South of Paris

We decompressed at our friends JC and Sil's home, portions of which date back 300 years. The village life suits JC's retirement lifestyle, painting watercolors and tending to their cats. Silvie manicures her flowers and JC has a partnership with his neighbor where he gathers and shells nuts from the hazelnut trees and the neighbor pays the cost of squeezing the oil at the local mill.

There is a hedgehog (Gustav) that makes an appearance every evening around 10 p.m., weather permitting, to clean up any leftover cat food or cheese. Apparently he does not see well so if you are quiet, he'll tolerate fairly close presence. The cats have learned to avoid him.

J-C was a great tour guide.