a visit to Provence

I just got back from visiting my father who lives in Provence. He and my stepmother live in the old village train station that was converted to a house. The name of the town is carved into the side of the house and you see signs of where the tracks were in the back yard. Actually you see two long stone lines that go through their garden, which just look like the edges to the flower beds. The main house was the main station house, and then there's a small house, which was the waiting area for the other side of the tracks. It's a lovely house which gets a lot of light.

They rent the main house out in the summer and move into the smaller house. It's a great way to get some extra income, especially with their retirement income being in the deflated dollar.

With my father being ill, I didn't know what to expect when I got there. He's always been very healthy and shunned taking medicine. Although things are quite serious, I was pleasantly surprised with his energy (he still enjoys chopping wood for the fire) and interest in new things. I helped him set up a camera on his computer so we could Skype one another. It's a great way for him and Lindsay to see and talk to one another. I helped him set up a blog, which is something he's wanted to do for a while. And we cooked together. On his blog you can see the Hungarian chimney cakes we made. This is a dessert that is cooked on the bbq. You make a dough, which you wrap around a wooden tool that resembles a baseball bat. Then you baste it with melted butter and grill it over the bbq. After it cooks a while, you roll it in sugar and ground walnuts. When it is done, you rap it to make the dough fall off and then steam comes out of it to resemble smoke emitting from a chimney. It was delicious, and now I'm the proud owner of my own pastry baseball bat. I definitely need to refine the recipe we had, and now have some experience under my belt.


It was a wonderful visit. I decided not to bring my daughter and I'm glad I made that decision. I was able to spend uninterrupted time with my father, which would have been impossible if she had come. We had nice conversations, and were able to generally enjoy each other's company in a way that we hadn't for a while.

I also did some knitting while I was there, which I will post shortly.