Sommieres

Two days with Sarah and Benoit in Saint Quentin de Poterie. Very at home with these hosts. The first night their Scottish/French friend Angus came over and we hit it off playing guitar and singing together. Sarah is an Artist - from Britain. Benoit, architect now working on a museum display project that I will help with next week. For now I am working with Bertrand and Rene on the facade of a restoration project that Sarah and Benoit have going in Sommieres, a town with a long history. A roman bridge still in use. A couple of gothic towers and an old part of the city with very narrow streets. The river flooded in 2002 up about 5 feet through these streets. Reminiscent of Vermont.

The day begins at 7:30. Up for a simple breakfast. Drive to Sommieres. Start at 9. Coffee break and fix lunch on site. Quit about 5:30 and home to fix dinner, wine and dine around 8:30. It's a full day so I don't have as much time to peck away at a keyboard. Technically, I am only committed to 6 hours a day, but I enjoy being part of the mission.

I have had a chance to learn new skills in restoring the facade of the old house they bought. It is a huge project. Everything needs to be redone. Benoit is very pleasant, but strict in terms of the work. Still he has given me plenty of opportunity to try my hand at things. Rene is the skilled helper. He seems reserved, but today he told me about how he works and travels with a group using big puppets.  a'la Bread and Puppet.. which he has never heard of. Again reminds me of Vermont, where every other carpenter is also some kind of artist.

So I will quickly add some pictures here and join the evening activities.

 Benoit at work

 Looking down the street

 Sommieres from au haut

 Rooftops from the terrace

 Front door, restoration work

 Roman bridge

 Stairway

 The project

Looking up to the castle site

Sommieres across the footbridge