Dinner at the Grandparents' in the Country

Bruno is at the head of the table, with Corentin standing next to him. At Bruno's right is his mother and his father sits at my left.

Geoffrey (who is taking the photograph) and Corentin sat at a little table to the side and they did a wonderful job in helping their grandmother to serve the food. Here we are with the main course - roast chicken and/or roast duck (all raised on the grandparents' small farm).

All I've had to eat so far today is the plain, dry roll that I purchased at a (beautiful little) boulangerie near the market. I had to get SOMEthing down! Before this dinner, when champagne was being poured I declined; however, I drank shot of straight whiskey, hoping maybe it would help to clear my stomach a bit, which it did, for as soon as we sat down to the table what did I see before me? A quite ample serving of foie gras! Oh my goodness, I prayed, please help me to get through this. And later on, as a big plate of six types of cheeses was passed around, a large mound of butter was also passed for our bread. Just the sight of the butter almost tipped me over the edge. ("Here, have some fat with your fat!")

I declined all wine all during the meal; however, when Craig made mention of the extra-special bottle of wine he saw on the sideboard (Chateauneuf de Pape, or something) I had to have a small glass of that! The meal went on for a couple of hours and I had some extra special practice with my French. Bruno, who speaks (what he calls) "Tarzan English" (me, Tarzan!) and I conversed quite a lot in French. He and Eddie were MOST complimentary on my French, and at one point I became almost irritated at the profuse compliments. ("Surely I'm not THAT good" I thought to myself.)

Eddie's grandfather raises racehorses - at least one of them is quite famous in France - and after dinner we walked around his property for an hour or so. Beatrice had dropped us off at their place in the country and she had taken Eddie's grandfather's car home so she could continue with the party preparations. Eddie's grandfather's came with us (so Eddie would have a licensed driver), and Eddie drove us home (the earlier incident all but forgotten), just in time for a 15-minute rest. Instead of spending another half-hour or so trying to sleep I spent my time in the bathroom applying make-up, telling Carrie that I was doing my best so as to not look like 103 (which was the age I felt AND looked before the make-up job).

Then we were off to the party, where we would spend at least another six hours talking, eating, and drinking (or, in my case, declining drinks), before we would be brought home after 1 am.