Tanja and I have been at La Busaneth for two weeks and we have been working on it every day. We have the salon painted, many rooms cleaned, the garden mowed and trimmed so it looks presentable, laundry sorted, washed, and back where it should be. We have been using the power sprayer on the stonework by the pool. But all that was pretty minimal compared with what happened today.
Today, Eric and his two sons, Nick and Mark, came to begin the more major work on the chambre d’amis. This is the small building by our pool that we have intended to use as a place for couples to stay, removed from the big house, with a bathroom, kitchenette and wood burner. Very romantic.
So the threesome came to start the work, tearing out what is inside so we can start over. There was lots of banging and jack hammering, because the interior walls in France are made of building block. It took them all day, but they finally got all the stuff from that room, including the walls, out of the building and onto the back patio.
Such stuff you would not believe! they removed two tons of stone, concrete and tiles, as well as all the bathroom fixtures. They are now on the patio sorted for whatever awaits them in their next lives.
Except for one thing. There is a huge crack running down the back wall and down the floor of this building. The floor is not flat. We think it is from the two huge cypress trees that are immediately adjacent to it, with roots that probably have disturbed the foundation. So we are going back to the drawing board. When the guys return tomorrow, they will shore up the wall and fill in the floor. We will have to remove the two cypress trees that are damaging the foundation. And we will probably turn this into a simpler building, such as a game room for the kids.
Last week when we moved in we noticed lots of bee carcasses in our bedroom and we also saw lots of bees swarming around the roof of the main house in the vicinity of our bedroom. Concerned about a possible infestation, we called a new friend, David Evans, who among other things is an apiculteur and a member of the local beekeepers association. He came this morning, put on his regalia, and searched the suspect crawl space in the attic. Nothing! I am not sure which was stronger, my relief at there being nothing there or my embarrassment at calling him for nothing. At any rate, it was an adventure and we have made a new friend.
Meanwhile, Tanja decided to continue the power spraying of the pool stones. They were flying here and there as they were loosened by the spray, meaning they were not in there very well and will require a mason to repair properly. While she was spraying at one point there was a scream, causing all four of the rest of us to come hurrying out to see what was the problem. She had dislodged a meter-long snake from its lair, and it scurried over her feet into the surrounding hayfield. No harm done, just another reminder of whose place this is anyway.
I decided to tackle the iris bed in the back yard. It was totally overgrown with weeds, and as I discovered throughout the four hours it took me to clean it out, the weeds and irises had come to a state of symbiosis because they have been left to their own devices for the last several years. the weeds and the
irises were one! Not to mention all the escargot, sitting there, so happy in their lush terrain that had been untouched for many years, now to be cleaned up and made too dry for their comfortable habitation. I chose not to harvest them. Too much like eating Rover. You know, friend of the family and all. Anyway, four hours later found a much improved – to my mind if not to the snails – iris bed.