Meandering

We had an absolutely wicked storm yesterday: torrents of rain, lightening and thunder, a bit of hail, rushing water down the front yard, through the garden and out onto the street.  Unfortunately, some of that abundance even found its way into the house, despite a new roof!  I tell you, the rain was coming in slantwise.


So today we decided to foresake cabin fever, jump into the car, and just go wherever our little Peugeot would take us!

We saw wind turbines,

a couple of sleepy donkeys,

a few white flowers that weren't worse for wear from the rain, and all kinds of fields:

some that were growing,

some that were protected a little,

and some that were protected a lot.

The crops are in and these huge bales indicate that the yield is plentiful.

We stopped in Bressuire for lunch, and Karl just loved these ornate iron doors.

The afternoon had us finding some sheep who provide the wonderful cheese we eat,

even when they're sheared.

Curiosity got the best of us and we just had to go see what "The belly button of the world" looked like.

There was a very old keep with tiered seating on the right fit for concerts and plays,

and this most unusual statue, which didn't even have a belly button that I could see.

So off we went to the next town which was called "Hérisson", and the sign reminded me of a French book I read a few years ago called "The Elegance of the Hedgehog". 

Next stop was the town of Piété, which means Piety.

The shrine was huge,

and the Basilica Notre-Dame was enormous.

The inside was peaceful and quiet,

and we remembered Luc.

On our way home to Thouars, we saw winding paths, big trees, and even a few white cows lounging by the fence. 

We ended the day with dinner at "Le Petit Médard", a restaurant in the town square just steps from our house.

Please note the placemats which are slabs of slate, called ardoise in French.  This slate is usually used as roofing tiles, but we thought it was such a good idea to use them as placemats that we bought 6 slabs at "Point P", the big store for masonry and ceramics.  We will varnish them and use them as placemats at home.  If you remember our dinner at "Les Années 30" in Chinon, they used a slab of slate to serve the appetizers.

And just because it might be getting boring to know every bite we had for every meal, we thought we'd simply tell you that dinner was delicious!  Good to the very end...