Winter 2010-2011

Winter 2010-2011

I just realized that I have not posted for six months! I thought I had posted my winter tales but apparently not. In mid-November it got very cold, and then it got colder. And the heat did not seem to be working properly. Right about then my friends from Paris, Ellen and Jean-Pierre, arrived for a long weekend -- and we froze. In spite of that we really enjoyed ourselves, as expected, and had some great meals. Then Mike and Rob arrived for Christmas and New Years, the best Christmas present one could hope for. We had the minimally useful new heat pump, and numerous plug in heaters, and we were still freezing. The fireplace was disassembled in preparation for its renewal as a hearth for a wood burning stove. Open fires are great to look at, but they don't heat well. The fireplace was not done right, as former owners had put in a wood stove, then the owners I bought from had changed it back to a fireplace by just putting some big blocks on the floor and a sheet of steell on top -- I called it campfire on the floor. Not unsafe because everything is masonry, but it didn't look very good or work well without smoking. I've posted a photo of the current fireplace, with a new stone hearth and a new massive mantle made from a 200 year old mantle from a salvage yard. I had an English mason I know do the work, which required cutting big new holes in the wall to support it, and a new joint to connect the corner. Half of the joint was there from its earlier use, and Simon made the other half. It turned out very well, I think.

Back to Mike and Rob's visit. In spite of the cold, we had a wonderful time. We visited Carcassonne, Beziers, the St. Chinian market, the Canal du Midi, Lamalou les Bains and other interesting things in the area. It was too cold for much outdoor sightseeing, but being together was the important part. They cooked many good dinners for us, and got my little old stove working well. They went through and cleaned and adjusted and I'm quite happy with it. It fits perfectly into my narrow kitchen. I'm including a photo of the salvage sink, black and white marble counter (a dresser top which has lost its dresser), black marble backsplash (another orphan marble top) and antique floor tiles -- all second hand stuff but it looks good in here. We were invited out to the home of friends for New Years Eve dinner. The hosts were Hanni and Frans, a Dutch couple who have retired here, and the other guests were my friends Horst and Daria who I wrote about in the Vendange posting. We had aperitifs, then a meal of many courses, each with a specially selected wine, and twenty year old port at the end. None of us spoke a language in common, but there was french, spanish, english, dutch, german and polish to choose from, so we managed. It was a truly unforgettable evening A very sad note is that in mid-January Daria was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and she died in April. She will be missed terribly by her many friends, and how Horst will cope I don't know. He has not yet returned to Roquebrun from Germany, but is due any day.

Mike and Rob also got the heat pump working right -- unbelievably I had not thought to clean the filters, and I had been doing very dusty work in the house -- sanding, grinding, etc. The filters were so clogged no heat was coming out to speak out, and once they were cleaned the unit worked much better. Still cold, but nothing like it was before. As if all this was not enough, hey helped me move furniture from a used furniture place in Beziers and carried it down to the house for me. They brought me fuzzy pajamas, a taxidermy frog with a guitar (no, really), a California wine cookbook (no wine cookbooks here?), the ultimate oven thermometer, Sees candy (unavailable here and I love it), other things I’m sure I’ve missed, but best of all themselves.

Finally, an interesting discovery: Under my “cave” which is a cellar, is another cave. The cave of my present house is obviously a former house, fallen into ruin at some point, and used as the foundation for this house about 1850. One can see where there was a fireplace, under the current one. The floor is slightly higher in the center and I wondered if there was a vaulted cave underneath. As it turns out, the answer is Yes! This is kind of difficult to describe, but back in the old days, animals lived in the cave below the house, and openings were created to drop food scraps down to them. In a vaulted room, there would be a hole with stone blocking on each side to keep the vault from being damaged. The holes were about a foot square. So, there was a large piece of stone, a black stone rather like slate, called Lauze, in the cave as part of the flooring. It measures about 2’ x 3’, and I wanted to use it as a part of the floor in the hearth. So I had the mason bring it up. Underneath there was a small hole. The hole, upon a little digging and enlargement, proved to have sides and is one of those animal food holes. We dropped al ight down, and there is a vaulted cave below, about 15’ x 15’, with a ceiling of 10’ more or less. It appears to be empty.

Mike and Rob left right after New Years, and the weather improved immediately. The sun was out when I left them at the train station. I will continue with an entry for spring!