The past four weeks were my summer hiatus.

We were supposed to leave for France the Sunday before week 23, but as Y became increasingly ill we spent most of Monday in the ER because our GP wanted to make sure it wasn’t appendicitis. Reassured it wasn’t, we left for France, first stop Troyes south of Reims. The next day we continued on to our destination Cheverny, near Blois along the Loire river. We stayed there for most of three weeks, camping with our tent. We visited one or two chateaux, of which there are many in the region, and enjoyed nearby cities such as Blois, Orleans, and Tours. E an Y found 3 four-leaf clovers during our stay. I’d never seen one before really (probably as I don’t spend much time looking at clover). E spotted some interesting musea for us to visit, such as the fondation du doute in Blois, Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré (CCC OD) in Tours with a great exhibit of work from artists from La Reunion, and on our way back home La Piscine in Roubaix with a colorful exhibit of the work of JonOne in a 1930s art-deco municipal swimming pool.

Coming home last Wednesday we found there had been an issue with the electricity, and that our freezer had completely defrosted. Not an appealing chore to deal with. Meanwhile I’ve hunted down what caused the short circuit.
I got a haircut, and shaved off my 4 week vacation beard. We unpacked and stored our camping gear. The car had its yearly technical check and service. So all is set for my first week after the hiatus. Y is still out of school the coming two weeks so we will be in a slightly different mode for a while with day trips etc. One of which was yesterday, a visit to the Deventer open air second hand book market.

E and Y, who’s counting windows, at Chambord

The facade of the fondation du doute in Blois

La Piscine in Roubaix

We now return to our regular programming.