Home life in Normandy

Saint-Loup-Hors (weeks 1-2)

Dining area

We are in the Beaussy gîte for 2 weeks, so we've had to settle in, do laundry, shop, etc.  Bayeux has a "ring road" around the city, and we are just outside that, in the community of Saint-Loup-Hors (good to know for the car's GPS).  For those that are familiar with France, there is both Leclerc and Carrefour grocers around the ring (these are superstores with liquor of all types, clothing, pharmacies, etc.).  We are eating almost exclusively at home.  There are 2 full baths (although only one bidet!) and two bedrooms.  The backyard is spacious and fenced in (or rather, the pastures around us are fenced out).  There are some enormous trees on the estate - Andrew is in this picture in the bottom right for scale!

Boys in their natural habitat

The traffic lights have been much more difficult to get used to than the roundabouts.  The latter are the same as in Armdale.  The former are far back from the actual intersection and no stop line.  I often stop too far ahead to easily see and have to rely on the person behind to beep at me in irritation to know when it is time to go.

Everyone speaks English.  There are lots of British tourists (we are in the Commonwealth D-Day landing zones) and many Americans as well.

The daytime highs are generally around 25C.  The days have been sunny pretty much all the time, and it often showers at night.  We've heard thunder a couple of times, but we've certainly not seen anything like a typical Ontario thunderstorm.

We didn't bring much for toys/activities for the kids, except their hockey ministicks and a few stuffies.  We bought markers and blank paper so they are drawing stories, and of course playing Temple Run and Minecraft on the iPad.  They are also playing a lot of soccer in the yard.  The cows sometimes come over to watch (especially in the afternoon around dinnertime).  The farmer brings the cows to and from the pasture (for milking?) so there is a "cow parade" out the back window twice a day.  On the other side of the pasture is the train tracks, but the train is very quiet (electric?) and only passenger service so it's short.  Yolanda is doing most of the cooking so far.  As is typical at home, Craig is the morning caregiver and Yolanda the evening one.

Cow parade!

We are about the same latitude as Thunder Bay, so ~6 hours of darkness.  The boys still aren't quite used to the time change, going to bed at 22:30 and getting up at 8:00 (about 1 to 1.5 hours later than at home).