One of the workers has installed himself in this little room, it’s kinda his home base for the workday. Beautiful walls.

I’m sure not everyone will like this, but it’s one of my faves from the batch. I wanted to create a picture that showed how I saw the Jeanne d’Arc statue with its emotional power, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it. When I saw the result I was really excited – I’m happy that I’ve learned enough technically that I can start with a picture in my head and bring it into being through the camera. Mmmmaybe I’ll brighten it a bit.

by Mike

A wedding party from LA showed up yesterday so we had to tip-toe around and stay out of the chateau proper. They were playing rap in the dining hall which was evidence of a horrible disconnect. I like rap, but on your first night in a chateau? We could sense that their pace of life was different than ours had become over the course of the trip and it was grating to be around.

Whatev. I’m obviously just territorial (even though the chateau isn’t my territory).

Anyway, we arrived in London safely and are in wonderful Ellen’s wonderful apartment. We walked in and she had a chicken roasting in the oven, herb potatoes and a fennel salad waiting for us. What a welcome! Tonight we’re off to what’s been touted as the best Indian food in London. My whole body is watering at the thought.

I decided I wanted to take a few more pictures but I didn’t want Azure to be bored, so I said she could go back inside since we were so close to the driveway and I was over my fear. Well, that was a bad idea. She went to do some emailing and when I clicked the first shutter for a long exposure (Click, 1, 2, 3, 4….) the night started growing larger and I felt like little eyes were watching me. I heard noises like a tin can being swept in the forest and another bird took off and my heart went from 70 to 150 bpm in a flash. So I ran out of the allee and when I was finally in the open I set up for another picture. I opened the shutter and counted. I heard a noise in the forest again, but then it got really silent. There are really no good options for night in a forest. You don’t want it to be too quite nor too noisy… I was crouching down for the photo and at that moment there was a loud splash behind me that seemed to be coming at me. I turned and in a moment of completely unplanned instinctual response I literally hissed in the direction of the noise.

I thought, “ok, this shit is getting to me,” so I went back to the chateau and found Azure and we walked briskly back to our room.

by Azure

My birthday was a typical day here at the chateau. I got up and started working on our painting project in the morning. At around 1pm we stopped for lunch. Since it got sunny last week, we have been having lunches out on the back patio under the columns. Mike made a tomato sauce (tomato, red pepper, eggplant, zucchini) with an egg in it over pasta and we had a mache salad with beets, kiwi and tomatoes.

For the “special” birthday dinner, we started with Kir Royals on the patio with creme fraiche and smoked salmon and caviar (caviar is pretty normal here, cheap and easy to find). Even though it was just the six of us, we still ate in the fireplace room, since I love it so much.

Mike made a chicken caccitore with potatoes and I made an unsuccessful Oeufs a la Neige (Eggs in snow?). The neige turned into a baked pancake when it should have been a fluffy snowy thing that sits in english cream. Luckily, Linda had made a walnut and chocolate flat-cake, so we put that in the creme. I drank Negrita and coke all night, the others had their choice of red or white wine.

After dinner, we talked by the fire and I got some beautiful soaps and some stiff french linens from everyone. Mike got me treats, popcorn, the Negrita and coke and some mache seeds for taking home. It was a lovely day to add to the list of lovely days here. It feels like everyday is my birthday!

by Mike

Last night I met some very nice railings in the chateau’s stairwell.

by Azure

The chateau will always need something done on it. When one project is finished, another shows up. I was glad to see that this hadn’t changed since the last time.

Our current project is repainting the windows for the reception hall. The caulk was old, so we took the rotting stuff out and laid new beads. On Tuesday, we will start the painting.

It had been sunny in the mornings with clouds coming in later. It rained the first two nights we were here, but now the forecast calls for blue sky days everyday.

Mike will lay the caulk and I will do the finish work, since I have more experience from boat detailing. His job takes a little less time than mine, so he has some extra time for taking photos around the property or napping.

While you are working, it is common to hear the birds, a particular big man at the chateau likes to talk a lot. Patty will talk back to him, just to show him that he isn’t that big afterall, but he doesn’t get the message. He just keeps cooing.

You also find some kitty problems from time to time which need to be dealt with.

At night, we have found a new best friend in the hot water bottle that Linda gave us. It stays warm and keeps our feet toasty all night long.

by Azure

A quick back-history on where we are staying… In 2002, when Mike and I had only been dating seven months on and off, Mike went to study in Bath, England. Not knowing what to do with myself, I went to visit with the idea that I would travel around Europe on my own for a couple months. As it turned out, my cousin Kim and her fiance at the time, now husband, were care takers at a chateau in France for their family friends from San Juan Island, Nash and Linda. I decided to go visit Kim and Adam for a while. Mike came to visit that Christmas. The following year, I returned with my mother and my friend Cori and my mom’s friend Cari for Kim and Adam’s wedding.

I honestly didn’t think I would ever be back here for any length of time. When we found out that our scooter was illegal, however, it changed our plans more than we expected. A passing comment lead to a call that lead to an email that lead to me calling Nash and finding out that they would be here at the exact same time that we needed a place to go. A quick train ride from Paris led us here, meeting a family that we had never met before in their chateau 6000 miles from where either of us were from.

I was reluctant to come back for a few reasons. First, I felt that the experience that I shared with Kim and Adam in 2002 was so unique and special that I couldn’t hope to recreate it in any way. When I returned for the wedding, it was hard seeing the chateau on such different terms. The first time I stayed here it was quiet, there were only three of us living on the grounds and at night we had all 15 bedrooms to ourselves. There were no rules or schedules and we shared fires and dinners and talks every night. At the wedding, with the place full of people, there were more rules and deadlines and obligations and I had to section off the new experience so it didn’t taint the old in any way.

When we returned this time, I prepared myself to section off another part for this experience. I didn’t know what to expect and it wasn’t really clear what we were going to be doing here. However, upon arrival, we found that this place still cultivates the pace of life that we had become so addicted to the first time that we had visited.

We got in at about 5pm and walked around the property. The place looked exactly as I remembered it. We sat down for a slow dinner with great food and wine and conversation and we sunk into the slowness and haven’t sped up since.

This pace is possibly where my heaven exists and coming from a week of my lesser hell it is only highlighted even more. My heaven is a place where no one has anywhere else to be for long long periods of time. This is a place where people expect to eat together without the television on and where it is expected that it will take a couple hours at least. It is also a place where all of the participants appreciate food and appreciate the process (both Linda and Patty are high caliber cooks and Linda loves to garnish).

I have expressed my love for this lifestyle before, when we were in Brazil with our friends and we all knew we were going to be hanging out every day and every night for over a week. What I was surprised to find is that I am enjoying it so much even with people that I had never met before. I think this place draws it out of you. But also, the people who are found hanging out at a chateau in St. Julien L’Ars in March are also the kind of people who are taking life pretty slow.

I don’t want to seem like I’m all “best time ever” but today was the day I realized that the dinners weren’t going to stop and I changed into chateau gear. Literally. In 2002 my chateau gear was an over-sized navy blue vest with a duck apron underneath. Today I found a floral dress/apron that I put on for the brocciu making and don’t plan on taking off.

Check out a few photos from the last 2 visits to the chateau.
Look how young we are 2002
The wedding 2003