Where are the Woods?: France: Day 13: 6/10/10

France Day 13: 6/10/10

The sun was actually shining when we awoke this morning, so we jumped on the chance to get some of the ‘outdoor work’ done. We of course, fueled ourselves with some pain chocolat (we’re wasting away here, can’t you tell?) before heading to one of my favorite places: the Bricomarche (basically a French hardware store) to purchase buckets. Buckets, as Alex often informs me, are one of the most useful things in the universe. He actually says that…the universe. While in France he will be using these buckets to hold his rock debris so he can grind it into tiny, tiny, bits before dumping it in a designated area. (The grinding into tiny bits is so that no one mistakes his work for archaeological work).

So, while Alex busted up rocks in the back, I was instructed to “Wash my stinky socks”. Normally such a demand would not be accepted in our household. Ah, the life of an assistant. So, I completed 2 loads of laundry in very tiny, very strange washing machines to the tune of ‘bang, crack…bang’ in the background.

After another delicious lunch of bread, cheese, jelly, etc., we decided to head out to look for the 3^rd type of rock: Jasper located near the town of St. Avit-Seiniuer. Not only did we find Jasper (after some interesting maneuvers under electric fences on Alex’s part),

but we also found Chalcedony, the 4^th kind of rock Alex needs for his dissertation. It should be noted here that the majority of the Chalcedony was extracted from what we can only hope was simply mud that –happened- to smell like feces. None-the-less, we’re both glad we’ve had our hepatitis shots.

The Puegeot, trusty little car that it is, takes all of this extra rock weight in stride, though is starting to look ‘a little worse for the wear’, or as Alex says “…like someone vomited mud”. This little car has done its fair share of off-roading, bumping down “roads”, and squeezing past various plants, animals, and automobiles.

After loading up the Puegeot, we decided to have a look around the little village of St. Avit-Seiniuer. This village is home to a gorgeous former fortified Monastery (ie: Abbey, or place where monks could live, pray, and still kick some ass).

In other France news, the Woods have appeared to have brought upon the ‘foreign travel’ curse again. The last time we left the country (our honeymoon in Fiji) Iowa basically went underwater. The same thing seems to be happening this time, except that instead of escaping from it, we’ve brought it with us. The entire Vezere and Dordogne rivers have flooded, and light posts are underwater, along with streets, and other bits of land. Looks cool, but makes looking for flint (which is often located near river banks) a bit more difficult. We’re adjusting, and it seems to still be going well.