Sommiere

The Inukshuk.

The Candy stall.

Street in Sommiere.

Dinner by the Bridge.

Boeuf.

Building the Inukshuk.

The First Century Roman bridge.

Drove 17 minutes down a little twisting road lined with grape vines and ended up in the old Roman city of Sommiere. Spent the afternoon wandering around the little streets, having dinner next to the 1st Century Roman bridge and then checking out the night market. Amazing area with so much to see and do so close.

La Maison

Here are some photos of the house we are living in.

The kitchen looking into the dinning room.

The Pool

The House from the front gate.

The Kitchen.

The Main Bath.

The Front Entrance.

Views of the surrounding countryside

I hiked up the mountain behind the house and took a few photos to give you an idea of what the local countryside looks like. The photos can be stiched together and show the Cevenne valley where Quissac (centered in the second photo) is located. The pictures start from the north and progress to the south. The area is mostly vineyards as the soil is poor and too rocky for growing anything else. The area produces about 2 billion bottles of wine each year.

This is a close up of our village with the stone bridge over the Vidourle river that runs through town.

A sample of the walking trails in the hills around the area.

A  French "No Hunting" sign riddled with buckshot. French Rednecks?

The Croissant

The Chocolate Croissants have to stop. Each morning I make the 5 minute trek across town and over the stone bridge to the bakery to pick up the fresh baguette. Stepping across the ancient stone threshold into the artisan bakery is like stepping back into your mothers womb. Unfortunately, that's where all the wholesome goodness of the moment stops, with the shelves dripping with beautiful pastries and unimaginable goodies. I leave with the baguette unceremoniously gripped in one hand and three chocolate croissants neatly wrapped in a paper bag and carried carefully in the other hand. On the 4 minute trek home I notice that the sun is shinning and the birds are singing.
The breakfast begins with  scrambled eggs, sliced fresh tomatoes, cheese and ham placed on pieces of baguette.   The coffee is being brewed up at this point and it is ready for the moment of ultimate culinary pairing; fresh  coffee with a chocolate croissant so fresh that it is still warm  (please  pause for a moment to hear the angles sing).
In reaching for the croissants I notice that the bag is completely soaked through with the butter that is used in the making of this fine pastry but push that thought to the side and ease out this fine trophy.  Biting into it is like biting into a cloud stuffed with sunshine and, with the hot coffee, transcends all earthly concerns (pause, as angels sing again).
These moments have there downside of course and, after consuming this high-fat pastry, my resting heart rate drops from 72 beats per minute to 59 and I cease to be effective as a father and husband. To remedy this, I now have to double up on the espressos which of course, leads to all kinds of undesirable side effects (see progress report one). Now I can start my day not knowing what to do but knowing that something must be done..... right now.

Nous commenceons!

Our flight was uneventful but long and the girls were sure we had spent at least two days on the plane.  The next few days were full of fun and meeting their aunties and cousins and of course a few days of  Jet Lag!

Jet lag in Holland sleeping until the afternoon!

Look Out France Here WE Come...Is France really ready for the Verkerks?  That is a question that I hadn't really thought about before.  We come with a crazy mixture of languages that are continually squished together to confuse even ourselves!  If the French thought English was confusing wait until they hear what we can mangle.  Even Kali has a great handle on this skill.  She just makes up her own version of the language and then tells you what it means in french.

Our home here in Quissac is spectacular.  We were, at least I was, a little nervous about choosing our home sight unseen over the net but it has turned out to be a wonderful choice.  The family we rented from went out of their way to prepare and help us get grounded here.  The house is painted in all my favourite colours.  There are two patios for lunching or relaxing, lovely gardens and shrubbery (not so much my thing though they are beautiful to look at), just hoping I don't kill anything by accident.  My gardening is a bit like my cooking!

Of course the pool is really the only feature the girls are interested in and are in it up to five times a day, do they still need a bath....na!

Le Pont de Faubourg, Quissac

The village is small with lots of walking trails all around.  We have been making small excursions in search of some playmates, but to no avail....soon we hope!  The river has some gigantic fish and Blaire has been looking for a net in the garage...she'll be fishing soon.  What she'll do when she catches one is anyone's guess.

Warren seems somewhat obsessed with food here!  Not a big shock but he is at a bit of a loss as to how to cook some of the veggies.  Eggplant and zucchini?  All I know is butter lots and lots of butter, someone needs to save our hearts...any thoughts?  On the other hand he has found his niche in presentation of the breakfast!

Voila!

Look Out France Here We Come

I just deleted my site so here is the first picture of the town