Our several centuries old church in Vinnemerville is getting old, and the steeple needed to be updated. The experts decided to replace the steeple, so off it went (you'll find below the photos a video of the event...).

They brought in a large crane, and after several weeks of work cutting into the steeple and placing holders, it was finally time to remove it.

I went on Saturday to pick up Trish from the railway station at Yvetot, and to my surprise, there was already a train waiting:



A real steam train was waiting to go...



The staff were dressed for the part.



There were some 20 wagons attached to the steam engine, all of them from the same time frame.



There were a few hundred people looking at the train.



When it was getting ready to go, the amount of steam was impressive.



... and off it went...



Once it reached where I was, it was going quite quickly..

Not a bad way to spend some time at the railway station.

We celebrated Jean-Charles' birthday last week, together with his wife Christine, son and girlfriend.

As usual, Christine's cooking left nothing to desire:



Jean-Charles was reflective of his coming off age....



While he was opening his presents, Sabrina and Trish were making photos, and admiring his gifts:



Benoit gave him a useful sign ("You don't have to be crazy to work here, but it helps"):



Christine helped him unpack the gifts:



After that, came the kisses...



Then came the food. First on the menu were escargots



Followed by chicken in crust



There is honestly a chicken inside that bread. See...:



Afterwards, stuffed, we were all a bit quite





And that finishes yet another nice evening with friends and great food...

Finally, the balcony project is finished. They closed up the wall between my office and the guest bed room 4, finished the railing, and already last week the finished the stone path leading to the balcony.

Here it is in its final and full glory...

The once-every-eight-years Armada has descended upon us again. The Armada is some 70 tall sail ships that come to Rouen and stay there for 2 weeks.

The boats can be visited, and there's plenty of activity going around the ships. Then, on the 14th of July, during the French national holidays, the ships set sail, one after the other (more on that later).

I went to Rouen and had a quick look at the ships. although the weather was not great, they do look majestic.

Here are the photos (photos are linked in from another site, so they may take a bit longer). To look at the photos in a bigger size click here:

If you prefer to have a nice slide show, click here (a new window opens)

Our friend Sheila, and several of her friends from the USA, are turning 50 this year, and they decided to celebrate together in the Tuscany area in Italy. They rented a villa and invited several of their friends for a feast.

The closest city to the villa is Lucca (which is close to Pisa). The villa is nicely located in the hills and is well equipped:



They even had their own lemon trees:



The party-goers were able to walk on the grounds .....



The fun started when the chef-for-hire arrived with her assistant. Most people gathered in the kitchen to see her prepare and cook a feast.



The chef's name is Emiliana Lucchesi (link) and is well known in Italy and the USA. She runs a cooking school in Tuscany, and write reviews on Italian restaurants in New York, and she's recognized as a top wine expert.



She had an assistant who helped her prepare the many dishes that would be served during the evening.



Over a period of three hours she kept piling up the courses, one after the other.



The starters were plenty, in total about 7 dishes, ranging from meat to vegetable dishes, all tasting scrumptious.



These were particularly jummy...



She made 2 main courses, the last one included pork (and chicken).



Scott even had to go into the garden to cut the fresh herbs



Since the weather had turned into a nice warm evening, the table was set outside



The three birthday girls were all pretty, made up and ready to party...



The table was set really nicely, ready for the meal



Everyone was even given a mask



So the birthday girls posed with their masks



The starters were served in the living room, where we could all talk to each other.



After the starters, we adjourned to the dining table, and all put on the masks, giving a Venice style ambience.



Afterwards, the main courses were served by the chef and her assistant.



Lots of good Italian wine, each course had its own.



and even more lots of great food. And that ends a great multiple birthday party in Tuscany, Italy.

Today they arrived with their truck full of wood stuff. The company that had built the balcony had finally done the rest (more or less).

The truck off-loaded the bits & pieces, and they installed the stairs. The truck was needed to hold the stairs in place while the hammered away:



Then they placed the railings (they were missing a few posts, but it holds).

Here's the final result:



From the side.. (a concrete and brick foot rest will be made, and a stone path to the house)



The view from my office



and the view from the other side



The first visitors arrived, bearing gifts (a tennis ball)



That's it. They'll finish the rest this week, but in the mean time, Trish and I are off to Pisa, Italy on the motorcycle:

Every year in France, they have one day, usually at the start of summer, that is dubbed the "Fete de la Musique" - Music Festival. In essence, anyone who wants to play music in the streets, can do so. No license is needed.

Fecamp has organized for the "Fete de la Musique" a complete street festival. Everywhere you could find music bands:



But it wasn't limited to music. For example, you could initiate yourself in the art of deep sea diving:



Alongside the boats they had installed stalls:



They sold almost anything you could imagine. There's also many different areas where you could eat:



There was a special section where there were painters exhibiting their paintings:



Special trucks in the form of boats were brought in to display special services or products



Kids were not forgotten. There are many areas for them to play in:



Both sides of the harbor had stalls:



The weather wasn't really nice, warm, but very cloudy. Still, there were a lot of people;



Even boats had bands on them:



There were several colorful characters present



So that ends our little tour of the Festival at Fecamp. I hope you enjoyed it...

Trish is in the USA, doing her business thing, visiting several cities in one week, so I'm alone holding the fort.

The balcony is still not done, since the manufacturer doesn't have the time to finish the stairs, so we keep waiting.... asses!!

This is France, so "c'est la vie"...

Today, they finished most of the "infrastructure" of the balcony, and can not go any further, since the company who's making the balcony hasn't finished the stairs nor the railing.

This morning they finished the balcony part.



This is the view towards the garage. You can see the hole where the tree should grown through.



This is with my back to the garage. At the end of the balcony is where the stairs will be placed.



The dogs took very careful steps, in the beginning not trusting the handy work. But after 10 minutes they were already chasing each other on the balcony, and fell at home.



The pillars were nicely finished, including cement in the color of the house and cottage, so it all blends in nicely.



and here I'm sitting on a deck chair surveying our domain.... it really feels nice over here...

The rest will hopefully be finished towards the end of next week, except the door, since there's a 6 week delay.