Home alone -- well not really

Today's the first full day on my own (with Callie and Bertie to watch out for me) while Ken's away. I was awake between three and four a.m., tossing and turning. Then I woke up close to six. Then, before I realized it, it was after seven and I was still snoozing. So I got up and started the morning routine.

Another view of the car dealership in Le Grand-Pressigny.

It's a little different for me these next two weeks. Usually Ken will rise first to make coffee, feed Bertie, and turn on the heat (it's not automatic because the timer mechanism is broken and costs way too much to repair on our twenty-year old boiler). After he eats, Bert will come inside to snooze by a radiator. This morning went smoothly. Coffee made (tastes good), cat fed (he was waiting), and the boiler fired up normally. Now I'm writing this before heading outside with Callie for her morning walk, followed by her feeding. In between, I have to sneak the cat out of the living room to keep Callie from seeing him.

I read this morning that the Socialists held on to Paris in the municipal elections. Both candidates are women, so the capital was going to have its first female mayor whatever the result. I also read that the extreme right party, the Front national, picked up several smaller cities and did generally better than they ever have. That's not so good, as the center-right party is going to have to somehow deal with this growing far-right faction.