France, Thanksgiving & Technology Issues...

Happy to be Connected...sort of..

Not sure how many of you have noticed but my blog has been pretty quiet for the past few weeks.  We have had some major technology issues at the house and we are still without phone, television and Internet.  I am presently doing this post from a Cafe in downtown Bordeaux. (Thank you Columbus Cafe - you have been wonderful!)

The short version of the story is almost 3 weeks ago, our Internet, cable and phone all of a sudden went down.  After one phone call with a technician on a Sunday evening (yes, that surprised me - Sunday's in France everything is normally closed ) and 3 technician visits to the house over the past couple of weeks - they have finally figured out that our underground line from our driveway to the pole on the street had been severed...and now it means re-routing and digging a new trench all of 12 feet to the pole - but it needs a permit from the mayor's office.  So we wait....

This has been a huge inconvenience for me, especially for on-line shopping for Christmas presents - Black Friday came and went, Cyber Monday and time marches on...I feel like we are living a bit in the dark ages.  It's amazing how dependent we have become on modern technology.  Thank goodness for smartphones and some data time on a 3G network.  Otherwise, I'm not sure where we would be...I have found some great apps to use on my phone when I can get on WiFi and cafes or friends houses.  So I suppose not all is lost.

In the weeks that we have been down, I had a friend visit for a week  - it was wonderful to tour her around the area - we even enjoyed a wonderful day in Saint Emilion (definitely needed some wine after all these tech issues).  Look for a posting soon on that town - BEAUTIFUL!

We also hosted Thanksgiving at our house - we introduced the holiday to some French friends and I had a lot of fun preparing our feast of Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, stuffing, cranberry sauce and of course apple pie for dessert!  Even made Lime jello with pears. Our butcher shop came through with a magnificient turkey - true to the American size.  It was delicious! My husband made some pumpkin filled crepes and a friend brought a tiramisu...I think we all could have rolled away from the table!  So fun.  It was interesting for me to use my phone to get my mom's stuffing recipe off email and look for a great apple pie recipe.  Definitely a different Thanksgiving in so many respects.

Wonderful win in Saint Emilion!

Fun time getting WiFi at Columbus Cafe in Bordeaux

Anyway, now the holiday season is upon us and top of my list is to be RECONNECTED!  We will see if Santa can bring this early!  Stay tuned!