Lascours Lockdown, Day 514

Tuesday, August 10th. 

The girls left at 7:45 to go to the beach in Cassis with Marie-Elisabeth and Sophie. I did some weeding and pruning in the pots and planter boxes around the patio, packed up the old Internet box for return, then headed out to my 9am aqua bike session. On my way home, I stopped by the hardware store for a few gardening supplies and picked up our grocery order.

Back home, I put in two stakes and tied the jasmin back a bit so it won't crowd the roses. I also did a bit more pruning with a newly procured pair of garden shears. Sylvain was out getting a present of wine for our neighbor whose back-hoe he borrowed. When he got home, he vacuumed the inside of his car and washed the outside. It seems as though he's getting into vacation mode!

Over lunch, the girls talked about a bilingual family from Pau that they had met at the beach, with an American mom, a French dad and two daughters ages 1 and 4. I think they said their names were Selma and Ines. Maeva apparently told the mom about my being a stickler for certain grammar rules such as the proper uses of can, may and will, but the mom took my side.

This afternoon, I balanced my checkbook, then sewed a gift bag for Mary and Ben's gift:

Sylvain called the phone company about the cancellation fees and they said they would take care of them. Later, he and the girls went swimming and then hit a few tennis balls around. Meanwhile, I baked a batch of Devil's Food cupcakes and a batch of chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. We'll share some with Guillaume tomorrow and then take the rest on our trip.

The US has changed its travel recommendations for France. It is now advising even vaccinated people not to travel here. The radio was also reporting today that hospitals are starting to fill up again with Covid patients, so some health care workers are being called back from vacation. From yesterday, health passes are required in restaurants, bars, trains, planes, buses, medical facilities except ERs and some shopping centers. This is later than the August 1st date originally announced by the president as the legislative process took longer than expected. I have not been to any of these kinds of places in the past two days, so I have no idea how things are going with that.