babysitting

[pilvikki]

hi!

i'm kittensitting! some former neighbours have gone off for a week and i'm keeping an eye or 2 on Elvis. elvis is some 3 months old, i'm guessing -and man, can he run. and play. and suck on one's earlobe!

this house, meanwhile, is amazing! the lady of the manor is an artist, of the paint and pottery sort. she loves strong, vibrant colours, so you can just imagine how the place looks with an unending supply of paintings and everything full of fantastic pieces inside and out in the gorgeous, lush garden.

her husband is a retired cabinet maker and now mainly the gardener. i'll take some pictures tomorrow.

the house is fairly new, one of those that looks tiny from the outside, but just keeps going when you get in. and in the typical french style down here they have a toilet. just the toilet in one cubicle. next door you'll find the bathroom, which has a tub, shower, bidet, wash basin. no argument with the toilet and tub having each their own rooms, but why does one have go to the bathroom to wash one's paws? weird.

at home we have a grey kitty who comes to visit. as he's got a damaged back leg, we feed him, what's one more anyway? he's a nice mellow puss. i call him thomas.

so, what do i find here? a grey cat who comes to visit and his name is thomas as well. of course it is.

[yogi]

I have to note that you have some very interesting neighbors over there in France. I don't know about the kitty-sitting, but it sounds like an adventure exploring the home of the artist. Over here it's plain vanilla with everybody's home made of that ticky tacky stuff. It sure would be nice to see something different once in a while. I also have a love for gardening but could not bring it to the new house; something about the clay soil and everything being on an incline. There is also a need to not offend the home owners association with my creative landscaping. At one time I thought of cabinet making as a hobby when I retire. When the opportunity arose I discovered the high price of tools not to mention the wood. I stuck with computers instead. You are the quintessential neighbor and I'm sure you are well liked for your outgoing nature.

[pilvikki]

hurrah! back with albert and a decent wi-fi connection! just guessing, but it appears elvis chewing on the wires had nothing to do with connection suddenly disappearing. or the galeforce winds down in the valley? i wastold wind has nothing to do with wi-fi, but why then does it consistently tank when it goes ballistic out there?

You are the quintessential neighbor and I'm sure you are well liked for your outgoing nature.

hm, never thought of myself as such...

i'm hoping to be able to take pottery classes from mme artiste. i've always loved playing with it.

yes, we do have a variety of interesting characters, a new couple will move into my friend's house with music as their hobby. accordion to be more specific. i'm sure their catholic neighbours will love it as walls are paperthin in places. (and 2' thick in others)

[yogi]

I know something about WiFi

WifI is the wireless connection from your computing devices to your router. The only other choice is to connect a wire from your computer to your router. The router, however, is hard wired to the modem, and many times you will find both of them in the same box. The modem connects to the internet. As you know, that worldwide web is a web of wires. Soooo ... everything from your router on out to the Internet is wired. All those wires are typically underground but some of the switches and network gizmos are above ground where the wind, rain, and squirrels can easy get to them. Technically, the WiFi part of the scheme is inside your house and not too affected by Mother Nature. Everything else is vulnerable.

I thought accordions were something only Polish people did. Guess not. LOL Actually we had more than one concertina player in the family but nobody that played accordion.

[pilvikki]

accordion is actually surprisingly popular in europe. goes with all the folk tunes that people enjoy.

[yogi]

I've seen them at some of the German October Fest get-togethers but never gave much thought to how widespread is the instrument. I guess it would be the equivalent of guitars in this country.

[pilvikki]

the wi-fi here is all from satelite. and hit and miss.

i'm at home now in a bit larger village - 800 peoples versus 250 in laserre and the connection is way better. no idea why, but i'm happy about it.

[yogi]

My wife's mom lived in a "small town" of 10,000 people. She thought it was cozy, and I thought it was sparsely populated. I now live among 84,000 others and consider it comfortable. The Internet here is all land line and marvelous. Satellite is great for remote locations, but kind of dependent upon the weather.

[pilvikki]

yeah, it's pretty skittish around here, but mostly acceptable, unlike the last place we lived. and this being one of the 7 windiest places on the planet, the weather.... argh.