Hitting Those Locks....Southwestern France

From Left to Right:  Rachel, Kim, Jean, Linde, Sister Wendy.

We were off to South Western France, to the River Lot; September 2011.

Our departure was from Toulouse where we caught a train to Cahor, France.  Kim, Jean, and Linde plotted our course.  From Cahor, we took a taxi to our destination, Bouzies, France.

While they plotted our strategies, I took up with a beautiful French woman; our eyes met, she whispered words I did not understand, but I immediately knew why our paths had crossed.

Soon, it was over and we found ourselves in Bouzies, preparing to go aboard.

Our first view of the boats....Check out those cliffs...

A welcoming.

My galley.

Le Boat!

Kim and Jean receive a quick orientation...

Many locks are on the river; we had to learn quickly how to navigate and operate them.

The boat enters and we manually open or close; Linde in blue on the left, me on the right.

An approach....

Closer....

Here we are just about to enter.

We did something like 20 locks during our trip...we got really good at it!

Here we are back in Cahor, navigating their lock.

We had an audience from time to time!

Often, a good walk was involved in going back and forth to accomplish the opening and closing process.

At the end, we would climb back in.  We often climbed up this way upon enter a lock.
It was steep!  Down below, Jean holds the boat steady.
I believe I was inside having coffee or just relaxing.....

Work! Work! Work! That's all we did on this trip...Do you feel sorry for us???

Afterwards, we would have to rest...

Often we would not attend to necessary business...

Sometimes the lock would break down and we would have to call for assistance....

Kim waits patiently, pondering...

As good people, we always would apologize for the lock being broken--
The repairmen were always very nice and basically would say, "no worries, it's our job."

This one only needed a swift kick....we had already tried that but you know how that can be....

Here we helped with another boat...by this point, we were experts!

How about some river sights?

Yikes!  Was that what I thought it was???

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.  Sigh.

For now, I will say au revoir....to return later.
Next up, our crew and more!

Now Let Me Speak....

Now, I know that it's been awhile and as the clock ticks forward, 

 I do not see Rachel making progress with this blog. 

So, I take the reins in hand and write what must not be forgotten. 

I speak of faces, relationships and the creation of beautiful friendships.

We remember and took joy in seeing Rita's sister in law, Nadia.  

Never during our time in Alessandria did we see a frown on her face!  

She is a glowing smile whenever encountered and she takes special care of Chiara
when Rita or parents may be busy. 

Chiara is surrounded by love and influence that I, Sister Wendy, greatly approve of.

Yes, Rita has gotten much "blog time", but look at her beautiful face

and her joy of life--as the French say,

Joie de vivre!

And upstairs neighbor, La Senora (as Rachel calls her), our friend Leda.  She is so full of passion!  She told a wonderful story about how last year she left her apartment and moved away to another town to be closer to her son.
She lasted one night and headed back home to Alessandria.
Who, may I ask, could blame her??
It's Alessandria after all!
She has fierce political stands and beliefs which both Kim and Rachel greatly approve of...
She is not so much for my Holy Father, Il PaPa in Red Shoes,
but I must forgive that...

And then there are Rita and her daughter, Stefania. 

They are a close knit family who are there for each other each and every day. 

And upstairs neighbors, Roberto and Francesca came and spent an evening with us.  They no longer live in our little compound but came over to see us. Robert calls Kim and Rachel, "My sweet girls".  Sometimes they leave each other little Skype message that I over hear.

The gang went out for a traditional Italian pizza dinner.

A little wine too...

Roberto so generously paid the bill!

Here's Alessandro, son-in-law to Rita, husband to Stefania, and father to Chiara.

Here was Rachel's little pizza dinner. 

And lastly, for myself, I met with two of my old dear friends...Mary and

Mary.

This Mary resides in Rita's bedroom and we got to know one another while Rachel and Rita would be cooking and Kim and Chiara would be practicing Kim's Italian.

Often we were like flies on the wall, listening to their chatter, proud of them as they always seemed to manage their language barriers.You wouldn't know it from this picture but Mary has one sense of humor; we giggled together a lot!
Now I must admit that I grow a bit weary with all my keyboard tapping and hopping. My knees are not as flexible as they used to be in my younger years...All these years of kneeling have take their toll (but so worth it).
These were my special memories from a reunion that, quite frankly, I never believed would really occur.
Lucky us!!

A Gnocchi Review...

I have done pretty well with most of the recipes that Rita taught me during our year long sojourn.  One area that I didn't do so well with was making gnocchi....and, true to the Master, Rita knew it.  She just out of the blue announced that she would be making gnocchi and was sure that I wanted to help!  She was very correct..                                                     

The correct potatoes are important.  She recommended either yellow or red.

To cook them, this time she microwaved them. 

In my lesson 3 years ago, she had boiled them, I'm pretty sure. (well maybe)

She also said not to peel them prior to cooking; this keeps in some moisture.

We peeled them while h o t and then ran through the masher.

 She adds flour by feel and talent.

 Watching her knead is hypnotic and magical....

 Before I knew it, she was beginning to form the dough....

 Before I knew it, she had begun to roll....

 

Chiara and I were give the task of pressing the small pieces of dough against the fork tines.

This makes a nice little indentation.  Rita had us drop the small pieces in some semolina flour prior to rolling along the fork tines.

Before we knew it, we had two full trays.

Can you see the fork tine indentations?

Time to cook.  Add some oil and salt to rolling, boiling water.
Add the gnocchi and let cook a couple of minutes.
When they rise to the top of the boiling water, they are cooked.
Remove with a strainer and add to your favorite sauce.

 In our case, we used a Bolognese sauce but you can use pesto,
or try a Gorgonzola sauce--YUM!

Rita's daughter Stefania and grand daughter, Chiara, waited for our feast.
Kim was waiting too but busy behind the camera!

I can't tell you what a joy it was to be in Rita's kitchen again; such an amazing gift.  And after we had finished our gnocchi, Chiara stepped right in and began making her own recipe.

As Chiara makes her own creation, the Master conveys knowledge that only a grandmother can convey. As a fly on the wall, I listened as they spoke about baking techniques but then easily segued into talking about life and questions that a 10 year old girl has.  Rita answers with patience, conveying valuable lessons with love and a gentle firmness from a life time of her own lessons learned.

I entered the afternoon ready to learn how to make gnocchi---I got so much more from my lesson.  

Rita and Chiara spend a lot of time in that little kitchen on that wooden baking board.  I can't help but think how lucky they both are to have each other. They each are teaching one another.  I smiled as I watched Rita try to direct Chiara in portion amounts; Chiara said no, and did it her own way....Rita quickly and quietly accepted Chiara's self direction and creativity.

One thing that I do know.

Someday, that wooden board is going to be a very prized possession of Chiara's.
The stories it will tell.

Life in Alessandria...With Rita, Chiara & Friends....

The very best part of being back in Alessandria was the opportunity to see and visit our friends.  Rita was incredibly gracious, offering us her bedroom while she stayed on the couch!

  She greeted us with breakfast each morning:

Chiara has turned 10.  She is quite striking and quickly growing up.  She was more comfortable with us, helping us with our non-decipherable Italian and kindly saying, "Good, good" each time we'd attempt.

In addition to cooking, Rita is keeping very busy these days with acting.  She has joined a local acting troupe that goes to different villages doing various plays.  Most of the the plays have spiritual, religious themes with moral dilemmas.  She took time to show us her most recent costume for an upcoming performance.

A blessing AND laughter.  It was a fantastic combination that required no translation.

We also watched part of a video performance:
That's her on the far left.

Later, we all took a walk together around Alessandria.  She loves to window shop and there are many opportunities to do so.

I just love the combinations that Italians come up with:

So well said.

 The fruit stands remain beautiful:

Others have not fared so well....

And just like many places in our world, there is ambivalence:

OH, MY! Speaking of bicycles, look what's been installed since we left:

Only technical detail is that you have to be local to utilize them.  One has to register with the police to get a code for their utilization.  Other cities allow tourists to use them by popping in your credit card and riding away.   Perhaps in time....

Before we knew it, it was time for Rita to feed us our lunch.
Did I mention what a good hostess she is??

Happily yours!

Pain au Chocolat....

Today is a quiet Sunday morning with wandering the streets of Toulouse for our coffee and daily pain au chocolat....Oh, yum, they are a treat that we usually reserve for special occassions.  But, given that we are in France, we are trying to be good visitors.


We had a very nice time watching a very handsome, efficient young man do his coffee making craft as he served many people in a cafe.  I will post his picture; I have named him Jacques.

We visited the basilica Saint Sernin, a grand church that was built in the 11th century.  One of its major features is an incredible pipe organ.  We arrived in the church 5 minutes before the end of mass and were treated to a fantastic organ concert! For now, hear it in your mind and later, we will treat you with the sounds of Saint Sernin and Toulouse. 

For now, we say adieu and we are going to pick up Sister Wendy who is taking a personal and special tour of the basilica.  Because she wears a special outfit, she gets special treatment!!  She did not even once advocate for our being able to accompany her....She is retaliating for the time spent in my bag.  This trip she is a bit more demanding.

Jean and Linde arrive tonight and we begin a new chapter....

Toulouse, France

Leaving Alessandria yesterday was quite bitter sweet for me.  We had such a sweet visit with Rita and comfort levels soared.  We were all very sad to say goodbye.  She even drove us to the Rail station and went in with us.  Their were l o n g hugs and wishes for returns and time together again.  What lucky peple we are to have made such good friends so far away.

So now,
We have made it to Toulouse and we encountered our first crisis of the trip.  We were supposed to take a day trip to some underground caves just north of here.  Unfortunately, we did not realize that we had to drive 2 hours north to get to the pick up sight....Alas, we were very disappointed and now will take a journey to see if we get a refundé.

I continue to struggle with the posting of pictures.  I have told Kim that I may have to do my updated postings upon my return.

For now, I will just do these boring entries.  Today we have walked and walked, exploring Toulouse.  It reminds me of a combination of Vienna, Milan, and Paris.  Lots of young people because it is a university town, or rather city.  Some 95,000 students are here and the life reflects that--lots of bars and energy in the air.  It is also not the cleanest of cities, again much like Milan.  Since we thought that we would be on a tour today, we also did not bring a book regarding Toulouse.  Rick Steves would give us a poor grade!

So, I will keep posting when I can and upon my return, I will fill in the pictures and hopefully much more.  It will be a testament to my memory!  My pedometer has quit working at a very inopportune time.  Sometimes life can be challenging.

Kim and Sister Wendy send their regards.

La Vita Alessandria

Well, I continue to not be able to post pictures b-c these computers are really old and most have the old big sqare discs.  I need one that will accomodate my small camera disc....
Tomorrow we leave for France, a few days ahead of Jean and Linde.  Our time here in Alessandria has been really, really, good.
Rita gave me a cooking lesson today--we made gnocchi.  I needed a refresher course on it b-c the times I have made it in Seattle it tasted like glue....I am now ready to try again.
We are enjoying one anothers company and laughing big belly laughs as good friends do.  We have taken many walks and visited old haunts...this is where I will be inserting pictures.
For now, ciao and wish us luck in France where only Kim has any idea of the language.  We will be at her mercy....
We are leaving now to go to church.  SR Wendy wants one last peak before we depart....Sometimes she can be so insistent!  After that, a night out for pizza.