It's a University Town!

We live in a university town. We had not yet arrived in France last year when the University started up in late August. This year we returned from vacation just in time to witness it. 

Just a day or two after we returned from vacation we noticed a HUGE uptick in the number of young people out and about on the streets. Either the students appeared to be with one or two parents or students were in large packs-- just groups of students. In checking the calendar, the University was getting ready to start in-person classes. Last year included a lot of remote learning due to Covid. We are also hearing groups of students roaming the streets practically all night long. Perhaps as the cooler temperatures set in there will be less night-time roaming in the streets. Hope so!

We live across the street from the big location for buying monthly public transportation passes. The queues were very long for quite a few days. Students get a discount! We always saw more people at the end of a month as folks typically buy monthly passes, but these queues were LONG! They had stanchions and ropes up looping the lengthy queue back and forth to the left and right of the entrance door all day long. At least the weather wasn't too bad.

Here's the thing! People park illegally anywhere they can to wait in this huge queue. They even park in front of the access to our parking garage and the parking garage entrance across the street. 

The other day we returned home and a car was blocking the entrance to our garage. A passenger sat in the front passenger seat. A honk only elicited hands being tossed in the air. Then the female passenger was on her phone so we assumed she was contacting the driver to come and move the car. Alas, no. We finally drove around the block and found a spot to "stand" until the driver returned- which was, believe it or not, 20-25 minutes later. And on her return (yes, a woman driver) she couldn't unlock the car (neither could the female passenger apparently). And she couldn't find her keys. At one point I think she might have taken notice of the no parking sign on the garage door, but B disagrees. Anyway, she finally moved on after we had waited 20-25 minutes.

I do not know what goes through the minds of these drivers.

The Plants

We enjoyed our tomato plant this summer. Since early July we have been harvesting tomatoes all the time and enjoying every one of them. The faux cypress looked great and our basil plant kept supplying fresh basil leaves.

About a month before our trip to the US, we actually starting thinking about the survival of our plants during our time away and devised a watering system we thought would keep them alive during our 3 week absence.  The faux cypress also had a watering bottle but I didn't take a photo. 

We purchased two different types of watering spikes which hold an overturned bottle of water. The spikes used with the clear bottles are superior. These spikes are a ceramic or porcelain bisque. There are 4 types depending on pot size and length of time away. We bought the longest term ones we could get. These spikes can even accommodate a 5 gallon water jug. It was not possible to use that size water container for our tomato, but in a landscape situation they would work great.

We had a really mild summer here and we hoped for more of that. Unfortunately, we had an extended hot period while we were away.  

The faux cypress bush can withstand winters just sitting on our balcony. (I admit this has not been tested yet.) Because of this, we felt the faux cypress would be the most likely to be just fine with a slow drip spike/bottle set up. We assumed the basil plant would probably not make it. I had trimmed it back considerably before our departure. I collected the basil leaves and dried them. I picked all of the green tomatoes and froze them. (On our return I planned to make a green tomato pasta sauce.) Still, we hoped the tomato would be OK with 4 spike/bottles. 

We were wrong on all counts. The cypress bush had some dead, brown branches on it. The tomato was 85% yellow, drooping leaves. The basil was thriving. We had everything wrong. Hmmm.

We also had not counted on an early August insect invasion. It turns out the brown branches on the cypress were caused by an aphid family reunion.

Despite the yellow, drooping leaves on the tomato, the main stems still looked fine and there were still some healthy green stems and leaves at the top of the plant. There were even a handful of ripe tomatoes and new growth in spots.  We picked off all of the yellow, dead looking stems and leaves and watered it. The tomato sprouted a lot of new growth, some small ripe tomatoes and even has a lot of blossoms on it. Hopefully the newest tomatoes will be able to ripen before cold temperatures end the growing season. So what happened to the tomato?

Maybe the Lace Bugs!?

We have lace bugs frequenting the tomato. Did this cause all of the leaf yellowing?  I don't know. However, I did notice that the vast majority of the sycamore trees which line many of the streets in town all seemed to be suffering with leaves turning yellow. The street below our apartment is lined with sycamores- all with yellowing leaves—and it was only mid-August. Lace bugs suck the fluids from the plant leaves so????   I learned that while lace bugs aren't one of the big tomato pests, sycamores are loved by lace bugs. They fly of course despite their delicate wings, but are also carried by breezes. I have even found quite a few lace bugs actually inside our apartment--we do open the windows and balcony doors a lot. I read this can happen when your windows are open and there aren't any screens.

My lace bug battle plan is to continue to pick them off manually as I find them. I've also installed yellow sticky traps on the tomato. It would be great if the tomato could continue providing a few tomatoes here and there for a few more weeks.

B comment - In summary: despite looking terrible with so many yellow leaves, the tomato did survive and is still producing a few tomatoes. Right now we even have a lot of new blooms on the new growth.

Time in the US

After 18+ months not seeing family (including 10 months in France), we were finally able to return to the US for a visit with family.

Our travel story😞:

The trip to the US was more complicated than I'd imagined, but things ran on time. No real delays. We were asked multiple times for our passports, proof of residence, negative COVID tests, airline attestation, vaccination proof, etc. We took a train from here to Paris ( ~ 4 hrs), stayed overnight at a hotel at the Paris airport, did the 2 flights, arrived and picked up our rental car. Ta da! 

Part of the reason for the train was that the local airport here was closed for a month for "maintenance." There were other options, but we went with this one. Mask wearing was fair in the airports in general, better at gates and even better on planes. We did hear repeated announcements to properly wear your mask while on the planes but we were not aware of any major altercations over mask wearing. 

Returning to France was more of an issue. On initial check-in at the airport we were asked all the same questions again (minus the negative COVID test because it wasn't required to return to France), but we also needed a French government attestation). We moved through security and went to the gate. At first all seemed OK. The inbound flight was on time so the plane was there. We were supposed to depart at 1:01 pm. We weren't really looking forward to a 6 hour layover at the Atlanta, GA airport, but after booking our flights the airline had changed the schedule. We were basically stuck with it. At about 12:45 pm they announced a slight delay. At 12:50 pm the pilots came back off the plane and walked away. At 1:00 pm they posted a 1:20 pm departure time. The pilots returned. We thought, "Oh, good," but it was not to be. At 1:30 pm they posted a 2:00 pm departure. Passengers were starting to queue up to ask questions and try to get rebooked because of missed connections. 

What was the problem? A bad windshield wiper and there was rain between point A and point B. Would you believe airlines don't stock these types of parts or have some way to switch out something? We think they ended up having to have the necessary part driven from downstate. Wow!

Then they posted a 4:00 pm departure time. The queue line was growing. Even at this point, though our actual layover was shrinking, we would still be OK. At 1:50 pm they posted a 6:30 pm departure time. 

With the queue already very long at the gate counter, we decided to leave the secure area and went back to the check-in counter where there was no queue—yet!  It looked certain we'd miss our connection. Pretty much everyone on board who was in transit would miss their connections. [The actual departure? 7:59 pm - we would have missed our connection by one hour!]

After 1 hr and 15 minutes at the check-in counter, we had finally gotten rebooked for our flights back to France— we would leave 2 DAYS LATER! We picked up another rental car and drove back to stay with family for another couple of days. We were whipped at this point. We'd been at the airport about 8 hours. The next morning, B worked to change our return train tickets from Paris. Not easy. He could cancel our original tickets but to rebook, he had a friend help out. We'd left our French debit card in France and it was required to buy the new tickets. We'd also pre-arranged a ride from the train station to home so we had to change that, too!

So, 2 days later we were all set to travel back to France. Our tickets indicated "travel interrupted," so I was mildly hopeful we would not have to redo all of the attestations and paperwork. I was wrong. Full paperwork presentation was required again. On the return, most things went well with the exception of the train. For some reason, our train car was changed and we were no longer sitting anywhere near each other. Really weird but....  

One thing changed between our trip out of France and our return. Prior to our return, a new rule required passengers for the intercity trains in France to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test. How'd this work? It didn't. No one asked for proof. When we tried to show our vaccination proof, the conductor simply said that was done already. This made no sense at all. Making regulations isn't the same thing as actually putting them into practice. The COVID proof isn't required on metros in Paris because "it is too difficult." This statement came from the government.

A few mentions from visits with family😊: 

Though we weren't able to see everyone, we were able to see family in NY, PA and MA. 

In NY we had quality time with family, did some errands, and even assisted with construction of a new throw cover for the living room sofa!  

In MA, we had a stunning weather- moderate temps and blue skies. We spent the our time enjoying family and a lovely garden and lake view. 

In PA, with COVID being ever-present, there were not a lot of outings, but our terrific time with family included a couple of hours at the Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA as part of our visit.

Here's just a few interesting tidbits about Longwood Gardens: A family named Peirce owned a part of the Longwood grounds as a farm for a long time. During the late 1800s into the early 1900s, the family farm changed hands away from the Peirce family. In 1906, Pierre du Pont purchased the farm in large part to protect the trees. A lumber mill was planning on harvesting them. The purchase included the Peirce family 18th century farmhouse.

In 1907, du Pont laid out his first garden on what he called Longwood. It was a place to entertain family and friends. A conservatory eventually connected the farmhouse to a newer building. (You can walk through it today!) In 1921, Longwood opened to the public. By the 1930s, Longwood had grown from 202 acres to 926 acres. Today the grounds cover 1077 acres. There are plant gardens, water fountains, woodlands and even meadows. If I lived near this place, I would become a member for unlimited access!

It was a very hot day so we didn't see the entire place but it was so pretty we had to take some photos. There were red gardens, yellow gardens, orange gardens and so much more.

Water garden.

Meadow. It was too hot to tackle the meadow trail.

There is so much to see at Longwood.

Our drive back from near Philadelphia began as a gorgeous day...  and then the clouds formed...

and then the skies opened up. At one point we were driving through this: 

(Yuck, but we made it back ok.)

Also, while in the US, I got my hair cut (!!!!!) My last haircut was February, 2020, so 18 months had elapsed. My hair hadn't been this long in several decades. Feeling like me again. No more hair bands, clips, pins or claws needed and it dries so much faster.

Things Opening Up Plus

Oopsy. We were able to make a trip to the US from end of July to mid August. I was back in the blog and discovered I had not posted the very last entry from before our trip. So here it is as it was written.

The Grand Re-opening

Things here opened up. For a week or two there was outdoor cafe dining and outdoor space at bars with required table separation limits and on number of customers. Non-essential shops opened with a limit as to the number of customers also. 

They created a digital app in which you upload proof that you are fully vaccinated or that you have already had Covid. Restaurants were to record patrons' information so Covid close-contacts could be reported.  Some places simply recorded the names, addresses and phone numbers of patrons but I'm not sure who would have done the notifying in this case. Scanning a bar code or providing your personal information wasn't mandatory.  

In the first phase of opening outdoor dining, the distances between tables we witnessed didn't meet the regulations so there didn't seem to be any verifications going on.

Very quickly, indoor dining/bars opened as well, and in rapid succession, gyms, huge sporting events  and even nightclubs have opened. So... everything has opened!

As it stands, we are still not willing to make use of indoor or outdoor restaurants. (Note: Even without Covid, we wouldn't dine in the outdoor space because patrons are permitted to smoke.)  Early in the restaurant re-openings, we did see a Starbucks open for take away only --  the first time places like this were open at all since we arrived in October. We did get a couple of cups to go!

We have entered shops briefly with an in and out philosophy. Masks are required in indoor spaces. However, we've actually seen grocery store workers without masks even though they are still required. Masks are no longer required outdoors on the streets but there are a lot of exceptions. For example, if you are waiting in a long queue for something, you are to wear a mask. We don't see this happening as folks seem to just be doing what they want. We are taking a conservative approach to protecting ourselves so we wear masks and wear them properly.

Note added after this entry was written but before publication: There is quite a bit of vaccine hesitancy and case numbers are going up again. The governmental approach at this point seems to be to plead with folks to get vaccinated. They may require proof of vaccination or recent recovery from Covid to gain entry to restaurants, bars, etc. We'll see.

A trio of unicyclists!

B is now able to be at the office a maximum of 2 days a week, though there are still masks required in meetings and a limit on the number of people in meeting rooms. A final review meeting about the plant B built in Indonesia was supposed to happen last year but they finally held the meeting. One of the folks that worked with B on the project in Indonesia is now in Lyon and he came in for the meeting. They decided to wear their SRI shirts!

We have worked to find a physician, a dentist and a lab to do routine blood work as well as COVID PCR tests (which we will require to travel).  The doctor is located in Chamalieres. This doc was recommended by someone B knows here. B got directions but we still did a test run the weekend prior. It was hard to locate actually. Based on the directions, we thought the office was near a Carrefour grocery store. No, it wasn't. In reality, the office is located near something called the Centre Commercial Carrefour Europe. Carrefour means intersection.  This is a retail intersection. 

B was told we should park under the Carrefour. Again, we thought we'd be parking under a Carrefour grocery. Nope! We needed to park under an Auchan grocery store. From this parking garage, we walked into the grocery store and directly out the front door. There was a pedestrian bridge to cross the road and shortly after the bridge, we turned right and hunted for the office. We were confused at first looking for 48 Ter. There was nothing on the front side of the building. However, around to the side/back we found it! We weren't in need of a doctor but we needed to get established as patients with a doctor here.

Next, the dentist! We actually needed a dentist for P because of a chipped crown which happened on May 7. Again, this dentist was one of two recommended. Getting an appointment was an issue, however. Dentist 1 couldn't see P until Aug 22. The second recommended dentist could see P on June 23. At the June 23 appointment,  dentist number 2 felt that the crown was still protective and if just smoothed there was probably no need for a new crown, yet! We have made appointments at dentist #1 for cleanings. Then we will decide which one we prefer. Both dentists are walking distance in town, though one is closer than the other.

The dentist's office is in a very old building. The staircase shows it! It was actually difficult to walk on. Note: No elevator option!

Both the dentist and the doctor were recommended due to English speaking ability. Hmmm. Maybe a little English.

We are planning a trip to the US. We are both fully vaccinated including more than 3 weeks beyond second vaccination. Currently, to travel France to US, we are required to get COVID-PCR tests. We have a lab with 5-7 min walk. 

B has heard there is inconsistent lag time for results so we may look elsewhere but this place is handy. We will need to have the test and get the result within 72 hrs of our flight out of France. We may actually get two PCR tests to increase the chance we can get results in time. We may need another test within a few days of landing, a 3rd test 72 hrs before departure from the US and another one a few days after returning to France. At this point we don't anticipate having to quarantine on our return to France.

Gardening, etc.

We needed a new saucer for one of the plants so out to the garden center we went. I have never  seen live chickens for sale at a garden center. Maybe it's a French thing?

This seed row was amazing! Made me wish I had a garden.

Another item I'd never seen before.  They have these bags to protect tomatoes and some are even 100% compostable. 

Our tomato height status? It would be well over 6 feet but I had to prune it to try and keep it at the 6 feet limit (the height of our stake). We had some hefty winds that required us to tie the tall stake to the balcony railing. That has worked pretty well but further intervention is now needed.

We did an inventory of the tomatoes on our grape/cherry tomato plant--at least 133 tomatoes! 

A few were beginning to ripen.

Next a couple of additional tomatoes were ripening.

On July 5 we harvested 6 of these beauties and created a lovely caprese salad. Buffalo mozzerella, a bit of shallot, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and fresh basil from our balcony finished off the dish. YUMMY!

Around the House

Our refrigerator had been acting up for about 2 months. The temperature in both the refrigerator and freezer warmed quite a bit at times. The frequency was increasing. On his second visit, the technician finally said it needed a part. 

Our agent began the task of getting the owner to agree to ordering the part. We knew from the technician it would take 6-8 weeks to order the part. Because the refrigerator was pretty old, we asked if it made sense to buy a new one. We even offered to front the money and buy it and get it delivered. 

It got to the point we were trying not to even open the refrigerator or freezer. Finally the owner agreed to just buy a new fridge for the apartment. When the delivery came, there was only one man and he didn't have a dolly. The old fridge was "too heavy" so delivery had to be re-scheduled for a few days later. On the second try there was a larger crew and a dolly.

For a brief moment I didn't think the old refrigerator was going to be able to be removed. It required careful movement in the narrow space around the island. It's a small kitchen. I was relieved when they did manage the removal and then installed the new fridge. 

Unlike the old fridge, this one doesn't have an icemaker so we are back to manually filling ice cube trays. We had to do that in Indonesia since no tap water was potable. If you remember, we only drank bottled water. Happily, we kept the ice cube trays! This fridge, however, does have a tank you manually fill with water (only 2.5 liters) and you can dispense it through the door but it's such a small volume we'd be filling it every day or so. We just decided not to use it.

Old fridge on the way out!

New fridge on the way in!

The new refrigerator has an acceptable amount of space but it is a base model. There weren't enough drawers in the fridge and no baskets in the freezer, just flat glass shelves. The shelves aren't very adjustable either. After having everything sliding around on the glass freezer shelves and often out onto the floor, we bought freezer baskets. We also purchased a couple of drawers that attach under glass fridge shelves Problems solved.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but one wall in our living room ( the one against the other apartment on this floor) is solid cement-- really solid cement. We had this situation in Indonesia but I found some hooks made for this purpose with 4 little nails that you could drive into the cement wall. I tried those here and the nails just broke! I admit that we have not tried purchasing a masonry bit and installing anchors. The agent discouraged us from even putting nails in the wall. We have tried the velcro type Command strips and regular Command hooks and we have had some success. We hung 3 items on this wall. Two of the items hung via this system have fallen off the wall. A photo collage with glass in the frame fell. The hook came off the wall. In the second case I don't think we can blame the Command system since the velcro strips were all attached to the wall and to the item that fell. Somehow the velcro itself let go.

This clock was very near the large balcony doors. We had a couple of extremely windy days when we had the doors open and I think it's likely that the wind was periodically moving the clock and pulling on the velcro attachments and that is the reason the clock fell. As I said, the Command velcro strips were still attached. Anyway, no more clock! We bought another clock (the new one has a plastic lens and not a glass one) but this time I will periodically press on the clock to re-attach the velcro. Lesson learned? Command velcro hanging strips can't handle high winds.

We had a gastropod visitor! A pretty good-sized snail (perhaps 2 inches in diameter) was hanging from the ceiling above our larger balcony for a couple of days. We now wonder if the folks on the 7th floor have a water feature with snails to keep down the algae and this guy escaped!