The priming is under way

It's long and tedious work. But we're not paying somebody else to do it. Still, it's long and tedious work. I got the first third of the attic space taped and primed on Saturday. The taping was done on Friday, but I didn't start painting until Saturday morning.

First coat of primer on the left, no primer yet on the right. Looking up at the ceiling.

I spent a little more than three hours doing the corners and baseboards with a brush then finishing the large surfaces with a roller. I was up and down from the scaffolding countless times. I moved the drop cloths around a lot. I still spilled paint on the floor. And I promptly cleaned it up.

The north end of the attic has its first coat of primer. Yippee!

The primer is very thick. I was complaining about it when Ken brought up a jug of water and said, "Thin it down!" That worked better. I think I'm going to put a second coat on with the roller just to be sure that it covers well. We still haven't picked a color for the room. And there are still two thirds to do. Taping. Corners. Baseboards. Rolling. I think Ken will help, so it should go a bit faster.

Then we have to paint it all.

I just did some rough calculations. The floor area of the space is about 65 square meters or about 700 square feet. The wall area (what we're priming and painting) is roughly 130 square meters, or about 1,400 square feet. Oh my.

Place de la Paix

When I went into town to the market last weekend, I took a quick peek at the renovation work going on in the market square, Place de la Paix. The new trees, benches, and light fixtures aren't installed yet, but the paving is pretty much done.

The northeast corner of the place with St.-Aignan's collégiale church behind.

The work has taken many months. The old trees had to come out. Then the old asphalt pavement and sidewalks were removed. After that, all the utilities under the place from electricity to water to sewer had to be upgraded.

The northwest corner.

Then the sidewalks were rebuilt and the new paving started. Every paving stone is laid by hand, of course, and pounded into the carefully constructed base of stone and sand. No wonder it took a while.

Looking southwest. The square boxes are tree planters.

Last weekend they had started to seal the pavers with some kind of coating. It was all very sticky and very shiny. I don't remember that shiny stuff going on the main streets in town when those were done six years ago, but I'm hoping the sheen wears off soon and it all blends together.

The southeast corner will be the last section to get sealed.

I may go to the market again on Saturday to check on the progress. Then, in a week (August 14) the work should be over and the market will be back in the center of town instead of on the edge. I'll be sure to take more photos at that point.

Looking northeast again.

From what I'm told, the new place will have fewer parking spots and parking time will be reduced from the current two hours to more like twenty minutes. This is not a big problem for us since there is plenty of parking around the edge of the small town including a newly-expanded lot about five minutes away on foot. But it will still provide some parking for those who can't walk so far.

Saint-Aignan street light

Seen just outside the restaurant on Monday in Saint-Aignan. The festive flags will likely come down at the end of August.

A street light in the rue Paul-Boncour.

Another lunch at the Mange-Grenouille

One of the prettiest restaurants in Saint-Aignan is called le Mange-Grenouille (The Frog Eater). It's been open for about five years and just recently changed hands. Our friend CHM took us to lunch there on Monday and the food was just as good as it ever was. It's standard French fare and for lunch on weekdays they serve a great menu for fourteen euros.

CHM and Ken in the courtyard dining area of the Mange-Grenouille. The tables filled up after we arrived.

The menu has a couple of options for appetizers, then three choices for the main course. There is usually one beef dish, one fish dish, and then something else. Cheese or dessert is included in the menu price, but wine and coffee are extra.

The appetizer.

Each of us had the same appetizer on Monday. It was a salad of smoked lieu (I think Americans would call that pollock) with lettuce, chopped tomato, sliced and marinated pears and cucumbers, a spear of white asparagus, and crispy fried shallots. Very tasty. The other choice, which we didn't taste, was rillettes de canard (potted duck).

My main course.

We each had something different for our main courses. Mine, pictured here, was a roti de porc (pork roast) in a balsamic sauce. It was served with a mix of fresh green and yellow beans, carrots, and eggplant, and half a roasted potato. Ken had a steak in pepper sauce and CHM had skate wing.

Dessert.

We also had a bottle of Pinot Noir from across the river in St.-Romain. Our dessert was a slice of French toast with an apricot compote and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Then we each had a coffee.

The Tadpole's menu (for kids under eleven).

The restaurant's decor is very nice; it was done by a local woman from whom we bought some antiqued furniture when we arrived here seven years ago. She has a shop in St.-Aignan. The weather was very pleasant and we were able to snag a table in the courtyard and enjoy the greenery and the sunlight.

The castle's gate house

Among the interesting buildings that I pass on my way to the Saturday morning market is the castle's old gate house. It's a nice little building that was in serious disrepair when we first moved here seven years ago.

The gate house and gate outside the Château de Saint-Aignan.

The gate house has since been renovated and is now rented out as a holiday home. I've seen the interior thanks to some friends who stayed there once. It's very nice, and it's a quick walk into town, even though the house feels like it's secluded inside a park. Except for that château you can see from the bedroom window...

On my way to market

Last spring the Saturday morning market in Saint-Aignan was temporarily moved up into the upper place (Place du 14 Julliet) in town because the lower place (Place de la Paix) is being renovated. The work was supposed to be done before the summer season but, like many construction projects, it's taken longer than expected.

Looking back through the arch toward the river. The castle is to the right.

Since parking is a little tricky next to the temporary market (the town is also expanding one of its parking lots and it's closed during the construction as well), I park the car down along the river when I go on Saturday mornings. Then I walk up through the château grounds to get to the market. On my way, I pass through the arch you see above.

The arch supports a little bridge that carriages once used, and now cars use, to enter the castle's courtyard. The walk to market up the hill below the castle and along its chestnut tree-lined drive is very pleasant on sunny mornings. It beats the heck out of the supermarket parking lot.

This past Saturday, all the vendors at the market displayed signs saying that they'll be moving back into the renovated Place de la Paix on August 14. It'll be interesting to see how that goes.

The artichokes are blooming

And they're abuzz with insects collecting nectar. And one tiny little spider who seems to have taken up residence in one of the flower heads. But I don't have good photos of any of that.

Artichokes in bloom.

I have no idea how long these plants will last. This is the fourth year they've come back and bloomed. When we put them in I was under the impression that they might go two seasons if we were lucky. We did lose one or two to cold, but the three others continue to sprout at the slightest hint of warm weather. Sometimes they die back once or twice in late winter/early spring if warm days alternate with cold spells.

Looking down on the flower. The tiny white dot to the right of center is a spider.

I couldn't decide which of these pictures to post, so I posted all three. As I've said before, these artichokes are not so good to eat because they're small and tough. Maybe if we pick them when they're new they'd be tender and good, but we haven't tried that. There's always next spring.

They're quite beautiful, then they dry and make fluffy seeds.