubt there's actually anything to do as we're not an active association and I'm not exactly over-worked as it is!

And can you believe it was a year on 4 July since Jordan and Jen had their wedding do! Crikey, hasn't time flown!

Jordan and Jen

I wasn't able to get over and see André this past week as I've been busy with workmen, but I sent him a message and asked how things were going. He told me that he and Lily had been to see an advisor who can guide them through a do-it-yourself divorce since there is no common property and no children. So, as sad as I am for them, it looks like the divorce is going ahead. I went into town yesterday as I wanted to pick up a couple of things and while I was there I thought "why don't I start putting together a start-up package for him for when he moves into his own place"? You know, things like cleaning materials, washing powder and stuff like that. I pick up extras for the food bank every week anyway so starting up another store for André won't change much for me. I'm not talking about furniture because obviously André will want to chose that for himself. I had my own place in Geneva when I met my husband and when we married and moved back to the States I remember spending an absolute fortune just on stuff to get us set up in our own home. My furniture was shipped from Switzerland but just setting ourselves up with the basics was extremely costly!

Eat your heart out Dave because the Tour de France is actually coming to this area starting next week and should be in our local town on 16 July, if I remember right. I'm sure it'll be heaving so I'll try to wander down on foot and get some pictures for you!

This is at the Plâteau de Glières, just up the road from here.
"74" is this region of France - Haute Savoie

I'm invited over to my neighbour's later this evening for an apéro so I'd better start thinking about getting cleaned up. But talking of "cleaning up", I've just spent quite some time going through my blog "favourites" and deleting as many as possible - people whose blogs I meant to read and never got round to it. People who've stopped blogging or maybe just people whose blogs I've moved on from. One thing I did notice though is that the bloody advertising on some of those blogs drives me insane. If you have to click on three different adverts just to be able to read someone's post well I guess that's no longer a blog for me!

And finally, whichever way the US elections go in November I'm sure my American friends out there will be delighted to learn that Kanye West has "decided to throw his hat in the ring" for 2024! Can you image Kanye as POTUS and Kimmie as FLOTUS - and they said it could never get worse than Trump!

22 comments:

  1. Omg, bats!!! I hope we can see some pics of the Tour De France, I love all the shots of your area. That is sad about your son and daughter in law, i thought maybe they would work it out :(

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    1. Initially I thought they would work it out too but seemingly not now. I'll try to get pictures from in town when the Tour comes through. Not my thing, to be honest, but still worth a few shots!

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  2. Kenye may actually run this year. It seems a little late to get a campaign organized but nothing is normal any more and so who knows? Quite frankly, it is no harder for me to imagine Kenye and Kim in the White House than it is for me to imagine Don and Mel although I've now had almost four years to contemplate that reality. I'd much rather think about things like your comings and goings and doings. I'm so glad you got to see your lovely Dutchman.

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    1. I read also about him maybe trying for 2020 - it takes your breath away doesn't it! Makes my eyes water just thinking about it in fact!

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  3. Americans are so dumb. Twitter is ablaze over the Kanye news and there is little talk of a racist standing in front of a national monument spewing hate speech on our independence day.
    Enough!
    Sounds like you had a busy week, some nice news and some, well, bats?? No, thank you!

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    1. Actually I prefer the thought of bats than wasps - but ideally I'd have neither!

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  4. Barb=some Americans are dumb and duped! The thought of bats, though I know they do so much good, freaks me out a bit! I'm glad after the noise you have some quiet. I look forward to going out for a meal, but it will be a while. I'd love a mountain view, but I'l settle for a river view.

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    1. Now I think of it I've probably had bats in my eaves for quite some time as I remember "scratching" sounds every night. I'm not averse to bats so if I can move them along a bit without killing them so be it!

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  5. Keeps the bats around as they eat annoying bugs like mosquitoes and such! Heck, you might want to hang a bat house in a high tree. It gives them a place to nest but keeps them out of your attic.
    Ex-CB is moving out later this month so we are in "setting household up" mode here too for him. He'll raid the stockpile of food and toiletries I am sure as well.
    Hubs would love to see any photos you get when the Tour comes through. He watches on tv every year and I was just asking last night whether or not they were going to hold it this year. ;-)

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    1. Heck if I can hang a bat house in my garden I would be more than happy to do so as I have no problem with bats (I found one in my bathtub once). And as for the Tour, yep I'm happy to get as many pictures as I can even if it bores the pants off me!

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  6. I fail to be surprised by American politics, it seems a natural progression now for celebs to want to become mayor or run for office. We have a few bats that fly around the street lights of an evening. They're so fast they give me the creeps.

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    1. I have nothing against celebrities running for office if they're competent but Kanye seems "unhinged" to say the least. And as for Kim!!! The mind boggles!

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  7. It is so expensive setting up a new place. I hear people complain about it everyday in the store.

    And I am sooooo jealous. In case you didn't know, there will be crowds. If you go, try to find a spot on a hill so they slow down because they go soooo fast!

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    1. I was thinking about just wandering into town when they finished up but if I can find out what time they're coming through I can walk about 1 km from here and get a view where it might not be so crowded.

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  8. I would not mind a bat house on the perimeter of my yard. Anything eating mosquitos would be welcome!
    Son3 and DIL3 rented a car and drove from NYC so they could take some things back with them. I think they are going to take most of the shelf stable things from Mom's pantry, plus I am grabbing them things each time I go to the store. Unfortunately for them I rarely go anymore.

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    1. It's those kinds of things I'm going to buy for my son. Cleaning products, washing powder, different oils and so on. And I think it's good that your son and his wife are taking so much of your mom's stuff. Better than having it go to waste!

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  9. If bats hang around too long in your attic, you could have a foot of guano that will be expensive to remove and cause damage to the attic. On the other hand, you will have plenty of fertilizer.

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    1. I reckon they've been up there for years to be honest, because I used to hear scratching sounds up there and just figured it was cats or birds on the roof, although when I think about it cats don't make a noise. Well at least they're gone now!

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  10. Can’t believe how fast that TdF peloton whizzes past. When it started in Yorkshire back in 2014, we camped out overnight and then walked 4 miles uphill for a grandstand view from the tops of the moor, but so did every other man and his dog! Good to read how your path back to a face to face social life is getting on track; feel quite envious of that little restaurant with its terrace. Don’t think our pub with a car park and view of the school gate quite compares!

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    1. I'll be curious to see how the Tour de France pans out as I believe they will be spending the night in our local town. I don't care really as I'm not interested in cycling but it could be fun. And yes our little restaurant is lovely. Just a shame that it's the only meeting point in our little village!

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  11. A lot of years ago when we were driving home through France we came to a traffic jam on a very quiet country road. We got out to see why and about 10 cars along the road was a crossroads and turns out the Tour de France was going through so we had to wait till they had all passed through, including all the support vehicles. We weren't overly impressed as we were on a tight schedule to catch a ferry! However the children were amazed at the speed of the bikes!
    I wouldn't like bats in the attic but they might be ok in the garden! x

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    1. EVERYTHING stops for bike races, and I mean EVERYTHING. You just jogged my memory of the day I had my appointment to see my obstetrician six weeks after Jordan's birth. It was mid-July and scorching hot and all the traffic was stopped for the Tour de France. I got stuck in the traffic and was able to call and let the doctor know but the cops took pity on me having such a little baby in the car and moved a bunch of people over to put me in the shade. Luckily I had taken water for the baby and was breastfeeding anyway but he was at very real risk of getting dehydrated as we must have sat there for over an hour!

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