Our house in Sens is the last house on a dead end street. When we first bought the house, seekers of free parking used to park right up against our door. After M. Parret remonstrated with the Mayor’s office, the city sent out workers to install yellow things about 4 feet from the front door to prevent poorly raised strangers from blocking ingress/egress to the house and Le Parret supplied an orange cone to prevent others from parking in the space in front of the house.
As both M. Parret and Tonio have garages on the street, we are almost daily loitering outside the house. Loitering that sometimes turns into sun-downers and light snacks. Last year the sun-downers became pretty much routine while we discussed beautification schemes for the outside of the house. I had some antique hanging chairs that we brought from the house when we got tired of standing around. Occasionally we were joined by neighbors bearing regional wine gifts to share.
The house does have what used to be a perfectly good garden in the back but first my husband’s dog Sheba and then Jessie, the Irish Terrier, trashed it beyond anything we’d like to look at while we have our drinks. Jessie can’t help it, she’s an IT.
Anyway, over the years Le Parret filled some pots and a rectangular container with herbs for the kitchen.
Mme Parret gave me a cat shaped flower holder for the window and whenever I was in town, I would buy some flowers for it.
Still we weren’t satisfied. Before I left last year, we discussed small tables with chairs so that we could really relax into happy hour(s), but I had to go to the States before we found anything. Although the larger project this year is to paint the house exterior and change the windows and shutters, we still like to unwind at the end of the day 😉
Yesterday we went to Aldi, a kind of grocery store, and found the perfect table! A small, folding picnic table with benches, on sale for 45 Euros! Pleased with ourselves, we chilled a few bottles of Bailly Cremant and were joined by our neighbor Laurent for a celebration. M. Parret brought sausages, ham, beet salad, his creme and cheese from his refrigerator, everyone contributing whatever they had, the street light in front of the house providing soft lighting until we reluctantly called it a night at 11:00 p.m. So that’s why 🙂
Cooking in Sens 
How perfect and I love the cat flower basket!
😀
So many small wonders that makes one adore M. Parret and France!
Yes 😉
i would like to join your group!
Move to Sens 🙂
And that’s what life should be like most of the time…..!
But unfortunately isn’t. But these good times have a way of making the bad times forgettable.
Oh yes, I can relate to that!
Adorable! I love it! ❤ I´ve always dreamt of a small place I can call my own in France, too!
This is a great time to buy in France, with a strong dollar and a buyers’ market. At least in the smaller towns.
Unfortunately we live in Oslo and the euro is strong.
And we´re only 35-36, so no savings..
You day will come 🙂
Your
It’s so much fun to get a glimpse of your new life there – and so funny because I just saw a little set at Aldi that I want to buy for my front porch! Not like yours, but cute, too!
You’ve got a porch!
I’ve got a very old house built by a Frenchman in what used to be a little French neighborhood on a lake outside of St. Paul, MN. There are very few French elements left – a lot of the houses have a little bit of that color I think of as French blue. A few pillars here and there. One house has a mansard roof and most of the houses are converted cabins. I should walk around the neighborhood with my camera some day!
You should! I’ve got a French house in PA built by a Huguenot descendant. It is a Tudor and the only one of it’s kind in the historic district, built circa 1856. Of course there have been a lot of changes since then, but you can still see the basic structure of the old house.
Funny you should say that! I have a Huguenot French ancestor who settled into Pa!! There weren’t too many of them. He was in Lycoming county.
https://claudiusboatman.wordpress.com/
Very interesting. I know someone on the east coast called Judith Boatman Mullally.
It’s not that common of a name – you should send her the link so she can see if she might be related!
Thank you, I will.
Great stuff – much nicer to sit out the front of the house, chatting with the locals!!
Yes, instead of standing in the middle of the street with death grips around our glasses 😀
😉
Love this!
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